Short Fiction in the Public Domain
The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs
“The Monkey’s Paw” is the first short story in this W.W. Jacob’s book “The Lady of the Barge and Other Stories” which is found on Project Gutenberg. Douglas Preston calls “The Monkey’s Paw” the “most perfect ghost story ever written” in his October 28, 2023 Wall Street Journal article, “Five Best on Ghost Stories.” The story leads to a “shattering and unexpected horror” that has been made into seven films and over 20 plays, television episodes, radio dramas and an opera. Most recently, “The Monkey’s Paw” was made into a 2013 film that did not rise to the level of Rotten Tomatoes reviews. In addition to the Project Gutenberg version, there is a Google Docs version (and many others) of the short story available for reading.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
This is available (with free subscription) on the Internet Archive. Click on the link to the left to access. Get an Internet Archive account HERE for free.
This is a PDF of the story from a blogger.
Some Harlan Ellison books are available from Blackstone Publishing.
The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
“The Overcoat” was written by Gogol in 1842. This translation was posted on eastoftheweb.com and I’m not sure of the translator. East of the web has a short story section that you might want to visit, but I’m not sure of the site’s provenance. “The Overcoat” is considered a classic of Russian literature and Vladimir Nabokov praised this story as “the greatest Russian short story ever written.” The story is more farcical than scary, shedding light on the absurdity of bureaucracies.
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James
Montague Rhodes James wrote this collection of horror stories in 1904. An excellent LibriVox recording is available there and on YouTube. This is one of the classic books that established the modern horror story. A first edition of this goes for thousands of dollars. It was a tradition in England to read such ghost stories around the fire at Christmas time.
Short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
Several articles have been written recently commemorating the 75th anniversary of The New Yorker’s June 26, 1948 publication of “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson. On June 26, 2023, Scott Heller wrote a New York Times article titled “75 Years After ‘The Lottery’ Was Published, the Chills Linger.” The article featured a series of interviews by writers such as Stephen King and David Sedaris talking about how Jackson’s classic story affected them. In another New York Times column, Ruth Franklin wrote, “75 Years Ago, ‘The Lottery’ Went Viral. There’s a Reason We’re Still Talking About It.” There have been several short movies made of “The Lottery” including this 1969 film which was part of Encyclopedia Britanica’s Short Story Showcase series. The episode featured Ed Begley, Jr. in his first credited role.
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway
Read “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway for free on Americanliterature.com.
First published in Esquire on August 1, 1936, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” is Hemingway’s longest short story. The short story is regarded as one of Hemingway’s best and was made into a 1952 film starring Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner. In his delirium, the protagonist, Harry Street, thinks about friends of his from Paris in the 1920’s, cohorts of the lost generation. Short stories are becoming something of a lost art and Hemingway was a master of them. See “The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway,” which is not yet in the public domain, but the link to the book contains a list of all of the stories and the list of the stories contains links to many versions of the stories which are available for free to readers. “The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway” is still available in print from Simon and Schuster. As an FYI, Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa at 19,341 feet (though the height is listed variously). It is one of the “seven summits,” a term given to the highest peak on each of the seven continents. The seven summits were first scaled by Dick Bass, Frank Wells, and Rick Ridgway. The feat was chronicled in the book “Seven Summits,” which is still in print by Grand Central Publishing.
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
by Ernest Hemingway
Read “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” for free, courtesy of Yale University.
The painting, “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper has been used to illustrate the clean, well-lighted place of Hemingway’s perfect, very short story, only three pages typed. The story was one of Hemingway’s favorites and was first published in Scribner’s Magazine in 1933. You could Google it and read it at the link provided while doing just about anything else you were planning on doing today. No movie will ever be made of this story, because nothing happens. “The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway” is still available in print from Simon and Schuster.
Winner Take Nothing by Ernest Hemingway
Read “Winner Take Nothing” by Ernest Hemingway for free on Faded Page (if you’re in Canada).
Published in 1933, this collection of short stories includes “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” “Fathers and Sons,” and other notable short stories. Many of these stories are not yet in the public domain in the United States, so you should only read this download in Canada or on vacation in places where it is legal. I don’t think that “Winner Take Nothing” is in print, but you can buy copies on Amazon. As recently as 2021, critics were writing about this collection. See Susan Vandagriff’s “Reading Hemmingway’s Winner Take Nothing: Glossary and Commentary” (Kent State University Press) where a different Hemingway scholar analyzes each story. This was Hemingway’s last published collection of short stories (except for the posthumous complete collection, which is still available in print from Simon and Schuster.)
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Read “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” for free HERE.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is widely acknowledged to be the world’s first detective story. Emily Martin states this in her article “A Brief History of Detective Fiction,” as does Wikipedia. The hero of the story is Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, the first designated detective. The story has been made into several films, most notably the 1932 film starring Bela Lugosi and the 1986 television film starring George C. Scott, Rebecca de Mornay and Val Kilmer.
The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Read “The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes” by Arthur Conan Doyle for free on Project Gutenberg.
“The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes” came into the public domain on January 1, 2023. This collection of 12 short stories was late getting into the public domain because of two short stories, “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger,” and “the Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place.” This was not an especially well-regarded collection of stories, though Sherlock Holmes as a character remained popular in the 1920’s and the silent film industry had long embraced Holmes, starting with a 30 second clip in 1900, “Sherlock Holmes Baffled.” By the way, International Sherlock Holmes Day is May 22nd!
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Read “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” for free in Google Books.
“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” consists of 12 short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes as narrated by Dr. John H. Watson, Holmes’ friend and assistant. The stories were originally published in The Strand Magazine and are the first to feature Sherlock Holmes. The story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is said to have been Doyle’s favorite.
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London holds regular events in the London area and publicizes Holmes events wherever.
An article in the October 27, 2014 Atlantic by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell titled “Sherlock Holmes, Unlikely Style Icon” states that “The detective’s iconic tweeds, robes, and deerstalker hat came from the imaginations of illustrators and filmmakers far more than from Arthur Conan Doyle himself.”
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 
Read “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” for free on Project Gutenberg.
“The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” is a collection of short stories that were published in 1893.
Doyle was tiring of the Sherlock Holmes character and resolved to kill him off.
This was supposedly accomplished in the story, “The Final Problem”.
As we know from “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” the character survives!
I cannot find “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” for free on Google Books.
However, Google Books has “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” available for free.
“The Return of Sherlock Holmes” is also available for free on Project Gutenberg.
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London holds regular events in the London area and publicizes Holmes events wherever.
His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle
Read “His Last Bow” by Arthur Conan Doyle for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read “His Last Bow” by Arthur Conan Doyle for free in Google Books.
These are among the last of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, published in 1917. The last set was “The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes” which was published in 1927. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will be interested in the canon of Sherlock Holmes which is based on the four novels and 56 short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Other writers and filmmakers have used Doyle’s characters in other stories and settings, somethings which is common once characters pass into the public domain.
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London holds regular events in the London area and publicizes Holmes events wherever.
Tales of Terror and Mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle
Read Tales of Terror and Mystery for free on Project Gutenberg.
These suspense stories do not involve Sherlock Holmes but do display Conan Doyle’s mastery of suspense.
The volume contains twelve short stories published between 1908 and 1921 and first collected in 1922.
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London holds regular events in the London area and publicizes Holmes events wherever. International Sherlock Holmes Day is May 22nd!
The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry
Read the short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” for free in Wikisource.
Read the book “Selected Stories from O.Henry” by C. Alphonso Smith for free in Google Books.
Read “The Four Million” a collection of short stories by O. Henry for free on Project Gutenberg.
Perfect to kick off You Read It Here’s Collection of short fiction, “The Ransom of Red Chief” is a hilarious favorite of mine. The protagonist is a bratty child who is kidnapped with unexpected results. Note that this is a single story, available through Wikipedia. O. Henry is the penname of William Sydney Porter. O. Henry is commemorated by the O. Henry Museum in Austin, Texas. The O. Henry Award is given annually to the best American short stories.
“The Ransom of Red Chief” has influenced a number of movies and films including a 1998 television movie starring Haley Joel Osment and a 1959 movie starring William Bendix.
Sixes and Sevens
By O. Henry
This collection of 25 short stories captures the lives of ordinary people in early twentieth century America. The stories reflect the meaning of the idiom “sixes and sevens” so they are characterized by confusion and disarray and – of course – O. Henry’s signature endings.
Download Courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
One of our favorite New Yorker writers, Louis Menand celebrates O. Henry in his June 28, 2021 article “Are All Short Stories O. Henry Stories?” In the article, Menand reveals that Henry conceals a secret of his own, his incarceration. It is a secret similar to “the writer’s signature style of ending—a final, thrilling note— [that] has the touch of magic that distinguishes the form at its best.”
In Our Time, Stories by Ernest Hemingway
Read the short stories of “In Our Time” for free in Google Books.
This Google Books download of “In Our Time” appears to have some unreadable material. Be patient. It is repeated in readable form.
In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
Read the vignettes from this version of “in our time” for free in Project Gutenberg.
This Project Gutenberg download of the 1924 version of “In Our Time” was first available in 2020. It does not contain the stories contained in the Google version. It consists of 18 vignettes which run only 31 pages (including a great deal of white space).
Also read “Three Stories and Ten Poems” by Ernest Hemingway in Project Gutenberg for free. The stories are “Up in Michigan”, “Out of Season” and “My Old Man”. For context on Hemingway, watch the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick PBS film “Hemingway: The Man. The Myth. The Writer Revealed.” If you are looking for Hemingway novels on YRIH, you’ll have to wait at least until 2022. “The Sun Also Rises” and “The Torrents of Spring” are copyrighted through 2022 according to Wikisource. “A Farewell to Arms” is copyrighted until 2025. The Hemingway Society is an organization that publishes (with the Hemingway Foundation) The Hemingway Review and provides opportunities for scholarship and grants associated with Hemingway scholarship.
Tobias Wolff reviews Hemingway’s short stories in his February 20, 2021 New Yorker article, “A Death in the Afternoon.” This is too long a quote, but I can’t edit it. It’s too good. “I have read Hemingway’s stories many times over the years, given them to my children, and offered them in my classes, and the best of them are still as fresh to me as the first time I read them. In his later work, especially in the novels, we can see Hemingway the writer sometimes yielding to the persona he developed, the persona we boys aspired to: tough, taciturn, knowing, self-sufficient, superior. This could bleed into the work, painting his leading men in caricature. But in the stories you find almost nothing of that. Indeed, I am struck most forcefully by their humanity, their feeling for human fragility.”
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Read Kipling’s “Just So Stories” for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read “Just So Stories” for free on Google Books.
Rudyard Kipling is a controversial figure but his “Just So Stories” are less so. They were written for his children, including Effie, who died at age six. The are “just so” stories because the child would complain if they were not told exactly the same way, as all parents know. The stories, including “How the Camel Got His Hump” and “How the Leopard Got His Spots” are among the best known in children’s literature. “The Jungle Book” can also be read as a collection of short fiction and is available for older readers both on Project Gutenberg: The Jungle Book and Google Books: The Jungle Book. There is a Rudyard Kipling Society.
Maupassant Original Short Stories (180) Complete by Guy de Maupassant
Read “The Complete Original Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant” for free in Project Gutenberg. ((Thirteen Volumes)
Read “The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant” for free in Google Books. (Ten Volumes in One)
While the titles of the two books say “complete”, De Maupassant wrote 300 short stories and there are less than two hundred
in each of these two collections. Still, they are very extensive. De Maupassant (1850-1893) was the great master of the short story. If you only read one, consider “Boule de Suif” (“The Dumpling”), his first, published in 1880. His life was influenced by and cut short by syphilis.
The Best American Humorous Short Stories Edited by Alexander Jessup
Read “The Best American Humorous Short Stories” for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read “The Best American Humorous Short Stories” for free on Google Books.
The Best American Humorous Short Stories includes short stories by a wide range of American short story writers.
The Introduction to this volume is an excellent overview of short story writers of the 19th Century, comic or otherwise.
One does not expect to see Edgar Allan Poe (“The Angel of the Odd,” 1844) as he is not a humorist but he was a superb short story writer. Nor is Oliver Wendell Holmes known as a short story writer, but he is represented here with “A Visit to the Asylum for Aged and Decayed Punsters”. Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is included, as is Bret Harte’s “Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff”.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
by Hans Christian Andersen
Text from Lit2Go on the Web at fcit.usf.edu .
Plate from Stories from Hans Andersen from Project Gutenberg.
The “Emperor’s New Clothes” is a parable hundreds of years old that speaks to the problems that occur when citizens are unwilling to speak truth to power. Some think that it has relevance today.
Short Stories of Louisa May Alcott
Sixteen stories are curated here by freeclassicbooks.com, including “Nelly’s Hospital”, “The Brothers”, and “What the Bell Saw and Said”. Alcott’s stories can be uneven but the humanity and optimism of “Little Women” is abundant and readers will find enough to enjoy.
Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag, Volume 1 by Louisa May Alcott
Read the short stories in “Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag, Volume 1” for free in Project Gutenberg.
This is the first of six volumes of short stories “old and new” collected by Alcott “to amuse the large family that has so rapidly and beautifully grown up about me.” First published in 1892. Download courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Also read “Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag, Volume 2” for free in Project Gutenberg. The Louisa May Alcott Society was founded in 2005 and meets annually. Orchard House in Maine, is the home of “Little Women”.
Agatha Christie Short Stories
Agatha Christie short stories are coming into the public domain, many from publication in The Blue Book Magazine. Project Gutenberg released the following stories in 2022: The Missing Will, The Plymouth Express Affair, and The Hunter’s Lodge Case. The Case of the Missing Will was made into a 1993 television episode starring David Suchet. The Plymouth Express was likewise made into a 1991 episode featuring Suchet. The Hunter’s Lodge case was also made into a 1991 episode featuring Suchet. David Suchet is one of the most renowned performers to have starred as Christie’s Poirot. A summary of his episodes and links to them are summarized HERE.
Lost Face, Trust, To Build a Fire and Other Stories by Jack London
Read “Lost Face, Trust, To Build a Fire and Other Short Stories” for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read “To Build a Fire and Other Stories by Jack London” for free on Google Books.
Jack London’s short stories present man confronting unyielding nature, often with catastrophic results for the protagonist. That is, if one regards the protagonist to be the person, and not nature itself.
For a very readable American English download of “To Build a Fire” and other Stories, click HERE.
There is an active Jack London Society, meeting in December 2021.
Monday or Tuesday, Eight Stories by Virginia Woolf
Readers looking to experience Virginia Woolf may find starting with her short stories more manageable than tackling one of her novels (see our books sections for several selections). “Monday or Tuesday” offers eight stories that are good starting points.
Download Courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
The Google Books Version is – I believe – a reproduction of the first edition, which “Leonard Woolf called it one of the worst printed books ever published because of the typographical mistakes in it.” (Wikipedia)
Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street by Virginia Woolf
Read the short story “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street” by Virginia Woolf on Project Gutenberg.
“Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street” is one of two short stories that preceded Virginia’s Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway” which came into the public domain on January 1, 2021. “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf is available to read for free on Google Books .
There is a Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain and the International Virginia Woolf Society.
![Tales of the Jazz Age [Illustrated edition] - Kindle edition by Fitzgerald, F. Scott, Ghodsi, MIlad, Jordan, Ria. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51+Wvyc5LXL.jpg)
Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read Tales of the Jazz Age for free on Google Books.
“Tales of the Jazz Age” was published in 1922. It contains the short stories “The Jelly-Bean”, “The Camel’s Back”, “May Day”, “Porcelain and Pink”, “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Tarquin of Cheapside”, “O Resset Witch!”, “The Lees of Happiness”, “Mr. Icky”, and “Jemina”.
Short stories were a major source of income for writers of earlier generations. Fitzgerald wrote more than 150 short stories. Many of these are not yet in the public domain. For more on F. Scott Fitzgerald, visit The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society. Also see the Matthew J. & Arlyn Bruccoli Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald at the University of South Carolina.
Flappers and Philosophers: A Collection of Short Stories
Read “Flappers and Philosophers” by F. Scott Fitzgerald for free on Project Gutenberg.
“Flappers and Philosophers” is a collections of eight short stories published by Charles Scribners’s Sons in 1920. The
highlight of the book is the story, “The Ice Palace,” which was originally published in the Saturday Evening Post and is considered one of Fitzgerald’s finest stories. During his lifetime, Fitzgerald was better known as a short story writer than a novelist and the short story was a much more popular medium than it is today.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Read “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” for free at americanliterature.com .
Those who found the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” incoherent will not be disappointed by the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The short story was written in 1922 and should be more widely available in 2022. The 2008 movie based loosely on the short story was quite remarkable. It was nominated for a staggering 13 Academy Awards and won 3, though no big ones.
Fitzgerald said “This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain’s to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trail.”
The short story was originally published in Collier’s Magazine.
The Yellow Wallpaper
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
First published in 1892, this story is a biting critique of a medical “rest cure” imposed on Gilman. Gilman’s explorations of gender roles are early examples of feminist writing. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an important work and has been adapted often in audio, stage, film and television versions. See The Twilight Zone — “Something in the Walls” (1989).
Ten of the Best Short Stories of Charles Dickens
Click the link above or HERE to visit an Interesting Literature.com site devoted to ten curated short stories of Charles Dickens. Interesting Literature Dot Com has free links to all ten of the short stories listed there. We aren’t endorsing the site per se, but haven’t seen any reason not to link to it. Let us know if you have a problem.
Uncle Wiggily’s June Bug Friends by Howard R. Garis
Read Uncle Wiggily’s June Bug Friends for free on Project Gutenberg.
For those who enjoyed the Uncle Wiggily game, “Uncle Wiggily’s June Bug Friends” will be a treat.
There is also a short story by J.D. Salinger titled “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” published in the March 20, 1948 issue of the New Yorker.
There is also a short story by J.D. Salinger titled “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” published in the March 20, 1948 issue of the New Yorker.
Self-Published Short Stories on Project Gutenberg
Read over 100 self-published short stories for free on Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg supports on online Self-Publishing Press. This is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the publishing industry. You can currently read for free more than one hundred short stories published on Project Gutenberg’s Self-Publishing Press.
The Captain’s Story by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Read “The Captain’s Story for free.
This short story was brought to our attention in the article “A forgotten 19th-century story can help us navigate today’s political fractures” by Ellen Gruber Garvey from the Washington Post, March 23, 2021. Garvey writes that, contrary to the typical reconstruction literature of the time which focused on the healing of the wounds of war, “the story’s questioning of White complicity in postwar racism is subtle and conflicted.” Also read Stowe’s Fireside Stories on Project Gutenberg.
Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
Read “Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm” for free on Project Gutenberg. This is a translation of the tales from the German as written by the Grimm brothers and is heavy sledding.
Read Grimm’s Fairly Tales (Selected and Edited for Primary Reader Grades by Edna Henry Lee Turpin) for free on Google Books. The Google Books version of the Grimms’ fairy tales are versions that you can read to your kids.
There is an English language website devoted to the Grimm brothers.
Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodhouse
Read “Carry On, Jeeves” by P. G. Wodhouse for free on Project Gutenberg.
Read “The Inimitable Jeeves” by P.G. Wodhouse for free on Google Books.
“Carry On, Jeeves” is a collection of ten short stories, most originally published in the Saturday Evening Post, about the inimitable butler. This is considered the Jeeve’s “canon,” the indispensable book about Bertie Wooster’s valet. “The Inimitable Jeeves” is the first Jeeve’s novel, but we’ve included it here with short fiction because it has the feel of short fiction. David Niven Starred in “Thank You, Jeeves” a 1936 comedy movie. Other Jeeves books on Project Gutenberg include “The Inimitable Jeeves“, “My Man Jeeves” (short stories), and “Right Ho, Jeeves” (the second Jeeves’ novel). The Wodehouse Society was founded in 1997 and has numerous local chapters in the United States. Links to other Wodehouse sites can be found HERE. An index of all Wodehouse short stories can be found HERE.
Best Russian Short Stories Compiled by Thomas Seltzer
Read “Best Russian Short Stories” compiled by Thomas Seltzer for free on Project Gutenberg.
Among the short stories that you will enjoy in this classic collection are Gogol’s “The Cloak” (also known as “Overcoat”), celebrated by Professor Michael Krasny as one of the Masterpieces of Short Fiction in his Great Courses lectures. Seltzer writes in his introduction that Dostoyevsky’s novel, “Poor People,” is “merely an extension of Gogol’s shorter tale.” Also in this compilation are “The Queen of Spades” by Pushkin, “God Sees the Truth, But Waits” by Tolstoy, and “The Bet” and “Vanka” by Chekov. In his introduction to the volume, Seltzer writes of Chekhov “Chekhov’s works show an astounding resourcefulness and versatility. There is no monotony, no repetition.” A 1965 New York Times article notes that several screen adaptations of Gogol’s “The Overcoat” (“The Cloak”) have been made.
When Dorothy Parker got fired from Vanity Fair.
See Wikipedia article on 400 films adapted from short stories.
