Don Ysidro, by Bruce Holland Rogers

Don Ysidro is a nice little story on a site called Flash Fiction Online, so it figures to be short.  And sweet, since it won a World Fantasy Award for short story in 2004.  It's an afterlife story, and fairly noncontroversial, at least for pantheists.  I liked it, but don't have much more to say.  Read it in 15 minutes if you are short on time.

The Dead Boy at Your Window, by Bruce Holland Rogers

The Dead Boy at Your Window is, according to its author, an exercise in writing a fairy tale.  That exercise turned out pretty well, garnering a Nebula nomination for best short story in 1999.  It's a very brief tale, and like most fairy tales it does not summarize well without paraphrasing its point.  And you don't want to do that with a fairy tale, because a good one does that much better in the original words.  The story is about life, and death, and the connections between--which covers a pretty large chunk of all speculative fiction anyway.  What I can say is I liked reading it, and as an exercise it worked.  I give it 3 stars, have fun.