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Short stories 76-80

“A good man is hard to find“, by Flannery O'Connor. From A Good Man is Hard to Find. A very well constructed story of senseless violence.

“Rumpole and the Showfolk”, by John Mortimer. From The Trials of Rumpole. One of those slyly funny stories where Rumpole is left feeling like he’s been had. Recommended.

“Cyberworld” by W.D. Valgardsson. From The Divorced Kid’s Club. A kid forced to spend time away from the computer discovers that cyberspace is bigger than he thought.

“Bylestones”, by Arthur Morrison, From A Century of Humour. Hard to describe without giving away the plot. Very cinematic and would make a great episode in a sitcom or a chapter in a movie.

“Skin”, by Roald Dahl. From Completely Unexpected Tales. One of Dahl’s more chilling unexpected tales, even if the ending wasn’t all that unexpected. Recommended.
When I was a child and teenager my family would watch Tales of the Unexpected almost religiously every week. Completely Unexpected Tales contains two of Dahl‘s short story collections. I had already read the first 5 stories before I began this challenge and recalled 3 of them as episodes of the show. I am looking forward to continuing to read them because so far they have all been skilfully written in a variety of styles and voices, always with a twist ending and not always the most obvious one.

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