An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose BierceA Confederate sympathizer stands on a railroad bridge with a rope around his neck. Then the rope breaks.
17 min · Suspenseful
The story shelf
Follow your curiosity.
A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
Fifty Grand
Ernest HemingwayA veteran boxer plans to lose the fight that will end his career—but keeping the money may demand one last act of courage.
37 min · Suspenseful
The Battler
Ernest HemingwayAfter being thrown from a freight train, Nick Adams finds food and company beside a campfire—but the prizefighter waiting there is not safe.
13 min · Unsettling
The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife
Ernest HemingwayA doctor’s claim to some driftwood is challenged by the lumberman who knows exactly where the logs came from.
6 min · Unsettling
The Killers
Ernest HemingwayTwo strangers take over a small-town lunchroom and wait for a former prizefighter who knows exactly why they have come.
13 min · Suspenseful
The Undefeated
Ernest HemingwayAn aging bullfighter takes a cheap night fight in Madrid, determined to prove that the old skill and courage are still in him.
47 min · Suspenseful
Ferdinando Eboli
Mary ShelleyA Neapolitan officer's secret mission makes him a stranger to everyone he loves.
32 min · Suspenseful
The Evil Eye
Mary ShelleyA feared Albanian bandit carries a child across the mountains, leaving a family to chase a terrifying rumor.
35 min · Adventurous
The Heir of Mondolfo
Mary ShelleyA despised prince secretly marries the peasant woman who restores his faith in the world.
56 min · Suspenseful
The Pole
Mary ShelleyA Polish exile in Naples finds love while carrying papers that could imperil an empire.
55 min · Suspenseful
A Blackjack Bargainer
O. HenryA ruined lawyer is offered cash for his inherited feud, forcing an old mountain honor code into a startling new bargain.
25 min · Suspenseful
A Double-Dyed Deceiver
O. HenryA fugitive from a Texas gunfight is offered a dangerous new identity in a distant coastal country.
19 min · Suspenseful
A Retrieved Reformation
O. HenryA celebrated safecracker tries to build an honest life under a new name, but his old skills are not finished with him.
13 min · Hopeful
After Twenty Years
O. HenryTwo old friends keep a twenty-year appointment, but the lives they built have carried them to opposite sides of the law.
6 min · Bittersweet
Hearts and Hands
O. HenryOn a train crossing the West, a chance reunion forces a young man to choose between truth and the image he once hoped to become.
4 min · Bittersweet
Holding Up a Train
O. HenryA former Southwestern outlaw explains how train robberies work—and why the life is not worth the price.
21 min · Suspenseful
The Caballero’s Way
O. HenryA ruthless Texas outlaw, a determined ranger, and the woman between them move toward a reckoning in the thorny frontier.
21 min · Suspenseful
The Clarion Call
O. HenryA detective recognizes an old friend as a murderer, but an unpaid debt makes arrest more complicated than duty should allow.
12 min · Suspenseful
The Hiding of Black Bill
O. HenryA talkative sheepherder takes a job on a lonely Texas ranch where a notorious train robber may be hiding nearby.
21 min · Suspenseful
The Roads We Take
O. HenryAfter a daring train robbery, two partners must decide who gets the only horse capable of carrying them away.
8 min · Suspenseful
Defense Mech
Ray BradburyA terrified Mars-bound crewman is given a mental refuge so convincing that his childhood memories become the only world he can see.
20 min · Suspenseful
Jonah of the Jove-Run
Ray BradburyAn aging, disgraced navigator claims he can guide a vital supply ship through an asteroid belt after its computers fail.
25 min · Hopeful
Lazarus Come Forth
Ray BradburyA grieving morgue-ship attendant recovers a scientist who has floated frozen through space for three centuries—and may hold the key to a war.
19 min · Suspenseful
The Monster Maker
Ray BradburyStranded on an asteroid with minutes of oxygen left, a patrolman and his camera-obsessed partner confront monsters that may exist only in the mind.
25 min · Adventurous