Seeking "Twist Ending" Story Anthologies

September 26, 2013 2:14 PM

Can you guys recommend any short story anthologies whose theme is twist endings? The one requirement is that all of the stories must feature a twist ending -- so books like Guy de Maupassant or O. Henry collections, or even Twilight Zone anthologies, in which only many/most of the stories feature twist endings, are disqualified. I'm not sure whether such an anthology even exists, but I'd love to find out. Thanks for any recommendations!
posted by Mo' Money Moe Bandy to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Not an anthology, but I believe that every story in A twist in the Tale has at least a mild twist.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 2:36 PM on September 26, 2013

I think that Dangerous Visions is pretty close. The stories don't all necessary have twist endings, but all the stories are twists, if only from the very beginning. That was the point of the anthology.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:53 PM on September 26, 2013

Roald Dahl's "Tales of the Unexpected."
posted by jbickers at 3:36 PM on September 26, 2013 [4 favorites]

Seconding Roald Dahl. His short stories are all about twist endings.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 4:14 PM on September 26, 2013

Mirror in the mirror, by Michael Ende
posted by windykites at 8:28 PM on September 26, 2013

If you're not ruling out illustrated short stories, EC Comics from the 1950s were famous for their twist endings. A variety of reprints have been published, over the years.
posted by Rash at 9:56 AM on September 27, 2013

A Twist in the Tale (as noted by the first reply) is a lot of fun and seems to be exactly what you're looking for. There's also a follow-up volume, Twelve Red Herrings.
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 10:15 AM on September 27, 2013