short stories for adults please

[crisgal]

i never seem to have time to read books these days, but i have recently bought a second hand copy of stories from the old radio show "The man in black"
I'm enjoying it because they are such short, easy to read stories, some only five or six pages.
Can anyone recommend anything similar that might be a bit more up to date?

[MsEVP]

Crisgal, used to love listening to Valentine Dyall, the Man in Black, long before your time probably.

I have a book of short stories not yet seen the light of day. I`ll let you know when I`ve done a Lulu with them,

Cheers

Tina

[Schutzengel]

I love short stories too, and find the best place to find them is a secondhand bookshop A proper booksellers not a charity shop. Hope you find something you like.

[LeMarchand]

None of these will be up your street if you hate "fantasy" fiction (by which I mean fiction that most would label SciFi or Fantasy, but doesn't necessarily meet the stereotypes) and the authors also write novels, but you could do worse than seeking out the short stories of:

Neil Gaiman
Michael Marshall Smith
George R R Martin

[crisgal]

what's a lulu, tina??!

Schutzengel: I know a fantastic bookshop for that kind of thing - in grasmere in the Lakes. I'm going in a few weeks so I'll have a browse!

Did Neil Gaiman write something with Terry Pratchet once? The name rings a bell.

[MsEVP]

Sorry, Crisgal, Lulu is a company that lets you print your own books, one by one!

[shaneystar2]

Not really a fan of short stories but spotted a book in the library recently by one of my favourite crime writers Peter Lovesey,entitled Murder on the Short List .
Fantistic Fiction has this to say


This is Peter Lovesey's "Short List" of his best ever short stories, including the Crime Writers' Association's best short story of 2007, "Needle Match", and featuring some of his most popular detectives - Bertie, Prince of Wales, Sergeant Cribb and Rosemary and Thyme. Surprises are guaranteed, as elephants appear in a London side street; a gang of geriatrics goes on a hearing aid heist and an underworld boss searches for a harp. Join the author in a brush with Adolf Hitler and take a walk on Beachy Head, the UK's favourite suicide spot.

If you like crime etc it was very good and there were some very amusing stories with a twist in the tail .Ideal bedtime reading where you could read one and put it aside instead of hanging on until the small hours because it was unputdownable as I often tend to do :).

[123everton]

Try "From A Cottager's Sketch Book" by Liang Shih Chiu, a gropup of stories about nothing in particular, or "China Witness" and "The Good Women Of China" by Xinran look further down the section for more information.

[ladyalex]

Roald Dahl wrote some really good short stories for adults..
Tales of the Unexpected , The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and many , many more. Google him for more details.

[LeMarchand]

Gaiman wrote "Good Omens" with TP. I'm not a Pratchett fan, and could never get into it.

[snorpah]

jeffrey archer has wrote 2 books of short stories - i think 1 is called a red herring and one called a sting in the tail (altough that could be wong)

[crisgal]

thanks everyone, some ideas worth a look!
I'm afraid i couldn't read anything by Geoffrey Archer!

[barrybutler]

The collected ghost stories by M R James are classic and brilliant!