Joy
Anton ChekhovA minor clerk bursts home ecstatic that his name has appeared in print, whatever the reason.
3 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Pride · Honor & reputation
- Tone
- Ironic
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
The story shelf
Follow your curiosity.
A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
How quickly the story moves.
Ladies
Anton ChekhovA school director promises a disabled teacher a lifeline, then discovers how quickly principle yields to well-connected pressure.
6 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · Hypocrisy · Law & justice
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
Mari d’Elle
Anton ChekhovAn opera star’s quiet night is interrupted by a husband whose grand business plans always require her money.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Marriage · Wealth & money · Self-deception
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
Martyrs
Anton ChekhovA lively young wife turns a minor illness into a household drama, while her devoted husband guards a patient who enjoys the part.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Self-deception · Illness · Art & artists
- Settings
- The home · Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Minds in Ferment
Anton ChekhovTwo men look up at a flock of starlings, and an entire town manufactures a crisis around their gaze.
6 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Absurdist
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Oh! The Public
Anton ChekhovA ticket inspector vows to reform, but each attempt to perform his duty only makes a sick passenger’s night worse.
6 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · Self-deception · Addiction & dependence
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
- Motifs
- Journeys & quests
Overdoing It
Anton ChekhovA frightened surveyor invents a fearsome reputation to protect himself on a night journey—and makes his driver even more afraid.
8 min · Humorous
More details
- Settings
- Wilderness
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Journeys & quests
Polinka
Anton ChekhovA dressmaker’s daughter shops for trimmings while a devoted clerk warns that the student she loves may never treat her as an equal.
8 min · Melancholy
More details
- Themes
- Unrequited love · Class & poverty · Honor & reputation
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces · The city
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Conversational · Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
- Motifs
- Love triangle
Strong Impressions
Anton ChekhovA boastful young lover challenges a lawyer to argue him out of marriage—and discovers how quickly conviction can yield to eloquence.
9 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Self-deception · Appearance vs reality
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Frame story · Told in dialogue
The Album
Anton ChekhovA pompous official receives a tribute from his subordinates whose solemn meaning may not survive the trip home.
4 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · Pride · Hypocrisy
- Settings
- Offices & workplaces · The home
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
The Death of a Government Clerk
Anton ChekhovOne accidental sneeze sends a timid clerk into an escalating panic over rank, manners, and official displeasure.
4 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · Honor & reputation · Obsession
- Settings
- The city · Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Plain · Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
The Jeune Premier
Anton ChekhovA vain provincial actor’s boast about a conquest turns dangerous when one listener knows the woman and demands satisfaction.
8 min · Humorous
More details
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Conversational
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Told in dialogue
The Lion and the Sun
Anton ChekhovA small-town mayor sees a visiting Persian dignitary as his best chance to acquire the decoration he covets.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Ambition · Pride · Honor & reputation
- Settings
- Villages & small towns
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
The Orator
Anton ChekhovA gifted speechmaker is hired to honor a dead civil servant, but his polished tribute proves more reusable than anyone expected.
6 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · Hypocrisy · Appearance vs reality
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Funerals & wakes
- Written for
- For adults
The Shoemaker and the Devil
Anton ChekhovOn Christmas Eve, a resentful shoemaker meets a strange customer and gets a chance to trade poverty for wealth.
12 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Class & poverty · Greed · Temptation
- Settings
- The city · Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Darkly comic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Occasion
- Christmas
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Allegorical
- Motifs
- Deal with the devil
The Swedish Match
Anton ChekhovA vanished rake, a locked room, and one foreign match send two investigators racing toward an elaborate murder theory.
35 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Law & justice · Appearance vs reality · Self-deception
- Settings
- The countryside · Country houses & estates
- Tone
- Absurdist
- Style
- Conversational · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Whitebrow
Anton ChekhovA starving she-wolf raids a forest hut for a lamb and carries off an unexpected captive with no sense of danger.
10 min · Playful
More details
- Themes
- Nature & wilderness · Parenthood · Survival
- Settings
- Wilderness · The countryside
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For children
Who Was to Blame?
Anton ChekhovA Latin teacher decides to train a kitten as he trains pupils, with lessons that teach fear more effectively than skill.
6 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Autonomy & control · Memory
- Settings
- The home
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Craft
- Allegorical
Hellhounds of the Cosmos
Clifford D. SimakAs invulnerable creatures overrun Earth, a scientist sends ninety-nine volunteers into the fourth dimension to strike at their source.
44 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Survival · Science & progress · Transformation
- Settings
- The city · Wilderness
- Tone
- Earnest
- Style
- Plain · Descriptive
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
Mr. Meek Plays Polo
Clifford D. SimakA timid traveler is mistaken for a space-polo expert, then forced into a deadly match with his ship and reputation at stake.
46 min · Humorous
More details
- Settings
- The frontier
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Plain · Dialect-rich
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Wagers & gambles
Mr. Meek—Musketeer
Clifford D. SimakA mild bookkeeper’s quiet tour of the Solar System turns him into an asteroid-town marshal with an alien beast for backup.
45 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Courage & cowardice · Transformation · Friendship
- Settings
- The frontier
- Tone
- Wry
- Style
- Plain · Dialect-rich
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- The mysterious stranger
The Shipshape Miracle
Clifford D. SimakA stranded fugitive boards a living spaceship and begins planning how to make its extraordinary power his own.
17 min · Suspenseful
More details
- Themes
- Greed · Science & progress · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- Other worlds · Space & spacecraft
- Tone
- Ironic
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
- Motifs
- Forbidden experiments
War No. 81-Q
Cordwainer SmithIn a future where nations rent battlefields and fight by remote control, an untested pilot is handed three warships at once.
5 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Bureaucracy · War & peace · Fate & chance
- Settings
- The battlefield · Offices & workplaces
- Tone
- Deadpan
- Style
- Plain
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults
A Tale of Jerusalem
Edgar Allan PoeDuring the Roman siege of Jerusalem, three temple officials pay the soldiers below for animals to use in sacrifice.
7 min · Humorous
More details
- Themes
- Hypocrisy · Appearance vs reality
- Settings
- The city
- Tone
- Ironic
- Pace
- Brisk
- Written for
- For adults