Tales Across Winter
What to look for in a good story
A strong opening, a character who feels real, and the sentence you can't get out of your head days later. These are the marks to measure a story by.
Reading time: 5 minStories without borders
Tales Across
Editor's Choice
Snowfall
The editorial team leaves the mountain before the snow closes the road. Anna and Márk stay behind by the stove — ten years after they last stood that close.
From the Editor's Desk
Why read short stories? Because a good story asks no more than an evening: only that you stop for a minute and pay attention. A single sentence can decide who we are, and a single scene can stay with you for a lifetime.
We built this portal because long novels are wonderful, though you don't always have a free evening, a hammock and silence. Tales Across stories are short but deep: they end, and they stay with you afterwards.
"It isn't how long a story takes that matters, but how much of you it takes."
— The Editors, 2026
How to read with us
Come in and read one in a single sitting. A story works best when you don't interrupt it. If you only have five minutes, pick a 4-minute piece: every story shows its reading time. If you have longer, start with Tales Across Winter and let the next story pull you in.
And a tip: don't force the order. This is a library, not a set reading list. Click Retold Classics if you're curious how the old classics sound in a present-day voice.
Collections
Curated
Tales Across Winter Winter romance stories
Winter short stories: snowbound platforms, frozen lakes, mulled wine and old longings. Seven stories from the Tales Across Winter collection.
7 stories
Tales Across Strangers Stories about strangers
Strangers who meet in a stalled lift, a night sleeper car, a wedding table or after a missed ferry. Short stories about people who had never met before.
8 stories
Tales Across Midnight Night stories
Night stories: a leftover glove on the night bus, a radio caller who never gives his name, a bakery at four in the morning, two insomniacs on a rooftop.
8 stories
Tales Across After Stories of loss and moving on
Quiet stories for anyone who has lost someone: the first holiday without them, the objects they left behind, the sentences never said. Not advice — company.
8 storiesRetold Classics
Public Domain Retold classic
The Doll Who Said Goodbye
One night in the life of a doll doctor: his daughter takes a repaired doll back to its owner and does not return. A retelling of F. Marion Crawford's 1896 story.
Public domain in the EU since 1980. Retold classicRikki-Tikki-Tavi
One mongoose, two cobras and a garden that has to be defended. A retelling of Rudyard Kipling's 1893 story for ages 9–11, in three chapters.
Public domain in the EU since 2007. Retold classicThe Bronze Whistle
A professor finds a bronze whistle beneath the ruins of a Templar preceptory — and blows it, though the inscription asked a question. A retelling of M. R. James's 1904 ghost story.
Public domain in the EU since 2007.Reading Tips
Workshop 
Tales Across Strangers
How a short story differs from a novel
A short story isn't different because it is short. It is different because every sentence has to serve something. In a few minutes you can live through an entire world.
Reading time: 4 min
Tales Across Midnight
How to choose by theme
If you want romance in the snow, Winter is your place. If you prefer a tenser atmosphere, Midnight is waiting. Strangers is for when you don't know how close you dare let a stranger come.
Reading time: 4 min
Public Domain
What is a retold classic?
An old story that anyone may use, told again in our own voice. The copyright has expired, but we still credit the author and the source.
Reading time: 6 minDon't miss the next story
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