​Catherine Sustana

On specific short stories and authors:

  • Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie's 'Apollo': Disease and Healing
  • Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie's 'Apollo': Overbearing Parents
  • Sherman Alexie's 'Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock'
  • Margaret Atwood's 'Happy Endings'
  • James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues'
  • Toni Cade Bambara's 'Christmas Eve at Johnson's Drugs N Goods'
  • Colin Barrett's 'Diamonds'
  • Donald Barthelme's 'The School'
  • Charles Baxter's 'Gryphon'
  • Charles Baxter's 'Snow'
  • Ann Beattie's 'The Stroke'
  • The Price of Integrity in Derrick Bell's 'The Space Traders'
  • Historical Perspectives in Derrick Bell's 'The Space Traders'
  • T. Coraghessan Boyle's 'You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til the Well Runs Dry)'
  • Ray Bradbury's 'The Last Night of the World'
  • Ray Bradbury's 'There Will Come Soft Rains'
  • Ron Carlson's 'The H Street Sledding Record'
  • Raymond Carver's 'Feathers'
  • Raymond Carver's 'Popular Mechanics'
  • Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour'
  • Susan Coolidge's 'Toinette and the Elves'
  • William Cowper's 'The Diverting History of John Gilpin'
  • Dave Eggers' 'The Alaska of Giants and Gods'
  • Deborah Eisenberg's 'Your Duck Is My Duck'
  • William Faulkner's 'Dry September'
  • Gender in William Faulkner's 'Dry September'
  • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's 'Christmas Masquerade'
  • Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper'
  • Nadine Gordimer's 'A Beneficiary'
  • Nadine Gordimer's 'The First Sense'
  • Ernest Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants'
  • O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi'
  • O. Henry's 'Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen'
  • Sheila Heti's 'My Life Is a Joke'
  • Richard Holeton's 'Custom Orthotics Changed My Life'
  • Pam Houston's 'How to Talk to a Hunter'
  • Langston Hughes' 'Early Autumn'
  • Dreaming Big in Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'
  • The Portrayal of Education in Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'
  • Voracious Appetites in Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'
  • The Very Real Fears of Ichabod Crane
  • Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'
  • Shirley Jackson's 'Paranoia'
  • W. W. Jacobs' 'The Monkey's Paw'
  • Ben Jahn's 'Reborn'
  • Sarah Orne Jewett's 'An Autumn Holiday'
  • Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl'
  • Mrs. M.A.L. Lane's 'A Christmas Matinee'
  • Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas'
  • Ursula K. Le Guin's 'She Unnames Them'
  • Review of Kelly Link's collection, Get in Trouble
  • Kelly Link's 'The New Boyfriend'
  • Kelly Link's 'The Summer People'
  • Ken Liu's 'Mono No Aware'
  • Carrie MacKillop's 'Rainy Wedding'
  • Gabriel García Márquez's ​'The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World'
  • Guy de Maupassant's 'A New Year's Gift'
  • Elizabeth McCracken's 'Juliet'
  • Herman Melville's 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' and the Lonely Nature of Contemporary Work
  • Herman Melville's 'Bartley, the Scrivener': The Original Office Comedy
  • The Cowardly Compassion of Bartleby's Boss
  • Olive Thorne Miller's 'Christmas Under the Snow'
  • Toni Morrison's 'Recitatif': The Meaning of Maggie
  • Dichotomies in Toni Morrison's 'Recitatif'
  • Toni Morrison's 'Sweetness'
  • Alice Munro's 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain'
  • Alice Munro's 'Runaway'
  • Alice Munro's 'The Turkey Season'
  • Ambiguity in Alice Munro's 'The Turkey Season'
  • Carmen Naranjo's 'And We Sold the Rain'
  • Flannery O'Connor's 'Good Country People'
  • Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'
  • Humor and Violence in Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find'
  • Flannery O'Connor's 'The Turkey'
  • Pamela Painter's 'The New Year'
  • Grace Paley's 'Wants'
  • Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat'
  • Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'
  • Katherine Anne Porter's 'The Jilting of Granny Weatherall'
  • The Infantilization of Granny Weatherall
  • Saki's 'The Open Window'
  • The Imposition of Youth in Lionel Shriver's 'Kilifi Creek'
  • Inevitability in Lionel Shriver's 'Kilifi Creek'
  • Mark Twain's 'A Ghost Story'
  • George Saunders' 'Tenth of December'
  • Mark Twain's 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'
  • John Updike's 'A & P'
  • John Updike's 'My Father's Tears'
  • John Updike's 'Oliver's Evolution'
  • Spotlight on Siamak Vossoughi
  • Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use'
  • Eudora Welty's 'A Worn Path'
  • Christine Wilks' 'Tailspin'


On stories, prizes, magazines, and more:

  • 8 Online Lit Mags You Should Be Reading
  • What Is Flash Fiction?
  • Fabulous Flash Fiction Sites
  • What Is Electronic Literature?
  • Free Stories from Project Gutenberg
  • 5 Stories about Fathers and Fatherhood
  • 4 More Stories About Fathers and Father Figures
  • Mother Stories for Many Moods
  • 3 Sweet, Surprising Thanksgiving Stories
  • 4 Hilarious Christmas Stories
  • 5 Creepy Classics
  • 3 Contemporary American War Stories
  • 4 Unusual Love Stories
  • 5 Fresh Sci Fi Stories
  • 4 Stories About Social Responsibility
  • 4 Clever Celtic Tales
  • 4 Stories About the Generation Gap
  • People: The Scariest Ghouls in Town
  • Review of The Esquire Four
  • Short Fiction Winners of the Pulitzer Prize
  • The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
  • The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
  • The Story Prize
  • Narrative Winners
  • Get to Know Kweli
  • What's the Big Deal About The New Yorker?
  • 3 Places to Hear Short Stories on the Web
  • Stories About Romance Gone Awry
  • 9 Stories About Aging and Illness
  • 6 Stories About Jobs, Co-Workers, and Bosses


On children's stories and fairy tales:


Some tips on writing:

  • How to Write a Story Based on a Strong Character
  • Tips for Using Textual Evidence
  • How to Write a Scary Story
  • Plot Tips from Aristotle
  • Should You Enter a Short Story Contest?
  • Where to Find Short Story Contests
  • 6 Great Story Contests for Kids
  • 5 Reasons to State the Obvious in School Papers