Questions tagged [short-stories]
For about a fictional work too small to be called a [novel] or [novella] - usually less than 10-20 thousand words and no chapters. Use to either identify the media on a [story-identification] question or disambiguate works where the tag covers the short story and its form in other media.. If you are looking for a particular anthology of short stories, use the [anthology-book] tag instead.
5,437 questions
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Fantasy story from F&SF Magazine about a djinn, and a sheik's descendants and nation becoming wealthy by water transforming into oil
I’m hoping someone here can help me identify a fantasy story I read sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. I believe it appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (F&SF), though ...
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3
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2
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Modern version of Poe's "Masque of the Red Death"
Several years ago (pre-Covid) I read a short story that was an updated version of Masque of the Red Death that was set on Long Island (the Hamptons?) and was told from a security guard's point of view....
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12
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0
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Looking for 1-page sci-fi comic (mid-1990s): tribe on asteroid destroyed by humans — “Great shadow is coming”
I read a single-page science-fiction comic sometime in the mid-1990s.
Two humans in a spaceship approach an asteroid, assuming it’s uninhabited.
On the surface lives a small tribal people — one of ...
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14
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1
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Landing at a ghost airfield where pilots of both sides greet you
There is a short story about a wartime pilot who flies into the clouds and sights a ghost airfield (although he doesn't realize it's a ghost airfield) where pilots of both sides have landed and are ...
- 409
17
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1
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Short story about machine that shows clients' fantasies
I read this short story or chapter for my philosophy class back in 2013 and I've never been able to find it again. On the syllabus it's simply titled "Welfare Department" and says its a pdf ...
- 187
11
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1
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Short story about last man on Earth travelling back in time to prevent war
I was young (early 2000s) when I read it so my memory may be shaky. It was part of an anthology. The book itself may be quite old.
The story opens with a dialogue between two scientist/intellectuals ...
- 119
13
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3
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2k
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A Fantasy-horror short story about an old bed-ridden woman who “stole” the body of her young maid, and what ensued
I read this short story in a collection, at least 25 years ago. The collection was quite possibly much older. I think I read it in French, but I am not sure. But if so, the whole collection was ...
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1
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A poetical short story about bringing matter from the Sun back to Earth
I read this short story more than 50 years ago, and IIRC it was already a "great classic" at that time.
A spaceship is sent to the Sun to bring back some “Sun-matter" to Earth so one ...
- 31.8k
18
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1
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Short story set in a future where an authoritarian government has outlawed psychology and therapy
I read a short story in an anthology. It is set in a future where an authoritarian government has outlawed psychology and therapy. The protagonist is a former psychologist who agrees to treat a man ...
- 403
16
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1
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Person from Ancient Greece is brought via time machine to the present day
I would like to know the title of a science fiction story in which a person from Ancient Greece is brought via time machine to the present day, and then the world begins to behave according to this ...
7
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Late 1980s-early 1990s short story about a second American Civil War
A short story composed of a series of diary/log entries explaining the way the Second Civil War erupted in America. Tales about what started it, who the antagonists were, stories of specific battles ...
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Time-travel story where a team disguised as 19th-century U.S. cavalry try to find where a Spanish expedition was defeated
I read this in the 1990s, probably (but not definitely) in an anthology.
I don't remember much of the set-up, but I do recall the protagonists were cosplaying as U.S. cavalry while trying to chase ...
- 161k
8
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0
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Short story, maybe from a 2000AD special, with an enslaved human escaping an alien ship and finding an AI-run human-built ship hidden in an asteroid
I'm looking for a short story, I thought it might have been a Starblazer novel, but now I think it might have been in a 2000ad special. It starts with humanity enslaved (maybe after a war) by aliens, ...
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17
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1
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Sci fi short story from the late 1800's to early 1900's where people no longer walk
I read an awesome short story a while back and am trying to find it again. It was written, I'm pretty sure, in the late 1890s, but I can't remember for sure. It was about a man who lived in a society ...
- 179
14
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1
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280
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Story about using a force field to contain the pressure of the Jovian atmosphere
Looking for a sci Fi short story from around the 1960's or so, the plot has two sides, first a scientist that had discovered how to create a force field. The problem with the discovery is that as you ...
- 141
21
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1
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Short Story. Every time a child is born, the oldest person in the world dies
The population of the world reaches a certain level. A number between 5 and 6 billion IIRC, so that might date the story. After this level is reached the population never increases as every time a ...
- 11.8k
8
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0
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Story about a holographic reunion of human-descended children from across the galaxy
I am trying desperately to find a science fiction text (likely a short story anthology or a digital text read online) that I read between the ages of 9 and 14 (so before 2015). I believe it was in ...
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13
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0
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Short story that ends with a quote "All I wanted was Gilgamesh" (at least I think the name of the planet was Gilgamesh)
This is a short story from a while ago, probably in an anthology. I read it sometime between 1996 and 2010, but it could have been from earlier. I've flipped through and haven't found it in the 14th ...
- 131
11
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0
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Science fiction story from a 1970s elementary school reader
I'm trying to identify a story. The story was in a school reader in or around 1973. It begins with a line of people who arrived on foot, thin and sickly, standing in the desert at a chain-link fence ...
- 111
13
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1
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Anthology of short stories about the planets in our solar system
I am looking to find an anthology of short stories that contained a story about each planet in our solar system. The only two stories I can remember are "Sunrise on Mercury" and "...
16
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1
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Short story where the protagonist discovers a truck driver's crime by accessing parallel universes
I'm looking for a short story in which a truck driver commits a rape and the protagonist manages to discover the crime because he has the ability to access parallel universes.
I read the story online, ...
15
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1
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What is the actual role of the "watchers" in "The Final Days" by David Langford?
I recently asked a story-identification, A SF short story about “spy cameras” (“observers” ?) sent from the future to observe a present close to ours, focusing on a candidate for President, to find a ...
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11
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1
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Analog story - nuclear bombs used to neutralize global warming
I'm remembering a 1980s-era Analog short story, in which Soviet and American generals conspire to use nuclear bombs in some uninhabited area to cause a nuclear-winter effect, neutralizing global ...
- 77.3k
11
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0
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Looking for a story about Soviet/Americans trying to work out secret of British success
Help I am looking for a science-fiction short story I read in a collection in the 1980s or early 1990s. I think it was an older collection so it could’ve been from the 1970s or earlier for some reason ...
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10
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1
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Woman from bubble city where all men are infertile meets fertile man from another city
I'm looking for a short story I read before 1997, probably in an anthology.
People live in mostly-sealed cities (or towns, or something). They can travel between them but nobody lives in the areas ...
