Real Twilight Zone vibes for this week's commute-sized episode! The First One by Herbert D. Kastle featuring the story of a family man returning from an incredible adventure to his home town.

I. Love. Science Fiction. So this week I'm featuring the granddaddy of SciFi crunchy goodness, H.G. Wells and what totally feels like a precursor to his famous War of the Worlds story in The Crystal Egg originally published in Pearson's Magazine in 1896.

The absolute shortest Sherlock Holmes and Watson story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for this week's episode. Originally written in June 1924 to be included in Queen Mary's Doll House. Search for pictures, it's truly incredible... Extra shorty this week while I'm on vacation but back next Thursday with a great H.G. Wells next week!

Today's episode is a dramtic reading of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe. Reading this when I was younger, this was the first real bit of writing where I got a taste of what real lunacy might feel like. Great short story and I remain fairly tall by conventional standards to I present to you... Tall Man, Short Stories Episode 9!

Today, I'm taking you back to my 9th grade english class (shout out to Capital High School in Olympia,WA!) for Civil War Veteran and Author Ambrose Bierce's short tale of an interminable moment in time.

Murder most foul! Mystery and intrique flow through this short detective story by Dickens. Could the villian be the sinisterly named Mr. Julius Slinkton?! I might even go a step beyond villian and declare him to be both a cad AND a bounder with the trouble he gets into and causes for others... This short story was originally published in 1859.

Real tear jerker this week. I love Oscar Wilde and this early story of his carries the emotional weight that he's able to write so well. This short story was originally published in The Happy Prince and Other Tales (sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) and was first published in May 1888.

Mr. Samuel Langhorne Clemens AKA Mark Twain's time to shine! This week's short story selection is the basis for many stage and screen adaptations out there including Brewster's Millions and elements of Trading Places. Some excellent turn-of-the-century social strata observations by my main man Twain.

Terrible person, great storyteller. That's H.P. in a nutshell. By request, here's a more bite-size edition of Tall Man, Short Stories for those short commuters I'm so envious of... I present this early entry into Lovecraft's cosmic horror oeuvre featuring the Fish God Dagon.

Want to consider the concept of mortality in a new and frightening way? This weeks's short story selection is 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in Collier's Magazine on May 27, 1922.