Spoken Freely Presents: Going Public... in Shorts

by Mark Twain (Contributor), Jack London (Contributor )

From haunting ghost stories to classic fairy tales, Going Public … In Shorts! is a collection of forty classic and lesser-known works by history’s greatest writers.
Among the stories included are “The Death of a Government Clerk,” Anton Chekhov’s defining vignette; “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain’s comedic story that earned him national fame; “The Gift of the Magi,” O. Henry’s masterful Christmastime tale about love and sacrifice; and “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin’s enduring feminist work about a frail woman and her dead husband.

Also included are lesser-known stories such as “Brown Wolf,” a short tale by Jack London; “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” an early thriller-romance by F. Scott Fitzgerald; “The Spectre Bridegroom,” a folk tale–style ghost story by Washington Irving; and “The Prophets’ Paradise,” a dreamlike narrative by Robert W. Chambers.

Proceeds from sale of this title go to Reach Out and Read, an innovative literacy advocacy organization.

Genres: Fiction

Audiobook

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of audio short stories, each read by a different narrator. Here’s a list of all the stories (because I couldn’t find one online):

1. "The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
2. “Eveline” by James Joyce
3. “The Lottery Ticket” by Anton Chekhov
4. “Adventure” by Sherwood Anderson
5. “The Death of a Soldier” by Louisa May Alcott
6. "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
7. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin
8. “A Society” by Virginia Woolf
9. “The Death of a Government Clerk" by Anton Chekhov
10. “Ice Palace” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
11. “The Nice People” by Henry Cuyler Bunner
12. "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
13. “Wild Life in a Southern County” by Richard Jeffries
14. "Brown Wolf” by Jack London
15. “A Blackjack Bargainer” by O. Henry
16. “Mountain Man” by Robert E. Howard
17. “Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln
18. “The Frog and the Lion Fairy” by Andrew Lang
19. “The Stone of Invisibility” by Giovanni Boccaccio
20. "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain
21. “Prince Bull” by Charles Dickens
22. “Two Illuminating Stories: The Story of the Bad Little Boy and The Story of the Good Little Boy“ by Mark Twain
23. “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde
24. "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
25. “Eve’s Diary” by Mark Twain
26. “How to Tell a Princess” by Andrew Lang
27. “Skip Tracer Bullets” by Joe Archibald
28. “Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad” by M.R. James
29. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
30. “Death and the Woman” by Gertrude Atherton
31. “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe
32. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Why Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins GIlman
33. “Wyman Pickman’s Model” by H.P. Lovecraft
34. “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” byAmbrose Bierce
35. "The Prophets' Paradise" by Robert W. Chambers
36. "The Spectre Bridegroom” by Washington Irving
37. “The Open Window” by H.H. Munro
38. “Beyond the Lies the Wub” by Philip K. Dick

This was originally a project where professional narrators read favorite pieces in the public domain that were released for free for a week online. They were then gathered into a collection that was sold to raise money for charity. It seems to be a way to promote the audiobook format and showcase the talents of the narrators.

From the website https://goingpublicproject.wordpress.... : “Going Public is a celebration of work in the public domain or shared via Creative Commons licensing, recorded purely for the joy of reading something that truly resonates with the narrator and then sharing that joy with others. Pieces are offered gratis on a weekly basis, without compensation of any sort either to the narrator or author.” It seems the project ended about 10 years ago.

All the narrators were excellent, some stories I really enjoyed, some okay, and some I found less engaging (as with any anthology). The stories are well chosen and by well-known authors. A nice mix of well-known stories as well as lesser ones. I’ve read quite a few of them before.

Here are the standouts for me:

“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant (1884) - Maupassant is one of my favorite short story writers, and feel like you can’t go wrong with him. A strong character drives a plot with a lesson and a twist.

“A Pair of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin (1897) - I’ve read this before, but it’s a great one. I like how it captures a slice of daily life in a bygone era.

“Brown Wolf” by Jack London (1906) - London is primarily known for The Call of the Wild and Whitefang, but he was a prolific writer and wrote a ton of short stories that are in a similar vein. I hadn’t heard this one before, and enjoyed it. I usually enjoy London’s work.

“Prince Bull; A Fairytale” by Charles Dickens (1855) - I didn’t enjoy this so much as I was intrigued. I was certain it must be allegory of some current event, since it’s a weird story and Dickens used his fiction politically. When I Googled the only insight I could find was actually a blog post written about this collection by the narrator, Gabrielle DeCuir: “Dickens sets the story in a fairy tale context, but it was really written as a political accusation toward the British government’s policies regarding the Crimean War.” (I knew it!) Source: https://skyboatmedia.com/june-9-princ... (She also refers to my favorite literary scholar, Elliot Engel, who is an authority on Dickens.)

“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry (1905) - Likely one of the most famous short stories in English literature, but still one I love.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892] - I’ve read this a few times, and it’s excellent on audio. Included is a brief essay by the author on why she wrote it. I hadn’t realized how old this story was, written in the 1890s. Gilman explains that it was a result of the treatment she was prescribed when she was experiencing mental illness (not an illness like what is described in the story) where the cure felt like far worse torture.

“The Open Window” by H.H. Munro (1911) - a very brief story with a fun twist. I think I’ve heard this before, but didn’t remember it. Embarrassingly, I also didn’t remember that H.H. Munro is also known as Saki, who is one of my favorite short story writers until I looked up the publication date. I had thought it odd this collection didn’t include his work. It does at least show my taste is consistent, as I liked this without realizing it wad by a favorite author.

“Beyond the Lies the Wub” by Philip K. Dick (1952) - I liked this clever sci fi story. I’ve red a little of Dick’s work and it didn’t resonate. But this worked, reminding me a little of Ray Bradbury’s work, which I like. Might have to try some of his other short stories.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

not something I'd think about in a month and go 'wow that was such a great book' but overall, you can't really go wrong with this collection of short stories. it includes several classic short stories that I remember from school textbooks (the necklace, gift of the magi, the pit and the pendulum, the monkey's paw, the open window, the occurrence at owl creek bridge, the celebrated jumping frog of calaveras county).