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¿Question #180?
Sexy Amy: What is your favorite American short story?

oldhoss: Indian Camp.
Felimid: Can't remember the titles, but anything by O. Henry is fine by me.
edelen: "Jefty Is 5"
bcooperok: Springheel Jack by Stephen King.
Hugin: None - they aren't short enough. : P
arkibet: The Happy but Short life of an Oxford Shoe by Philip K Dick
pwilz: Hmmm. I like the Ransom of Red Chief. I like the Stolen White Elephant. The Problem of Cell 13 is really good.
gmcash: gift of the magi
jannelle: The Lottery
Wibblenut: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
aleo09: don't have one
42ndSSD: Seven Brides for Seven Misanthropes
DHEK: I don't know of any "distinctively American" short story.
DGSI: The most dangerous game
monkeyrobot: Most of the stuff by Poe. And then there are excellent stories in that compilation by Paul Auster "I thought my dad was Gos". Raymond carver short stories are good too... But my favourite short story writer is spanish, I´m sorry (his name is Quim Monzó)
POvidiusNaso: Harlan Ellison's "Strange Wine"
ronster0: the one that starts with " the end..."
ellephai: "I Stand Here Ironing," by Tillie Olsen.
gattling: "Everything that Rises Must Converge", Flannery O'Connor
anubis9: Young goodman brown
wargamer66: The Big Front Yard by Clifford Simak
Igloo cool: American Short story? "MINE"
jmcraven: It was a Dark and Stormy Night by Snoopy.
jellospike: anything by Lovecraft
gsilva: A Rose for Emily
Burzum: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
WatchmanX2000: The Ransom of Red Chief.... O'Henry can be a blast to read.
Helenoftroy: Shiloh by Bobbi Ann Mason or Flight by John Updike
gr8lookinguy: The story about you
Chris Page: "The Last of the Winnebagoes."
Ice X: Nightfall by Issac Asimov
bekudno: It's probably not my absolute favorite (that would require too much thinking to answer) but I do like Terry Bisson's "They're Made Of Meat." Plus, it's free online: http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html
Loquutus: The Lottery
Arcadian Del Sol: The Pooky Little Puppy
Stephen Glenn: A Good Man Is Hard to Find
Kazin: Wow, I really wouldn't know which one to pick..
davidgpeterson: Ambrose Bierce's "The Damned Thing"
pronoblem: The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
chockle: "Arena" by Frederic Brown
mrbeankc: Battleground by Stephen King
ssmooth: There are loads of good ones but no single one that stands out.
McCoy Pauley: Joyce Carol Oates' "Where are you going? Where have you been?"
javelin98: "Johnny Memnmnnmmnmnmnmnmnonic"
xlorp: Not tonight dear.
Numskull: "The Man in the Passenger Seat" by Bentley Little
kimapesan: A House On the Plains, E. L. Doctorow
shawn_low: Anything by Bernard Malamud, Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff.
Mike A: Man About Town by O. Henry, if only for the quote "No; he never travels with the hydrogen derivatives. You generally see him alone or with another man."
thoia: Poe's stuff is good.
sbszine: Either HP Lovecraft - "Pickman's Model" or Gene Wolfe - "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories".
Lord_Prussian: I like a lot of Hemingway's.
The Unbeliever: 42
heli: so many come to mind, but at this moment, how about The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Dashiell Hammett, since it's close to the anniversary of his birthday
Gregarius: Cask of Amontillado
ikeafetishist: the lottery
sifu-uk: Rats in the walls
Belash: The Long Walk by Bachman
KnobDoctor: What are my choices? Post the complete list and I'll consider.
scriptorum: The Lottery
snoozefest: i don't read short stories much - can't think of one
toulouse: The Jaunt, Stephen King
Tim Synge: Did you ask this question already?
2amp: almost anything by o henry
Cromaa: Hmmmm....
Cavedog_pdx: Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
jm100: Tough call. Perhaps Raymond Carver's So Much Water So Close to Home. But there's some brilliant stuff out there by George Saunders, Richard Yates, and Vladimir Nabokov, among others. It's hard to pick favorites.
isolated: Colour Out of Space
stephensj23: The Rocking Horse Winner
onky: Cristine
alfredhw: The Purloined Letter. I'm not sure that's the best American short story I've read...but it is my favorite.
sos1: Too many great Mark Twain stories to choose just one.
geberus: ?
Blackwind: I'm answering this because it's sexy Amy's question.
redhuntingcap: i am a mad dog biting myself for sympathy
chaddyboy_2000: I don't really read, Sexy Amy.
haraggan: Damn, this is a tough one... maybe "Only the Dead Know Brooklyn."
darquil: The Yellow Wallpaper
UhhhClem: Either Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" or Madison Smartt Bell's "The Naked Lady."
CortexBomb: Bartleby the Scrivener
darthcliff: Call of Cthulhu
Abundance of Flowers: I forget the title, but story nine of J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories".
P.O.G.G.: I can't even name one! So much for the education I supposedly have.
Ludocrazy: Flannery O'Connor's Good Country People. It was about a bible salesman and a girl with an artificial leg.
BobDodgerBlue: The Catbird Seat
HappyProle: Probably something by Philip K. Dick. Paycheck was very good (though I doubt the movie could possibly compare).
Gonzaga: The lawn mower man (Stephen King)
Komodo: Gift of the Magi... O. Henry
Denise: All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Pseudo Nymh: To Build A Fire, by Jack London, followed by The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson.
shumyum: Will you please be quiet, please. Raymond Carver. But I'll never tire of Green Eggs and Ham.
MisterCranky: Well, Eye of Night was certainly in the right ballpark. Thurber, however, is an author, not a short story (at least not one that Thurber ever wrote). I believe that The Night the Bed Fell is probably right up there with my all-time favorite American short stories, so I'll proffer it along with my gentle request to Jon that he pay more attention to the questions.
queequeg: The short happy life of Francis MacCumber, Ernest Hemingway
jttm: Hmm... don't know any short ones. Does "To kill a mockingbird" count?
ScottBecker: To Build a Fire
WonderCinz: Lost in the Funhouse.
TamiWhitsett: the occurence at owl creek bridge
seppo21: I'm partial to a lot of them by Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and most of all, Poe.
Friendless: Ender's Game
dietevil: Harrison Bergeron
janiera: The Lottery.
ValJor: "The last question" by Isaac Asimov. Second best is "If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?" by Theodore Sturgeon.
CDRodeffer: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
ejmowrer: Ender's Game
Con Man: The Rules of the Game - Amy Tan
EYE of NiGHT: Thurber.
sisteray: Dog oil
berserkley: HER PILGRIM SOUL by Alan Brennert
Spielguy: Peas
TD2008YDS: hmmm....probably The Call of Cthulhu
Linnaeus: "Big Jelly" by Bruce Sterling
bard: The Tell Tale Heart
ynnen: Cool Air by HP Lovecraft
skelebone: Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans
fanaka66: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
Geosphere: Tell Tale Heart
Dante_Cubit: Anything by Isaac Asimov.
gnomehome: Why the limit ?
sumo: Anything by Phil Dick
Jon_1066: Don't read many American short stories and can certainly not remember a favourite
gashlycrumb: Paul's Case
Debate: I wouldn't notice where a story came from. What does it matter?
Septic: The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain