First published in The Saturday Evening Post, The Ransom of Red Chief is a humorous short story written in 1910 by O. Henry. A pair of con men kidnap and attempt to ransom a prominent Alabama citizen's son. Immediately they find themselves at the mercy of a particularly spoiled and clever boy who begins driving them mad. The ironic ending remains the story's most enduring feature.

Swift ironically proposes feeding Irish children to England's rich absentee landlords.

This dark psychological fantasy is more than a moral tale. It is also a product of its time, drawing on contemporary theories of class, evolution and criminality and the secret lives behind Victorian propriety, to create a unique form of urban Gothic.

Akaky Akakyevitch is a small, insignificant man who endures ridicule from his co-workers and performs tedious work copying legal papers. When he uses his life savings to buy a custom made overcoat, it changes his life, but also leads to tragedy.

Pepe Torres takes his first trip to town from his isolated farm and kills a drunken man in an argument. He flees to the mountains but succumbs to peril.