Best Short Story Authors of Today

[Venerable Bede]

Recently I've been planning to write a short story but I figured I should probably read a few more to get a good feel for them. I am already well acquainted with Arthur Conan Doyle (having read all of his Sherlock Holmes stories) as well as Hawthorne and Poe. What I would like, is to read some of the short stories being written today. So I would appreciate it if you list the best short stories written in the last 20 years.

Also, if you can think of any historical fiction short story authors please mention them.

[stlukesguild]

There are several threads which ask the same question. If you use the "Search" feature you might be able to pull these up. There were quite a few suggestions there.

:smilewinkgrin:

[Emmy Castrol]

Some current short story collections I like:

'The Last Book you Read' by Ewan Morrison
'A Multitude of Sins' by Richard Ford
'The Boat' by Nam Le

[dfloyd]

of the twentieth century. In my opinion, these are:
1. Ernewt Hemingway
2. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Somerset Maugham

[Emmy Castrol]

And D.H. Lawrence who was one of the greatest short story writers of the modernists. There is a thread discussing a select of his short stories on his specific author page that I definately recommend reading through... although if its for writing short stories, I've noticed a lot of contemporary readers don't like the D.H. Lawrence style so it depends on if you want to write the stories for yourself or if you have a readership in mind.

[stlukesguild]

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43163&highlight=Short+Stories

Here are a slew of short story suggestions.

My suggestions for more recent short story writers would include:

J.L Borges
Italo Calvino
Tomaso Landolfi
Donald Barthleme
Julio Cortazar
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Augusto Monterros
Michel Tournier
Alaine Robbe-Grillet
Stig Dagerman
W.S. Merwin
...

[Venerable Bede]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll try to read through some of these soon.

[Buh4Bee]

I'm not sure if this is really what you are looking for, but I just read a book by David Sedaris called Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. You can catch it on the book review threads. Compared to the greats mentioned here, it may be a little weak.

[Le Lazy Lazarus]

Echoing the recommendations of Jorge Luis Borges, especially "The South", "Death and the Compass", hell, pretty much all of them, as well as Julio Cortazar. Roberto Bolaño wrote some extremely good short stories as well, and he was hugely influenced by the aforementioned authors. David Foster Wallace, John Updike, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut ("Bambago Snuff Box", "Welcome to the Monkey House", also especially the short story by him titled "Harrison Bergeron"), and Michael Chabon ("Werewolves in their Youth") all are more well-known for their longer works, but all have written significant and meaningful short stories as well.

I could go on, but what it comes down to, usually if a writer is able to keep the readers attention and create quality prose for novel-length works, they can do it in sorter facets too.

[Chris 73]

Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. Sort of horror themed. I loved it and apparently some similarities with Borges (I haven't read him myself).

[Stendhal]

Ray Bradbury writes fantastic short stories, and there is no shortage of collections of his short stories. The Martian Chronicles is great.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Anyone got any suggestions for humorous short stories, I'd be interested in that to help take the pain away, thanks?

[Emil Miller]

Anyone got any suggestions for humorous short stories, I'd be interested in that to help take the pain away, thanks?

It's got to be P.G.Wodehouse. The funniest short story writer of all time.

[LitNetIsGreat]

It's got to be P.G.Wodehouse. The funniest short story writer of all time.

Yes I agree Wodehouse is top form.

[Venerable Bede]

Okay, so I read a couple of Borges' stories yesterday, one of which was the Garden of the Forking Paths. It was well written, but his concept of time is very confusing. I'm going to read a few more of his stories tonight.

[hazelk]

Annie Proulx writes wonderful short stories.

F. Scott Fiotzgerald is a master of short stories.

Bret Harte's Selected Stories are well worth tracking down.

Tim Gautreaux is one of my favourite short story writers.

[mortalterror]

My favorite short stories are

All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury,
The Bad Glazier by Charles Baudelaire,
Ball of Fat by Guy De Maupassant,
To Build a Fire by Jack London,
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe,
Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor,
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry,
A Hanging by George Orwell,
The Hellscreen by Ryunosuke Akutagawa,
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson,
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell,
The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad,
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell,
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway,
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway,
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien,
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Was by William Faulkner,
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

[Blasarius '33]

Anyone got any suggestions for humorous short stories, I'd be interested in that to help take the pain away, thanks?A Cargo of Cat (http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/20005/), by Ambrose Bierce. Very short.