I’ve come to realize that one of the more important things to me in my life is my enjoyment of reading science fiction. I have many friends who love to travel and when they talk about themselves they often talk about where they’ve been. They make me feel guilty because I’ve traveled so little. I tell myself that I travel in my mind because I love to read. Thus making a list of favorite books is like making a list of places I’ve been.

Lately, I’ve been more interested in short trips — reading short stories. I’ve decided to assemble a list of short stories I love most over a lifetime of reading. I have about a hundred I’m pretty sure about, but there’s almost another two hundred I remember fondly that I need to reread before deciding. I’ve also decided that I need to be more selective and limit the final list to 100 or less. Or at least, define my Top 100, and Next 100. But I’m leaning toward forcing myself to pick my absolute favorite 100 SF short stories.

This has pushed me into thinking about the criteria by which I judge a story. Here are qualities I’ve come up with so far:

• Sense of wonder
• Storytelling
• Emotion
• Insight
• Characterization
• Writing
• Memorable

For now, seven is enough. I can think of these qualities as The Seven Virtues of Fiction. Here are my two working lists. I’m far from finished. I’m going to have to do a lot of rereading. And I’ve been doing that since I joined a Facebook group that reads a science fiction short story a day and discusses each. It’s these group readings that have made me realize how important science fiction short stories are to me.

I could finish this project in one year if I quit the reading group and read one story a day. That probably won’t happen. Thus, it might take me years to finish. I’ve even thought of turning this project into a book like David Pringle’s Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels.

My Top Favorites For Now

1. 1967 – “The Star Pit” – Samuel Delany
2. 1959 – “Flowers for Algernon” – Daniel Keyes
3. 1895 – “The Time Machine” – H. G. Wells
4. 1976 – “Appearance of Life” – Brian W. Aldiss
5. 1963 – “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” – Roger Zelazny
6. 1946 – “Vintage Season” – Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore
7. 1957 – “The Menace From Earth” – Robert A. Heinlein
8. 1941 – “Universe” – Robert A. Heinlein
9. 1966 – “Empire Star” – Samuel R. Delany
10. 1977 – “Jeffty is Five” – Harland Ellison
11. 1984 – “Press ENTER ■” – John Varley
12. 1991 – “Beggars in Spain” – Nancy Kress
13. 1973 – “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” – Ursula K. Le Guin
14. 1987 – “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers” – Lawrence Watt-Evans
15. 1950 – “Coming Attraction” – Fritz Leiber
16. 1985 – “Snow” – John Crowley
17. 1990 – “Bears Discover Fire” – Terry Bisson
18. 1953 – “The Last Day” – Richard Matheson
19. 1953 – “One in Three Hundred” – J. T. McIntosh
20. 1953 – “Deadly City” – Paul W. Fairman as Ivar Jorgensen
21. 2020 – “Two Truths and a Lie” – Sarah Pinsker
22. 1944 – “Desertion” – Clifford D. Simak
23. 1944 – “Huddling Place” – Clifford D. Simak
24. 1961 – “The Moon Moth” – Jack Vance
25. 1951 – “Angel’s Egg” – Edgar Pangborn
26. 1953 – “Lot” – Ward Moore
27. 1952 – “The Year of the Jackpot” – Robert A. Heinlein
28. 1950 – “There Will Come Soft Rains” – Ray Bradbury
29. 1934 – “The Martian Odyssey” – Stanley G. Weinbaum
30. 1954 – “Fondly Fahrenheit” – Alfred Bester
31. 1966 – “Light of Other Days” – Bob Shaw
32. 1998 – “Story of Your Life” – Ted Chiang
33. 1987 – “Rachel in Love” – Pat Murphy
34. 1985 – “Sailing to Byzantium” – Robert Silverberg
35. 1988 – “Kirinyaga” – Mike Resnick
36. 1990 – “The Manamouki” – Mike Resnick
37. 1909 – “The Machine Stops” – E. M. Forster
38. 1948 – “Mars is Heaven!” – Ray Bradbury
39. 1957 – “Omnilingual” – H. Beam Piper
40. 1952 – “Baby Is Three” – Theodore Sturgeon
41. 1966 – “Behold the Man” – Michael Moorcock
42. 1995 – “Think Like a Dinosaur” – James Patrick Kelly
43. 1980 – “The Ugly Chickens” – Howard Waldrop
44. 1973 – “The Death of Doctor Island” – Gene Wolfe
45. 1948 – “In Hiding” – Wilmar H. Shiras
46. 2004 – “Travels with My Cats” – Mike Resnick
47. 1956 – “The Country of the Kind” – Damon Knight
48. 1954 – “A Canticle for Leibowitz” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
49. 1946 – “Rescue Party” – Arthur C. Clarke
50. 1943 – “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” – Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore
51. 1944 – “No Woman Born” – C. L. Moore
52. 1952 – “Surface Tension” – James Blish
53. 1960 – “The Voices of Time” – J. G. Ballard
54. 1972 – “When It Changed” – Joanna Russ
55. 1940 – “Requiem” – Robert A. Heinlein
56. 1984 – “Bloodchild” – Octavia Butler
57. 1939 – “Black Destroyer” – A. E. van Vogt
58. 1912 – “The Scarlet Plague” – Jack London
59. 1953 – “A Case of Conscience” – James Blish
60. 1977 – “The Screwfly Solution” – James Tiptree, Jr.
61. 1972 – “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” – Gene Wolfe
62. 1965 – “The Saliva Tree” – Brian W. Aldiss
63. 1956 – “The Man Who Came Early” – Poul Anderson
64. 1988 – “The Last of the Winnebagos” – Connie Willis
65. 1983 – “Speech Sounds” – Octavia Butler
66. 1953 – “A Saucer of Loneliness” – Theodore Sturgeon
67. 1969 – “The Last Flight of Dr. Ain” – James Tiptree, Jr.
68. 1957 – “Call Me Joe” – Poul Anderson
69. 1947 – “With Folded Hands …” – Jack Williamson
70. 1977 – “Ender’s Game” – Orson Scott Card
71. 1970 – “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories” – Gene Wolfe
72. 1933 – “Shambleau” – C. L. Moore
73. 1945 – “Giant Killer” – A. Bertram Chandler
74. 1981 – “True Names” – Vernor Vinge
75. 1951 – “The Quest for Saint Aquin” – Anthony Boucher
76. 1952 – “Sail On! Sail On!” – Philip Jose Farmer
77. 1955 – “The Star” – Arthur C. Clarke
78. 1958 – “The Ugly Little Boy” – Isaac Asimov
79. 2019 – “At the Fall” – Alec Nevala-Lee
80. 1954 – “The End of Summer” – Algis Budrys
81. 1952 – “What’s It Like Out There?” – Edmond Hamilton
82. 1956 – “Brightside Crossing” – Alan E. Nourse
83. 1998 – “Craphound” – Cory Doctorow
84. 1956 – “Exploration Team” – Murray Leinster
85. 1953 – “Four in One” – Damon Knight
86. 1976 – “An Infinite Summer” – Christopher Priest
87. 1954 – “The Music Master of Babylon” – Edgar Pangborn
88. 2002 – “The Potter of Bones” – Eleanor Arnason
89. 1940 – “Quietus” – Ross Rocklynne
90. 1950 – “The Veldt” – Ray Bradbury
91. 1959 – “The Alley Man” – Philip Jose Farmer
92. 1955 – “The Darfsteller” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
93. 1939 – “The Day Is Done” – Lester del Rey
94. 1957 – “The Lineman” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
95. 1966 – “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” – Philip K. Dick

Stories I need to reread or maybe read for the first time.

1. 1897 – “The Thames Valley Catastrophe” – Grant Allen
2. 1920 – “The Mad Planet” – Murray Leinster
3. 1927 – “The Colour Out of Space” – H. P. Lovecraft
4. 1928 – “The Revolt of the Pedestrians” – David H. Keller
5. 1931 – “The Jameson Satellite” – Neil R. Jones
6. 1931 – “The Man Who Evolved” – Edmond Hamilton
7. 1932 – “Tumithak of the Corridors” – Charles R. Tanner
8. 1934 – “Old Faithful” – Raymond Z. Gallun
9. 1934 – “Sidewise in Time” – Murray Leinster
10. 1934 – “Twilight” – John W. Campbell
11. 1936 – “At the Mountains of Madness” – H. P. Lovecraft
12. 1936 – “Devolution” – Edmond Hamilton
13. 1937 – “The Sands of Time” – P. Schuyler Miller
14. 1939 – “The Four-Sided Triangle” – William F. Temple
15. 1939 – “Living Fossil” – L. Sprague de Camp
16. 1939 – “Rust” – Joseph E. Kelleam
17. 1940 – “Coventry” – Robert A. Heinlein
18. 1940 – “Into the Darkness” – Ross Rocklynne
19. 1941 – “Microcosmic God” – Theodore Sturgeon
20. 1941 – “Nightfall” – Isaac Asimov
21. 1941 – “Time Wants a Skeleton” – Ross Rocklynne
22. 1942 – “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag” – Robert A. Heinlein
23. 1943 – “The Cave” – P. Schuyler Miller
24. 1943 – “Daymare” – Fredric Brown
25. 1943 – “The Halfling” – Leigh Brackett
26. 1943 – “Q.U.R.” – Anthony Boucher
27. 1947 – “E for Effort” – T. L. Sherred
28. 1949 – “Gulf” – Robert A. Heinlein
29. 1949 – “Manna” – Peter Phillips
30. 1949 – “Private Eye” – Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore
31. 1950 – “Liane the Wayfarer” – Jack Vance
32. 1950 – “The Little Black Bag” – C. M. Kornbluth
33. 1950 – “The Man Who Sold the Moon” – Robert A. Heinlein
34. 1950 – “Scanners Live in Vain” – Cordwainer Smith
35. 1950 – “The Silly Season” – C. M. Kornbluth
36. 1951 – “Bettyann” – Kris Neville
37. 1951 – “Beyond Bedlam” – Wyman Guin
38. 1951 – “Brightness Falls from the Air” – Margaret St. Clair
39. 1951 – “Dune Roller” – Julian May
40. 1951 – “Izzard and the Membrame” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
41. 1951 – “The Marching Morons” – C. M. Kornbluth
42. 1951 – “The Sentinel” – Arthur C. Clarke
43. 1952 – “Bring the Jubilee” – Ward Moore
44. 1952 – “Command Performance” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
45. 1952 – “Conditionally Human” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
46. 1952 – “Fast Falls the Eventide” – Erik Frank Russell
47. 1952 – “Lost Memory” – Peter Phillips
48. 1952 – “The Lovers” – Philip Jose Farmer
49. 1952 – “The Martian Way” – Isaac Asimov
50. 1953 – “Common Time” – James Blish
51. 1953 – “DP!” – Jack Vance
52. 1953 – “Imposter” – Philip K. Dick
53. 1953 – “It’s a Good Life” – Jerome Bixby
54. 1953 – “The Liberation of Earth” – William Tenn
55. 1953 – “The Model of a Judge” – William Morrison
56. 1953 – “Second Variety” – Philip K. Dick
57. 1953 – “Specialist” – Robert Sheckley
58. 1954 – “5,271,009” – Alfred Bester
59. 1954 – “Let Me Live in a House” – Chad Oliver
60. 1954 – “Memento Homo” – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
61. 1954 – “The Midas Plague” – Frederik Pohl
62. 1955 – “The Allamagoosa” – Eric Frank Russell
63. 1955 – “Who?” – Algis Budrys
64. 1956 – “Anything Box” – Zenna Henderson
65. 1956 – “The Dead Past” – Isaac Asimov
66. 1956 – “The Last Question” – Isaac Asimov
67. 1956 – “The Minority Report” – Philip K. Dick
68. 1956 – “Pilgrimage to Earth” – Robert Sheckley
69. 1958 – “Or All the Seas with Oysters” – Avram Davidson
70. 1958 – “Pelt” – Carol Emshwiller
71. 1958 – “Who Can Replace a Man?” – Brian W. Aldiss
72. 1959 – “All You Zombies—” – Robert A. Heinlein
73. 1959 – “Day at the Beach” – Carol Emshwiller
74. 1959 – “The Man Who Lost the Sea” – Theodore Sturgeon
75. 1959 – “Plenitude” – Will Mohler
76. 1960 – “The Fellow Who Married the Maxill Girl” – Ward Moore
77. 1960 – “The Sound Sweep” – J. G. Ballard
78. 1960 – “The Voice of Time” – J. G. Ballard
79. 1961 – “The Dandelion Girl” – Robert F. Young
80. 1961 – “Hothouse” – Brian W. Aldiss
81. 1961 – “Monument” – Lloyd Biggle, Jr.
82. 1961 – “The Ship Who Sang” – Anne McCaffrey
83. 1961 – “The Sources of the Nile” – Avram Davidson
84. 1962 – “The Dragon Masters” – Jack Vance
85. 1962 – “Earthlings Go Home!” – Mack Reynolds
86. 1964 – “The Terminal Beach” – J. G. Ballard
87. 1965 – “He Who Shapes” – Roger Zelazny
88. 1965 – “Man in His Time” – Brian W. Aldiss
89. 1965 – “Traveler’s Rest” – David I. Masson
90. 1966 – “Day Million” – Frederik Pohl
91. 1966 – “The Lady Margaret” – Keith Roberts
92. 1966 – “Neutron Star” – Larry Niven
93. 1966 – “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” – R. A. Lafferty
94. 1966 – “When I Was Miss Dow” – Sonya Dorman
95. 1967 – “Baby, You Were Great” by Kate Wilhelm
96. 1967 – “The Cloud Sculptures of Coral D” – J. G. Ballard
97. 1967 – “Faith of Our Fathers” – Philip K. Dick
98. 1967 – “Gonna Roll the Bones” – Fritz Leiber
99. 1967 – “The Heat Death of the Universe” – Pamela Zoline
100. 1967 – “Riders of the Purple Wage” – Philip Jose Farmer
101. 1968 – “Nightwings” – Robert Silverberg
102. 1969 – “Nine Lives” – Ursula K. Le Guin
103. 1970 – “Slow Sculpture” – Theodore Sturgeon
104. 1971 – “Inconstant Moon” – Larry Niven
105. 1971 – “A Meeting with Medusa” – Arthur C. Clarke
106. 1971 – “The Queen of Air and Darkness” – Poul Anderson
107. 1971 – “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow” – Ursula K. Le Guin
108. 1971 – “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” – James Tiptree, Jr.
109. 1972 – “Nobody’s Home” – Joanna Russ
110. 1972 – “Patron of the Arts” – William Rotsler
111. 1972 – “The Word for World is Forest” – Ursula K. Le Guin
112. 1973 – “The Girl Who Plugged In” – James Tiptree, Jr.
113. 1973 – “Love is the Plan the Plan is Death” – James Tiptree, Jr.
114. 1973 – “The Women Men Don’t See” – James Tiptree, Jr.
115. 1974 – “Born with the Dead” – Robert Silverberg
116. 1974 – “The Day Before the Revolution” – Ursula K. Le Guin
117. 1975 – “A Galaxy Called Rome” – Barry N. Malzberg
118. 1976 – “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” – James Tiptree, Jr.
119. 1977 – “The Screwfly Solution” – James Tiptree, Jr.
120. 1978 – “The Persistence of Vision” – John Varley
121. 1979 – “Sandkings” – George R. R. Martin
122. 1982 – “Burning Chrome” – William Gibson
123. 1982 – “The Postman” – David Brin
124. 1982 – “Souls” – Joanna Russ
125. 1982 – “Swarm” – Bruce Sterling
126. 1983 – “Blood Music” – Greg Bear
127. 1985 – “The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things” – Karen Joy Fowler
128. 1985 – “The Only Neat Thing to Do” – James Tiptree, Jr.
129. 1985 – “Out of All Them Bright Stars” – Nancy Kress
130. 1988 – “Do Ya, Do Ya, Wanna Dance?” – Howard Waldrop
131. 1988 – “Schrödinger’s Kitten” – George Alec Effinger
132. 1989 – “Dori Bangs” – Bruce Sterling
133. 1989 – “The Edge of the World” – Michael Swanwick
134. 1989 – “For I Have Touched the Sky” – Mike Resnick
135. 1989 – “The Great Work of Time” – John Crowley
136. 1989 – “The Mountains of Mourning” – Lois McMaster Bujold
137. 1991 – “Griffin’s Egg” – Michael Swanwick
138. 1993 – “Wall, Stone, Craft” – Walter Jon Williams
139. 1994 – “The Martian Child” – David Gerrold
140. 1994 – “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge” – Mike Resnick
141. 1995 – “The Lincoln Train” – Maureen F. McHugh
142. 1995 – “Wang’s Carpets” – Greg Egan
143. 1995 – “The Flowers of Aulit Prison” – Nancy Kress
144. 1997 – “The Undiscovered” – William Sanders
145. 1999 – “Ancient Engines” – Michael Swanwick
146. 1999 – “macs” – Terry Bisson
147. 2001 – “Fast Times at Fairmont High” – Vernor Vinge
148. 2001 – “Hell Is the Absence of God” – Ted Chiang
149. 2001 – “New Light on the Drake Equation” – Ian R. MacLeod
150. 2001 – “Undone” – James Patrick Kelly
151. 2003 – “The Empress of Mars” – Kage Baker
152. 2005 – “The Calorie Man” – Paolo Bacigalupi
153. 2005 – “Magic for Beginners” – Kelly Link
154. 2008 – “Exhalation” – Ted Chiang
155. 2008 – “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” – James Alan Gardner
156. 2009 – “The Island” – Peter Watts
157. 2010 – “The Sultan of the Clouds” – Geoffrey A. Landis
158. 2010 – “The Things” – Peter Watts
159. 2010 – “Under the Moons of Venus” – Damien Broderick
160. 2011 – “After the Apocalypse” – Maureen F. McHugh
161. 2011 – “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” – Kij Johnson
162. 2012 – “Close Encounters” – Andy Duncan
163. 2012 – “Mahiku West” – Linda Nagata
164. 2014 – “Someday” – James Patrick Kelly
165. 2014 – “Yesterday’s Kin” – Nancy Kress
166. 2015 – “Gypsy” – Carter Scholz
167. 2015 – “Today I Am Paul” – Martin L. Shoemaker
168. 2017 – “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” – Tobias S. Buckell
169. 2018 – “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” – Daryl Gregory
170. 2019 – “The Archronology of Love” – Caroline M. Yoachim
171. 2020 – “Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars” – Mercurio D. Rivera

James Wallace Harris, 4/30/22