Does this literary form exist? [more inside]
posted on Jun 5, 2008 - 32 answers

Help me remember the name of this short story about a draft dodger in Vietnam. [more inside]
posted on May 15, 2008 - 8 answers

There was a post (I believe on Boing Boing) a few months ago about a sci-fi short story in the form of an internet message board. The message board was for a group of time travelers, and the new members were always being scolded for going back in time and killing Hitler (this was against the rules, as without Hitler we wouldn't have many technologies, etc etc). I have Google strings that I've tried inside... [more inside]
posted on May 14, 2008 - 14 answers

Looking for a science fiction short story I read years ago. [more inside]
posted on Feb 24, 2008 - 11 answers

Help me be awesome and find this sci fi short story for my room mate. I have only my account of his account of the plot to go by. [more inside]
posted on Feb 23, 2008 - 15 answers

Help me identify these four short horror stories, based on descriptions of their plots and endings. SPOILERS AHEAD! [more inside]
posted on Jan 29, 2008 - 3 answers

Help me identify this short story! It is a story told from the perspective of an infant as he is free-falling through the garbage chute of a multi-level housing complex after being discarded by his teenage mother. The story is divided into nine parts, with each part signifying the baby's arrival at each floor until he finally reaches the trash compactor at the ground level. [more inside]
posted on Jan 16, 2008 - 4 answers

What is the short story where there is a barber who, upon touching a person's head or hair, is able to see how the person will die? That's all I can really recall about the story. I read it years ago when I was in high school in one of the literature books that some classes use for instruction.
posted on Jan 10, 2008 - 9 answers

Help me figure out the title/author of this short science fiction story. It was about a world where everyone stopped growing. [more inside]
posted on Jan 10, 2008 - 6 answers

What is the name of this short story that I am thinking of? [more inside]
posted on Jan 6, 2008 - 6 answers

Short Story Filter: I'm trying to track down a wonderful short story I read maybe 15 years ago. It focuses on a couple struggling with a dysfunctional marital and/or sexual relationship. The story is set somewhere in a snowy/icy climate, and the central conceit of the story is that the husband needs to free their car which is stuck in the snow. As the story unfolds, the author describes the back-and-forth rocking of the car as he slams it from "drive" into "reverse" and back again, and it becomes clear that the movement of the car is a powerful sexual metaphor. Finally the car rolls free and the dramatic release seems to provide hope for the relationship. Does this sound familiar to anybody? I thought the title of the story was "Unstuck," but Googling has led me nowhere.
posted on Dec 11, 2007 - 5 answers

TeenAngstFilter: Can you help me identify a short story about a student who blows up a pool? [more inside]
posted on Nov 29, 2007 - 2 answers

What type of stories win the Toronto Star's short story contest? I mean, beyond what's in the Star's rules and guidelines -- does history show a bias towards a certain subject matter or style, etc.? The judges are from the Humber College creative writing program -- does that mean there are any types of writing that are especially in/out of favour?
posted on Nov 27, 2007 - 0 answers

I need an extremely short suspense story. [more inside]
posted on Oct 25, 2007 - 17 answers

I've written some fiction. Now I want to see if it's any good. [more inside]
posted on Oct 14, 2007 - 7 answers

Seeking out a sci-fi short story I read some time ago and would like to find again. [more inside]
posted on Aug 23, 2007 - 6 answers

Do you remember a sci-fi short story about the last man on earth and suspended animation and the evolution of algae? [more inside]
posted on Jul 31, 2007 - 4 answers

[ObscureSciFiFilter] Help me identify these science fiction stories please? [more inside]
posted on Jul 8, 2007 - 15 answers

I am trying to find the title and author of a short science fiction story. The story centered around Moses returning from Mt. Sinai and finding the Israelites worshiping the golden calf. In the biblical version he breaks the tablets and later goes back to get another set. In this story, the Israelites realize the error of their ways and gather all the pieces. [more below] [more inside]
posted on Jun 21, 2007 - 7 answers

Do you recognize this short story, possibly written by David Mamet? A Japanese couple scrimps and saves so they can incrementally improve their lives, and they go to a shopping mall/set of stores for fun, where they purchase candies/cookies that look like 1000 or 10000 or 1000000 yen. (More inside.) [more inside]
posted on Jun 20, 2007 - 5 answers

ScienceFictionfilter: Suggestions for gift subscriptions of science fiction magazines, journals printed in English and dead tree format [more inside]
posted on Jun 18, 2007 - 10 answers

I read a short story once about ten years ago, it was in a compiliation of short stories but I don't remember the title or author. The part I remember from the plot is that there's a magic lamp that gives wishes but you have to sell it for half of what you paid for it. I believe the main characters keep trying to find lower currencies so they can continue reselling it.
posted on May 21, 2007 - 3 answers

After an extensive Google search, I have yet another "name that short story" question, posed by a friend. [more inside]
posted on May 18, 2007 - 2 answers

Name That Short Story: a horror story-within-a-story about a foul child with a drunk father. [more inside]
posted on May 11, 2007 - 3 answers

StoryIdentificationFilter: A few years ago, I read a scifi short story in an anthology. It had zombie-ish elements, and a scientist-type who was afflicted who was able to work and study the zombie phenomenon by burning out the nerves on spots on his hand that impelled him to touch non-zombies. They kept growing back, so he continually had to burn them out. [more inside]
posted on May 10, 2007 - 5 answers

ShortStoryFilter: Looking for a short story where Americans go on vacation and get killed. [more inside]
posted on May 6, 2007 - 3 answers

Trying to remember a sci-fi short story - I used to read Nebula Award collections when I was a kid and this one was in one years collection, but I am pretty sure it did not win. I've been trying to figure out what it was for years now. I'll tell you what I remember from it inside here... [more inside]
posted on May 2, 2007 - 12 answers

Yet another Sci-Fi ID request: I once read a tongue-in-cheek short story involving a fidgety time travel portal, dinosaurs, and culinary adventures. [more inside]
posted on Apr 15, 2007 - 6 answers

Help me remember the name and author of this short story. The pathetic male main character is abused and humiliated by an abusive female character (his wife, I think). The culmination involves some sort of grotesque and humiliating performance by the main character at a party, arranged by the wife. [more inside]
posted on Apr 9, 2007 - 12 answers

Short story filter: Help me identify a science fiction short story I read this year about a "Flowers for Algernon" type situation, where instead of the Algernon-ish character reverting back to his former state, his intelligence becomes unlimited and he goes on to (sort of) control the world. [more inside]
posted on Mar 21, 2007 - 6 answers

I read this short story in middle/jr high school, and I have no idea what the name of it is. It's going to bother me until I find out. [more inside]
posted on Feb 24, 2007 - 17 answers

Name that sci-fi short story: In the prologue, a colonist ship has crashed on a water planet. The colonists can't survive there themselves, so they genetically engineer humans to be about the size of microbes and live in the water instead. Most of the story deals with the resulting aquatic society, their interactions with other species of microbes, and their search for their now-forgotten origins. And no, it was not "The Incredible Journey". Any ideas on what it might be?
posted on Jan 21, 2007 - 7 answers

Help me find the (prolific, I think) short story writer I read in high school! Fuzzy, mixed up memories inside. [more inside]
posted on Jan 5, 2007 - 9 answers

I read a short story a few years ago and would really like to find it again. A boy doesn't understand the complexities of the world -- such as how cars work. Suddenly, cars stop working. [more inside]
posted on Nov 30, 2006 - 2 answers

I remember a friend of mine telling me about a short story/novel/novella about a baseball pitcher whose pitched balls disappeared after leaving his hand, only to reappear in a totally different place and kill someone. There's [more inside]
posted on Nov 22, 2006 - 9 answers

The Postal Service song "We Will Become Silhouettes" reminds me of a short story (or maybe poem?) I read in high school, but I can't remember the name or author for the life of me. I believe the action centered around an automated house going through its daily routine after the inhabitants had been vaporized on its side. There was also something about birds singing... I think. Any ideas?
posted on Oct 12, 2006 - 12 answers

NameTheShortHorrorStoryFilter: Guy's reflection tries to come out of the mirror and kill him [more inside]
posted on Sep 28, 2006 - 3 answers

I read a short story that was included as part of a compilation of horror/suspense stories about 10 years ago. I totally forgot the name of the story and really want to read it again. [more inside]
posted on Aug 8, 2006 - 3 answers

Short story filter--does anyone know the title and author of a short story that's written entirely in the form of personal checks? The idea of the whole thing is to kind of read between the lines and figure out what is going on by who the person is writing checks to, for what amount, what's in the memo line, etc. A teacher friend would like to know. I remember seeing this but have no idea where to look. Thanks!
posted on Jul 24, 2006 - 15 answers

Abstract Thinking Filter: So I created this creature that travels by temperature instead of time, so to speak. [more inside]
posted on Jul 18, 2006 - 29 answers

Has anyone written and published very brief, dense prose works akin to Borges' ficciones, and are they any good? [more inside]
posted on May 16, 2006 - 17 answers

I heard it as it was dramatized on BBC World Service Radio around 2003. The story was told from the point of view of a descendant of one of the invading Martians. [more inside]
posted on Apr 24, 2006 - 2 answers

Can you name short stories, preferably from the classics, about a birthday? [more inside]
posted on Apr 13, 2006 - 5 answers

SciFi Filter: Help me find a short story that fits my oh-so-exacting criteria... [more inside]
posted on Mar 6, 2006 - 14 answers

Identify this story about an unhappy man, an exclusive travel agency, and a magical transporting barn. Possibly from an old Alfred Hitchcock magazine. [more inside]
posted on Jan 22, 2006 - 7 answers

A friend of mine is trying to identify a short story that she read in high school where conversation and sex have the opposite roles than they do in our society today. [more inside]
posted on Jul 30, 2005 - 7 answers

Trying to identify a short story I read in some sort of Harper's or Atlantic type magazine a few years ago. [more inside]
posted on May 15, 2005 - 0 answers

StoryFinderFilter: Please help me find a short story that describes the homecoming of an older Shakespeare to Anne Hathaway's house. Only Shakespeare isn't Shakespeare, and the wife notices . . . [more inside]
posted on May 9, 2005 - 2 answers

What with the Archbishop of Canterbury on the point of being vanquished by plain old Doubt (not that it was much of a contest in Rowan Williams's case) I was reminded of a drama I once read as a book and later saw as a TV screenplay. An abbot of a particular monastery has secretly lost his faith, and so does not wish to lead the brothers in prayer; he always gets someone else to do this, to avoid a personal spiritual crisis caused by having to pray publicly to, as he sees it, nothing. The Catholic hierarchy of that future time, unbeknownst to him, has become entirely atheist. An agent of the curia is sent to force the abbot to the point of a self-destroying confrontation with his unbelief. The agent achieves this by manipulating him into a situation where he can't avoid being the one to lead the assembled brothers in a public prayer.

Can anyone tell me what this thing is that I remember? Title and author are entirely gone. Thanks!
posted on Jan 6, 2005 - 4 answers

In the mid to late 80s Dragon Magazine published a short story about a woman playing an online computer game. She made friendss with a mysterious stranger in the game who got hugely rich and shared the money with her. It was a very entertaining and prescient story, well predating mainstream online gaming. Anyone know details of who wrote it, when it appeared, etc? Is there a copy online?
posted on Dec 10, 2004 - 5 answers