The Top 99 Stories
Here's a stripped-down and ranked version of the longer and chronological The Greatest Stories list.
You may also be interested in The Top 99 works of all literature and The Top 99 Novels.
The top 99 short stories
Latest update: February 15, 2026
1. "Bartleby, the Scrivener", Herman Melville, United States, Story, 1853
2. "In the Penal Colony", Franz Kafka, Austria, Story, 1919
3 ."The Nose", Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine, Story, 1836
4 ."The Lady with the Dog", Anton Chekhov, Russia, Story, 1899
5 ."The Murders in the Rue Morgue", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1841
6 ."The Man Who Would Be King", Rudyard Kipling, England, Story, 1888
7 ."The Fall of the House of Usher", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1839
8 ."The Tell-Tale Heart", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1843
9 ."The Judgment", Franz Kafka, Austria, Story, 1913
10 ."The Yellow Wallpaper", Charlotte Perkins Gilman , United States, Story, 1892
11 ."The Aleph", Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina, Story, 1945
12 ."An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", Ambrose Bierce, United States, Story, 1891
13 ."The Lottery", Shirley Jackson, United States, Story, 1948
14 ."The Monkey's Paw", W. W. Jacobs, England, Story, 1902
15 ."The Queen of Spades", Alexander Pushkin, Russia, Story, 1834
16 ."The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas", Ursula K. Le Guin, United States, Story, 1973
17. "Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", Harlan Ellison, United States, Story, 1965
18 ."The Dead", James Joyce, Ireland, Story, 1914
19. "Araby", James Joyce, Ireland, Story, 1914
20 ."The Tale of Sinuhe", Anonymous, Egypt, Story, c.1875 B
21 ."The Machine Stops", E.M. Forster, England, Story, 1909
22 ."The Nine Billion Names of God", Arthur C. Clarke, England, Story, 1953
23 ."The Prussian Officer", D.H. Lawrence, England, Story, 1914
24 ."A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner, United States, Story, 1930
25 ."The Masque of the Red Death", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1842
26. "Story of Wenamun", Anonymous, Egypt, Story, c.1100 B
27 ."The Pit and the Pendulum", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1842
28 ."The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber", Ernest Hemingway, United States, Story, 1936
29. "Cinderella", Charles Perrault, France, Story, 1697
30 ."The Ugly Duckling", Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, Story, 1843
31 ."The Overcoat", Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine, Story, 1842
32 ."A Madman's Diary", Lu Xun (Lu Hsun), China, Story, 1918
33. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", Joyce Carol Oates, United States, Story, 1966
34 ."A Martian Odyssey", Stanley G. Weinbaum, United States, Story, 1934
35 ."The Luck of Roaring Camp", Bret Harte, United States, Story, 1868
36. "To Build a Fire", Jack London, United States, Story, 1908
37. "Sandkings", George R.R. Martin, United States, Story, 1979
38. "Two Gallants", James Joyce, Ireland, Story, 1914
39 ."The Butterfly Lovers", Anonymous, China, Story, c.0900
40 ."The Snows of Kilimanjaro", Ernest Hemingway, United States, Story, 1936
41 ."A Perfect Day for Bananafish", J.D. Salinger, United States, Story, 1948
42. "Gimpel the Fool", Isaac Bashevis Singer, United States, Story, 1953
43 ."The Purloined Letter", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1844
44 ."The Bloody Chamber", Angela Carter, England, Story, 1979
45. "Theft", Katherine Anne Porter, United States, Story, 1929
46 ."The Gift of the Magi", O. Henry, United States, Story, 1906
47 ."The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler", Gustave Flaubert, France, Story, 1877
48. "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", Philip K. Dick, United States, Story, 1966
49 ."The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", Mark Twain, United States, Story, 1865
50. "Casting the Runes", M.R. James, England, Story, 1911
51 ."The Garden Party ", Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand, Story, 1922
52 ."The Roads Must Roll", Robert A. Heinlein, United States, Story, 1940
53. "Sonny's Blues", James Baldwin, United States, Story, 1957–1962
54 ."The Rocking-Horse Winner", D.H. Lawrence, England, Story, 1926
55 ."The Open Window", H.H. Munro (Saki), England, Story, 1911
56. "Jeffry Is Five", Harlan Ellison, United States, Story, 1977
57. "Mars Is Heaven!", Ray Bradbury, United States, Story, 1948
58 ."The Signal-Man", Charles Dickens, England, Story, 1866
59. "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream ", Harlan Ellison, United States, Story, 1967
60 ."The Earthquake in Chile", Heinrich von Stickle, Germany, Story, 1807
61 ."The Damned Thing", Ambrose Bierce, United States, Story, 1893
62 ."A Good Man Is Hard to Find", Flannel O'Connor, United States, Story, 1953
63 ."The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1846
64 ."A Natural History of the Dead", Ernest Hemingway, United States, Story, 1932
65 ."The Story of an Hour", Kate Chopin, United States, Story, 1894
66 ."The Witness for the Prosecution", Agatha Christie, England, Story, 1925
67. "Harrison Berger on", Kurt Vonnegut, United States, Story, 1961
68. "The Tapestried Chamber", Walter Scott, Scotland, Story, 1828
69. "Missy Were the Borogroves", Lewis Padgett (Henry Buttoner and C.L. Moore), United States, Story, 1943
70. "Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", Edgar Allan Poe, United States, Story, 1845
71. "Tale of Two Brothers", Anonymous, Egypt, Story, c.1200 B
72 ."A Hunger Artist, A", Franz Kafka, Austria, Story, 1922
73. "There Will Come Soft Rains", Ray Bradbury, United States, Story, 1950
74. "Call Me Joe", Poul Anderson, United States, Story, 1937
75 ."A Terribly Strange Bed", Wilkie Collins, England, Story, 1852
76 ."The Killers", Ernest Hemingway, United States, Story, 1927
77 ."The Trumpet Sounds", Mary Roberts Rinehart, United States, Story, 1927
78. "Silver Blaze", Arthur Conan Doyle, England, Story, 1892
79. "Clean, Well-Lighted Place", Ernest Hemingway, United States, Story, 1926
80 ."The Trial for Murder", Charles Dickens, England, Story, 1865
81. "Defender of the Faith", Philip Roth, United States, Story, 1959
82 ."The Veldt", Ray Bradbury, United States, Story, 1950
83. "Flowers for Algernon", Daniel Keyes, United States, Story, 1959
84 ."The Necklace", Guy de Maupassant, France, Story, 1884
85 ."The Paper Menagerie", Ken Liu, United States, Story, 2011
86 ."The Story of Babar", Jean de Brunhoff, France, Story, 1931
87 ."A Worn Path", Eudora Welty, United States, Story, 1941
88. "Borges and I", Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina, Story, 1960
89 ."The Red Room", H.G. Wells, England, Story, 1896
90. "Foundation", Isaac Asimov, United States, Story, 1942
91 ."The Sound of Thunder", Ray Bradbury, United States, Story, 1952
92 ."The Happy Prince", Oscar Wilde, Ireland, Story, 1886
93 ."The Bottle Imp", Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland, Story, 1891
94. "Fire Watch", Connie Willis, United States, Story, 1982
95 ."The School", Donald Barthelme, United States, Story, 1976
96. "Fondly Fahrenheit", Alfred Bester, United States, Story, 1954
97 ."The Daughters of the Late Colonel", Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand, Story, 1921
98. "Nightfall", Isaac Asimov, United States, Story, 1941
99 ."The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner", Alan Sillitoe, England, Story, 1959
Bonus reads
There are so many more great stories, many of which some readers would argue should be on this Top 99 list. Here are a few of the leading contenders for your reading pleasure:
"A Rose for Ecclesiastes", Roger Zelazny, United States, Story, 1963 CE
"The Landlady", Roald Dahl, Wales, Story, 1959 CE
"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man", Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russia, Story, 1877 CE
"Passengers", Robert Silverberg, United States, Story, 1968 CE
"Rappaccini's Daughter", Nathaniel Hawthorne, United States, Story, 1844 CE
"Paul's Case", Willa Cather, United States, Story, 1905 CE
"Green Tea", Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Ireland, Story, 1872 CE
"The Fly", Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand, Story, 1922 CE
"The Bet", Anton Chekhov, Russia, Story, 1889 CE
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", Gabriel García Márquez, Colombia, Story, 1955 CE
"Hills Like White Elephants", Ernest Hemingway, United States, Story, 1927 CE
"The Cop and the Anthem", O. Henry, United States, Story, 1904 CE
"A Jury of Her Peers", Susan Glaspell, United States, Story, 1917 CE
"Youth", Joseph Conrad, England, Story, 1898 CE
"The Blue Cross", G.K. Chesterton, England, Story, 1910 CE
"The Horla, or Modern Ghosts", Guy de Maupassant, France, Story, 1887 CE
"Vanka", Anton Chekhov, Russia, Story, 1886 CE
"Exhalation", Ted Chiang, United States, Story, 2008 CE
"Babylon Revisited", F. Scott Fitzgerald, United States, Story, 1931 CE
