I've read novels most of my life, and didn't start reading short stories until a few years ago, when I started writing them. In that time I've found some favorites. In no particular order:

Charles DeLint - Writer of a series of short stories and novels set in a town called Newford in Canada. Urban fantasy with traditional folklore mixed in. Great characters that develop over the course of many stories.

Neil Gaiman - My favorite writer, and his short work is no exception. Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things are both great reads. It's amazing to me how effortlessly he can write different styles and genres.

Kurt Vonnegut - I'm just discovering Vonnegut, but Welcome To The Monkeyhouse is a huge inspiration.

Ray Bradbury - If I could be any writer on this list, it'd be Bradbury. Pretty much defined an entire subgenre of fantasy/sci fi.

Larry Niven - Makes my list on the basis of one short story "Bordered In Black". Brilliantly creepy sci fi story.

Matt,

I've always dug short stories -- but I've been reading a LOT more of them since coming to work for Weird Tales and Fantasy Magazine last year.

A few recent awesome story collections by authors other than the great ones you've already mentioned:

Joe Hill -- "20th Century Ghosts"
Kelly Link -- "Magic for Beginners""
George Saunders -- "In Persuasion Nation"
Theodora Goss -- "In the Forest of Forgetting"

And a few recent awesome anthologies:

"Interfictions," edited by Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss
"Logorrhea," edited by John Klima
"Best New Fantasy," edited by Sean Wallace

...also, I can't recommend highly enough subscribing to Weird Tales and Fantasy Magazine.

Frank Lauro.

He's not that big a name...yet. Give it time, though. He'll get there.

Ray Bradbury is pretty darn good as well. Frank will get there, mark my words.

Ray Bradbury.

Fritz Lieber.
Robert Howard.
Maupassant

Simon Park is just about the nicest guy I know, right now. Thank you, sir.

I'll jump in on the praise for Gaiman, Vonnegut, and Bradbury. All geniuses in the field -- and it should be pointed out that short stories and novels are extremely different creatures.

I'll add to the list my favorite living writer, Harlan Ellison. If you haven't sampled the wares, please do so immediately. The man operates on a level that I can barely comprehend. Home run every time. I don't know how he does it.

And let's not forget Raymond Carver, who more or less refined the short story into what Americans now perceive it to be.

Interesting to me how many of the names mentioned as 'favourites' are science fiction and fantasy writers - is this a limitation of your reading, or a reflection of how well suited (science fiction especially) is to the short story format?

for me:


Frederick Pohl (if for nothing other than my favourite science fiction story ever, The Tunnel Under The World)
Roald Dahl
Kingsley Amis
William Boyd

For me, a part of it is definitely a limitation of my reading. Though, I don't really consider Bradbury a science fiction or fantasy writer. He's just Ray Bradbury. Vonnegut is much the same, and most of his short stories that I've read contain little in the way of sci fi or fantasy elements. One thing that connects all three authors is a focus on character far more than premise or plot. In nearly every case, you feel as if you're reading about real people, and learning about the world through their eyes, even if it's a world that only exists in fiction.

Ray Bradbury for sure.
I'll toss in a good word for Stephen King. I've really enjoyed his short stories. For a guy known for writing large books he does quite well with smaller stories.

I will agree about Stephen King. I've always liked his short stories more than his novels.

Good call - although I do like his novels, the short story format certainly helps him to discipline his excesses.

It's got to be Ray Bradbury. He was outrageously prolific - early in his career he set (and met) for himself a goal of completing and submitting a short story a week, every week - and remarkably consistent. The man is just brimming with ideas; his stories usually have some clever twist or hook; and no one but no one can paint such rich, vibrant characters in so few words. Even his later, inferior work is still light years ahead of most short story writers. The man has been a true inspiration. I hope he writes for another 20 years.

I don't think I've really read a lot of short stories to answer the question.

Plus, his best friend is Ray Harryhausen. Did you know that they both went to see King Kong together in 1933, and it so inspired each of them as kids, one to become a writer and the other to become a stop-motion animator. What if they hadn't gone??

Hollywood won!

And so did we ...

M.R. James, probably the greatest of all writers of ghost stories.

Not a big fan of Ray Bradbury...Rocket Summer? Come off it...his evocation of a section of America is much more convincing than his shaky pseudo science fiction...all imo of course. I don't hate his work but think his reputation (like that of Heinlein) is largely unearned

I'll have to look up Mister or Ms. James. Never heard of him/her. In my mind, that "ghost stories" title has always belonged to Ramsey Campbell.

Stephan Crane is a master of mood in short fiction. But it's not happy stuff.

You've got to watch out for people who only go by initials. It's like they've got something to hide.

I'll agree with Vonnegut, Bradbury, and Gaiman. I've also enjoyed a lot of Robert Silverberg and Roger Zelazny, some Philip K Dick, and everything I've read by Ted Chiang (who needs to write more, dammit).

There's a good Wikipedia entry on him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._R._James

Most subsequent ghost story writers, including Ramsey Campbell, have been admirers of James. In fact, the Wiki entry mentions a tribute to him organized by Campbell. He was a major and lasting influence.

D.L. is carefully ignoring my comment, I see.