What are must read short stories?

[Bohandas]

I also recommend "Goliath" by Neil Gaiman

 

[Ryujin]

While I've never read Soldier of Tomorrow, the plot synopsis that I was able to look up doesn't sound like it has anything to do with Terminator at all. Maybe the summary is leaving a lot out, but the only thing it seems to have in common with The Terminator based on the synopsis is that a character travels through time

Per Ellison, "He said that he ripped off a couple of my episodes of "Outer Limits."" Specifically, it would have been the "Outer Limits" episode called "Soldier."

Soldier (The Outer Limits) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bohandas]

*The Swelling (by Davic Coyners)
*Who Goes There (by John W Campbell)
*The Repairer of Reputations (by Robert W Chambers)
*The Sorrow of Search (by Lord Dunsany)
*Haita the Shepherd (by Ambrose Bierce)
*Fable of the Dragon Tyrant (by Nick Bostrom)

 

[Ryujin]

I should have also mentioned "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

Harrison Bergeron

 

[Bohandas]

Per Ellison, "He said that he ripped off a couple of my episodes of "Outer Limits."" Specifically, it would have been the "Outer Limits" episode called "Soldier."

Soldier (The Outer Limits) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I still don't buy it. Two mortal enemies travel through time seems like pretty generic sci-fi. Even if you add the stipulation that one of them saves someone from the time they land in. Plus the Ellison work doesn't seem to include any of the core elements of Terminator, such as robots, assassination, or attempting to alter history. Kyle Reese is a non-essential part of that story.

 

[Mannahnin]

I've read lots of good ones over the years but not a lot jumping to mind as essential which haven't already been mentioned.

One set I did really enjoy reading for the first time not long ago are Manley Wade Wellman's Silver John the Balladeer stories. Wellman gets cited by Gygax in Appendix N, and Silver John is (along with Wellman's other hero Kardios of Atlantis and Poul Anderson's Cappen Varra) to my mind one of the likeliest inspirations for the D&D bard. Despite Silver John being American and taking place in a slightly vague 20th century (not quite clear whether it's between the world wars or post WW2) Appalachian setting, these are great folk horror adventure stories.

Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein. Another master of the short story. It's the only title I could think of from his short stuff. Pick through his works, you'll find something to love.

The Green Hills of Earth and The Long Watch never fail to make my eyes well up.

-We Also Walk Dogs is a fun one.

 

[Desdichado]

Curiously, just in the last few weeks I've read a number of short story collections:

• Horror in the Museum (the collection by Del Rey, not the actual story, although it's obviously included) by Lovecraft, although these are the ghost-written and revised ones.
• The Cthulhu Stories of Robert E. Howard (which has a lot of overlap with The Haunter of the Ring and Other Tales)
• The Sea of Quills by Seth Skorkowsky
• The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, which I actually have on my docket to read next. I've owned it for years and never got around to reading it, sadly.

I'm not a huge fan of short stories, unless it's a good collection, usually by the same author, often about the same character, and there's a lot of thematic unity. I don't dislike them, but they just don't give me enough, most of the time. Classic pulp writer collections are kind of the exception to that.

 

[Mannahnin]

• The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, which I actually have on my docket to read next. I've owned it for years and never got around to reading it, sadly.

Good stories of horror and adventure, though sadly the racism pops up a good bit with Kane's adventures in Darkest Africa.

Some glimmers of egalitarianism do peek through, with Kane's feelings of respect and fellowship for the shaman N'Longa, but overall the racial elements mostly lean to ick.

 

[Ryujin]

I still don't buy it. Two mortal enemies travel through time seems like pretty generic sci-fi. Even if you add the stipulation that one of them saves someone from the time they land in. Plus the Ellison work doesn't seem to include any of the core elements of Terminator, such as robots, assassination, or attempting to alter history. Kyle Reese is a non-essential part of that story.

Here's an analysis of the situation, which includes some of the original interview with Ellison. The simple fact is that Hemdale settled, rather than going to court over it, and Ellison's name had to be appended to every screened copy of "Terminator." it was that way for years, until some TV exec decided he'd play chicken. He also lost the fight.