Tag Archives: Short Stories

Personal Anthologies

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

For the last five years, the writer Jonathan Gibbs has curated a project called A Personal Anthology, where guest editors provide a dozen short story selections. Sometimes the anthologies are Greatest Hits, sometimes they’re personal favorites or central to the … Continue reading →

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Library of Short Stories

Posted on April 11, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I recently discovered The Library of Short Stories  a website which compiles and shares out-of-copyright short fiction. The free site collects short stories across various genres. There’s classic Conan Doyle,Lovecraft, Dickens, Poe, and so much more. Here’s what the site … Continue reading →

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“How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It was announced last week that a previously unpublished book by Leonard Cohen—rejected by two publishers and then set aside—will be published this October by Grove Press. The novel, A Ballet of Lepers, will be published with fifteen short stories and … Continue reading →

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Before the Law stands a doorkeeper

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

Before the Law stands a doorkeeper. To this doorkeeper there comes a man from the country and prays for admittance to the Law. But the doorkeeper says that he cannot grant admittance at the moment. The man thinks it over … Continue reading →

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Nemo me impune lacessit

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

In this age of mindless memes, it’s refreshing to run across an unexpected Edgar Allan Poe reference. While not as well known as the Murders in the Rue Morgue or the Tell- Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado is just … Continue reading →

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there is nothing on earth that forgetfulness does not fade

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

“Mutations” by Jorge Luis Borges Translated by Andrew Hurley In a hallway I saw a sign with an arrow pointing the way, and I was struck by the thought that that inoffensive symbol had once been a thing of iron, … Continue reading →

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Three-Paragraph Problem

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“A Problem” by Jorge Luis Borges Translated by Andrew Hurley Let us imagine that a piece of paper with a text in Arabic on it is discovered in Toledo, and that paleographers declare the text to have been written by … Continue reading →

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August Heat (can drive you mad)

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

William F. Harvey (1885–1937) wrote the timely tale August Heat  which concerns a fateful encounter at the end of a sweltering Summer day. August 20th, 190–. I have had what I believe to be the most remarkable day in my … Continue reading →

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Decameron 2020

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

The New York Times magazine recently published a Decameron for our plague times. The  29 free short stories were written by some of today’s most acclaimed writers. The project editor wrote: Inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s “The Decameron,” a 14th-century collection … Continue reading →

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A Tale for Plague Times

Posted on July 19, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

“The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. … Continue reading →

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