Short stories | Lecturia

Sheridan Le Fanu: Sir Dominick’s Bargain

In Sir Dominick’s Bargain, a story by Sheridan Le Fanu, a traveler explores the ruins of Dunoran Manor, captivated by its melancholy atmosphere. There, an old hunchback tells him the tragic story of Sir Dominick Sarsfield, the last lord of Dunoran. Desperate because of his debts, Sir Dominick makes a pact with a mysterious gentleman in the forest of Murroa, obtaining immediate wealth in exchange for a disturbing promise. As the deadline for paying the debt approaches, Sir Dominick, increasingly distressed, seeks the bishop’s help. The bishop gives him a strategy to free himself from his terrible fate, but uncertainty and fear persist as the final deadline approaches.

Charles Dickens: Captain Murderer

Captain Murderer is a disturbing story by Charles Dickens, published on September 8, 1860, in All The Year Round. The story revolves around a dark and enigmatic character, Captain Murderer, who, hidden behind his wealth and charm, seduces young women to make them part of a macabre culinary ritual. With a gloomy atmosphere and disturbing details, Dickens reinvents the essence of the classic story of Bluebeard, immortalized by Charles Perrault, adding his touch of horror and black humor.

Ray Bradbury: The Small Assassin

“The Small Assassin” is a short story by Ray Bradbury, published in November 1946 in Dime Mystery Magazine and later included in the collection Dark Carnival (1947). Alice and David are new parents. After a traumatic birth, Alice develops the terrifying conviction that her newborn son is a conscious and malevolent entity trying to kill her. While doctors and family members attribute her fears to postpartum psychological distress, Alice feels increasingly vulnerable to the amorality of a creature that seems to stalk her in the silence of her home.

Italo Calvino: The Garden of Stubborn Cats

The Garden of Stubborn Cats is a short story by Italo Calvino, published in 1963 as part of Marcovaldo, or The Seasons in the City. The story follows Marcovaldo, a humble worker who, on his solitary walks, begins to observe the secret world of urban cats. Following a tabby cat, he discovers a city hidden between walls and rooftops, a feline territory that survives in the interstices of modernity. His curiosity leads him to a mysterious garden, the last refuge of animals in a city in constant transformation, where humans and cats seem to wage a silent battle for space and time.

Clark Ashton Smith: The Nameless Offspring

The Nameless Offspring is a short story by Clark Ashton Smith published in June 1932 in the magazine Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror. It tells the story of Henry Chaldane, who, during a trip through the English countryside, happens upon Tremoth Hall, an old mansion shrouded in a dark family legend. There, he meets Sir John Tremoth, a man tormented by a terrible secret related to his lineage.

Robert A. Heinlein: “All You Zombies …”

“All you zombies…” is a science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, published in March 1959 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The story follows a mysterious bartender who listens to the confession of a young writer nicknamed “Single Mother.” In a New York bar in 1970, the young man recounts his extraordinary life, marked by abandonment, transformation, and a desperate search for his identity. What begins as a simple conversation turns into a surprising revelation when the bartender offers him the opportunity to face his past, unleashing a unique and disturbing temporal paradox.