The Stoning Games...
Shirley Jackson wrote it in June of 1948, and The New Yorker published it the same month. The story became infamous...and one of the most controversial pieces ever to grace the magazine’s pages...getting the magazine banned in some countries. So what is so captivating about The Lottery? In my opinion, it set the stage for a niche dystopian genre that continues up to the present...ever heard of The Hunger Games?
It is a short story...you'll read it in less than an hour...but for some reason, it will stick with you, and the story line will haunt you. Perhaps it's the setting of "good old small town" America with its familiar names and characters, implementing barbaric pagan ritual from so long ago, none of them can remember why. Perhaps it's the merciless dogma of that ritual, and the glee of anticipation...the anticipation of committing a horror because they can...because that's the way it's always been done.
Finding a first edition copy of the The New Yorker for June 2th, 1948 is not hard. The magazine keeps an online archive of all its issues, accessible if you’re a subscriber. There are alternatives...the story can be read on the Web in a variety of places...but if you are like me, I read classics in their original first edition formats...as if I was holding the original. Fortunately, the price for access is reasonable, somewhere around $12 for 4 months...and that gets you into the archive...
Or...you can read it here