Amph Great short stories of the greater writers

So, has anyone read the little stories by all our favorites? Anyone know the origin of the Star of Bethlehem? What it means to walk away from Omelas? Discuss it here!

 

What is this Cascade Point, that they out in Zahn's author bio every book?

 

Oh, Tolkien's Leaf by Niggle was delightful.

 

My favorite is Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star," in which a Jesuit priest finds the holographic records of a utopian civilization wiped out by a supernova. He wonders how God could have been so cruel as to destroy it, but the real blow is when he dates the supernova explosion and realizes that the civilization was wiped out in order to provide the Star of Bethlehem.

 

I'll have to read it. I love Jesuits

Thanks for giving me the ending, though.

 

Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man was my first intro into Scifi shorts. The Long Rain and The City are my favorites, and The Veldt was the first story I ever read that had to do with virtual reality. In fact, it shows what a Star Trek holodeck could do if the safety protocols are removed.

My fav Clarke shorts would be The Nine Billion Names of God in which monks use a computer to bring about the end of the Universe; Sunjammer which portrays a solar sail race around the Moon, and The Sentinel which is the story that 2001:A Space Odyssey is based on.

Despite Brin's horrid opinion of Star Wars I think he has a great collection of short stories in a book called Otherness which I highyl recommend.

 

"Greater writers" might be a bit controversial, but never mind.

Asimov's Nightfall and The Last Question.
Clarke's Nine Billion Names of God.

 

I loved all of Bradbury's short stories in the Martian Chronicles. I also really enjoyed a few from HP Lovecraft.

 

One of the scariest supernatural authors ever, M. R. James.

1. Casting The Runes (based on Aleister Crowley, made into a classic horror film, and the finest short story I've ever read.)

2. The Ash-Tree

3. Number 13

4. The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (Lovecraftian)

5. The Tractate Middoth

6. The Mezzotint

7. Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book

In that order, honestly pursue all of James's short tales. IMO, a better writer than Lovecraft in most catagories.

 

Alfred Bester "Hobson's Choice" i think is a really good one.

 

Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man was very good, as was Arthur C. Clarke's anthology The Sentinel.