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To wander the web in search of what you might find for free is to be constantly amazed. This week I found “10 wonderful short stories to read for free” on Flavorwire and “The 7 Greatest Stories in the history of Esquire Magazine…in full”, and that’s just for starters.

•  “The School”, by Donald Barthelme, from Sixty Stories, reprinted by Flavorwire

As part of an NPR series on Exploring Death in America, The author explores what children learn about death from how we teach about life.

• “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”, by Gay Talese, Esquire April 1966

Not all stories are fiction. This pioneering example of New Journalism employs fiction techniques that draw you into a celebrity’s world. For example, Talese uses a balance of description and dialogue to show compassionate side of a moody man:

…Sinatra walked over, quickly with his finger flicked the other alabaster bird off the table, smashing it to pieces, and then put an arm gently around Jane Hoag and said, in a way that put her completely at ease, “That’s okay, kid.”

• “I’ll Have a White Zinfandel”, by Jay Sefton, Storyscape Literary Journal, Issue 10, May 2013

This memoir nails the moment when a mocking attitude turns to compassionate understanding and changes a young man’s behavior in a dramatic way.

• “Miracle Polish”, by Steven Millhauser, The New Yorker, November 14, 2011 (A Best American Short Stories 2012 pick)

Great stories make you think. A defeated man sees himself in a new way when he uses miracle polish on his mirror. We see reflections of ourselves in the eyes of other people. If others see us as better than we are, can we be?

• “Are you looking for a Cup or a Coffee?”, by SaturnStar, ShortStories101

I found a Short Story Collective online, a place where people post their work and the cream rises to the top. This story flashes by in a nanosecond and makes the point quickly in a “man walked into a bar” format.

• “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried”, by Amy Hempel, Fictionaut.com

This tightly written story pulls the reader into the intimate moments between two friends who have shared life. Now one attends the other’s death. Powerful.

• “Mirrorball”, by Mary Gaitskill, a Knopf Doubleday Featured Short Story

A very modern take on an out-of-date concept, that sex without commitment diminishes the soul; but more than that, Gaitskill explores how a soul operates. The structure for the story is simple: a boy, a girl, an encounter, devastation, a ragged man,revelation. Gaitskill personifies the soul in remarkable ways. For example:

He dropped her soul on the floor, where it quickly became invisible to him. He forgot her.