One of the greatest is 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. It's a chilling story that shows how blindly following tradition can lead to horror. The unexpected ending makes it a classic.
Guy de Maupassant's 'The Necklace' is a well - known great fiction short story. It tells the tale of a woman who borrows a necklace to appear wealthy at a party, loses it, and then spends years in poverty trying to replace it, only to find out in the end that the original necklace was a fake, which is a great lesson about vanity and the pursuit of material things.
Ernest Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants' is also among the greats. It's a short but powerful story. The dialogue is minimal yet filled with subtext, leaving much to the reader's interpretation about the relationship between the two characters and the decision they face.
One of the greatest is 'The Cold Equations' by Tom Godwin. It's a very intense story about a spaceship pilot who has to make a tough decision regarding a stowaway on his ship. There's no room for sentiment as the ship has a very limited amount of fuel and extra weight could doom the mission.
Well, 'Nightfall' by Isaac Asimov is surely among the greatest. It presents a world with multiple suns where the rare occurrence of night brings about chaos and insanity. 'A Sound of Thunder' by Ray Bradbury is also excellent. In this story, a small change in the past during a time - travel hunting trip has huge and unforeseen consequences in the present. And 'Harrison Bergeron' by Kurt Vonnegut is a thought - provoking story about a future society that enforces equality by handicapping the more able individuals.
Some of the greatest short stories include 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. It's a chilling story that reveals the dark side of human nature and blind obedience to tradition. Then there's 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe, a classic horror short story that delves into the mind of a deranged narrator. Also, 'Hills Like White Elephants' by Ernest Hemingway is great as it conveys so much through its sparse dialogue about a difficult relationship.
Ursula K. Le Guin wrote 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas'. Tom Godwin is the author of 'The Cold Equations'. Their works are part of the collection of the greatest science fiction short stories.
One of the greatest is 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens. It tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly man who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve. These ghosts show him his past, present, and future, leading him to a transformation where he becomes a kind and generous person. Another great one could be 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry. It's about a young couple who are very poor but still sacrifice their most precious possessions to buy gifts for each other at Christmas.
One of the greatest is 'The Lady with the Dog' by Anton Chekhov. It beautifully portrays an extramarital affair with great psychological depth. Another is 'The Nose' by Nikolai Gogol, a surreal story about a man whose nose takes on a life of its own. And 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' by Leo Tolstoy, which is a profound exploration of a man facing his mortality.
There's 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. This story is quite disturbing as it shows how a small town blindly follows a cruel tradition. And then there's 'Young Goodman Brown' by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It delves into the Puritanical beliefs and the idea of hidden sin in the human heart.
Another great one is 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson. In a seemingly ordinary small town, there is an annual lottery. But as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this lottery has a very dark and disturbing outcome, which shows how blindly following tradition can be terrifying.
One of the great short ghost stories is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a man who is driven mad by the old man's 'vulture - like' eye and ends up murdering him, only to be haunted by the sound of the dead man's heart.
One of the greatest short scary stories is 'The Tell - Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a narrator who is haunted by an old man's vulture - like eye and ultimately murders him, only to be driven mad by the sound of the dead man's heart still beating in his head.