Kayerts and Carlier, agents for the Great Trading Company, are “two perfectly insignificant and incapable individuals” left in charge of a remote trading station. Conrad mines a deep vein of irony as he describes their work “serving the cause of progress”. As the story unfolds, and the men are shown to be idiotic cogs in the engine of colonialism, Conrad exposes the gap between the high-flown language of such projects (“progress”, “civilisation”, “virtue”) and their brutal reality. “Twilight of the Superheroes” by Deborah Eisenberg (2006)

A roadside assistance technician stops to help a couple with their car, only to be roped into a strange affair. Part poetic incantation, part eccentric kaleidoscopic vision, this is a story which contorts each time you read it. Born in Antigua, Kincaid invents aesthetics which are wholly unique, transfiguring human form and surroundings, in particular, the Caribbean landscapes. Here, she conveys the multiple textures of smaller islands, creating a literary geography which remains experimental, new and indefinable. Irenosen Okojie “Music at Annahullion” by Eugene McCabe (2004) Diane had to go through the one thing she had foreseen and was afraid of – and there was nothing I could do to help. Narayan, who wrote more than 200 short stories, called them “concentrated miniatures of human experience in all its opulence”. The opulence of the clay horse at the centre of this story has faded beneath the Indian sun, but the conversation it triggers between an American tourist who speaks no Tamil and Muni, a poor peasant who speaks no English, is not only very funny, but also telling about the degree to which misunderstanding is an unavoidable part of human interaction. “Minutes of Glory” by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1976) This is a gloriously sensual story, narrated by a man who wants another’s wife – but the true star of the show is the moon. Calvino imagines it so close it risks dipping its scales in the sea. Fishermen gather lunar milk as the protagonist writhes in unrequited love. It is a great example of magic realism – full of texture and motion and mischief and longing. Leone Ross

You and three other players solve a hotel murder mystery together, but the decisions you make change the story and survival of various characters.

A character finishes creating the first time travel machine, only to discover it can only move in two-minute increments. An acting coach attempts to create the greatest theater company around, looking to both the actors and the audience. A character discovers they have the ability to visit the past and future, but at the risk that they'll lose something valuable. A comedy series about a large family living in a two-bedroom apartment, for what they think is "temporary."

Alice Munro carries us deep inside particular moments. Photograph: Alice Munro./Alamy “The Siren” by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1961) A spaceship lands in a local town, offering the latest technologies from space at a discount price.

A father and daughter take a hunting trip every year together, but every year they grow farther apart. Two characters swear never to fall in love or date. One of them becomes disappointed the other kept their oath.

A character hosts an auction for the items of a beloved neighbor who has recently passed, to most of the neighborhood's dismay.