Wilbur Daniel Steele (1886–1970)

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. -- Solomon 7:1

I first read this remarkable short story in my high school AP English class. I fell in love with it then, and I come back to it from time to time, as I find it can still deliver an impact, even so many years later and with so much living between reads.

This is the kind of short story that almost demands multiple readings. So much is show more being said beneath the surface of the story, and Steele is able to plumb the souls of his characters so thoroughly in such a short space. Sometimes summing them up in one line:

It was like him to have cracked his whip above his animals' ears the moment before he pulled them to a halt.

Does that not reveal to you the baseness and thoroughly thoughtless character of the man described? Can you not see this brutish, coarse person?

I know Steele has written other short stories and at least one novel, all hard to come by, but I really need to try to find copies, because he has written in this tale one of the finest short stories of all time.

For anyone who might be interested in reading this, it can be found here: https://shortstories.fandom.com/wiki/How_Beautiful_with_Shoes show less

An almost SFnal story (substitute "space station" for "lighthouse") of a young man newly assigned to a remote lighthouse with an old keeper and his young wife -- or is she what she appears to be? Reminded me somewhat of [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s [Solaris]. (The protagonist certainly reaches the point of wanting to launch the woman on a one-way trip into space but he is in the wrong genre to have access to a rocket ship.)

A gripping and atmospheric story set in an irrestistible location. Often show more anthologized. There are plain text versions online and a good reading at Librivox. show less

This was actually a pretty interesting story, though hard to follow at times. A sailing vessel is discovered unmanned at sea, and the sailor who boards it to bring it home starts thinking there’s a ghost on the ship that turns into a yellow cat when he’s not looking.

This story starts out as an adventure story with sfnal overtones: looking for a lost missionary in Africa who has been disturbed by what he saw at an observatory in Boston. However, with a lot of sense of wonder, it describes the loss and re-creation of faith. Good read.