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PODCAST

LitReading - Classic Short Stories

Short Storyverses

Litreading delivers classic short stories—carefully selected, beautifully narrated, and updated every week.From Poe to Twain, O. Henry to Wharton, each episode presents a complete tale in a clean, immersive performance lasting anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. These timeless stories are read with clarity, warmth, and just enough character to bring them fully to life.Litreading is part ofShort Storyverses(shortstoryverses.com), a growing collection of podcasts devoted to exceptional

fiction performing arts,

All Episodes

18:41

The Law of Life – a Classic Short Story by Jack London

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/11/18

Jack London takes us into the frozen silence of the Yukon and leaves us beside an aging chief who has reached the appointed end of his trail. As the tribe moves on, Old Koskoosh remains behind with only a small fire, a dwindling stack of wood, and the memories of a life spent obeying the relentless rhythms of nature. This is a stark, almost ceremonial meditation on aging, duty, and the brutal simplicity of the natural world.The Law of Lifeis one of London’s most quietly devastating works—not because

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11:46

Hills Like White Elephants – A Classic Short Story by...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/11/11

Ernest Hemingway’s“Hills Like White Elephants”is one of the most celebrated short stories ever written — a masterclass in subtext, restraint, and emotional tension.Set at a train station in Spain, it captures a quiet conversation between two lovers waiting for a train — a moment in which everything that matters lies between the lines.Presented byLitreading, part ofShort Storyverses— where classic and original tales are read with depth and heart.We are expanding our universe of short story podcasts

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17:28

The Skylight Room – A Classic Short Story by O. Henry

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/11/04

O. Henry had a gift for wrapping heartbreak in humor. His stories feel light, almost playful—until that last line hits and you realize he’s been quietly aiming for your chest the whole time.InThe Skylight Room, we meet a bright, hopeful young woman renting the smallest, loneliest room in New York. But she still finds a way to fill it—with imagination, with laughter, and with a star she namesBilly Jackson.What happens next is pure O. Henry: tender, tragic, and—somehow—still kind of beautiful.We are

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38:28

The Hanging Stranger–a Retro Sci-Fi Horror Story by...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/10/28

This is one of those scary stories that sneaks up on you. Itlooks like just another day in small-town America, sometime around the early 1950s. But then, something is wrong. Something is hanging there. And what’s most unsettling isn’t the horror itself — it’s how calmly everyone else reacts.Philip K. Dick wrote The Hanging Stranger in 1953, and it remains one of his most chilling short stories. It’s about paranoia, conformity, and the terrifying idea that maybe you’re the only one who sees the

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27:22

Murder of Crows – an Original Short Story by Don...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/10/21

Please note: "Murder of Crows" is one of the early episodes of my new podcast, New Tales Told. I published it here to share it with my large Litreading audience. However, it will eventually only be available on New Tales Told. If you haven't yet done so, please search for New Tales Told on this podcast service or visit shortstoryverses.com to listen to this and my other original stories.There’s a reason crows gather in cemeteries. They remember. They watch. And sometimes, they wait.Murder of Crows

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35:36

Luella Miller–A Chilling Classic Short Story by Mary...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/10/14

Everyone in town has a story about Luella Miller. She never seems to lift a hand, yet somehow, help is always at her side. And those who give it—well, they never quite look the same afterward. Some tales of horror are loud and bloody. This one is quiet, gentle… and suffocating. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman spins a ghostly puzzle where the most dangerous thing may be a smile too sweet to resist.Mary E. Wilkins Freeman wasn’t known for monsters or gore. She wrote about the quiet corners of New England

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48:26

The Judge's House–a Classic Ghost Story by Bram Stoker

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/10/07

When a young man seeks the perfect place to study for his universitymathematics exams, he finds an isolated house that seems ideal—too ideal. The locals whisper about the Judge's House and about the cruel magistrate who once lived there. But he is a man of science, dismissive of superstition. He believes in mathematical theorems, not ghost stories. As rats scurry through the ancient walls and something enormous watches from the shadows, he'll discover that some equations have solutions that rational

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4:48

Doctor Chevalier's Lie–a Classic Short Story by Kate...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/09/30

Kate Chopin’sDoctor Chevalier’s Lieis a moving meditation on compassion in the face of tragedy. Set against the backdrop of a harsh and unforgiving city, the story turns on a doctor’s quiet decision: whether to report what he sees with unflinching honesty, or to soften the truth for the sake of those left behind. Chopin invites us to consider the value of mercy, the weight of dignity, and the moments when a carefully chosen falsehood can become an act of profound kindness.Kate Chopin, born in 1850,

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28:39

A Chance of Death–a Modern Short Story by Don McDonald

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/09/23

Publishing this story has been one of the scarier things I’ve done in my life. Reading the works of others is far different than narrating a creation of my own. Honestly, I haven’t written fiction since high school—but I’ve always wanted to. It was only the recent advances in AI that allowed me to take one of the stories rattling around in my brain and give it real form and substance. The story is entirely mine, but AI gave me a wise collaborator to help bring it to life. I hope to share more,

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23:15

The Girl and the Photograph–a Classic Short Story by...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/09/16

A fleeting glimpse in the pines, a photograph stolen from a friend’s mantel, and a correspondence born from mistaken identity—The Girl and the Photograph by Lucy Maud Montgomery is no simple tale of memory. It’s about the way chance, error, and destiny conspire to test a heart’s fidelity. What begins as a love nurtured by letters and a photograph turns into a crisis of identity, and then, at the last moment, a revelation that love had been waiting patiently all along. This isn’t just about

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0:59

Forecast: Scary Story Season Coming Soon on Litreading

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/09/10

This October,Litreadingunlocks the crypt withScary Season Stories—a chilling collection of timeless tales that whisper through the centuries. These aren’t slasher screams or jump-scares… they’re the kind of stories thatlinger—in your mind, in your dreams, and in the dark corners of quiet rooms. From Poe to M.R. James, classic horror returns to haunt a new generation.No tricks. Just trembling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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13:36

The Story-Teller–a Classic Short Story by Saki

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/09/09

Most stories for children try to teach a lesson—this one tries to blow them up. InThe Storytellerby Saki, an overstuffed train car, three fidgety kids, and one very unconventional tale collide in a wickedly sharp jab at moralistic storytelling. It’s short, twisted, and just the kind of thing you’d expect from an author who clearly didn’t have much patience for either sanctimony or small talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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29:53

The Church With an Overshot Wheel–A Classic Short...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/09/02

Loneliness can grind a man down like a millstone—yet grief, transformed, can become the miller’s divine salvation. A widowed man turns a forgotten mill into a memorial for his lost little girl, and fate brings a stranger—fragile, secretive—who just might be the miracle he’s been waiting for.He called himself O. Henry, but the man behind the pen was William Sydney Porter—a sneaky little Texan with a mustache, a wicked sense of irony, and a knack for surprise endings that snap like mousetraps. He

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27:38

Excerpts from Adam's Diary by Mark Twain

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/08/15

What must life have been like in the Garden of Eden for the first man, Adam, and that new creature who suddenly appeared in his idyllic life? Well, left to the imagination of Mark Twain, the story takes a fanciful and funny early 20th-century take on Genesis.Extracts from Adam’s Diary was written in 1904, the final decade of Samuel Clemens's (aka Mark Twain’s) life, and was published as a short book. The character of Adam is obviously based on Twain himself, and Eve was his wife Lily. Shortly after

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42:52

Eve's Diary by Mark Twain

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2025/08/15

Imagine waking up in a strange and wonderful place with no memory and no one to guide you. Your world is filled with strange creatures and incredible beauty along with one enigmatic creature who looks similar to you but is still quite different. Here is the sequel to “Extracts from Adam’s Diary.”When Mark Twain (whose real name was Samuel Clemens) wrote “Eve’s Diary” he was in his 80s and had enjoyed and long career as an author, speaker, and publisher. Two years before its publication, Twain had

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11:56

Uncle Richard's New Year Dinner by Lucy Maud Montgomery

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2022/12/30

The end of the old year and the start of the new has traditionally been seen as an opportunity to start fresh by setting aside old grievances and moving forward with a clean slate.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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5:32

A Visit from St. Nicholas or 'Twas the Night Before...

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2022/12/24

You've heard it dozens of times, so why not once more. Here's a Visit from St. Nicholas, was it penned by Clement Moore? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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17:57

Christmas Every Day by William Dean Powells

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2022/12/24

For many children, Christmas is the best day of the year. Yet, often it’s for selfish reasons. Some kids like it so much that they might wish that Christmas day might never end. One little girl father explains what it might be like if it was “Christmas Every Day” by William Dean Howells. William Dean Howells was a proponent of literary realism. Called “The Dean of American Letters’” he was a playwright, author, critic andThe Atlantic magazine’s third editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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15:58

Jimmy Scarecrow's Christmas by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2022/12/23

While this is primarily a story for children, Christmas is the perfect time to explore our inner child and share that spirit with today’s kids. This story originally appeared on my Readastorus podcast. Being a scarecrow is a hard enough job in the best of times, but when winter comes, it can be miserable. Yet, for one scarecrow, a frosty Christmas brought a wonderful opportunity. Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman started writing children’s stories as a teenager to help support her family. She went on to

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8:51

Reginald's Christmas Revel by Saki

LitReading - Classic Short Stories ·

2022/12/22

This holiday tale features Reginald, a fictional young-man born to the Victorian upper crust in England, who finds himself at a stuffy family Christmas party and tries to liven things up a bit. Saki, the pen name of British author H.H. Munroe, loved skewering the upper class, wielding the weapon of character’s like Reginald, who appeared in several of his short stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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141 results

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