the ad copy on a side of a chips bag. it’s truly amazing how easy it is to write some douchey language to make chips sound so fucking delicious that millions of people will buy the product.
It’s easy to look at a simple finished product and conclude that it’s the result of a simple process, when that’s not necessarily the case. Blaise Pascal, Mark Twain, and many other authors have at various times been credited with variations of “Sorry for writing such a long letter, but I didn’t have time to write a short one.” Ad copy is by necessity some of the shortest writing possible. As such I’m inclined to think that it’s actually not easy at all. Having to work with so few words means the choice of one word over another can have a MASSIVE impact on the final product. Even getting just the right amount of douchiness is probably quite difficult. Too douchey and you end up looking lame. Not quite douchey enough and you come off as a poser. And you have maybe half a dozen words at most in which to strike that perfect balance.
Sorry for waxing pedantic, especially since you were probably just trying to be funny.
Two stories that have really stayed with me in a thematic way: (text from wikipedia)
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“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. As of 1984 it was the most re-published science fiction story up to the present time. It is based on the concept that was later termed the butterfly effect.
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“The Machine Stops” is a science fiction short story .. by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster’s The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928
I think about that second one every time our Internet goes off…
I spent 20 years trying to remember “A Sound of Thunder” … I saw the movie when I was reeeeally little (like, 6 or 7?) and I just remembered part of it one day. I could never figure out what it had been until I described it to a coworker one day and he knew right away what it was.
My favorite short story is also a Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft Rains”
Gaiman’s retelling of Snow White, I think. (I’m not usually a big fan of short stories and often find them rather forgettable, but that one has stuck with me in a big way.)
“Goat’s Tobacco” by Roald Dahl, from his collection of short stories called “Boy”. Short, witty, wry, evocative of a perfect summer day in a boy’s life, and it ends with a wonderful sort of a punch line. I could read it again and again.
There’s a lot to be said for The Tell Tale Heart. Really points out the problems of the insanity defense. I suspect the story was written to explore the M’Naughten Rules as used in law as that case was fairly recent when Poe wrote TTTH. The narrator of the story clearly would be ruled sane by the M’naughten Rules, but Poe takes inside his mind and shows us otherwise.
It’s a tie between Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Stephen King’s Survivor Type. Well, maybe not a tie, but I enjoy them both quite a bit.
Don’t know if it’s my favorite, but the first story that came to mind was “The Chaser,” by John Collier. Also a classic: “The Last Question,” by Asimov.
I also have to recommend Where Am I? by philosopher Daniel Dennett. It will totally get you to grock the mind/body problem from the materialist POV and get you to understand supervenience without using any technical terms. And there’s a Turing Test Passing computer there too. But you don’t have to be familiar with these terms to understand the story.
Not because it’s any good (frankly I think it’s pretty stupid), but because of the relationship that it bears to the movie that was supposedly based on it, which is to say none whatsoever.
Seriously, it’s like they had this horrible script that they just couldn’t sell until one day when someone said “Hey, it’s got a lawnmower dude in it, right? Didn’t Stephen King write a story with a lawnmower dude in it? Let’s say it’s based on that story!” and BOOM! Instant hit with producers.
Comments
57 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.Probably “The Lottery.” But The War Prayer is excellent too.
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Oedipus the King, by Sophoclese
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I just realized that’s actually a play, so I’m changing my answer to “The Langoliers” by Stephen King.
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the ad copy on a side of a chips bag. it’s truly amazing how easy it is to write some douchey language to make chips sound so fucking delicious that millions of people will buy the product.
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It’s easy to look at a simple finished product and conclude that it’s the result of a simple process, when that’s not necessarily the case. Blaise Pascal, Mark Twain, and many other authors have at various times been credited with variations of “Sorry for writing such a long letter, but I didn’t have time to write a short one.” Ad copy is by necessity some of the shortest writing possible. As such I’m inclined to think that it’s actually not easy at all. Having to work with so few words means the choice of one word over another can have a MASSIVE impact on the final product. Even getting just the right amount of douchiness is probably quite difficult. Too douchey and you end up looking lame. Not quite douchey enough and you come off as a poser. And you have maybe half a dozen words at most in which to strike that perfect balance.
Sorry for waxing pedantic, especially since you were probably just trying to be funny.
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By the way, that wasn’t my downvote. I’m obviously lame enough to lecture you, but not so lame as to downvote you for trying to be funny.
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Hmmm. Tough one.
Even though it’s more a novella, I really do love ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.’
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Pickman’s Model
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Robert Silverberg’s “Good news from the Vatican”.
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A Good Man is Hard to Find
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Two stories that have really stayed with me in a thematic way: (text from wikipedia)
—
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. As of 1984 it was the most re-published science fiction story up to the present time. It is based on the concept that was later termed the butterfly effect.
—
“The Machine Stops” is a science fiction short story .. by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster’s The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928
I think about that second one every time our Internet goes off…
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I spent 20 years trying to remember “A Sound of Thunder” … I saw the movie when I was reeeeally little (like, 6 or 7?) and I just remembered part of it one day. I could never figure out what it had been until I described it to a coworker one day and he knew right away what it was.
My favorite short story is also a Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft Rains”
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Extracts from Adam’s Diary by Mark Twain and the heartbreaking followup Eve’s Diary.
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Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
-Ambrose Bierce
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The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol
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8 May 1905 – Alan Lightman
http://cactusflower.wordpress.com/2007/08/07/8-may-1905/
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Gaiman’s retelling of Snow White, I think. (I’m not usually a big fan of short stories and often find them rather forgettable, but that one has stuck with me in a big way.)
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(It’s called Snow, Glass, Apples btw.)
(Funny, Gaiman feels rather lowbrow and mainstream compared to the Names most are mentioning. I’ll have to hand in my Intelligentsia Membership Card.)
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Gaiman? Lowbrow? Says who?
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“Goat’s Tobacco” by Roald Dahl, from his collection of short stories called “Boy”. Short, witty, wry, evocative of a perfect summer day in a boy’s life, and it ends with a wonderful sort of a punch line. I could read it again and again.
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The Viaduct by Brian Lumley. Creepy and would’ve made a FANTASTIC episode of “Tales From The Crypt.”
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Anything by the brothers Grimm!
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First edition! Before the church got their grubby, moralizing hands on it.
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There’s a lot to be said for The Tell Tale Heart. Really points out the problems of the insanity defense. I suspect the story was written to explore the M’Naughten Rules as used in law as that case was fairly recent when Poe wrote TTTH. The narrator of the story clearly would be ruled sane by the M’naughten Rules, but Poe takes inside his mind and shows us otherwise.
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A Modest Proposal
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Eye of Argon
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By the surly beard of Mrifk! That should have been my answer!
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It’s a tie between Ambrose Bierce’s An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Stephen King’s Survivor Type. Well, maybe not a tie, but I enjoy them both quite a bit.
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Michel Faber’s Vanilla Bright like Eminem.
Read it here.
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tremendous.
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Gravity’s Rainbow
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I’m sorry, I can’t choose just one. I love short stories, they are responsible for me being a reader in the first place.
Portuguese: The Fortune Teller, by Machado de Assis
Spanish: The Library of Babel, byJorge Luis Borges.
French: The Horla, by Guy de Maupassant.
Russian: another vote for the Overcoat.
English: The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe.
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The Cask of Amontillado is one of my favorites as well.
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“The Veldt” followed by almost any other story from The Illustrated Man.
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Lions say, “nom, nom, nom”…
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“First Person Accounts of Donald Trump Not Acting Like a Tool”
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“Famous Jewish Sports Legends”. Something I picked up on an airplane.
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I always liked Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome To The Monkey House.
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“Bridges” by Elizabeth Tallent (appeared in the New Yorker)
and also
“The Odor of Chrysanthemums” D. H. Lawrence
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The Hammer of God – Arthur C. Clarke
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“Sensible City” by Harlan Ellison.
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Ooooo, easily “A Day’s Wait” by Ernest Hemingway.
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Don’t know if it’s my favorite, but the first story that came to mind was “The Chaser,” by John Collier. Also a classic: “The Last Question,” by Asimov.
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I also have to recommend Where Am I? by philosopher Daniel Dennett. It will totally get you to grock the mind/body problem from the materialist POV and get you to understand supervenience without using any technical terms. And there’s a Turing Test Passing computer there too. But you don’t have to be familiar with these terms to understand the story.
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The Lawnmower Man by Stephen King.
Not because it’s any good (frankly I think it’s pretty stupid), but because of the relationship that it bears to the movie that was supposedly based on it, which is to say none whatsoever.
Seriously, it’s like they had this horrible script that they just couldn’t sell until one day when someone said “Hey, it’s got a lawnmower dude in it, right? Didn’t Stephen King write a story with a lawnmower dude in it? Let’s say it’s based on that story!” and BOOM! Instant hit with producers.
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Fredric Brown’s “Sentry”
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“Love That Dog”
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Candide!
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“The Nine Billion Names of God ” – Arthur C Clarke
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“Letter to a Young Lady in Paris” by Julio Cortazar
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There’s a story called ” – And he built a crooked house – ” but I can’t remember who wrote it.
I had it in an anthology edited by Asimov.
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“The Man Who Could Work Miracles” – HG Wells
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“First Confession” by Frank O’Connor is so richly funny.
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The Fun They Had by Asimov
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Lamb to the Slaughter — Roald Dahl
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The Lady With The Dog
by
Anton Chekhov
Chris, do yourself a favor and take the time to read this story…
Its not long. You won’t regret it!!!!!
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“Death and the Maiden”, by Ray Bradbury.
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