Wikipedia would have us believe that the prolific American author Frank Stockton was best known for his children's literature, but I suspect that most of us who remember him at all, remember him for the famous tale "The Lady, or the Tiger?" Published in Century Magazine in 1883, this story has appeared in many anthologies, and I can still recall my outraged disbelief when, at around age 12, I first confronted this quandary! The popularity this tale had its downside for Stockton, however, who found that editors expected his subsequent stories to "live up" to the reputation established by "Tiger." He expresses some of this dismay in his story, "His Wife's Deceased Sister," published in 1884. Stockton wrote dozens, if not hundreds, of tales; I have yet to track down a precise number. His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton from having a writing career, so Stockton worked as a wood-engraver until his father's death in 1860. Here you'll find a nice selection of Stockton tales - including, of course, "The Lady, or the Tiger?"

Euphemia Amid the Pelicans (Century Magazine, 1882A)

The Transferred Ghost (Century Magazine, 1882B)

The Rudder Grangers in England (Century Magazine, 1883A)

The Spectral Mortgage (Century Magazine, 1883A)

Our Story (Century Magazine, 1883A)

The Lady, or the Tiger? (Century Magazine, 1883A)

The Author of "The Lion and the Lamb," by Frank Stockton (Century Magazine, 1883B)

"His Wife's Deceased Sister" (Century Magazine, 1884A)

The Reversible Landscape (Century Magazine, 1884B)

On the Training of Parents (Century Magazine, 1884B)

The Remarkable Wreck of the "Thomas Hyke" (Century Magazine, 1884B)

The Discourager of Hesitancy: A Continuation of The Lady or the Tiger? (Century Magazine, 1885B)

A Tale of Negative Gravity (Century Magazine, 1885A)

The Cloverfields Carriage (Century Magazine, 1886A)

A Borrowed Month (Century Magazine, 1886B)

A Thing that Glistened (The Strand, 1891A)

Major Pendallas: A Christmas Story (The Strand, 1891B)

The Christmas Shadrach (Century Magazine, 1892A)

The Magic Egg (Century Magazine, 1894B)

Captain Eli's Best Ear: A Christmas Story (Century Magazine, 1896A)

The Widow's Yarn, by Frank R. Stockton (Ladies Home Journal, 1896)

The Snowflake of the Service (The Strand, 1899B)

Novels & Novellas

The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine (31 pages) (Century Magazine, 1886B)

The Hundredth Man (131 pages) (Century Magazine, 1887AB)

The Dusantes (Century Magazine, 1888A)

The sequel to "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine," 36 pages.

The "Merry Chanter" (58 pages) (Century Magazine, 1890A)

The Squirrel Inn (69 pages) (Century Magazine, 1891B)