The story shelf

Follow your curiosity.

A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.

170 stories · Selected from the catalog · Page 8 of 8

Science fiction

Death of a Spaceman

Walter M. Miller Jr.

A retired spaceman dying at home waits to hear one final launch while his family struggles with what his life in space meant to them.

30 min · Bittersweet

More details

Themes: Death · Memory · Family
Settings: The home
Tone: Wry
Style: Plain · Conversational
Pace: Leisurely
Written for: For adults
Craft: Interior monologue

Horror & supernatural

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving

A gangly schoolmaster courts a farmer’s daughter in a drowsy Hudson Valley town haunted by a headless horseman.

55 min · Eerie

More details

Themes: Superstition · Unrequited love
Settings: Villages & small towns · The countryside
Tone: Wry
Style: Descriptive · Ornate
Pace: Leisurely
Occasion: Festivals & carnivals
Written for: For all ages
Motifs: The mysterious stranger