My Very Favorite Stories Since Starting this Blog in January 2020.

Multiple stories from a year are listed in order of preference.

2024

• “Wave Walkers” by Victor Pope

• “The Emporium” by Kaaron Warren

• “Redo” by Brigitte Winter

• “Spaced” by Catherine Castellani

• “Chat_transcript_elsie_user260916_2189-12-13T21-18-32.661Z” by Ash Howell

• “All The Time in the World and None at All” by Allison Pottern

• “The Manifold Aspects of Horace” by Taylor Lykiardopoulos

2023

• “Rose/House” by Arkady Martine

• “Lemuria 7 is Missing” by Allen M Steele

• “The Less Than Divine Invasion” by Peter Wood

• “Berb by Berb” by Ray Nayler

• “I AM AI’ by Ai Jiang

• “Falling Bodies” by Rebecca Roanhorse

• “The Ghosts of Mars” by Dominica Phetteplace

• “Six Incidents of Evolution Using Time Travel” by Derek Künsken

• “Friends Beyond the Mountains” by Ava Homa

• “The Faraway Club” by Sally McBride

• “Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition”, Gu Shi /〈2181序曲〉再版导言, 顾适 translated by Emily Jin

• “The Mimicking of Known Successes” by Malka Older

• “Counting Casualties” by Yoon Ha Lee

• “Today I Know” by Martin L. Shoemaker

• “Seeds of Mercury” by Wang Jinkang / 水星播种, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend

• “The Story Must Continue” by Muharrem Erbey. Translated from the Turkish by Andrew Penny

• “The Nameless Dead” By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• “How It Unfolds” by James S. A. Corey

2022

• “30,000 Years Beneath a Eulogy” by Sequoia Nagamatsu

• “The Cottage in Omena” by Charles Andrew Oberndorf

• “Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness” by S.L. Huang

• “The Difference Between Love and Time” by Catherynne M. Valente

• “Ogres” by Adrian Tchaikovsky

• “The Empty” by Ray Nayler. [2]

• “Snowflake” by Nick Wolven

• “The White Leopard” by Michael Swanwick

• “Falling of the Edge of the World” by Suzanne Palmer

• “Forty-Eight Minutes at the Trainview Cafe” by M. Bennardo

• “Goldie” by Sean Monaghan

• “Dollbot Cicily” by Will McIntosh

• “Blimpes” by Rick Wilber

2021

• “Año Neuvo” by Ray Nayler

• “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers

• “A Momentary Brightening” by Laura Muetzelfeldt with Dr Martin Dominik

• “The Past is Red” by Catherynne M Valente

• “A Blessing of Unicorns” by Elizabeth Bear

• “The Realms of Water” By Robert Reed

• “Bread and Circuits” by Misha Lenau

• “Speaker” by Simon Brown

• “Broad Dutty Water (A Sunken Story)” by Nalo Hopkinson

• “Glitch” by Alex Irvine

• “A Rocket for Dimitrios” by Ray Nayler. [2]

• “The Dark Ride” by John Kessel

• “Furgen” by Andrew Silverman

• “Bots of the Lost Ark” by Suzanne Palmer

• “The Skeleton Crew” by Janelle Shane

2020

• “Helicopter Story” aka “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter” by Isabel Fall

• “Exile’s End” by Carolyn Ives Gilman

• “Return to the Red Castle” by Ray Nayler

• “You Have the Prettiest Mask” by Sarah Langan

• “An Important Failure” by Rebecca Campbell

• “Monster” by Naomi Kritzer

• “The Bahrain Underground Bazaar”by Nadia Afifi

• “Egoli” by T.L. Huchu [2]

• “Maelstrom” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• “The Beast Adjoins” by Ted Kosmatka

• “GO. NOW. FIX.” by Timons Esaias

• “Coffin Rider” by James Rossiter

• “A Mastery of German” by Marian Denise Moore

• “A Thousand Gamorrah’s” by Daryl Gregory

• “Minerva Girls” by James Van Pelt

• “Scar Tissue” by Tobias S. Buckell

• “Silver Door Diner” by Bishop Garrison

• “Red_Bati” by Dilman Dila

• “The Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee

2019

• “Pig Son” by Sequoia Nagamatsu

• “Green Glass: A Love Story” by E. Lily Yu

• “The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir” by Karen Tidbeck

• “After the Fall” by Eric Nevala-Lee

2018

• “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” by Daryl Gregory

• “And More Slow” by Nalo Hopkinson

2017

• “And Then There Were (N-One)” by Sarah Pinsker

• “Belladonna Nights” by Alastair Reynolds

• “Ugo” by Giovanni De Feo

2016

• “Kuszib” by Hassan Abdulrazzak

• “Songs of Your Decay” by Sequoia Nagamatsu

• “All the Colors You Thought Were Kings” by Arkady Martine

• “Inselberg” by Nalo Hopkinson

• “Baghdad Syndrome” by Zhraa Alhaboby. Trans: Emre Bennett

2015

• “Ambiguity Machines: An Examination” by Vandana Singh

• “Spider Here” by Bobby Sun [as by Robert Liow]

2014

• “Yesterday’s Kin” by Nancy Kress

2013

• “City of Laughter” by Sequoia Nagamatsu

• “In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind” by Sarah Pinsker

• “The Waiting Stars” by Aliette de Bodard

• “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky

• “Pathways” by Nancy Kress. [2]

• “Alive, Alive Oh” by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

2012

• “Dormanna” by Gene Wolfe. [2]

• “A Tall Tail” by Charles Stross

• “The Ghosts of Christmas” by Paul Cornell

• “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard

2011

• “Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders. [2]

• “Kiss Me Twice” by Mary Robinette Kowal

• “Silently and Very Fast” by Catherynne M. Valente

• “The Invasion of Venus” by Stephen Baxter

• “A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel” by Yoon Ha Lee

2009

• “Eros, Philia, Agape” by Rachel Swirsky. [2]

• “Melancholy Nights in a Tokyo Virtual Cafe” by Sequoia Nagamatsu

2008

• “His Master’s Voice” by Hanna Rajaniemi

• “The Kindness of Strangers” by Nancy Kress

• “To Hie from Far Cilenia” by Karl Schroeder

2007

• “Memorare” by Gene Wolfe.

• “Minla’s Flowers” by Alastair Reynolds

• “Muse of Fire” by Dan Simmons

• “Laws of Survival” by Nancy Kress. [2]

• “By Fools Like Me” by Nancy Kress.

2006

• “The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald

• “Good Mountain” by Robert Reed

• “Bea and Her Bird Brother” by Gene Wolfe.

• “On Deck Circle” by Gene Wolfe.

2005

• “Second Person, Present Tense” by Daryl Gregory

• “Tk’tk’tk” by David D. Levine.

• “Christmas Inn” by Gene Wolfe

  2004

• “Shiva in Shadow” by Nancy Kress

• “My Mother, Dancing” by Nancy Kress

• “Mayflower II” by Stephen Baxter

2003

• “The Ice” by Stephen Popkes

• “Awake in the Night” by John C. Wright

• “The Fluted Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi

• “Anomalous Structures of My Dreams” by M. Shane Bell

• “The Green Leopard Plague” by Walter Jon Williams

• “June Sixteeth at Anna’s” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2002

• “Slow Life” by Michael Swanwick

2001

• “Fast Times at Fairmont High” by Vernor Vinge

• “Exo-Skeleton Town” by Jeffrey Ford

2000

• “Tendeléo's Story” by Ian McDonald

• “On the Orion Line” by Stephen Baxter

1999

• “Speaking Sea” by Sally McBride

• “The Wedding Album” by David Marusek

1998

• “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. [2]

• “Two Small Birds” by Han Song

• “Craphound” by Cory Doctorow

1997

• “Petting Zoo” by Gene Wolfe

• “The 43 Antarean Dynasties” by Mike Resnick.

• “All Tomorrow’s Parties” by Paul J. McAuley

1996

• “The Wind Over the World” by Steven Utley

• “A Dry, Quiet War” by Tony Daniel

• “After a Lean Winter” by Dave Wolverton

• “Grey Noise” by Pepe Rojo

• “Out of the Mouths” by Shelia Finch

• “Axes on Viola” by Jaroslav Mostecký

1995

• “The Ziggurat” by Gene Wolfe

• “For White Hill” by Joe Haldeman

• “A Birthday” by Esther M Friesner

1994

• “The Fragrance of Orchids” by Sally McBride

• “Cilia-of-Gold” by Stephen Baxter

1993

• “There and Then” by Steven Utley

• “Papa” by Ian R. MacLeod

• “Flashback” by Dan Simmons

• “Lieserl” by Stephen Baxter

• “Love Toys of the Gods” by Pat Cadigan

• “Chaff” by Greg Egan

1992

• “Brain Wars” by Paul Di Filippo

1991

• “Beggars in Spain” by Nancy Kress. [2] [3]

• “Griffin’s Egg” by Michael Swanwick

• “Gold” by Isaac Asimov.

1990

• “One Night in Television City” by Paul Di Filippo

• “The Manamouki” by Mike Resnick

• “Bears Discover Fire” by Terry Bisson

• “Past Magic” by Ian R. MacLeod

• “The Extra” by Greg Egan

1989

• “Little Worker” by Paul Di Filippo

• “Stuntmind” by Braulio Tavares

1988

• “Ripples in the Dirac Sea” by Geoffrey A. Landis

• “Surfacing” by Walter Jon Williams

• “A Midwinter's Tale” by Michael Swanwick

• “Paranamanco” by Jean-Claude Dunyach

1987

• “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers” by Lawrence Watt-Evans. [2]

• “Crying in the Rain” by Tanith Lee

• “Rachel in Love” by Pat Murphy. [2]

• “Trapalanda” by Charles Sheffield.

1986

• “Tangents” by Greg Bear

1985

• “Out of All Them Bright Stars” by Nancy Kress. [2]

• “Sailing to Byzantium” by Robert Silverberg. [2] [3]

• “Green Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson

• “Dogfight” by William Gibson and Michael Swanwick. [2]

• “Miren” by Mayi Pelot

• “Choppy Water” by Mayi Pelot

• “A Spanish Lesson” by Lucius Shepard

• “The Only Neat Thing to Do” by James Tiptree, Jr

• “The Fringe” by Orson Scott Card

• “Webrider” by Jayge Carr

1984

• “Bloodchild” by Octavia E. Butler

• “Trinity” by Nancy Kress

• “The Crystal Spheres” by David Brin

• “Press Enter ?” by John Varley

• “Hopkins Dalhousie” by Gene Wolfe.

1983

• “Speech Sounds” by Octavia E. Butler

• “Homefairing” by Robert Silverberg

• “Blood Music” by Greg Bear. [2] [3]

• “Carrion Comfort” by Dan Simmons

• “Gemstone” by Vernor Vinge. [2]

• “The Leaves of October” by Don Sakers

• “Heart Do Not in Eyes Shine” by John Kessel

• “In the Islands” by Pat Murphy

• “Spending a Day at the Lottery Fair” by Frederik Pohl

• “Her Furry Face” by Leigh Kennedy

1982

• “Fire Watch” by Connie Willis

1981

• “Johnny Mnemonic” by William Gibson

1980

• “The Feast of Saint Janis” by Michael Swanwick

• “Beatnik Bayou” by John Varley

• “Nightflyers” by George R R Martin

• “The Ugly Chickens” by Howard Waldrop

• “The Summer Sweet, the Winter Wild” by Michael G Coney

1979

• “Wives” by Lisa Tuttle

• “Sandkings” by George R. R.. Martin

1978

• “Seven American Nights” by Gene Wolfe

• “We Who Stole the Dream” by James Tiptree Jr

• “The Last Decision” by Ben Bova

• “Assimilating Our Culture, That’s What They’re Doing” by Larry Niven

1977

• “The Screwfly Solution” by Raccoona Sheldon. (James Tiptree Jr.) (Alice Sheldon)

1976

• “The Bicentennial Man” by Isaac Asimov

• “An Infinite Summer” by Christopher Priest

• “The Phantom of Kansas” by John Varley

• “Secret Rider” by Marta Randall

1975

• “The Hero as Werwolf” by Gene Wolfe

1974

• “Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang” by Kate Wilhelm

• “A Song for Lya” by George R R Martin

• “Forlesen” by Gene Wolfe

• “Twig” by Gordon R Dickson

1973

• “The Death of Dr. Island” by Gene Wolfe

• “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K Le Guin

• “Doomship” by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

• “Going to the Beach” by Gene Wolfe.

• “The Women Men Don’t See” by James Tiptree Jr.

• “Death and Designation Among the Asadi” by Michael Bishop

1972

• “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” by Gene Wolfe

• “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” by James Tiptree Jr. [2]

• “The Man Who Walked Home” by James Tiptree Jr. [2]

• “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” by Frederik Pohl

• “It’s Very Clean” by Gene Wolfe.

• “Willie’s Blues” by Robert J. Tilley

• “Long Shot” by Vernor Vinge

1971

• “The Queen of Air and Darkness” by Paul Anderson

1970

• “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories” by Gene Wolfe

• “Remembrance to Come” by Gene Wolfe.

• “Murder, 1986” by P.D. James

1968

• “The Sharing of Flesh” by Poul Anderson

• “The Hall of Machines” by Langdon Jones. [2]

1967

• “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison. [2]

• “Driftglass” by Samuel R. Delany. [2]

• “The Star Pit” by Samuel R. Delany

• “Aye, and Gomorrah” by Samuel R. Delany. [2] [3]

• “The Billiard Ball” by Isaac Asimov

• “Auto-da-Fé” by Roger Zelazny

• “If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister” by Theodore Sturgeon.

• “A Toy for Juliette” by Robert Bloch

• “Corona” by Samuel R. Delany

• “The Green Wall Said” by Gene Wolfe.

• “The Last Command” by Keith Laumer

• “The Man Who Went to the Moon - Twice” by Howard Rodman

• “Sun Push” by Graham Hall

• “The Last Refuge” by Eduardo Goligorsky

1966

• “Light of Other Days” by Bob Shaw. [2]

• “Bookworm, Run!” by Vernor Vinge

• “You and Me and the Continuum” by J. G. Ballard

• “The Deeps” by Keith Roberts

1965

• “The Hands” by John Baxter

• “Goblin Night” by James H. Schmitz

• “Day of Wrath” Sever Gansovsky

• “All the King’s Men” by Barrington J. Bailey

1964

• “Let Us Save the Universe (An Open Letter from Ijon Tichy)” by Stanislaw Lem

• “The Terminal Beach” by J.G. Ballard

• “Solder, Ask Not” by Gordon R. Dickson

• “The Crystal Goblet” by Jeronimo Monteiro

1962

• “The Place Where Chicago Was” by Jim Harmon

1961

• “Hothouse” by Brian W. Aldiss

• “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” by Cordwainer Smith

• “For Breath I Tarry” by Roger Zelazny

1960

• “The Voices of Time” by J. G. Ballard

1959

• “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. [2]

• “The Shoreline at Sunset” by Ray Bradbury

• “The Man Who Lost the Sea” by Theodore Sturgeon. [2]

• “A Death in the House” by Clifford D. Simak

• “Day at the Beach” by Carol Emshwiller [2]

• “All You Zombies—” by Robert A. Heinlein

• “The Store of the Worlds” by Robert Sheckley

1958

• “The Big Front Yard” by Clifford D. Simak

• “The Edge of the Sea” by Algis Budrys

1957

• “Omnilingual” by H. Beam Piper

• “The Fly” by George Langelaan

1956

• “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov [2]

• “Stranger Station” by Damon Knight. [2]

• “Exploration Team” by Murray Leinster

• “A Gun for Dinosaur” by L. Sprague de Camp

• “Pilgrimage to Earth” by Robert Sheckley

• “Legwork” by Eric Frank Russell

1955

• “The Game of Rat and Dragon” by Cordwainer Smith.

• “The Darfsteller” by Walter M. Miller Jr.

• “The Gift of Gab” by Jack Vance

1954

• “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin

• “Rule Golden” by Damon Knight

• “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bester

• “Answer” by Frederic Brown

• “A Master of Babylon” by Edgar Pangborn

• “The Golden Man” by Philip K Dick

1953

• “It’s a Good Life” by Jerome Bixby

• “The Liberation of Earth” by William Tenn

• “The Deserter” by William Tell

• “The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C Clarke. [2]

• “Second Variety” by Philip K. Dick

• “Lot” by Ward Moore

• “So Proudly We Hail” by Judith Merril

1952

• “Baby is Three” by Theodore Sturgeon

• “Surface Tension” by James Blish

• “The Altar at Midnight” by C.M. Kornbluth

• “Blood’s a Rover” by Chad Oliver

• “The Good Provider” by Marion Gross

1951

• “The Weapon” by Fredric Brown

• “The Midas Plague” by Frederick Pohl

• “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov

• “The Rocket Man” by Ray Bradbury

• “Angel’s Egg” by Edgar Pangborn [2]

• “Goodnight, Mr. James” by Clifford D. Simak

• “Bettyann” by Kris Neville

• “Null-P” by William Tenn

1950

• “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury

• “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury

• “Coming Attraction” by Fritz Leiber

• “The Fox and the Forest” by Ray Bradbury

• “The Rocket” by Ray Bradbury

1949

• “Kaleidoscope” by Ray Bradbury. [2]

1948

• “Adventures of the Dinosaur-Craft” by Jūza Unno.

1947

• “The Man Who Never Grew Young” by Fritz Leiber. [2]

• “Zero Hour” by Ray Bradbury

• “Thunder and Roses” by Theodore Sturgeon

• “Child’s Play” by William Tenn

1946

• “The Million Year Picnic” by Ray Bradbury

• “Vintage Season” by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore. [2]

• “Evidence” by Isaac Asimov

• “A Logic Named Joe” by Murray Leinster

1944

• “Desertion” by Clifford D. Simak

1943

• “As Never Was” by P. Schuyler Miller

• “Elsewhen” by Anthony Boucher

1942

• “Nerves” by Lester del Rey

1941

• “Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov

• “By His Bootstraps” by Robert A. Heinlein

• “Microcosmic God’ by Theodore Sturgeon

• “Adam and No Eve” by Alfred Bester. [2]

• “Jay Score” by Eric Frank Russell

1940

• “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates

• “It” by Theodore Sturgeon. [2]

• “Into the Darkness” by Ross Rocklynne

• “Vault of the Beast” by A.E. van Vogt

1939

• “Spawn” by P. Schuyler Miller

• “The Black Destroyer” by A.E. Van Vogt [2]

1938

• “Who Goes There?” by John W Campbell [2]

1937

• “Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath” by Jūza Unno.

1936

• “Liquid Life” by Ralph Milne Farley

1934

• “A Martian Odyssey” by Stanley G. Weinbaum

1929

• “The Star Stealers” by Edmond Hamilton

1922

• “Tale of Ak and Humanity” by Yefim Zozulya

1897

• “The Star” by H. G. Wells