Don’t Have Time To Read Novels? Try These Excellent Short Stories
While many of us simply do not have the time to read a full-length novel, we do have the time to read short stories. The following is my list of the top 5 short stories (some are well known while some aren’t). Let me know your thoughts about them:
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison: This futuristic short story tells the story of humans trapped inside the belly of a machine. Not to give anything away from the plot of the story, it does have subtle inuendos of life, religion and politics. Reported to have been written in only one day, Ellison does excellent work in focusing on the depravity of man and the reliance of something higher.
The City, Ray Bradbury: This chilling story is pretty short; roughly 4,000 words. It’s haunting and will leave you breathless at the shocking conclusion. This is different from Farenheit 45. It’s scarier and much more complex in its makeup. The city runs amok and the soldiers sent in are in for a surprise.
Dagon, HP Lovecraft: Dagon was adapted into a movie and surprisingly the movie was just as good, if not better than the story. It explores the Cthulu Mthos and was the first short story to implement the mythos and feature the creature itself. The story centers on a man who is addicted to drugs and wants to end it because of something that happened in World War I.
Johnny Nmemonic, William Gibson: You might be more familiar with this as a movie starring Keanu Reeves. The story focus on a data trafficker and his role with various clients. This is a very high tech story and concentrates on the theme of nanotechnology and future technologies (some that have been explored after the story was written). Nmemonic can seen as a short story that could very well be the most underrated short story of our time with huge future implications.
“Repent, Harlequin!” said the TicToc Man, Harlan Ellison: The story focuses on a man who chooses not to be controlled by the “Man” and becomes an individual in a dystopian society. It is very satirical, but it takes a close look at what a dystopian and totalitarian society is like and the dangers of falling into it if we are not careful.
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