Using Indexes to Find Short Stories
If you cannot find your short story in UC Library Search, use one of the indexes below to determine:
- If, when, and where the short story was published
- Whether the UCSB Library owns that source
- Short Story IndexMain Ref PN 3311 S56
This is the standard tool for locating short stories. It indexes stories written in or translated into English that have appeared in collections or periodicals, and can be searched a number of ways, including by subject, author, or story title. Volume 1 Includes stories published before 1949. - Index to Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize StoriesMain Ref Z1231 F4 W52
- Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-1994)Main Ref AI3 R4
A standard index to popular magazines, many of which contain short stories. Search by story title, author, or subject. Or, look under “short stories” for a list by title of short stories published that year. - Short Story Writers and Their Work: a Guide to the BestMain Ref PN 3373 H6 1992
- FictionMags IndexA crowd-compiled index to thousands of magazines that publish fiction, including “Gaslight” magazines of c.1880-1914, pulp magazines of the early 20th C., the “Big Slick” magazines of the mid-20th C, and the digest-sized magazines of the 1950s and 1960s.
- Bibliography of American Literature This link opens in a new windowNearly 40,000 records of the literary works of approximately 300 American writers from the period of the Revolution to 1930.
- Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new windowIndex of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States between 1890-1982. For coverage of similar material from 1984 to the present, use Academic Search Complete
Finding Short Stories in Books and Anthologies
Short stories appear in so many different ways that there is no one single place to look for them. A good place to start is in UC Library Search or in one of the indexes listed on the right.
If you know the title of a short story, use a keyword search and enter the title of the story. Add the author's name if you know it or if the title isn't very distinctive:
- Tobermory
- Brokeback Mountain
- Boyle Death of the Cool
You can also combine keywords to look for anthologies and collections:
- Collections and science fiction
- Humorous stories, English
- Literary collections African Americans
- Short stories and collections
If you know or suspect that a short story is one of many in a book by the author, do an author search in the catalog.
If you know the title of the anthology or collection in which a story appears, do a Title begins with…search in the catalog for the name of the anthology:
- McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber
- Lost on Purpose: Women in the City
You can also try a subject search for "short stories" combined with other keywords.
Finding Short Stories on the Web
You can search Google for your story, but be aware that, as with all free websites, it may be difficult to confirm the accuracy and authenticity of the material.
The following sites contain the full-text versions of selected short stories:
- Early American Fiction This link opens in a new windowFull text of 875 first editions of American novels and short stories by such authors as Louisa May Alcott, Herman Melville, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain, as well as a host of minor writers of the period.