LitReading - Short Stories and Timeless Tales

Here is a relatively obscure tale of suspense for the scary season.

After checking into a small hotel to convalesce for the summer, a man becomes curious about an enigmatic guest who has taken up residence and the other end of the hall.

About the story:

As I can only read stories in the public domain, you might wonder about the reference to a Hitler mustache. That’s because this story was published in 1934 and the copyright was not renewed.

Julius Long was a lawyer and author of a few horror and detective stories. His work is not well known, but several of his stories, like this one, are quite good. He was not a prolific writer and died fairly young at age 47.

Every October, we creep into the scary season on Litreading, digging deep into the trove of classic horror tales from around the world. Some of the most frightening stories of all time were penned more than 100 years ago by authors like Mary Shelly and Edgar Allen Poe. One of the greats of the early 20th century was H.P. Lovecraft, and this is one of his earliest tales.

During H. P. Lovecraft’s short life (he died at age 46), he barely eked out an existence by ghostwriting and editing the work of others. Yet, as he struggled financially, he penned in obscurity what would soon be seen as some of the greatest gothic horror stories of all time.

How can we best learn life’s secrets during our short lives? Is the best student the one with eyes fixed on the words in a book or focused on the world around them? That is the fundamental question of this profound short tale.

Often, it is the shortest stories that impart the most profound notions. This tale is one of many thoughtful, brief short stories penned by late 19th-century American feminist author Kate Chopin. Chopin was a prolific writer, who published more than 100 short stories and novels before her death in 1904.

Here is a story for those times when you only have a few minutes for a story. While not long itself, this incredibly Kafkaesque parable may leave you pondering its meaning long after you have listened to "Before the Law."

Bohemian author Franz Kafka is considered one of the greats. Few storytellers have had their names turned into adjectives. Orwellian, maybe Hitchcockian come to mind. But the best known of these is Kafkaesque, whose meaning is elusive, like that of many Kafka stories. I have my own somewhat religious interpretation of “Before the Law.” I will leave it to you to ponder your own. 

This tale flips the traditional "boy meets girl" fairy-tale narrative by introducing a strong-willed nature loving girl who puts her own desires and beliefs ahead of those of a young man she meets in the woods.

The child of a rural family doctor in Maine, Sarah Orne Jewett was writing short stories professionally from age 18. Most of her work was purchased by The Atlantic magazine, with the glaring exception of "The White Heron." The story went of the become the title piece of her first book and her most popular story.

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