MIR Podcast

In this very short story, Kate Chopin explores how the hallucinatory power of the cigarette enables the narrator to experience a disturbing dream in which she is abandoned by her lover. 

This short story by O. Henry narrates the love story between two rubbers, people who go to accident sites in New York City. After meeting in an accident, William Pry falls in love with Violet Seymour they part their separate ways, but cant stop thinking about each other. After a desperate search by William, they encounter and start dating, and finally they marry each other. Take a listen to find out what happens next...

Edwardian humorist HH Munro (Saki) is still read today for short stories describing incredible situations so unusual as to get us laughing. Perhaps the most celebrated of all the out-talking stories is "A Defensive Diamond" in which the lie is elevated to an art form. Have a listen to see how the story ends...

The Shirt-Collar" is a short-short story offering an important lesson: Be careful how you act, for some day you may find yourself in the rag-bag!

Yuki-Onna is our favorite Japanese ghost story published in Hearn's collection, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904).

'The Man in the Brown Coat' by Sherwood Anderson is about a man who grew up in a poor family and who achieved a success in his life: he writes historical books and he owns a house.

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterised by their economy of style and efficient effortless dénouement. Have a listen to "The Will" by Guy de Maupassant.

In The Confession by Guy de Maupassant we have the theme of commitment, regret, guilt, jealousy, loss, grief, forgiveness and acceptance.

"The Wrong House" is a short story by Guy de Maupassant. Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents.

Guy de Maupassant's ''An Uncomfortable Bed'' is a short story about a man who attempts to avoid a practical joke and only brings new problems on himself.