What are must read short stories?

[Shades of Eternity]

I was listening to reading the dm aloud and he did bring up something that I hadn't realized

Short stories really aren't a thing anymore.

Most of my favorite writers usually start with them before they ended up writing their opus that made them famous.

so I'm asking

what are your favorite short stories that you would recommend to others and why?

 

[MarkB]

The Machine Stops by E M Forster.

A science fiction short story, featuring a global information network, videoconferencing and automated mod-cons, about the dangers of allowing technology to isolate us from reality. Published in 1909.

 

[aco175]

The first one that came to mind was this old Star Wars book about all the little people in Mos Eisley when Han and Luke were there. It came out in 95'.

 

[Dioltach]

GRRM and Gardner Dozois have compiled a bunch of anthologies of some top-notch short fiction, using themes such as Rogues, Dark Sorcery, Magic and Epic.

Edit: There are also Shawn Speakman's Unfettered and Unbound anthologies.

 

[bloodtide]

Isaac Asimov​

The Last Question
The Feeling of Power
The Evitable Conflict
The Ugly Little Boy

 

[Piperken]

Lots of short stories by Haruki Murakami; I don't think it's necessary to have to say why I specifically like or know of them! For those who may be less or not familiar, readers tend to describe his writing as being seated in "magical realism with surreal elements."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some off the top of my head:

GRRM “Sandkings”
Asimov “Nightfall”
James Blish “Surface Tension”
Niven “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”

There’s also a lot of writers whose most famous works were (originally) released as short stories or novellas that were eventually collected and sold as anthologies or novels, like Fritz Lieber, HPL, and Clive Barker.
Some of the great magazines known for publishing sci-fi/fantasy/horror fiction are still around, like Asimov and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

I liked the latter so much, I subscribed to the physical magazine for years. Now they have an online version. In its pages, I got into several writers. One name I can easily dredge up is Richard Chwedyk, who has a series of stories centered on bioengineered intelligent miniature dinosaurs that were created to be pets.

 

[payn]

Just about anything from P.K. Dick. I also enjoyed Hemingway short stories alot.

 

[jdrakeh]

Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch.

 

[Deset Gled]

I highly recommend listening to Mindwebs, a radio show from the late 70s/early 80s. The host, Michael Shannon, simply reads a lot of really good and classic short speculative fiction stories. 169 episodes. Kind of a definitive collection of great stories.

For a more modern version of the same concept, check out Levar Burton Reads. Basically, Reading Rainbow for adults.

As for some more personal favorites that aren't in either of the above collections:

They're Made Out Of Meat, by Terry Bisson
Love is a Fallacy, by Max Schulman
Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros, by Peter S. Beagle