Been awhile (three months!) since I was able to participate in one of these Top Ten Tuesdays! Today, the topic is our favorite novellas and short stories. I’m not a huge fan of shorter works – prefer longer ones – but I do have a couple that come immediately to mind that I’ve loved over the years. In no particular order:

1. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka – Read in college and fell in love. What’s not to love about a surrealist story about men transforming into bugs and having daddy issues?

2. A Game of Clue by Steven Milhauser – This bizarre story splits between a family playing Clue and the make up lives of the Clue characters. It just really struck home with me and has stayed in my memory ever since first reading it pre-blogging days.

3. Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson – This is one of those novellas that would make no sense except as part of the series that it comes from. I love the series, and I love this further glimpse into particular characters’ worlds and motivations.

4. Snow Glass Apples by Neil Gaiman – a Snow White retelling that is gorgeously atmospheric

5. Amphigorey (collections) by Edward Gorey – I could never just pick one Gorey story. He’s the best.

6. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson – I had to limit myself to two entries for Sanderson today. This one is not part of a series or related to other works (directly). Turns out Sanderson writes standalone stories/novellas just as well as ones related to series. He’s just brilliant all around.

7. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson – I can still remember the chills I got the first time I read this story. If you don’t already know the twist, you seriously need to read this one.

8. The Red Tree by Shaun Tan – I haven’t been a fan of most of Tan’s graphic short stories, but this one blew me away. Somehow I lost my copy of it years ago and I desperately need to find a new one.

9. Stars Above (collection) by Marissa Meyer – I suppose this is kinda cheating because again these are all stories relating to a particular series. However, they’re all wonderfully written and I just adored them. I couldn’t pick out a specific favorite.

10. The Apple Tree by Daphne du Maurier – Um…truth time. I was listing short stories and novellas I loved, and I came up with the above nine. And I couldn’t think of a tenth off the top of my head. I went back through my blog and found the collection by du Maurier that I read, and apparently I loved this story more than I could express. However, I don’t actually remember the story anymore. Must be time to find it again and re-experience its glory!

Are you a short story fan? What are some of your favorites?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.