A couple of weeks ago I posted some tips and opinions for becoming more well-read. It was pointed out (by Septicemia, visit her blog here) that I didn’t talk about short stories. I really should have talked about short stories. They’re not only a low risk way to find new authors and genres to explore, they’re great for when you’re too busy or stressed out to get lost in a full length novel. Instead of writing a thousand words to convince you or trying to make a master list of stories you “must read,” I realized a series of shorter posts with suggestions and links might be the best way to go about this. Since I’ve already made a couple of Friday posts about things I’m enjoying, I thought I might rotate in some Friday short story suggestions for your darkly academic weekends.

So, without further ado :

1. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A classic dark tale of isolation and mental illness. Download from Project Gutenberg or read online at OwlEyes. Or listen to CGP Grey read it on YouTube.
2. Valedictorian by N. K. Jemisin. A nice tight bit of contemporary sci fi set in a high school. Read online at lightspeed magazine.
3. The Schoolmistress by Anton Chekhov. Short and poignant. Read online or download from LivrosGratis.
4. A Telephone Call by Dorothy Parker. A tense but funny peek into a desperate girl’s stream of consciousness. Read online at American Literature.
5. Afterward by Edith Wharton. Wharton is best known for elegant novels of manners but she also wrote many elegant ghost stories and this is one of them. Read online at Classic Short Stories.