12/18/1965 The Possibility of Evil exists

December 18, 1965.  You may think that the famous story "The Lottery" is the greatest piece of short fiction Shirley Jackson ever wrote.  You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but you happen to be wrong.

On this date, a few months after the author died, Saturday Evening Post published "The Possibility of Evil."  It tells of Miss Adela Strangeworth, lovely name, a venerable spinster, and the extraordinary lengths to which she is willing to go to protect the town her family founded. 

The MWA gave it the Edgar for Best Story of the year.   They were right.

You can find it on the web, but I doubt that page is copyright compliant, so I won't link to it here. Find it.  Read it.  You are welcome.

6/26/21948 Shirley Jackson wins The Lottery

June 26, 1948.  The issue of The New Yorker with this cover date featured the first appearance there by Shirley Jackson.  The readership reacted more strongly to "The Lottery" than to any story the magazine had previously published.  Jackson said the responses fell into three categories: "bewilderment, speculation and plain old-fashioned abuse."  It is now generally considered one of the greatest American short stories.

Jackson wrote much more.  "The Possibility of Evil" is one of my favorite crime stories.  The Haunting of Hill House is a favorite horror novel of none other than Stephen King.  Life Among The Savages is a book of domestic humor in the vein of Jean Kerr and Erma Bombeck.

If you want to read the story that shocked the New Yorker subscribers, it is available on the web but I doubt it is copyright-compliant, so I am not linking to it.  You can read more about the reactions to the story (“I read it while soaking in the tub … and was tempted to put my head underwater and end it all,” ) here.