The Banshee, Joyce Carol Oates

This startler’s protagonist is a six-year-old girl who’s extremely jealous of her Mommy-and-new-Daddy’s baby and that’s

all I’m going to reveal. Oates is masterful at heightening the tension through many techniques including motif, but what’s truly awesome is the killer ending. It’s the opening story in her collection The Female of the Species, which can be found here: http://amzn.com/0156030276

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Lately I’ve been working on the overwhelming task of thinning out my book collection; it’s something no book lover likes to do, but let’s face it, every once in a while it has to be done, either to clear clutter or make room for more.

It’s no surprise that a good portion of my collection is devoted to short story collections. I’ve read my share of great stories, and I’ve read my share of awful ones—but I’ve also read my share of a few that blew me away to the point at which I’ll never forget them. So instead of doing a typical “Top” list, I decided instead to focus on ones which fall into the last category (please note that in my “about” descriptions I tried to be spoiler-free). Do you have any that have made a lasting impression on you? Leave them in the comments.