Comments on Locus All-Centuries Poll: Shorts

The results of the Locus Online All-Centuries Poll are now out. I told you what my votes were a while ago. Here are the results of the poll, and following are my comments on the short fiction component.

In terms of short fiction, there’s a lot I haven’t read — there’s also some I read a long time ago and forgot. When I’m looking for some short fiction to read, I’ll come back to this list.

20th Century Novella:

Their ranking Author : Title (Year) My comments
1 Chiang, Ted : Story of Your Life (1998) Brilliant, deserves its spot.
2 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Word for World Is Forest (1972) I’ve read a lot of Le Guin but not this one yet.
3 Tiptree, James, Jr. : Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976) A good story — I wouldn’t put it quite this close to the top.
4 Campbell, John W. : Who Goes There? (1938)
5 Varley, John : The Persistence of Vision (1978)
6 Wolfe, Gene : The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1972) I read it a long time ago and probably didn’t understand it.
7 Leiber, Fritz : Ill Met in Lankhmar (1970) A great story.
8 Heinlein, Robert A. : The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950) I’ve read a few of his novels but haven’t yet delved into his short fiction.
9 Kress, Nancy : Beggars in Spain (1991)
10 Moore, C. L. (& Henry Kuttner) : Vintage Season (1946)
11 Bujold, Lois McMaster : The Mountains of Mourning (1989)
12 Martin, George R. R. : A Song for Lya (1974) I loved A Game of Thrones but haven’t read any of his short fiction yet.
13 Lovecraft, H. P. : The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1942)
14 Heinlein, Robert A. : By His Bootstraps
15 Simak, Clifford D. : The Big Front Yard (1958) A great story.
16 Sturgeon, Theodore : Baby Is Three (1952)
17* Moorcock, Michael : Behold the Man (1966)
17* Varley, John : PRESS ENTER[] (1984)
19 Willis, Connie : The Last of the Winnebagos (1988) A great story.
20 Vinge, Vernor : True Names (1981) I loved Vinge’s novels that I’ve read but I haven’t gotten to his short stories yet.
21 Vance, Jack : The Last Castle (1966)
22* Crowley, John : Great Work of Time (1989)
22* Zelazny, Roger : 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai (1985)
24* Vance, Jack : The Dragon Masters (1962)
24* Vance, Jack : The Moon Moth (1961) A great story.
26 Heinlein, Robert A. : The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1942)
27 Longyear, Barry B. : Enemy Mine (1979)
28 Asimov, Isaac : The Martian Way (1952)
29 Farmer, Philip Jose : Riders of the Purple Wage (1967) The only story I didn’t finish reading in Dangerous Visions.
30 Zelazny, Roger : He Who Shapes (1965)
31 Chiang, Ted : Seventy-two Letters (2000) A great story.
32 Shepard, Lucius : R&R (1986)
33 Wolfe, Gene : The Death of Doctor Island (1973)
34 Delany, Samuel R. : The Star Pit (1967)
35 McCaffrey, Anne : Dragonrider (1967) Part of the first Pern novel, it’s a good story.
36 Resnick, Mike : Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge (1994)
37 Heinlein, Robert A. : Universe (1941)
38 McCaffrey, Anne : Weyr Search (1967) Part of the first Pern novel, it’s a good story.
39 Silverberg, Robert : Nightwings (1968)
40 Anderson, Poul : The Queen of Air and Darkness (1971)
41 Lovecraft, H. P. : The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward
42* Howard, Robert E. : Red Nails (1936)
42* Silverberg, Robert : Sailing to Byzantium (1985)
44 Brin, David : The Postman (1982)
45 Bear, Greg : Hardfought (1983)
46 Russell, Eric Frank : …And Then There Were None One of my favourites.
47 Zelazny, Roger : Home Is the Hangman (1975)
48* Haldeman, Joe : The Hemingway Hoax (1990)
48* Wolfe, Gene : Seven American Nights (1978)
50 Lovecraft, H. P. : The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (1943)

20th Century Novelette:

Their ranking Author : Title (Year) My comments
1 Keyes, Daniel : Flowers for Algernon (1959) An amazing story everyone should read.
2 Asimov, Isaac : Nightfall (1941) A brilliant story, one of my favourites.
3 Zelazny, Roger : A Rose for Ecclesiastes (1963)
4 Asimov, Isaac : The Bicentennial Man (1976) A brilliant story, one of my favourites.
5 Martin, George R. R. : Sandkings (1979) A great story, also made into an episode of The Outer Limits.
6 Bester, Alfred : Fondly Fahrenheit (1954) A great story.
7 Ellison, Harlan : A Boy and His Dog (1969) A fabulous story, also made into a movie that’s worth watching.
8 Bear, Greg : Blood Music (1983) I read and enjoyed the novel version.
9 Butler, Octavia E. : Bloodchild (1984)
10 Godwin, Tom : The Cold Equations (1954)
11 Tiptree, James, Jr. : The Women Men Don’t See (1973)
12 Tiptree, James, Jr. : The Girl Who Was Plugged In
13 Card, Orson Scott : Ender’s Game (1977) I don’t remember the story version separate from the novel — the novel is one of my favourites.
14 Chiang, Ted : Tower of Babylon (1990) A great story, one of my favourites.
15 Weinbaum, Stanley G. : A Martian Odyssey (1934)
16 Delany, Samuel R. : Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones (1968)
17 Dick, Philip K. : We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966)
18 Gibson, William : Burning Chrome (1982) A great story, which I just read a couple of weeks ago.
19 Lovecraft, H. P. : The Call of Cthulhu (1928)
20 Brown, Fredric : Arena (1944)
21 Blish, James : Surface Tension (1952)
22 Willis, Connie : Fire Watch (1982)
23 Ellison, Harlan : The Deathbird
24 Miller, Walter M., Jr. : A Canticle for Leibowitz (1955) Part of the novel of the same name — brilliant.
25 Zelazny, Roger : The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth (1965)
26* Smith, Cordwainer : The Ballad of Lost C’Mell (1962)
26* Niven, Larry : Inconstant Moon (1971)
28 Kuttner, Henry [Lewis Padgett] : Mimsy Were the Borogoves (1943)
29 Niven, Larry : Neutron Star (1966)
30 Kelly, James Patrick : Think Like a Dinosaur (1995)
31 Zelazny, Roger : For a Breath I Tarry (1966)
32 Sturgeon, Theodore : Microcosmic God
33 McCaffrey, Anne : The Ship Who Sang (1961)
34 Asimov, Isaac : Foundation (1942) Part of the novel of the same name — one of my favourites.
35* Dick, Philip K. : Second Variety (1953)
35* Smith, Cordwainer : Scanners Live in Vain (1950)
37 Shepard, Lucius : The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule (1984)
38 Heinlein, Robert A. : –And He Built a Crooked House (1941)
39 Leinster, Murray : First Contact (1945)
40 Kornbluth, C. M. : The Little Black Bag
41* Aldiss, Brian W. : Hothouse (1961)
41* Heinlein, Robert A. : The Roads Must Roll (1940)
43 Kornbluth, C. M. : The Marching Morons
44 Sterling, Bruce : Swarm (1982)
45 Lovecraft, H. P. : The Dunwich Horror (1929)
46 Asimov, Isaac : The Ugly Little Boy (1958)
47 Zelazny, Roger : The Keys to December (1966)
48 Leiber, Fritz : Gonna Roll the Bones (1967) A good story.
49 Chiang, Ted : Understand (1991)
50* Waldrop, Howard : The Ugly Chickens
50* Le Guin, Ursula K. : Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come out Tonight

20th Century Short Story:

Their ranking Author : Title (Year) My comments
1 Clarke, Arthur C. : The Nine Billion Names of God (1953) Brilliant and highly memorable.
2 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1973) An amazing story.
3 Ellison, Harlan : ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ said the Ticktockman (1965) Great, one of my favourites.
4 Ellison, Harlan : I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967) A great but brutal story.
5 Clarke, Arthur C. : The Star (1955) Another great story.
6 Bradbury, Ray : A Sound of Thunder (1952) A great story.
7 Heinlein, Robert A. : All You Zombies– (1959)
8 Gibson, William : Johnny Mnemonic (1981) A good story.
9 Tiptree, James, Jr. : The Screwfly Solution (1977)
10 Jackson, Shirley : The Lottery (1948)
11 Bradbury, Ray : There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) Part of The Martian Chronicles, a great story.
12 Asimov, Isaac : The Last Question (1956) A great story.
13 Shaw, Bob : Light of Other Days (1966)
14 Vonnegut, Kurt : Harrison Bergeron (1961)
15 Heinlein, Robert A. : The Green Hills of Earth (1947)
16 Smith, Cordwainer : The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955)
17 Pohl, Frederik : Day Million (1966)
18 Ellison, Harlan : Jeffty Is Five (1977)
19 Clarke, Arthur C. : The Sentinel (1951) The inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
20 Russ, Joanna : When It Changed
21 Tiptree, James, Jr. : Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death (1973)
22 Delany, Samuel R. : Aye, and Gomorrah
23 Bixby, Jerome : It’s a Good Life (1953)
24 Bradbury, Ray : The Veldt (1950)
25 Varley, John : Air Raid (1977)
26 Le Guin, Ursula K. : The Day Before the Revolution (1974)
27 Bisson, Terry : Bears Discover Fire (1990) I didn’t understand why people thought it was so great.
28 Butler, Octavia E. : Speech Sounds
29 Asimov, Isaac : Robbie (1940)
30* Bradbury, Ray : The Million Year Picnic (1946) Another great piece of The Martian Chronicles.
30* Willis, Connie : Even the Queen (1992) A great story.
30* Sturgeon, Theodore : The Man Who Lost the Sea (1959)
33 Leiber, Fritz : A Pail of Air (1951)
34 Sturgeon, Theodore : Saucer of Loneliness (1953)
35* Davidson, Avram : Or All the Seas with Oysters (1958)
35* Russell, Eric Frank : Allamagoosa (1955)
37 Card, Orson Scott : Unaccompanied Sonata (1979) An amazing story, one of my favourites.
38 Martin, George R. R. : With Morning Comes Mistfall (1973)
39 Gaiman, Neil : A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1990)
40 Bester, Alfred : The Men Who Murdered Mohammed (1958)
41 Asimov, Isaac : Liar! (1941)
42 Egan, Greg : Learning to Be Me (1990)
43 Gaiman, Neil : Troll Bridge (1993)
44 Wolfe, Gene : The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories
45* Leiber, Fritz : Coming Attraction
45* Silverberg, Robert : Passengers
47 Ballard, J. G. : The Terminal Beach
48 Bradbury, Ray : All Summer in a Day (1954)
49 Knight, Damon : The Country of the Kind (1956)
50 Sturgeon, Theodore : Thunder and Roses (1947)

As for the 21st century novellas, novelettes, and short stories I don’t have much to say — except that it’s tough to keep up with everything.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2013 at 9:29 pm and is filed under My thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply