I think this deserves its own thread, so people can rate single short stories or recommend short stories.

Rate a short story.

You can do one story or an entire anthology, but if so the point is to rate the short stories themselves, not the anthology as a whole.


Anthology: "Alien abductions" edited by Martin H Greenberg:

"Suzy Q" by Alan Dean Foster: The experience of an alien abduction seen from the point of view of a special, female abductee. Wonderful story, great ending. 9/10 points, one of the best in the book.

"Work in progress" by Michelle West: A woman is lost in a life of alcohol and strange nightmarish happenings. Has more the feel of social realism than sci-fi until the last pages. 1/10 point.

"The long sunset" by Ed Gorman: Two mates are involved with a woman with a strange attraction. Both of these have more the feel of social realism than sci-fi until the last pages. Boring. 2/10 points.

"Blind" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: Two young brothers venture out into the woods at night, and they witess something strange. Years later both brothers, in very different ways, become involved with UFO research. The younger brother decides to investigate his childhood woods. Nice story. 7/10 points.

"The body clock" by R. Davis: A very special take on invasion/abdction when the president is the abductee. Good story, 7/10 points.

"Saul" by Peter Schweighofer: A rather abusive husband and father has an accident and is taken elsewhere. Maybe. Okay story. 3/10 points.

"Toobychubbies" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: A weary mother is babysitting her own and her neighbour's children when her neighbour lets her borrow a video tape with a new children's series. The children are obsessed with the series and are affected by it. 10/10 points. Great story, the best one in the book.

"Late night pick-up" by Peter Crowther: A man is questioned by two cops who are acting weird, hiding something. Nice story, but a bit too repetitive. 7/10 points.

"Throwback" by Lawrence Watt-Evans: A man is abducted by aliens but released because he is boring. His encounter makes him change his life. Great story. 10/10 points. Second only to Toobychubbies.

"Season of sight" by Zane Stillings: A reporter is sent to interview a UFO buff. Uninteresting. 1 point.

"One brown mouse" by Gary A. Braunbeck: A man loses his beloved but thinks she just vanished, and that she's still alive somewhere. He attends a grief support group and receives help of a sorts. Nice story, 7/10 points.

Toobychubbies is a great story IMO

I'm reading a collection of stories by Lord Dunsany. I'm torn between love and discomfort because his style is at times prosaic which seems odd because at the same time he paints fantastic imagery. In some stories its an obvious effect he's striving for, for example he imitates religious texts and mysticism in The Gods of Pegana, yet at the same time it can throw you if you aren't paying very deliberate attention to every word.

The Sword of Welleran - 5/10
I didn't enjoy this one as much as the others I read. There's a great conversation between two convicted prisoners who are given the chance of a reprieve if they venture into a sacrosanct ravine; otherwise I might have given it a lesser score.

The Kith of the Elf-Folk - 8.75/10
My favourite of his that I've read so far, besides the prose poems. It's about a marsh faerie who, unexpectedly for its kind, suddenly desires to have a soul. The Elf kin pity it and make it a soul made of dew bespangled gossamer, at which point it becomes a young and beautiful women, who was cold and frightened. She is handed from one thing to the next (not many things) and never refuses because she knows no better, but always she thinks back on the perilous waters of the marsh and their beauty and soon regrets having a soul and wishes only to shed herself of it and return from whence she came.

The Ghosts - 6.25/10
This one is about a man staying at his brother's whom, is convinced that ghosts exist. He doesn't and vows that even if he should see them he wouldn't be convinced of their existance. He tests his theory and witnesses a strange cavalcade of spirits with hounds in tow which represent their sins. He is seized by one the hounds, the sin of murder, and he gains a frank urge to shoot his brother with a revolver; to daub his face with flower and make it seem like his brother scared him by pretending to be a ghost as excuse for his actions. The climax of the story is so very glib that I couldn't be too hard on the absurdity of the rest of the tale.

i haven't read all the stories but Juvenal Nyx and The Therapist are my favorites so far. the story Goblin Lake wasn't to my liking and Leif in the Wind was too strange of a take to be that short. it's a good way to pass the afternoon and attempt to avoid doing chores.