20 Unforgettable Fantasy Short Stories That Prove the Power of Concision

In this riveting short story anthology, Jane Yolen presents 28 fables that cleverly parody and bring a new vision to classically beloved fairy tales. Two of these tales garnered Nebula Awards, cementing Yolen’s prominence in the genre.

As her first anthology of adult fantasy short stories, Publishers Weekly called Sister Emily’s Lightship “well worth the wait."

The short story collection A Midnight Clear is a horror-fantasy anthology with a twist. These are holiday stories, but they're not your typical "Gift of the Magi" fare: Each short story has its own dark and vividly imagined conceit. 

Sam Hooker's "The Dauntless" is particularly memorable, an unsettling marriage of Christmas and Cthulhu. It's a typical day for elf lawyer Snickerdoodle, until she's asked to defend the first-ever murderer to appear in Candy Court. Gumdrop used to be a happy elf, always on the Good List — but something went very wrong during a present delivery to a place called R’lyeh. 

Although Hooker's contribution to the anthology is delightful, you can't go wrong with any of these tales of gods, monsters, and chilly weather. If The Nightmare Before Christmas is your type of fantasy, then this is your type of dark fantasy short story collection.

World Fantasy Award-winning author Elizabeth Lynn has compiled a collection of her early short stories. This anthology introduces her thought-provoking, groundbreaking work in an effective, digestible format. 

It features stories with emotional heft, well-written worldbuilding, and compelling, connective characters. 

Harlan Ellison's work is some of the best in the speculative fiction genre, and this collection showcases his genre-bending talents. 

The surreal and seemingly disordered story “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer” mixes a bit of fantasy into the science fiction—and a little bit of dreams and delusions into reality. The rest of this collection leans more in the science fiction direction, but it’s still a very worthy choice for fans of fantasy stories. 

Ursula K. Le Guin jumped effortlessly between fantasy and science fiction throughout her long career, and her speculative fiction collection Changing Planes shows her flair for both. The premise of this volume of related short stories is a shifting of universes ("changing planes" is a pun). Each story takes place in a different world, and Le Guin takes great interest in the various cultures she creates. 

"Woeful Tales of Mahigul" is a collection within a collection, as there are multiple distinct narratives within it. Political powers, religious spats, and a mysterious black dog identify this story as a fantasy tale, though Le Guin’s speculative fiction rarely cares much for the distinctions between science fiction and fantasy.

New York Times bestselling and World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling collaborate on this dark, twisted take on fairy tales, bringing the stories into an adult context seamlessly. 

This reimagining of classic fairy tales establishes the familiar protagonists of childhood as complex, intriguing characters with never-before-seen depth. 

National Medal of the Arts recipient Ray Bradbury dazzles loyal readers with this greatest hits short story collection, including science fiction, fantasy, suspense, and horror tales. 

The extensive collection includes 100 short stories ranging from Bradbury's most renowned to little-known works of his early career. With quick, compelling stories on every page, this is the perfect book to q pick up when you have a spare moment and want to feel inspired. 

"The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains" can be found in Gaiman's anthology Trigger Warning, but fans of Gaiman and of experimental fiction should consider checking out the multimedia version linked below. 

This version includes illustrated art and an audio portion that features Gaiman reading his own story accompanied by a string quartet.

Chinese-American writer Ken Liu is one of the most important people working in speculative fiction today. If you don't know him for his own fiction (though you should), then you may know him as the translator of Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past series (which begins with the award-winning The Three-Body Problem). 

Ken Liu's "The Snow Train" is a strange and fantastic story set in snow-bound Boston.

“The Jewbird” feels like a modern version of a fable or fairy tale. It's an allegorical story of antisemitism with a humanized bird in the lead role. 

Among the fans of this classic short story is horror-fantasy master Joe Hill, who cites the story as a major inspiration for him to explore genre fiction—something he had initially resisted (likely in part because of his famous father's prominence in genre fiction: Joe Hill is Stephen King's son).

Fantasy sometimes struggles with its own reputation. What is fantasy, and what isn't? Fantasy is too often assumed to be just the stuff with dragons and elves; other forms of magic and imagination can get left out. Somehow, Márquez and his masterful magical realism ended up being considered something different from fantasy. 

But the surreal and fantastic stories Márquez wrote, which drew on folk tales and included plenty of magic, are absolutely a form of fantasy. This short story, in which a man is very reasonably mistaken for an angel, is a great example.

Joyce Carol Oates is one of those literary giants who enjoys stepping in and out of genre fiction. Oates has penned an impressive number of short stories, and her short fiction is where she seems to feel most free to dive into genres. 

Like the other stories in the anthology Black Heart, Ivory Bones, "You, Little Match Girl" is a re-imagining of a fairy tale.

Fairy tales are among the oldest and best-loved works of fantasy still widely read today, so it's no surprise that fantasy masters enjoy toying with those classic tales. 

In "Unpopular Gals," literary titan Margaret Atwood imagines impassioned dialogues from some of the most maligned characters in fantasy fairy tales, including the iconic "ugly step-sister" who so badly wanted her own shot with Prince Charming.

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Nalo Hopkinson stuns with this collection of rich science fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories. Hopkinson has an incisive wit, and her use of Caribbean folklore frames her fantasy in a unique context. As a World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, Skin Folk is beyond worth a read.

These 11 classic short stories from the 1940s and 50s include fan favorites like “Snulbug” and “Star Bride." 

From the author of “The Quest for Saint Aquin” and Rocket to the Morgue, this fantasy anthology deviates from Boucher’s more well-known mystery writing, embarking on a brilliant journey through the fantasy genre. 

As one of the first female science fiction and fantasy authors to see success, C.L. Moore has earned her space in the Fantasy Hall of Fame. These ten short stories speculate on a future of time travel, female heroism, and space societies. 

Another anthology from Datlow and Windling, Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears features remixed fairy tales from Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, Neil Gaiman, and other fantasy greats. 

The Hugo Award-winning fantasy author compiles some of his most famous early works in an anthology that takes you on a journey through Gaiman’s illustrious career. 

A mysterious circus terrifies an audience for one extraordinary performance before disappearing into the night, taking a spectator with them. 

In a novella set two years after the events of American Gods, Shadow pays a visit to an ancient Scottish mansion and finds himself trapped in a game of murder and monsters.

And in a Hugo Award-winning short story set in a strangely altered Victorian England, the great detective Sherlock Holmes must solve a most unsettling royal murder.

The inspiration for the hit Netflix TV show The Witcher,  The Last Wish divulges the story of Geralt of Rivia—sorcerer and assassin—on a quest to put an end to the monsters torturing the world. Told as a patchwork of memories, these short stories are a compelling introduction to the world of the Witcher, or an additional fix for an avid fan of the show. 

This Windling collection is notable for its nightmarish, disturbing, sensual take on classic fairy tales. The New York Times has called this collection “provocative." It's an intriguing addition to your bookshelf if mature fantasy is your cup of tea!