Short Love Stories: Classic Romance Tales from Fiction

How quickly can you tell the story of love? These short story writers have taken on the challenge of condensing love, that many-splendored thing, down into a few thousand words. Some stories take on love’s nuance, others its complications, and still others its pureness. We’ve also added two bonus stories at the end, some of our favorite original stories about love from the Penny Magic archives.

Classic Short Love Stories

Jessamine by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Best known for her book, Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery was a prolific short story writer. In this touching love story, a woman stuck living in the city is given a flower by a sympathetic vegetable man who comes to her door.

Violets by Alice Ruth Moore, also known as Alice Dunbar Nelson

“The violets and pinks are from a bunch I wore to-day, and when kneeling at the altar, during communion, did I sin, dear, when I thought of you?” This quick tale is a story about love, unrequited and forgotten.

Rapunzel by The Brothers Grimm

This classic fairytale has stood the test of time in its simplicity. Rapunzel, who has fallen in love with a prince in spite of the witch who has kidnapped her, learns the lessons of love, its consequences, but also its healing power.

The Kiss by Kate Chopin

This very short story tells the tale of a young woman looking for love—and money. When a romantic man kisses her, it finally prompts an interested millionaire to make his move. How can she have both love and money? Or will she just choose one? This short story is less of a traditional love story and more of a vignette that could be added to a late 1800s adaptation of the 2003 movie Love Actually.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

This famous short story is all about love in its most ironic form, when two lovers are trying so hard to give the other a gift worthy of their love, they end up stepping on the gift that the other has given them. It is a classic short story that leaves us asking the question of what love looks like, for richer or poorer, in all the ways that can play out.

Penny Magic Original Stories about Love

Sunburn by Natalie Mills

“Sharing a booth is the most personal thing in the world, aside from sharing a kiss or a mausoleum.” This is a simple story from our second volume, A World of Our Own, about finding new love.

The Oyster Girl by Matt Mills

A prince learns to sail the seas and spots a girl gathering oysters off the shore of an island. They trade messages in bottles for years until he is forced to choose: Her or his kingdom?

Quick Bedtime Stories for All Ages: Classics, Princesses, and Originals

When we think of bedtime stories, we picture parents reading to their children, snuggled under the covers before they go to sleep at night. But bedtime stories can be for everyone, young and old, some stories tales as old as time and some legends of family lore. 

If you’re looking for quick bedtime stories to share with someone you love, here are a few simple stories you can read aloud to a child as they get ready to sleep—or that you can read on your own if you are a grown-up who still loves to fall asleep after a great story!

Classic Bedtime Stories

Here are two classic bedtime stories that have endured the test of time for taking children (and adults) closer to their sleepy state, plus a Penny Magic original short story, the first story in our book Fairytales for Grown-Ups. And if you’re feeling too sleepy to read these yourself, we’ve included links to audio versions if they are available.

The Book of Beasts by E. Nesbit

Looking for dragons and hippogriffs and manticores? Watch a young boy discover new worlds and the beasts inside them when he opens The Book of Beasts. Read online | Listen to the podcast

Saint Bridget and the King’s Wolf by Abbie Farwell Brown

When a king's pet wolf is mistakenly killed, Saint Bridget must get something to appease him in order to save the peasant who did it. Read online

Melisande, or Long and Short Division by E. Nesbit 

When a group of irate fairies curse a princess to be bald because they were left out of her christening, she uses a wish from a fairy godmother to have hair that will never stop growing. Read online

What the Sparrows Did by Matt Mills

How did the light come into the light bulb? Listen in as a father answers his child’s question, telling the story of two inventors and the sparrows who brought them light. Read online | Listen to the podcast

Tell Your Own Bedtime Story

What about a real story? Here are three questions you can answer to tell your child a bit of your own life that they might not know. Be warned: Curious children might have trouble falling asleep after hearing more about the life of their favorite storyteller.

  • What was your most adventurous day when you were a child?

  • What is the farthest you’ve ever been away from home? 

  • What is the highest place you’ve ever been or the deepest place you’ve ever gone? 

Let us know what original stories you’ve told or which classic bedtime story is your favorite by reaching out to our Penny Magic Instagram account!

Who is Shere Khan? All about the Tiger in The Jungle Book

Shere Khan is the tiger in Rudyard Kipling’s classic book of animal tales, The Jungle Book. He’s described as “the Big One” for his hunting skills and “the Lame One” by his mother because of his one lame foot from birth. Readers can see his threat and brilliance in two key stories in The Jungle Book, “Mowgli’s Brothers” and “Tiger! Tiger!”

Download the full ebook or printable PDF of The Jungle Books from Penny Magic here when you sign up for our emails.

Rudyard Kipling published The Jungle Book in 1894, based on his experiences living in India during the British occupation. His book of classic tales became a staple in children’s books about animals, gaining even greater popularity and cultural longevity with the 1967 Disney movie by the same name.

When is Shere Khan first mentioned in The Jungle Book? 

Shere Khan is mentioned in the very first story of The Jungle Book called “Mowgli’s Brothers.” This story begins with Mother and Father Wolf learning from Tabaqui, the jackal, that Shere Khan has changed his hunting grounds to come their way. They discover a man’s cub, who they name Mowgli, near their cave and must decide what to do when Shere Khan comes looking for his prey.

Tabaqui sat still, rejoicing in the mischief that he had made, and then he said spitefully:

“Shere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his hunting grounds. He will hunt among these hills for the next moon, so he has told me.”

Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty miles away.

His mother did not call him Lungri (the Lame One) for nothing,” said Mother Wolf quietly. “He has been lame in one foot from his birth. That is why he has only killed cattle. Now the villagers of the Waingunga are angry with him, and he has come here to make our villagers angry. They will scour the jungle for him when he is far away, and we and our children must run when the grass is set alight. Indeed, we are very grateful to Shere Khan!”

“Shall I tell him of your gratitude?” said Tabaqui.

“Out!” snapped Father Wolf. “Out and hunt with thy master. Thou hast done harm enough for one night.

What other mentions are there of Shere Khan in The Jungle Book? 

Shere Khan is also mentioned in the later story “Tiger! Tiger!” Mowgli, now older, has been found by villagers and taken in when he learns that Shere Khan is back and looking to kill him. Mowgli must decide how to deal with the vicious tiger and which of his friends—animal and human—he should trust for help.

“It is an order,” said Mowgli. “I am a village herd for a while. What news of Shere Khan?”

“He has come back to this country, and has waited here a long time for thee. Now he has gone off again, for the game is scarce. But he means to kill thee.”

“Very good,” said Mowgli. “So long as he is away do thou or one of the four brothers sit on that rock, so that I can see thee as I come out of the village. When he comes back wait for me in the ravine by the dhâk-tree in the center of the plain. We need not walk into Shere Khan’s mouth.”

Want to read this story and more? Get The Jungle Books, Penny Magic’s collection of both The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book in one volume. Sign up to download the ebook or a printable PDF, or find the book in our store. 

Download a The Gift of the Magi PDF or Read the Story Online

Looking to read or teach The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry’s famous short story? Read the story on our site or download a printable PDF on this page. This three-page PDF can be printed for a classroom or can be shared online. Enjoy this classic short story ahead of Christmas—or anytime of the year!

The Gift of the Magi was first published in 1905 in The New York Sunday World. The next year, it was published in O. Henry’s short story collection, The Four Million. O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter, an American writer born in 1862. This simple story has provoked many variations and adaptations, even meriting its own section on Wikipedia to keep track of them all.

What Should I Read Next? Five Strategies for Finding Your Next Book

It’s a familiar feeling for book lovers: You finished a fantastic book, and now you’re craving the next one. Before you go into narrative withdrawal, try using one of these methods to find your next favorite book.

1: Wander in your local library.

Some of the best books of my life, I found by walking up and down the aisles of my local library. See what books are face out. See what the librarians have to say. Is there a new books area? Or a shelf of themed book recommendations picked by patrons and staff? Libraries are a treasure trove of new books waiting to be discovered, and the fact that books are free to check out means you can take home a stack of possible options without worrying about wasting money if you start one that’s not for you. In the US, you can use libraryfinder.org to find the public library closest to you.

2: Visit your local bookstore. 

There’s no feeling like holding new books in your hands, getting ready to pick the one you’ll take home with you. Local bookstores will often have hand-written recommendations from their booksellers. Read what these booksellers think, and see if it matches what you are looking for as your next read. Or, ask the local bookseller if they have a recommendation for you. They live among the books—let them guide you with their knowledge!

Unfortunately, not everyone lives within an easy distance of a local bookstore. If that’s the case, you can still support a local store by using a website like bookshop.org. Choose a bookstore in your state or find one in a favorite city. Browse their recommendations on their store’s page within the site, and support their business when you buy something from Bookshop.

3: Browse StoryGraph. 

StoryGraph is a reading tracker and book recommendation app that uses community reviews to determine a book’s characteristics such mood, pace, plot, and character development. From there, you can browse similar books or read reviews from other readers. Similar to Goodreads (which is owned by Amazon), StoryGraph has more options for ratings (such as quarter and half stars) and more detailed statistics on the books you’ve read. It also has a more robust content warning system if you like to know what you’re getting into before you start a new book.

4: Look for recommendations on social media. 

Book recommendations on TikTok and Instagram have blown up in the past few years, for good reason. Lovers of books are finding their new favorite books based on the recommendations of book bloggers, booktokers, and bookstagrammers. You’ll probably need to search by the specific genre of book that you enjoy in order to find the right people to follow. If your favorite author uses one of those sites, follow them and see what books they recommend!

Or, you can ask for a personalized recommendation from users on the Suggestmeabook subreddit. Readers there will give you recommendations based on the information you give them to work with. If you aren’t comfortable posting, you can browse previous posts to see if any recommendations line up with what you’re looking for.

5: Work your way through a list. 

One way to stave off the last-page malaise is to have your next book ready to go as soon as you’re done with your current one. Working your way through a list of recommended books, either in the genre that you love or a list of classic books for all time, can help expose you to books you wouldn’t have read otherwise. Most likely, you’ll find some books that you love and some books that you don’t—and that’s okay! Not every book is for every reader, and you don’t need to finish every book you start. 

Use a website like ListChallenge.com to see how many books in a list you’ve already read and to see which lists are most likely to have more books for you. Each list has its own slant and personality, so scan down the lists to see which one has books that are the most interesting to you. A few well-known lists of English-language books are BBC’s Top 100 Books You Need to Read Before You Die, Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels, or for more recent novels, try the New York Times’ 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

Do you have other ways you love to find your next book? Let us know on the Penny Magic Instagram or by reaching out here on our site!

3 Scary Short Stories from Edgar Allan Poe for Halloween

Looking for scary short stories for Halloween? Here are three stories that will give you goosebumps this October. All of these stories can be read for free online, either here on our website or on Project Gutenberg. Or, if you’re looking for a printable option, sign up for our emails to get a printable PDF of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” perfect for using with a class or reading away from your screen.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet and writer. He is famous for poems like “The Raven” and short stories like the ones below. Known for dark and unsettling themes in his stories, his work has lived on long after his death in 1849. Enjoy these spooky short stories that have been giving people goosebumps for more than 100 years.

The Tell-tale heart

One of Poe’s most famous short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story about murder and the unbearable weight of guilt. The story is told from the perspective of the murderer himself, a madman who insists he is not mad at all. The narrator is tormented by an old man and his Evil Eye, but when the narrator resolves to rid himself of the Evil Eye once and for all, he finds himself plagued by something else: a thudding heart, beating beneath the floorboards…

Read “The Tell-Tale Heart” on Penny Magic.

The Cask of Amontillado

A twisted story of revenge, this tale is also told by a narrator who we probably shouldn’t trust. Taking place during an unnamed carnival, a man persuades his friend to join him in the catacombs. Drunk and unsuspecting, the friend follows him in. Will he ever make it out?

Read “The Cask of Amontillado” on Penny Magic.

The Black Cat

“The Black Cat” takes us into the mind of another unfortunate narrator, a man who begins as a pet-collecting animal lover and who descends into violent paranoia and madness toward his pets and the people around him. As his mind unravels, he blames his black cat Pluto for his actions. Will this man be held accountable for his crimes? Or will he continue his torment of the people and pets he is supposed to love? (*If you have trouble reading about violence toward animals, skip this story.)

Read “The Black Cat” on Penny Magic.

Looking for other scary stories? For a novel, try out Frankenstein by Mary Shelley to keep the chills coming.

What Should I Read Next After Frankenstein? Recommendations and Similar Books

You’ve finished Frankenstein, and you’re ready for your next book to follow up on Mary Shelley’s spine-tingling monster-chasing classic. Here are a few books similar to Frankenstein that we love to keep the goosebumps coming.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

If you’re looking for something with a similar sinister vibe, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson will keep your heart rate up. This book is a similar length as Frankenstein, but since it was written more recently (albeit in 1959), it will probably be an easier, faster read. 

And we can’t mention The Haunting of Hill House without also mentioning one of our other favorite books, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, another Shirley Jackson novel that is an even shorter and faster read, a good option for any season, spooky or otherwise. 

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca has been thrilling readers since 1938, and it’s a classic worth returning to whenever you want to relive the chaos and risk of falling in love without really knowing someone. This book isn’t about monsters that are created as much as the ones that haunt you from your past. Join the narrator, a newlywed young woman swept off her feet, in trying to figure out who exactly she has married in this dark-romance-turned-thriller. What secrets are her new husband hiding?

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Want to make a story creepy? Add children. That’s what Henry James’s narrator asserts in this 1898 gothic horror classic. Only about 40,000 words, this book probably won’t take you more than an afternoon to read, and you won’t have any trouble finishing it as you follow the story of a governess who is unsettled both by the supernatural happenings around her and by the eerie unknowns of the children in her care.

Frankenstein: Quotes from the Book

Mary Shelley’s monster has been haunting dreams for more than 200 years. First published in 1818, then revised and republished in 1831, Frankenstein is a classic novel that will enthrall readers as much today as it did when it was first published. That’s why we’ve released our own Penny Magic Classics version of the book, to bring great books to new readers, letting you join us in saying, “I understand why this book is famous!”

To get a taste of the thrill of this famous novel, here are some of the top quotes from Frankenstein, curated by the readers of Goodreads, as well as some of our own favorites:

Our favorite quotes, cementing this as the horror classic that it is:

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

“If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!”

“Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.”

Here are some favorite quotes from Goodreads users:

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.”

“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.”

“I do know that for the sympathy of one living being, I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

We’ll leave you with this epic poem from chapter 10 of the book, the perfect poem for days of restlessness or ennui:

“We rest; A dream has power to poison sleep.
We rise; One wandering thought pollutes the day.
We feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;
It is the same: for, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of departure still is free.
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but mutability!”

To read more, get the book in paperback in our store or on Amazon. Or, download the ebook or a printable PDF for free from Penny Magic here.

5 Short Story Writing Prompts Based on Classic Short Stories

Are you looking for short story inspiration and ideas? Here are five prompts developed from famous short stories, perfect for use in a classroom or as a writing exercise.

  1. Make a choice. The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton shows characters making seemingly impossible decisions. What are some difficult choices your characters might face? What force is driving them to pick? Write a story about a decision that must be made.

  2. Receive a gift. In the story Violets by Alice Ruth Moore, a man reminisces over a bunch of violets he received years ago. The story includes a change in perspective from beginning to end, and we learn as we go who the violets are from and where they are now. Write a story about someone giving or receiving a gift.

  3. Commit a crime. In A Jury of Her Peers, one of the most famous American short stories of the twentieth century, Susan Glaspell allows us to see a slice of life in a small town after a crime is committed. Write a story about a crime being committed or about its aftermath.

  4. Meet a fantastic beast. We meet many unique creatures in E. Nesbit’s classic short story, The Book of Beasts. Write a story about an encounter with an unusual creature.

  5. Find a home. In A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf, we learn about a home from the perspective of people who once lived there. But home can mean more than just a house. It might be a place, or a person, or a way of life. Write a story about home. Plus, find more stories about home in our fourth volume of original Penny Magic short stories, Long Live the Legends.

Get started with these prompts or draw inspiration from more classic short stories from Penny Magic and create your own prompts.

5 Classic Short Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

Looking for a short fairy tale? Here are ten classic fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm. Writing in Germany in the 1800s, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm crafted and compiled some of the most famous fairy tales of all time, including Snow White and Hansel and Gretel. Their stories of enchantment, revenge, and occasional dismemberment have held readers captive for centuries. Each of these stories is under 4,000 words so you can easily enjoy these short fairy tales in a quick sitting when you have the time.

  1. The Seven Ravens is the story of a sister born after seven brothers. When her brothers turn into ravens, she must find a way to save them and make them human again.

  2. The Juniper Tree is the dark tale of an evil stepmother, her comically inadequate plot to hide her murder of her stepson, and his ultimate revenge.

  3. The Six Swans tells the tale of the children of a king. After the sons are turned into swans by their evil stepmother, their sister must find a way to turn them back.

  4. Rapunzel is a classic fairy tale about a girl trapped in a tower who lets down her beautiful golden hair for a prince to climb up. It has been adapted many times, most notably into the Disney movie Tangled.

  5. The Frog Prince lets us hear the story of a prince who turns back into his human self from his frog form, not by being kissed, but by being thrown against a wall, rather satisfactorily.

If you’re looking for more modern and unconventional fairy tales, Penny Magic’s first volume of stories, Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups is available for free to read online or in print in our store.

Book Word Count Guide: Novel, Novella, or Short Story?

Have you ever wondered what makes something a novel versus a novella? How short does a story have to be to be considered a short story? Below are some general rules for categorizing fiction by word length. While these rules aren’t hard and fast, they are a helpful guide to figuring out how a story might be categorized. 

Novel Word Count: Typically over 40,000 words for an adult novel

The average word count of a novel or book varies based on genre and audience. Novels can range from the shorter side—such as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald at 47,094 words—to much longer—such as War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy at 587,287 words. 

Looking for the length of a certain novel? Check out websites such as Word Counters or Reading Length to look up the word count of a specific book. Or view this infographic from Electric Lit to see word counts of famous novels and series.

Novella Word Count:  20,000 to 50,000 words

Novellas fill an odd space in the reading world—somewhere between a really long short story and a short novel. As you can see, the typical word count will even overlap between a short novel and a novella. For readers, if you’re reading a standalone book that is over 40,000 words, you’ll probably think of it as a novel rather than a novella. You might encounter novellas more frequently on digital reading platforms, as they are very popular formats for genre ebooks. Or you might spot a novella in an anthology with other stories either by the same author or of the same genre. 

Short Story Word Count: Typically 1,000 to 10,000 words

Short stories often come in collections, obscuring just how long or short they are. Typically, magazines or short story contests look for short stories that are under 10,000 words. Here on Penny Magic, we publish short stories that range from about 1,500 to 7,500 words. We love to publish short stories around 5,000 words because those will take the average reader about 20 minutes to read—a perfect length of time to add some fiction to your day. 

Flash Fiction Word Count: Under 1,000 words

Flash fiction stories are typically stories told in under 1,000 words. This length of story has become increasingly popular as the internet makes it easy to share very short stories via blogs or social media. There are a ton of places online to read flash fiction such as Flash Fiction Online or The New Yorker. 

Microfiction or Mini Story Word Count: Various measurements, often under 100 words or under 280 characters

If flash fiction is growing in popularity because of the internet, this length of story probably owes its life to it. While 100-word stories have been around for a long time, online platforms have made sharing these ultra-short stories easier than ever. Twitter in particular offers a unique platform for telling 280-character stories, the maximum length of a tweet. Many writers participate in writing a daily story this way using the hashtag #vss365. Follow the hashtag for a daily dose of microfiction, or follow us on our Penny Magic Instagram or Twitter to read our mini stories, all under 280 characters. 

Short Story Examples: Contemporary and Classic

Looking for examples of short stories? 

Short stories are often considered any story under 10,000 words in length, usually closer to 7,500. If a story is under 1,000 words, it is often considered flash fiction, a subset of short stories that are even shorter than traditional short stories. 

Short stories often span across genres, with some of the most prominent writers of the 20th century prolifically publishing short stories, including authors like Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and Shirley Jackson. 

Penny Magic looks to bring readers delightful stories of literary and speculative fiction, as well as classics that will encourage readers to spend more time reading fiction. The examples below are curated to reflect that desire. 

Classic Short Story Examples

You can find curated examples of classic short stories on our classics page such as: 

You can also find more classic short stories for free on Project Gutenberg. 

Contemporary Short Story Examples

You can find examples of contemporary short stories of literary and speculative fiction here for free on our site as well as read aloud on our podcast, including stories and genres like:

Penny Magic focuses on delightful stories of literary and speculative fiction around 5,000 words in length, but you can find other contemporary short stories in publications like The New Yorker or The Atlantic.