Best Short Stories - Welcome to the 500 Ironic Stories Resource Pages
You have landed on one of the resource pages for the 500 Ironic Stories writing project. This project is an ongoing attempt to write great short stories with ironic themes and twists. To see a full list of stories in the collection, visit our Homepage. You can also listen to our stories on any Podcast platform. We would love for you to Subscribe to receive weekly updates for newly posted stories.
In addition to our own story collection, this website provides resources for short story readers and writers. This page is dedicated to recommending a list of “best” or classic short stories.
Best Short Stories
What are the best short stories ever written? That is a very difficult question to answer. Every reader’s favorite story is different. Some topics simply resonate with one person while someone else might not feel the same connection. Taste in stories depends on life experience and personality. It is very hard to write a story which appeals to everyone.
While accepting the fact that some stories will affect certain readers more than others, there are a few universally loved and respected stories that have survived the test of time. The ten stories listed below have proven to be especially provocative of both thought and emotion. All are by American authors, writing in English.
There are certainly many more stories from around the world which can be considered classics and be added to a list of best short stories, but we offer this select list of classical short stories. They can be used for educational purposes or simply for pleasure reading.
The list below contains the title of the story, its author, and a short summary of the story’s subject. Some of the stories contain links to webpages sharing more information about the stories or their authors.
List of Best Short Stories by American Authors
1. “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
A science fiction short story written as a chronicle about a house that stands intact in a California city that has otherwise been obliterated by a nuclear bomb, and then is destroyed by the forces of nature.
Destruction of a Home by a Nuclear Blast
2. “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
An unnamed male character ventures out in the subzero forest followed by a native dog. He ignores warnings from an older man about the dangers of hiking alone in extreme cold. At the end, he freezes to death after his fire is doused and he is unable to start it again.
In a small American town, the local residents are excited and nervous when they wake up on the morning of the lottery in which every family must participate, and no one wants to win…
In a town full of suffering poor people, a swallow meets the statue of the late “Happy Prince” who has never seen true sorrow…
5. “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway
An American man and a young woman meet at a Spanish train station while waiting for a train to Madrid. The girl compares the nearby hills to white elephants…
6. “A Service of Love” by O. Henry
Joe and Delia meet at an artsy workshop filled with people with similar interests and backgrounds. The couple falls in love and are married soon after. They don’t want each other to do anything besides their art, so they claim that they have found work when the need for money arises…
The only person Emily has in her life is her father who does not allow her to marry. After he dies, she is grieving and refusing to believe that he is dead…
8. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by F. O’Connor
A family is planning to go to Florida on a vacation; however, The Grandmother (as she’s called throughout the story) is concerned that a convict called The Misfit is headed the same way…
9. “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
A young husband and wife deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. The story’s ending has a very unexpected and ironic twist…
10. “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury
The Hadley family lives in a house called “the Happylife Home,” which is automated and filled with machines that help them with completing everyday tasks. The two children especially enjoy time in the “nursery”, a virtual reality room able to realistically reproduce any place they imagine. The parents are considering turning off the house and moving to the countryside; however, the kids beg them not to do it and the parents allow them to play in the nursery one last time…
Best Short Stories from the 500 Ironic Stories Collection
While it is still too soon to consider any of the stories in the 500 Ironic Stories Collection as classics which have stood the test of time, there are a few which have already emerged as reader favorites. This is based on ratings feedback as well as popularity measured by reader visits to a story’s page. The list of stories below describes three of our most popular short stories. We hope you enjoy them as much as other readers have. Simply click on the links and you will be taken directly to the page for each story in the story collection.
While trying to teach his clever granddaughter a lesson about the worth of gold and silver, a grandfather ends up getting a very expensive lesson of his own.
After moving into a South Carolina neighborhood, a woman feels ambushed when asked to exchange Christmas Cookies. Then she realizes what the cookies are for.
Two lost hikers refuse to answer a call from rescuers because they don’t recognize the number. Will they answer a number unknown?