Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author's brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted 'Top Tens' across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions - Why that story? Why that author?

The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature.

Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something.

In this decade Europe is recovering from the Great War yet already the poisonous seeds for the next, even greater calamity, are taking root. Our literary leviathans bring tales of pain and heartache, sorrow and humanity into every narrative. Genius has many names.

1 - The Top 10 - The 1920's - The Europeans - An Introduction
2 - Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov
3 - A Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka
4 - The Horse Dealer's Daughter by D H Lawrence
5 - Twilight Alley by Stefan Zweig
6 - The Tale Of The Stairs by Hristo Smirenski
7 - The Imbecile by Luigi Pirandello
8 - My First Goose by Isaac Babel
9 - The Loathly Opposite by John Buchan
10 - Vampire's Prey by Hanns Heinz Ewers
11 - Rhapsody by Dorothy Edwards