O. Henry

O. Henry (1862–1910), the pen name of William Sydney Porter, was an American short-story writer celebrated for compact urban tales, humane irony, and turns that recast an ending. The Four Million moves among clerks, artists, couples, and strivers in New York, treating ordinary lives as worthy of narrative attention. Cabbages and Kings links stories set in the imagined republic of Anchuria, mixing political satire with adventure. Roads of Destiny ranges more widely in setting and tone, while Heart of the West brings the same quick characterization to frontier communities. Sixes and Sevens offers another broad sampling of comic reversals, sacrifice, and chance encounters. The Four Million gives the clearest first view of his city fiction; Cabbages and Kings then shows how his episodic method can expand toward a loosely connected novel.