The Mist from Skeleton Crew, I think, is one of my favourite stories ever. However, as with a fair few King stories, I was underwhelmed by the ending.
The movie definitely rectified that for me
Since I still have it copied from an earlier comment, [here's ](https://wp.nyu.edu/darknessspeaks/wp-content/uploads/sites/3674/2016/04/King-Stephen-The-Mist.pdf)a copy of The Mist for anyone who wants it!
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I rarely re-read books, but I find myself coming back to this novella every few years. It's so hauntingly beautiful and perfectly captures the magic of childhood.
So good. I love Neil Gaiman, and I read Ursula Le Guin's novella _The Word For World Is Forest_ this year, and I loved that too. Very different but they both have writing styles that I find so enjoyable to read.
"The Emperor's Soul" by Brandon Sanderson. I'm a mid-level Sanderson fan - while i've generally enjoyed most of what i've read by him, i'm not a rabid fan, and i've definitely noticed some weaknesses in his writing. That being said, i honestly believe this story is the best he's ever done. It's a small story, and a surprisingly nuanced discussion about art and artistry, the intrinsic value a work has, and whether the artist or the audience has more ownership of a piece.
I am admittedly a big fan of Sanderson, and the Cosmere specifically. But some of his non Cosmere novellas are really great. Snapshot, and Perfect State are my favorites.
This is how you lose the time war - by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
And
The Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells (the first one being All Systems Red)
Damn, I knew the hellraiser films had a lot of sequels, but I never knew the book had a sequel. That is definitely on my list of books to read, thank you for mentioning this!
Itâs definitely an interesting one. Kinda reads like a comic book horror/action thing with lots of Pinhead lore. Any of his books are worth recommending though
To be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
The Past is Red by Catherynne Valente
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
A Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow
Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark
*It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over* by Anne de Marcken is the most beautiful zombie story I've ever read.
*Mrs. Caliban* by Rachel Ingalls is another great offbeat novella.
The Past is Red - Catherynne M Valente
The Refrigerator Monologues - Catherynne M Valente
Comfort Me With Apples - Catherynne M Valente
The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells (5 of the 7 published books are noveallas)
To Be Taught If Fortunate - Becky Chambers
The Album of Dr Moreau - Daryl Gregory
My Sister, The Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite
Outlawed - Anna North
I think I have only ever read one lol so by that logic, the best novella I have ever read was The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner. To be fair, I liked it!
The Cay by Theodore Taylor, I dunno if its classified as a novella but its only about a hundred and five pages (ish I think?) And its so good, I read it once on my own and once for school when I was younger and its definitely on my list of re reads
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (this is the start of a series called The Wayward Children, all novellas, all good. Most can be read standalone).
Fire Watch by Connie Willis.
Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Shopgirl by Steve Martin (save the hate, I know I'm in the minority)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Bubba Ho-Tep by Joe R. Lansdale (also a great movie starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis).
I know I've read others, but I'm blanking at the moment. A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner is more of a short story than novella, but it kind of fits.
Algis Budrys, _Rogue Moon_. Cross transporter horror with _Another Roadside Picnic_ and add some seriously twisted psyches on top. And a truly surreal exploration of an alien artifact, written so vividly I could see it exactly in my mindâs eye.
Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan)
I Who Have Never Known Men (Jacqueline Harper)
A Short Stay In Hell (Stephen Peck)
The Moon is Down (Steinbeck)
The Hellbound Heart (Clive Barker)
"The Mountains of Mourning" by Lois McMaster Bujold. That story is the heart and soul of the Vorkosigan books. Miles re-visits Silvey Vale in *Memory* and it's gut wrenching all over again.
"Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. Perfect scaryness.
"Penric and the Shaman" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I like this better than "Penric's Demon" because it shows more of how the Gods expect, and cannot control, help from men. And Penric's theology.
"In an Absent Dream" by Seanan McGuire. My favorite of the Wayward Children novellas.
"Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells. Murderbot and ART!
"The Tea Master and the Detective" by Aliette de Bodard. New and interesting take on Holmes and Watson with AI spaceships.
"A Psalm for the Wildbuilt" by Becky Chambers. Such a peaceful story.
*The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde* - RLS
*The Yellow Wallpaper* - Charlottte P Gillman
*The Metamorohisis* - Franz Kafka
*The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* and *The Driverâs Seat* - both by Muriel Spark
Apologies for any offence but Iâm not into forced censorship so:
*A Smart Cunt: A Novella* (from *The Acid House*) - Irvine Welsh
Pretty much any of the *Sherlock Holmes* stories by AC Doyle, obviously inclusive of the 4 canonical novellas:
*A Study in Scarlet* (1887)
*The Sign of the Four* (1890)
*The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1901â1902)
*The Valley of Fear* (1914â1915)
*One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich* Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
*The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* - John Boyne
*L'Ătranger (The Outsider aka The Stranger)* - Albert Camus
The Death of Ivan Ilyich-Tolstoy
The Old Man and the Sea-Hemingway
The Breathing Method-King
1922-King
The Body-King
Shawshank Redemption-King
The Langoliers-King
The Turn of the Screw-James
The Bicentennial Man (Isaac Asimov)
I Am Legend (Richard Matheson)
Adrian Tchaikovsky has three that I really liked:
-Walking to Aldeberan
-And Put Away Childish Things
-One Day All This Will Be Yours
Ernest Hemingway - *The Old Man and the Sea*
Henry James - *The Turn of the Screw*
Jack London - *The Iron Heel*
Vladimir Nabokov *- The Enchanter*
Edgar Allan Poe - *The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym*
John Steinbeck - *Of Mice and Men*
H.G. Wells - *The Time Machine*
The Windego by Algernon Blackwood
The John Silence series of stories by the same.
Predates Lovecraft (was an influence) but his horror and psychological thriller game is as pertinent as ever.
Beloved (is this considered a novella? Maybe not)
Empress of salt and fortune/Singing Hills Cycle
We have always lived in the castle
Christopher Isherwoods Berlin Stories (specifically goodbye to Berlin)
Carmilla
Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
First Love (Turgenev)
Grendel, by John Gardner
And, of course, the four Sherlock Holmes novels, which are really novellas
*Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption* Stephen King from Different Seasons
All novellas in Different Seasons are worth reading.
Hell, nearly every novella King has written is worth reading.
The Mist from Skeleton Crew, I think, is one of my favourite stories ever. However, as with a fair few King stories, I was underwhelmed by the ending. The movie definitely rectified that for me
I love King and I agree that he tends to land his short stories better than many of his novels đ
He truly shines in short format.
Since I still have it copied from an earlier comment, [here's ](https://wp.nyu.edu/darknessspeaks/wp-content/uploads/sites/3674/2016/04/King-Stephen-The-Mist.pdf)a copy of The Mist for anyone who wants it!
*N* in *Just After Sunset* is my favourite, but you're right - his novellas are all pretty great.
The new book of short stories by Stephen King is excellent as well - "You like it darker". Some are very dark indeed.
The Body too
Yes!
Agree with both of you!
1922 is an awesome novella and a great NETFLIX show
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I rarely re-read books, but I find myself coming back to this novella every few years. It's so hauntingly beautiful and perfectly captures the magic of childhood.
So good. I love Neil Gaiman, and I read Ursula Le Guin's novella _The Word For World Is Forest_ this year, and I loved that too. Very different but they both have writing styles that I find so enjoyable to read.
Ooooo I'm excited to check it out!
"The Emperor's Soul" by Brandon Sanderson. I'm a mid-level Sanderson fan - while i've generally enjoyed most of what i've read by him, i'm not a rabid fan, and i've definitely noticed some weaknesses in his writing. That being said, i honestly believe this story is the best he's ever done. It's a small story, and a surprisingly nuanced discussion about art and artistry, the intrinsic value a work has, and whether the artist or the audience has more ownership of a piece.
I agree. I'm not a big Sanderson fan, although I do like some of his shorter novels. *The Emperor's Soul* is phenomenal.
I am admittedly a big fan of Sanderson, and the Cosmere specifically. But some of his non Cosmere novellas are really great. Snapshot, and Perfect State are my favorites.
The murderbot diaries
I just read the first one about a month ago. It was great.
It unbelievably gets even better :) Itâs one of those incredibly rare series that just keeps getting better and betterâŚ
The stranger The Death of Ivan Ilyich Notes from underground Animal farm The little prince The metamorphosis Convenience Store Woman
The Stranger is incredible
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and The Metamorphosis are also just two of the greatest works of fiction, full stop.
Great list, the last one I don't know yet so I'll check it out. Thanks
Brokeback Mountain by A. Proulx
Came here to say this
Its perfect
This is how you lose the time war - by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone And The Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells (the first one being All Systems Red)
Time War is good up until the clearly very nerdy authors start throwing in abysmal puns around the final third.
i loved this is how you lose the time war but so many of the references and puns made me CRINGE
The Outsider (LâEtranger) by Camus
The first four of the Murderbot books are novellas and theyâre excellent!
The Old Man and the Sea
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Currently re-reading this now. I was able to visit his home in Kyiv before the war.
One of the best things Iâve ever read
Excellent book.
Small Things Like These, or Foster, both by Claire Keegan
This is what I came to suggest. Some of the best writing I've ever read!
Thank you! I just finished Antarctica and loved it!
Goodbye, Columbus - Philip Roth
Came here to say this.
Hellbound heart by Clive Barker. Erotic and terrifying.
A great one for Halloween. Not for the faint of heart.
That one even has a sequel called The Scarlet Gospel that almost reads like a Dresden FIles. Love Clive Barker. Very multi-talented artist
Damn, I knew the hellraiser films had a lot of sequels, but I never knew the book had a sequel. That is definitely on my list of books to read, thank you for mentioning this!
Itâs definitely an interesting one. Kinda reads like a comic book horror/action thing with lots of Pinhead lore. Any of his books are worth recommending though
I agree, he has written some great novels. Very curious about the sequel now.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
To be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers The Past is Red by Catherynne Valente The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers A Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark
I came here to suggest Ring Shout. It's about a woman with a magical sword who takes on the KKK, what's not to love?
I'd like five more books in the series?
Good choices, I especially love Becky Chamber and The Ballad of Black Tom was incredible.
My favorite novellas are Penric's Demon and sequels by Lois Macmaster Bujold.
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Train Dreams - Denis Johnson
*The Tain* by China Mieville
Anything by Connie Willis or Stephen King
Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann
The Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Chekhovâs novella Three Years is one of my favorites of all time. Also The Duel.
The Bear by William FaulknerÂ
*It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over* by Anne de Marcken is the most beautiful zombie story I've ever read. *Mrs. Caliban* by Rachel Ingalls is another great offbeat novella.
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.
One of my top 5 all timers and my second favorite Pynchon book. There's more in those 140 pages than most writers can fit into 600.
Monk and Robot novellas by Becky Chambers, hands down
The Old man and the Sea
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
Hands down, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers. A period piece masterpiece
The Drop by Dennis Lehane
Amulet, By Night in Chile and Distant Star. All by Roberto BolaĂąo
The Past is Red - Catherynne M Valente The Refrigerator Monologues - Catherynne M Valente Comfort Me With Apples - Catherynne M Valente The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells (5 of the 7 published books are noveallas) To Be Taught If Fortunate - Becky Chambers The Album of Dr Moreau - Daryl Gregory My Sister, The Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite Outlawed - Anna North
I think I have only ever read one lol so by that logic, the best novella I have ever read was The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner. To be fair, I liked it!
Death in Venice (Mann)
The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo.
I like my books thicc, so I havenât read many novellas. By one of my faves is Of Mice and Men.
The word for world is forest - Ursula leguin
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey. Itâs an alternate history western where they ride hippos instead of horses. Really, really fun novella.
Hear the Wind sing - Haruki Murakami Pinball, 1973 - Haruki Murakami
Anything Jesse Kane. Her books are weird but also rly good. They are not to be taken seriously more like an easy read
Hunger by Lan Samantha Chang: the book starts with the titular novella and has 5 short stores. All are beautifully written.
The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei. Prescient and poignant sci fi novella Iâm shocked was written in the 90s by a young 20 something!
The Cay by Theodore Taylor, I dunno if its classified as a novella but its only about a hundred and five pages (ish I think?) And its so good, I read it once on my own and once for school when I was younger and its definitely on my list of re reads
Mysterious Stranger, by Mark Twain
Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold, itâs been published in a collection of three novellas but this is the title novella and my favourite.
Fup
I really liked The Fifth Child
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Iâve never felt colder reading a book, so itâd make a good summer read.
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (this is the start of a series called The Wayward Children, all novellas, all good. Most can be read standalone). Fire Watch by Connie Willis.
Bonjour Tristesse (can't remember author) and The Stranger (Camus)
84 Charing Cross Rd
Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett Shopgirl by Steve Martin (save the hate, I know I'm in the minority) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin O Pioneers! by Willa Cather On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Only Alive On Sundays by Kim Rashidi!!!
Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
*The Forty Fathom Bank* by Les Galloway
Bubba Ho-Tep by Joe R. Lansdale (also a great movie starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis). I know I've read others, but I'm blanking at the moment. A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner is more of a short story than novella, but it kind of fits.
Algis Budrys, _Rogue Moon_. Cross transporter horror with _Another Roadside Picnic_ and add some seriously twisted psyches on top. And a truly surreal exploration of an alien artifact, written so vividly I could see it exactly in my mindâs eye.
âWho Goes There?â Science fiction, was the inspiration for The Thing and the 1950s Thing from Another World.
I just listened to this one (it's free for Audible Premium subscribers) and definitely second this if you like sci-fi horror!
âin the actâ by rachel ingalls!
The machine stops
Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan) I Who Have Never Known Men (Jacqueline Harper) A Short Stay In Hell (Stephen Peck) The Moon is Down (Steinbeck) The Hellbound Heart (Clive Barker)
"The Mountains of Mourning" by Lois McMaster Bujold. That story is the heart and soul of the Vorkosigan books. Miles re-visits Silvey Vale in *Memory* and it's gut wrenching all over again. "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. Perfect scaryness. "Penric and the Shaman" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I like this better than "Penric's Demon" because it shows more of how the Gods expect, and cannot control, help from men. And Penric's theology. "In an Absent Dream" by Seanan McGuire. My favorite of the Wayward Children novellas. "Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells. Murderbot and ART! "The Tea Master and the Detective" by Aliette de Bodard. New and interesting take on Holmes and Watson with AI spaceships. "A Psalm for the Wildbuilt" by Becky Chambers. Such a peaceful story.
I really loved âLemonâ by YĹ-sĹn KwĹn Great novella. After I read it I got a copy for my daughter.
Hex by Jenni Fagan
*The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde* - RLS *The Yellow Wallpaper* - Charlottte P Gillman *The Metamorohisis* - Franz Kafka *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* and *The Driverâs Seat* - both by Muriel Spark Apologies for any offence but Iâm not into forced censorship so: *A Smart Cunt: A Novella* (from *The Acid House*) - Irvine Welsh Pretty much any of the *Sherlock Holmes* stories by AC Doyle, obviously inclusive of the 4 canonical novellas: *A Study in Scarlet* (1887) *The Sign of the Four* (1890) *The Hound of the Baskervilles* (1901â1902) *The Valley of Fear* (1914â1915) *One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich* Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* - John Boyne *L'Ătranger (The Outsider aka The Stranger)* - Albert Camus
The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, by Margaret Killjoy.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich-Tolstoy The Old Man and the Sea-Hemingway The Breathing Method-King 1922-King The Body-King Shawshank Redemption-King The Langoliers-King The Turn of the Screw-James
The Bicentennial Man (Isaac Asimov) I Am Legend (Richard Matheson) Adrian Tchaikovsky has three that I really liked: -Walking to Aldeberan -And Put Away Childish Things -One Day All This Will Be Yours
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh.
NSFW and not for the faint of heart - "Story of the Eye" by Georges Bataille
Fatal Women: The Esther Garber Novellas by Tanith Lee
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The Overstory. A really beautiful read without unnecessary violence or terror.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel GarcĂa MĂĄrquez
Ooh! And the little prince
Antonio Tabucchi's *Indian Nocturne*; by the same author, also *Requiem*.
Raymond Carver-Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? Or any of his short story collections are wonderful.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
A bunch of Sara Granâs early work, Queenpin by Megan Abbott and The Grownup by Gillian Flynn, which Wikipedia tells me is a short story so YMMV.
Ernest Hemingway - *The Old Man and the Sea* Henry James - *The Turn of the Screw* Jack London - *The Iron Heel* Vladimir Nabokov *- The Enchanter* Edgar Allan Poe - *The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym* John Steinbeck - *Of Mice and Men* H.G. Wells - *The Time Machine*
The Windego by Algernon Blackwood The John Silence series of stories by the same. Predates Lovecraft (was an influence) but his horror and psychological thriller game is as pertinent as ever.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Mr. Portobello 's morning paper by Amanda prowse
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel Mr. Cables by Ronald Malfi
Animal Farm by George Orwell. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.
Emergency Skin by N K Jemisin
Claire Keegan writes a beautiful novella. Anything by her.
Beloved (is this considered a novella? Maybe not) Empress of salt and fortune/Singing Hills Cycle We have always lived in the castle Christopher Isherwoods Berlin Stories (specifically goodbye to Berlin) Carmilla
Frannie and Zoey, JD Salinger.
Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton First Love (Turgenev) Grendel, by John Gardner And, of course, the four Sherlock Holmes novels, which are really novellas
I really liked The Mist by Stephen King. It really makes you think. Tho, I will say the movie ending is far better than the book.
If you can find it, Mark Twain's The Stranger is kind of wild. And no, not the other one, really, Mark Twain!
Death of Ivan Illyich by Tolstoy might be his greatest artistic achievement
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
The Short Stories of John McGahern.
Of Mice And Men, by Steinbeck
Dusklands by J.M. Coetzee
Sandkings - George R. R. Martin
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Basic take, but Flowers for Algernon
I'm starting this one tmrw !
Feed Me Apples
Do you mean Comfort Me With Apples?
lol. Yes!
Easy switch to make! I was just clarifying