Free summaries
Short Stories — page 6
263 public-domain short stories books, summarised. Page 6 of 6.
The enchanted kingdom
Nevis Shane
The Enchanted Kingdom is a haunting exploration of how the pursuit of wealth and status can dismantle the intimacy of a marriage. It follows a young couple who find beauty in poverty only to lose themselves in the hollow promises of fortune.
The judgment of Johan Coull
Frederick Sleath
HOOK A salvage crew in the North Sea uncovers a haunting maritime graveyard, leading to a grim reckoning with the lost secrets of a vengeance-driven captain.
A Few Short Sketches
Douglass Sherley
These brief, melancholic vignettes capture the fading elegance of late nineteenth-century society, where social rituals mask profound human isolation and the quiet desperation of unrequited longing.
An idyl of the Wabash, and other stories
Anna Nicholas
This collection of stories captures the quiet, often overlooked lives of Midwesterners at the turn of the century, finding profound emotional stakes within the confines of small-town domesticity and religious tradition.
The framed fifty
Karl Decker
The framed fifty-dollar bill hanging above a bar is more than a trophy; it is a man’s silent partner, his talisman of prosperity, and the tether to a life he left behind.
Ike Harper's historical holiday
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
HOOK A group of unruly Westerners engage in a chaotic, slapstick competition to claim credit for the origins of the Fourth of July, turning a peaceful holiday into a hilarious disaster of historical ignorance and gunplay.
Mountain men
Eugene Cunningham
The feud between the Ranger and Lingo families reaches a breaking point when a young hunter is caught poaching on his enemy’s land. Forced to face a cold, calculated trial, he discovers that the true weight of justice is measured not in punishment, but in the surprising mercy of a long-standing rival.
Day before yesterday
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
The life of a sportsman is often a cycle of anticipation followed by profound disappointment, fueled by the tall tales of those who manage the lands where the birds are supposed to be.
Old Slowpoke
Howard E. (Howard Elmer) Morgan
A quiet, ponderous man finds his life’s purpose through the unwavering, albeit sluggish, loyalty of an unlikely hunting companion. This Western narrative explores the deep bond between a man and his dog as they navigate a landscape of greed, murder, and romance.
Fifty-fifty with Bonnie
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
HOOK A group of unruly cowhands, a bachelor rancher who hates women, and two self-important ladies searching for a matrimonial agency accidentally collide in this boisterous Western farce.
Two-way trail
Clay Perry
HOOK A journalist seeking "human interest" in the frozen Yukon finds far more than a story when his travel companion reveals the truth of an old Alaskan legend.
Picture frames
Thyra Samter Winslow
This collection of stories captures the quiet desperation and social maneuvering of middle-class Americans in the early 20th century. It offers a candid, unsentimental look at lives defined by the tension between small-town roots and the hollow promises of city life.
Magpie—diplomat
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Two wandering prospectors encounter three beleaguered city officials fleeing their wives, setting off a chain of elaborate lies and accidental chaos in a rough-and-tumble Western mining town.
On advance of time
George Keyports Brady
A reckless act of sabotage on the tracks of the Ohio railroad system pits a vengeful man against an unsuspecting engineer, forcing a quiet, bashful brakeman to choose between his own safety and the lives of many.
The Lane That Had No Turning, Volume 2
Gilbert Parker
Deep in the Canadian backwoods, the lives of simple villagers are shaped by the heavy weight of local rumor, long-held grudges, and the quiet, transformative power of faith and art.
Cumner's Son and Other South Sea Folk
Gilbert Parker
These tales explore the lives of men and women caught between colonial duty and the restless, often destructive, pull of personal conviction.
Viva la pay day
Seven Anderton
Outmatched and grounded after their plane is destroyed, three American soldiers of fortune must hijack an enemy aircraft to save a Central American revolution and finally collect their long-overdue pay.
Tippecanoe and cougars two
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
When an absent-minded professor arrives in the Montana mountains with an overloaded automobile, a hapless lord, and a motion-picture camera to film wild animals, local gold-miners find their quiet cabin turned upside down by chaos and cougars.
Sixteen to One on Friday
W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle
Two down-on-their-luck Montana cowhands mistake a wrecked circus's escaped exotic animals for whiskey-induced hallucinations while hiding out in an abandoned outlaw cabin filled with bootleg liquor.
Costa Rican tales
Ricardo Fernández Guardia
These tales capture the volatile intersections of faith, political idealism, and rural life in early twentieth-century Costa Rica. They offer a grounded, often bittersweet look at the gap between human aspiration and harsh reality.
Hell's Angel
Raoul Whitfield
A pilot haunted by his own volatile heritage seeks redemption in the unforgiving skies of the Philippines, where the heat of the jungle tests the limits of his sanity and his flying.
Named right
Andrew A. (Andrew Augustine) Caffrey
An airmail pilot crashes in the Sierra Nevada, only to be led on a week-long, circuitous trek by a wily local guide who knows exactly where he is going.
The ghost of Gamblin' Dan
James W. (James William) Egan
A long-buried secret from a violent past threatens a retired rancher’s peace when he believes he spots the man he once murdered walking the dusty streets of an Arizona town.