Oh, and I've tried to keep it to honest-to-goodness short stories here. Novellas and novelettes don't count. I've also chosen stories that were originally written in English. Not that I have anything against non-English writers, indeed I was sorely tempted to include some of my favorite Japanese and Russian stories in here, among others, but I think I'll dedicate another blog to the non-Anglophone world.
Leiningen Versus the Ants
by Carl Stephenson
So, remember how I said some of these short stories have women in them? Well, this one doesn't. It does have bloodthirsty, flesh-eating swarms of mindless death in insectoid form, though, so it's close. Ha ha, so funny with my irreverent misogyny, I tell ya. Anyway, this has been one of my favorites since days of Underoos -- it has it all. It's truly exciting, both in terms of what occurs and the way that Carl Stephenson (an author not known much for anything else) weaves his words into a hurtling steam-train of momentum. The protagonist has nothing but his wits, guile and guts to take on an ineffable, unending swarm of killer insects. The world isn't at stake, just his plantation, his pride, and his life. Rather than run, like all before him have, he stands up and refuses to give in -- one man versus billions. Stephenson's ingenious description of his hero's anti-ant (fun word!) traps and contraptions serve to make the story even more interesting to those of us interesting in tinkering with things and building our own death traps. This one is all man, all the time.Katina
by Roald Dahl
"This is the RAF speaking. And one day, we will come back, do you understand? We will come back." I think a lot of us are raised to think of Roald Dahl as the author of slightly quirky, children-oriented novels like James and the Giant Peach or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but Dahl served as an aviator in World War II, and some of his earliest stories are about, or at least influenced by, his time spent flying in combat. This particular tale, set during the British retreat from the Germans in Greece at the outset of the war, is exciting, moving, tragic, and terribly powerful in its portrayal of the matter-of-fact approach that veterans have to war and its horrors, and how sometimes small things can transcend that cynicism, make the men transcend it, and show us a brief, flashing glimpse of the purest and best things in mankind, even among the squalor and brimstone of the battlefield. As an aside, another story in Over to You, the collection pictured at left, probably deserves a place on this list, but I had to choose just one. The entire collection is great, but if you only have time to read two, read "Katina" and then read "They Shall Not Grow Old." You will not consider it time wasted, I promise you.The Falls
by George Saunders
It's a silly and fruitless task to pick a "favorite" anything, most of the time. It just can't be done: tastes changes from day to day, from mood to mood; and hell, things haven't stopped being made yet, so you can't choose a favorite anyway -- something better you didn't know about might cross your path in the next five minutes. That said, if I had to pick one short story that has everything - humor, compassion, humanity, courage, pettiness, cowardice, foolishness, worry, love, heart, and the simple men and small acts that become, slowly, heroic - this would be it. George Saunders' fiction can sometimes be extremely weird, but he often manages to bring that weirdness and that human idiosyncrasy around to show human "normalcy" in stark relief. This is his finest work, and a story about which there is absolutely nothing negative to say, nothing even average. It is a wonder of creation and something that absolutely everyone should read, enjoy, and appreciate.Death Makes a Comeback
by James O'Keefe
This story is, apparently, not particularly famous, as I was unable to find an image of any book that contained it, other than this anthology one. Nevertheless, it is, in my opinion, a classic of Noir storytelling, and one with fascinating characters and a plot that goes from 0-60-100 in a second flat. The fact that the mystery itself isn't really all that mysterious only adds to the writer's challenge, and James O'Keefe comes through with dialogue you remember, complex characters you care about, and matter-of-fact narration that gives you all the atmosphere and grime of a Raymond Chandler novel, only set in the 1980's. The "floating narrator" technique, that is, the way O'Keefe jumps from inside one character's head to inside another's without warning or even breathing, only serves to keep the reader on his toes and increase the feeling of tension. A great detective story about real men, good and bad and both at once.The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
Because war is almost exclusively the purview of men (at least traditionally), it's not surprising that a short story set during a war would be a prime place to look for lessons about the differences between how men should act and how they actually do. But "The Things They Carried" goes beyond war by ignoring it completely, or almost completely. The horrible things that the men in the story do -- the actions they take -- are overwhelmed nearly completely by their thought processes and internal struggles. And some of the things they do aren't so horrible, even if they maybe think that they are. But the story's most compelling aspect is also its primary conceit: relating the men to the reader not by their actions, but by their things (physical and intangible). I wrote a story based partly on this one once, but it wasn't anywhere near as good -- this is the way it should be done.Scarlet Stockings
by Louisa May Alcott
What, you thought that only men could write stories that are important for guys to read? Poppycock, I tells ya! I'm not ashamed to say that this story made me tear up a little -- because I'm a big softie, people, despite my gruff and macho exterior. On the inside, I'm a hopeless romantic. But this story, like all great stories, is about more than mere romance. It's about the relationships men have with the women in their lives: sisters, mothers, friends, lovers; and it's about the way relationships with women shape their view of themselves and their actions and decisions. Yeah, there's a little bit of sentimentality in here, but why can't we be in touch with our sentimental side once in a while, am I right? Yin and yang, people. Completeness makes the man.The Killers
by Ernest Hemingway
Long before it was the name of a pretty good pop band, "The Killers" was a groundbreaking story that helped launch the career of one of the writers that came most to be associated with manliness, for better or for worse. Hemingway has a clipped, sparse quality to most of his writing, but this particular story is most interesting for the dialogue, and for the slow, layers-of-an-onion way that it reveals what's really going on. Of course, you know from the title at least a bit of what to expect, but that's what sets the stage for the tension that is at the core of this story. There's not a lot in the way of action, but there's a whole lot of suspense going on below the surface. This story reminds us that the most dangerous thing for a man is other men, even those we consider close to us, and that we can never really let down our guard around others. At least, that's the way Hemingway seemed to see things; whether you agree or not, it's an illuminating point of view to experience.Haircut
by Ring Lardner
Everything in this blog entry is a short story in the genre sense, but only this one actually is a story, told to you in the second person by a barber, as if you were in his chair listening, the way that barber shops used to work before it cost a hundred bucks for a trim. This is an absolute masterpiece of revelatory fiction, as both the reader and the narrator come to realizations about the characters in his tale that neither was fully aware of beforehand, and that the narrator perhaps never fully realizes. Is it a conscious ignorance on his part? Are you just reading things into it? Whatever the case, this one will show you in stark relief that the core of a man is something that persists regardless of intelligence, wealth, or any other factors, and that you can only push a man so far in this world before there are inevitable consequences. For technique alone, this is one of the greatest storytelling achievements I know, and it's tremendously entertaining.Harrison Bergeron
by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
I've intentionally stayed away from science-fiction stories, for the most part, here, as I'm going to do a further entry on sci-fi and horror fiction that everyone should read, but this one is only nominally sci-fi, and associated with a non-sci-fi writer, so I thought I'd let it through. This one is a warning about the dangers of putting "equality" on a pedestal as a virtue to be pursued, it's an admonition against government trying to socially engineer the world into a better place, and the real consequences of meddling with the natural order of things. But it's also about the power of the individual, the things that a man can do when he's willing, literally, to throw off the chains that hold him down, and why you can't always do what you're told. Sure, it's a little over the top in its demonstration, but sometimes going all the way to the logical extreme is the best way to show the ridiculousness of things we take for granted.The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
by James Thurber
I'm sure you've heard of at least some of the stories on this list before, but I'm doubly sure you've heard of this one. It's one of the most famous American short stories ever, and one that has provided a character so iconic that his personality has entered the lexicon as a descriptive adjective: "mittyesque." Thoreau said that "most men live lives of quiet desperation," and that's true. We all have our own ways of dealing with this, and this story's protagonist does so by escaping into fantasies in which he is one kind or another of fantastic, archetypal male hero. It's good for men to understand what's going on here, and to relate it to our own lives. Or perhaps you think you're not like poor Walter, you've got more backbone and more willingness to stand up and face the world and its slings and arrows -- but ask yourself: when was the last time you played a video game in which you controlled a character in a heroic situation? How about the last time you had a sexual fantasy with yourself as a primary actor? Or any of a dozen other mental tricks we play on ourselves to keep it together in this life. Maybe there's a little Mitty in all of us. Then again, maybe it's just a fun story.Split Cherry Tree
by Jesse Stuart
AND
The Strangers that Came to Town
by Ambrose Flack
Of all the relationships that men have, perhaps the most complex, influential, and long-lasting is the relationship we have with our fathers. These two stories are about two very different men from very different backgrounds, told from the perspective of their sons. The events of the stories are sort of comparable -- the sons are the catalysts for the father showing his character, and by watching the fathers we learn about the sons, too. I wanted to juxtapose these stories, both great, because of this, and because of the similar perspective of their respective narrators. Although our relationships with our fathers change as we grow older, the specter (or benevolent spirit, as the case may be) of the fathers we knew as children never really leaves us, and shapes us in ways we probably will never understand. Hell, a lot of psychologists would be out of work if we did. But stories like these help us understand at least that we're not alone in these complex relationships, and that, ultimately, if we're lucky, we may not understand our fathers, but we will respect them.A Telephone Call
by Dorothy Parker
And finally, one to remind us guys that we're not the only people out there. Women, believe it or not, are people too. And sometimes, they like us. Or even love us. And this can wreck their whole lives. So let's remember that there's more to being a quality guy than just chiseled pecs and a rapier wit. There's also consideration, and a good sense of humor. Oh, and the ability to change a tire is big, too. But I digress. Dorothy Parker was one hell of a fun lady in her lifetime, and this story is quirky and probably close to as much fun as she was. Sure, it's a little stereotypical of women, and sure, it's probably a little longer than it needs to be, but I always like to close with something that's gonna leave a smile on your face, dear reader, and this story is guaranteed to do that. Enjoy.
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