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Doris Lessing: An Old Woman and her Cat
An Old Woman and her Cat is a short story by Doris Lessing, published in 1972 in the New American Review. It tells the story of Hetty, an older woman marginalized by her family and society, who survives as best she can on the fringes of London. Proud, eccentric, and…
H. G. Wells: The Flowering of the Strange Orchid
The Flowering of the Strange Orchid is a short story by H. G. Wells, first published on August 2, 1894, in Pall Mall Budget. The story follows Winter-Wedderburn, a quiet and solitary man who finds excitement in his hobby of cultivating exotic orchids. One day, he acquires a strange plant…
Sheridan Le Fanu: Madam Crowl’s Ghost
Madam Crowl’s Ghost is a short story by Sheridan Le Fanu, published on December 31, 1870, in the magazine All the Year Round. Narrated in the first person by an older woman who recalls her youth, it tells of the disturbing experience she had when, as a young girl, she…
Robert E. Howard: Skulls in the Stars
Skulls in the Stars is a short story by Robert E. Howard, published in January 1929 in the magazine Weird Tales. The story follows the gloomy puritan Solomon Kane, a solitary traveller who, ignoring local warnings, decides to cross a deserted wasteland on his way to Yorkertown. Despite the villagers’…
Jorge Luis Borges: The Interloper
The Interloper (La intrusa) is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, published in 1970 in the book El informe de Brodie. The story is set in Turdera, a town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and narrates the life of two brothers, Cristián and Eduardo Nilsen, rough cattle drivers…
H. P. Lovecraft: The Alchemist
The Alchemist is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, published in November 1916 in The United Amateur magazine. The story is narrated by Antoine, the last descendant of an ancient and ruined French noble lineage marked by a mysterious curse that condemns its members to die young. From childhood,…
Julio Cortázar: Axolotl
Axolotl is a short story by Julio Cortázar, published in 1956 in the Final del juego (End of the Game) collection. It tells the story of a man’s obsession with axolotls —amphibians native to Mexico also known as ajolotes— that he observes daily in an aquarium in Paris. Fascinated by…
Gabriel García Márquez: The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World
The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World (El ahogado más hermoso del mundo) is a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1972 in the collection La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada. The story begins when some children discover a body…
