Books Should Be Free
Loyal Books
Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads
Search by: Title, Author or Keyword

Short Stories

Results per page: 30 | 60 | 100
  • <
  • Page 3 of 18 
  • >
Book type:
Sort by:
View by:

By: Baroness Emmuska Orczy (1865-1947)

Castles in the Air by Baroness Emmuska Orczy Castles in the Air

Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: Emma (”Emmuska”) Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orczi) (September 23, 1865 – November 12, 1947) was a British novelist, playwright and artist of Hungarian noble origin. She was most notable for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel. Castles in the Air, a short novel or perhaps more like a collection of short stories with memories of a French rogue in the early 19th century Paris, was published in 1921 and about it I quote from the foreword: In very truth my good friend Ratichon is an unblushing liar, thief, a forger–anything you will; his vanity is past belief, his scruples are non-existent...

By: Henry James (1843-1916)

The Real Thing by Henry James The Real Thing

The Real Thing is, on one level, a somewhat ironic tale of an artist and two rather particular models. Yet it also raises questions about the relationship between the notion of reality in our humdrum world, and the means that an artist must use in trying to achieve, or reflect, that reality. Though the protagonist is an artist and illustrator of books, not a writer, it's not hard to imagine that James has himself, and other writers, in mind.

By: Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)

Book cover Aaron Trow

What is it like to be a fox hunted by hounds? We find out through the senses of an escaped convict as he struggles to free himself from would-be captors. The struggle is brutal. In the end, we are left wondering which person really wins--the pursued or the pursuer. Or perhaps which one is now the pursuer, which the pursued.

By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

White Nights & Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky White Nights & Other Stories

White Nights and Other Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a compilation published in 1918 by The MacMillan Company, NY (USA) and Heinemann (UK). It contains these 7 works:- White Nights- Notes from the Underground- A Faint Heart- A Christmas Tree and a Wedding- Polzunkov- A Little Hero- Mr. Prohartchin

By: Various

Book cover International Short Stories Volume 1: American Stories

The first volume of a 3 volume anthology, this work focuses on American short stories and draws from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anna Katherine Greene, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allan Poe and many other favorites. Topics range from historical to science fiction, melodramatic to philosophic.

By: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

The Wound Dresser by Walt Whitman The Wound Dresser

The Wound Dresser is a series of letters written from the hospitals in Washington by Walt Whitman during the War of the Rebellion to The New York Times, the Brooklyn Eagle and his mother, edited by Richard Maurice Burke, M.D., one of Whitman's literary executors.

By: Edith Nesbit (1858-1924)

Nine Unlikely Tales for Children by Edith Nesbit Nine Unlikely Tales for Children

Nine original and, yes, unlikely fairy-tales, which include stories of the arithmetic fairy, the king who became a charming villa-residence and the dreadful automatic nagging machine. All are classic-Nesbit: charming, novel and not afraid to squeeze in a moral or two — told with proper fairy-tale style. Summary by Cori

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White Mountains by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White Mountains

A collection of four short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the common theme of which is New Hampshire's White Mountains. Consists of: The Great Stone Face, written in 1850 and revolves around the 'Old Man of the Mountain (Cannon Mtn.) in New Hampshire which sadly collapsed on May 3, 2003; The Ambitious Guest, written in 1835; The Great Carbuncle, written in 1837; and Sketches From Memory, written sometime prior to The Great Carbuncle as will become obvious.

Wonder Book for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne Wonder Book for Girls and Boys

A Yankee student stays at a country house called Tanglewood during a golden New England fall. Also at the house are about a dozen children: younger cousins of the student and their friends of varying ages. The student, as much to amuse himself as to amuse the children, organises games and activities and tells stories. And the stories he tells are wild and fantastic. When his store of fairy tales and folk legends is exhausted he hits on the idea of retelling Greek Myths in his own style.We visit Tanglewood...

By: George Eliot (1819-1880)

Book cover Brother Jacob

Brother Jacob is a short story by George Eliot, in which she explores the relationship between the selfish, self-centered and ambitious David Faux and his idiot brother, Jacob.

By: H. Beam Piper

Police Operation by H. Beam Piper Police Operation

H. Beam Piper (1904–1964) was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of “Paratime” alternate history tales.

By: Arnold Bennett (1867-1931)

Tales of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett Tales of the Five Towns

This is a selection of short stories recounting, with gentle satire and tolerant good humour, the small town provincial life at the end of the nineteenth century, based around the six towns in the county of Staffordshire, England, known as the Potteries. Arnold Bennett chose to fictionalize these towns by changing their names and omitting one (Fenton) as he apparently felt that “Five Towns” was more euphonious than “Six Towns”. The real town names which are thinly disguised in the novel are: Hanley, Longton, Burslem and Tunstal, the fifth, Stoke became “Knype”...

Book cover Matador of the Five Towns and Other Stories

Twenty-two short stories by Arnold Bennett, mainly set in the 'Five Towns', Bennett's name for the pottery manufacturing towns of the English midlands

By: Stephen Crane (1871-1900)

Selected Short Stories by Stephen Crane Selected Short Stories

At the time of his death at the age of 28, Stephen Crane had become an important figure in American literature. He was nearly forgotten, however, until two decades later when critics revived interest in his life and work. Stylistically, Crane's writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialects, and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation. Although recognized primarily for The Red Badge of Courage, which has become an American classic, Crane is also known for short stories such as "The Open Boat", "The Blue Hotel", "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", and The Monster...

By: O. Henry (1862-1910)

Book cover Cabbages and Kings

This work is O. Henry's first published volume and is considered to be his only novel. The plot is composed of several short stories, which were inspired by the author's six-month stay in Honduras in the late 1890s. "The incidents embracing as they do, a variety of subjects, hang loosely together, so loosely in fact, that at times one finds no apparent connection between them at all, and yet in the end one sees how each is intimately related to the other. ...Written by a less able hand than O. Henry's the book might have been a sad jumble, perhaps comprehensible to none but the Walrus--but as it is, one finds a joy in its every obscurity...

Book cover Whirligigs

A collection of short stories.

Book cover Gentle Grafter

If Jefferson "Parleyvoo" Pickens had appeared in print just a few years later, he might have been the "Gentle Grifter" instead of the "Gentle Grafter", the name O. Henry picked for him. His situation as an ethical graft artist gives Jeff an extra impediment in pursuing his craft, but he never wanted it to be too easy. The result is fourteen delightful tales for us and a number of new partners for him. With those partners (he always has at least one) he works his way through a number of confidence games...

Book cover Heart of the West

A collection of short stories by the legendary O. Henry.

Book cover Waifs and Strays

These 12 O. Henry stories all deal with waifs and strays in one way or another; people who have somehow become adrift in the current of life. Will they find their way on their own or be helped by kind hearted folk or perhaps, stay a waif and stray, somehow outside the normal life of society? All naturally have the wonderful O. Henry beautiful way with words and people. So if you are in the mood to enjoy some sensuous sounds and convoluted flowing phrases unique to William Sydney Porter, give these a listen. And of course the endings cannot ever be predicted. Ever!

Book cover Options

O. Henry needs no introduction of course; the man who made the short story with the surprise ending famous. These 16 stories are all wonderful examples of his word sculpting art. They include: "The Rose of Dixie"; The Third Ingredient; The Hiding of Black Bill; Schools and Schools; Thimble, Thimble; Supply and Demand; Buried Treasure; To Him Who Waits; He Also Serves; The Moment of Victory; The Head-Hunter; No Story; The Higher Pragmatism; Best-Seller; Rus in Urbe; A Poor Rule

By: D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930)

The Prussian Officer and Other Stories by D. H. Lawrence The Prussian Officer and Other Stories

The collection of short stories – of which The Prussian Officer is one – was Lawrence’s first such book. A German officer and his orderly are the focus of the piece and, while socially the superior of his orderly, the officer demonstrates his is the distinctly baser character. (Introduction by Cathy Barratt)

By: Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang The Pink Fairy Book

All people in the world tell nursery tales to their children, and the stories are apt to be like each other everywhere. A child who has read the Blue and Red and Yellow Fairy Books will find some old friends with new faces in the Pink Fairy Book. Courage, youth, beauty, kindness, have many trials, but they always win the battle; while witches, giants, unfriendly cruel people, are on the losing hand. So it ought to be, and so, on the whole, it is and will be; and that is all the moral of fairy tales...

By: Washington Irving (1783-1859)

The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. by Washington Irving The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

Apart from "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - the pieces which made both Irving and The Sketch Book famous - other tales include "Roscoe", "The Broken Heart", "The Art of Book-making", "A Royal Poet", "The Spectre Bridegroom", "Westminster Abbey", "Little Britain", and "John Bull". His stories were highly influenced by German folktales, with "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" being inspired by a folktale recorded by Karl Musaus. Stories range from the maudlin (such as "The Wife" and...

By: Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941)

The Eight Strokes of the Clock by Maurice Leblanc The Eight Strokes of the Clock

The Eight Strokes of the Clock is a collection of eight short stories by Maurice Leblanc. The stories have his most famous creation, Arsène Lupin, gentleman-thief, as main character. The eight stories, even though independent, have a leading thread: Lupin, under the name of Serge Rénine, trying to conquer the heart of a young lady, travels with her, solving eight mysteries on the way.

By: L. Leslie Brooke (1862-1940)

The Golden Goose Book by L. Leslie Brooke The Golden Goose Book

A charming little book full of the most gorgeous illustrations. We see a number of stories in which kindness is rewarded and selfishness is punished but Brooke squeezes a number of intriguing and quite bizarre twists and turns into the story so it is not nearly so predictable as you might imagine. Victorian moral fairy tales from a delightfully inventive mind.

Johnny Crow's Garden by L. Leslie Brooke Johnny Crow's Garden

A beautifully illustrated children’s picture book featuring Johnny Crow who made a garden in which a variety of animals do bizarre things in rhyme.

By: Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)

Book cover Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories

What can we say about the delightful Beatrix Potter stories? Starting with the naughty Peter Rabbit and his mis-adventures, progressing through The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle whose funny name is just the start of the interesting things about her, then expounding on the Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, and many many more, these stories are all gems of the art of story telling. This is your chance to enjoy reading them aloud and recording them for children to enjoy listening to in the years and decades to come. Aren't you curious to learn more about the Fierce Bad Rabbit? Or the Tale of the Two Bad Mice? This is your chance to read aloud. And remember to have fun !!

By: Anna Katharine Green (1846-1935)

Missing: Page Thirteen by Anna Katharine Green Missing: Page Thirteen

Violet Strange, a clever petite detective, is called upon to solve the mystery of a page gone missing from an important document. The futures of several people, including an eccentric misanthrope, a chemical scientist, a bride and groom, depend on the quick resolution of this problem. In solving one mystery, she uncovers another which dates back many years.

The Amethyst Box by Anna Katharine Green The Amethyst Box

On the evening before his marriage, Sinclair loses a precious curiosity from his collection: an amethyst box, containing a tiny flask of deadly poison. He suspects that this poison is in the possession of either his betrothed or her cousin, the girl his best friend Worthington loves. Turning to Worthington for help, they try to recover the box before the poison can be administered...

By: Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872-1958)

The Indiscreet Letter by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott The Indiscreet Letter

Three fellow travelers on a train enter into a discussion concerning what they would call an ‘indiscreet letter.’ The discussion albeit short, produces some rather interesting revelations during the journey and at journey’s end.

By: Virginia Woolf

Monday or Tuesday by Virginia Woolf Monday or Tuesday

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction...

By: John Galsworthy (1867-1933)

Five Tales by John Galsworthy Five Tales

This 1918 book consists of five short stories or novelettes by Galsworthy. They are The First and Last (1914), A Stoic, The Apple Tree (1916), The Juryman, Indian Summer of a Forsyte (1918) This last became part of the trilogy The Forsyte Saga. (Introduction by David Wales)


Page 3 of 18   
Popular Genres
More Genres
Languages
Paid Books