Rank |
ISFDB
Rating
|
Title |
Year |
Author(s) |
1 |
9.80 |
Flowers for Algernon |
1959 |
Daniel Keyes |
2 |
9.43 |
Reasons to Be Cheerful |
1997 |
Greg Egan |
3 |
9.38 |
The Black Cat |
1843 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
4 |
9.33 |
Behold the Man |
1966 |
Michael Moorcock |
5 |
9.33 |
The Screwfly Solution |
1977 |
James Tiptree, Jr. |
6 |
9.25 |
The Shadow Over Innsmouth |
1936 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
7 |
9.23 |
Story of Your Life |
1998 |
Ted Chiang |
8 |
9.22 |
The Women Men Don’t See |
1973 |
James Tiptree, Jr. |
9 |
9.14 |
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet |
1962 |
Richard Matheson |
10 |
9.12 |
Scanners Live in Vain |
1950 |
Cordwainer Smith |
11 |
9.10 |
Dear Devil |
1950 |
Eric Frank Russell |
12 |
9.09 |
Fondly Fahrenheit |
1954 |
Alfred Bester |
13 |
9.08 |
Jeffty Is Five |
1977 |
Harlan Ellison |
14 |
9.00 |
Mimsy Were the Borogoves |
1943 |
Lewis Padgett |
15 |
9.00 |
The Cask of Amontillado |
1846 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
16 |
9.00 |
Enemy Mine |
1979 |
Barry B. Longyear |
17 |
9.00 |
The Little Black Bag |
1950 |
C. M. Kornbluth |
18 |
8.94 |
Nightfall |
1941 |
Isaac Asimov |
19 |
8.93 |
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas |
1973 |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
20 |
8.93 |
The Call of Cthulhu |
1928 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
21 |
8.90 |
The Word for World Is Forest |
1972 |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
22 |
8.88 |
Sandkings |
1979 |
George R. R. Martin |
23 |
8.88 |
A Rose for Ecclesiastes |
1963 |
Roger Zelazny |
24 |
8.88 |
The Last Question |
1956 |
Isaac Asimov |
25 |
8.88 |
Light of Other Days |
1966 |
Bob Shaw |
26 |
8.86 |
The Marching Morons |
1951 |
C. M. Kornbluth |
27 |
8.86 |
The Quest for Saint Aquin |
1951 |
Anthony Boucher |
28 |
8.86 |
Mimsy Were the Borogoves |
1943 |
Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore |
29 |
8.83 |
The Gernsback Continuum |
1981 |
William Gibson |
30 |
8.83 |
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side |
1972 |
James Tiptree, Jr. |
31 |
8.83 |
Arena |
1944 |
Fredric Brown |
32 |
8.83 |
The Lucky Strike |
1984 |
Kim Stanley Robinson |
33 |
8.83 |
Mars Is Heaven! |
1948 |
Ray Bradbury |
34 |
8.78 |
Kaleidoscope |
1949 |
Ray Bradbury |
35 |
8.77 |
The Tell-Tale Heart |
1843 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
36 |
8.75 |
The Machine Stops |
1909 |
E. M. Forster |
37 |
8.71 |
The Persistence of Vision |
1978 |
John Varley |
38 |
8.71 |
“—And He Built a Crooked House”? |
1941 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
39 |
8.71 |
By His Bootstraps |
1941 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
40 |
8.71 |
The Nine Billion Names of God |
1953 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
41 |
8.71 |
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
1890 |
Ambrose Bierce |
42 |
8.70 |
Passengers |
1968 |
Robert Silverberg |
43 |
8.67 |
Desertion |
1944 |
Clifford D. Simak |
44 |
8.67 |
The Dunwich Horror |
1929 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
45 |
8.67 |
Impostor |
1953 |
Philip K. Dick |
46 |
8.67 |
Nightwings |
1968 |
Robert Silverberg |
47 |
8.67 |
Sailing to Byzantium |
1985 |
Robert Silverberg |
48 |
8.64 |
Tower of Babylon |
1990 |
Ted Chiang |
49 |
8.64 |
A Boy and His Dog |
1969 |
Harlan Ellison |
50 |
8.62 |
Blood Music |
1983 |
Greg Bear |
51 |
8.62 |
Foundation |
1942 |
Isaac Asimov |
52 |
8.62 |
The Pit and the Pendulum |
1842 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
53 |
8.62 |
Hell Is the Absence of God |
2001 |
Ted Chiang |
54 |
8.62 |
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream |
1967 |
Harlan Ellison |
55 |
8.60 |
When It Changed |
1972 |
Joanna Russ |
56 |
8.57 |
It’s a Good Life |
1953 |
Jerome Bixby |
57 |
8.57 |
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale |
1966 |
Philip K. Dick |
58 |
8.57 |
A Martian Odyssey |
1934 |
Stanley G. Weinbaum |
59 |
8.56 |
Second Variety |
1953 |
Philip K. Dick |
60 |
8.50 |
Fire Watch |
1982 |
Connie Willis |
61 |
8.50 |
The Veldt |
1950 |
Ray Bradbury |
62 |
8.50 |
A Sound of Thunder |
1952 |
Ray Bradbury |
63 |
8.50 |
Houston, Houston, Do You Read? |
1976 |
James Tiptree, Jr. |
64 |
8.50 |
Seventy-Two Letters |
2000 |
Ted Chiang |
65 |
8.50 |
The Long Rain |
1950 |
Ray Bradbury |
66 |
8.47 |
The Cold Equations |
1954 |
Tom Godwin |
67 |
8.44 |
There Will Come Soft Rains |
1950 |
Ray Bradbury |
68 |
8.43 |
The State of the Art |
1989 |
Iain M. Banks |
69 |
8.43 |
The Ugly Chickens |
1980 |
Howard Waldrop |
70 |
8.43 |
Beyond Lies the Wub |
1952 |
Philip K. Dick |
71 |
8.40 |
The Star |
1955 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
72 |
8.33 |
With Morning Comes Mistfall |
1973 |
George R. R. Martin |
73 |
8.33 |
The Monkey’s Paw |
1902 |
W. W. Jacobs |
74 |
8.33 |
The Day Is Done |
1939 |
Lester del Rey |
75 |
8.33 |
Understand |
1991 |
Ted Chiang |
76 |
8.33 |
The Haunter of the Dark |
1936 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
77 |
8.31 |
Ender’s Game |
1977 |
Orson Scott Card |
78 |
8.30 |
Allamagoosa |
1955 |
Eric Frank Russell |
79 |
8.29 |
Speech Sounds |
1983 |
Octavia E. Butler |
80 |
8.29 |
The Crystal Egg |
1897 |
H. G. Wells |
81 |
8.29 |
The Colour Out of Space |
1927 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
82 |
8.25 |
Microcosmic God |
1941 |
Theodore Sturgeon |
83 |
8.22 |
Coraline |
2002 |
Neil Gaiman |
84 |
8.20 |
“All You Zombies …” |
1959 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
85 |
8.17 |
Even the Queen |
1992 |
Connie Willis |
86 |
8.17 |
The Small Assassin |
1946 |
Ray Bradbury |
87 |
8.17 |
Harrison Bergeron |
1961 |
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. |
88 |
8.17 |
Autofac |
1955 |
Philip K. Dick |
89 |
8.17 |
The Handler |
1960 |
Damon Knight |
90 |
8.14 |
Neutron Star |
1966 |
Larry Niven |
91 |
8.14 |
The Way of Cross and Dragon |
1979 |
George R. R. Martin |
92 |
8.12 |
That Hell-Bound Train |
1958 |
Robert Bloch |
93 |
8.12 |
To Serve Man |
1950 |
Damon Knight |
94 |
8.12 |
The Bicentennial Man |
1976 |
Isaac Asimov |
95 |
8.10 |
The Big Front Yard |
1958 |
Clifford D. Simak |
96 |
8.00 |
Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death |
1973 |
James Tiptree, Jr. |
97 |
8.00 |
A Song for Lya |
1974 |
George R. R. Martin |
98 |
8.00 |
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
1943 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
99 |
8.00 |
The Pusher |
1981 |
John Varley |
100 |
8.00 |
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar |
1845 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
101 |
8.00 |
First Contact |
1945 |
Murray Leinster |
102 |
7.94 |
“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman |
1965 |
Harlan Ellison |
103 |
7.91 |
The Sentinel |
1951 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
104 |
7.89 |
Nine Lives |
1969 |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
105 |
7.89 |
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth |
1965 |
Roger Zelazny |
106 |
7.88 |
Shambleau |
1933 |
C. L. Moore |
107 |
7.86 |
Press Enter ▮ |
1984 |
John Varley |
108 |
7.86 |
A Meeting with Medusa |
1971 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
109 |
7.86 |
The Monkey Treatment |
1983 |
George R. R. Martin |
110 |
7.86 |
The Day Before the Revolution |
1974 |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
111 |
7.86 |
That Only a Mother |
1948 |
Judith Merril |
112 |
7.83 |
Rescue Party |
1946 |
Arthur C. Clarke |
113 |
7.83 |
Earthmen Bearing Gifts |
1960 |
Fredric Brown |
114 |
7.83 |
Air Raid |
1977 |
John Varley |
115 |
7.80 |
Nightflyers |
1980 |
George R. R. Martin |
116 |
7.78 |
The Fall of the House of Usher |
1839 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
117 |
7.78 |
The Rats in the Walls |
1924 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
118 |
7.75 |
Super-Toys Last All Summer Long |
1969 |
Brian W. Aldiss |
119 |
7.71 |
Roog |
1953 |
Philip K. Dick |
120 |
7.67 |
The Darfsteller |
1955 |
Walter M. Miller, Jr. |
121 |
7.67 |
Liar! |
1941 |
Isaac Asimov |
122 |
7.67 |
The Shadow Out of Time |
1936 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
123 |
7.67 |
The Green Hills of Earth |
1947 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
124 |
7.58 |
Born of Man and Woman |
1950 |
Richard Matheson |
125 |
7.57 |
Grotto of the Dancing Deer |
1980 |
Clifford D. Simak |
126 |
7.56 |
The Fog Horn |
1951 |
Ray Bradbury |
127 |
7.56 |
The New Accelerator |
1901 |
H. G. Wells |
128 |
7.56 |
The Father-Thing |
1954 |
Philip K. Dick |
129 |
7.56 |
Third from the Sun |
1950 |
Richard Matheson |
130 |
7.50 |
Kirinyaga |
1988 |
Mike Resnick |
131 |
7.50 |
Day Million |
1966 |
Frederik Pohl |
132 |
7.50 |
Requiem |
1940 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
133 |
7.50 |
The Court Magician |
2018 |
Sarah Pinsker |
134 |
7.50 |
Call Him Lord |
1966 |
Gordon R. Dickson |
135 |
7.45 |
Gonna Roll the Bones |
1967 |
Fritz Leiber |
136 |
7.44 |
Bears Discover Fire |
1990 |
Terry Bisson |
137 |
7.44 |
The Deathbird |
1973 |
Harlan Ellison |
138 |
7.43 |
Dagon |
1919 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
139 |
7.42 |
The Roads Must Roll |
1940 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
140 |
7.38 |
Or All the Seas with Oysters |
1958 |
Avram Davidson |
141 |
7.38 |
The Star |
1897 |
H. G. Wells |
142 |
7.33 |
Out of All Them Bright Stars |
1985 |
Nancy Kress |
143 |
7.33 |
Exploration Team |
1956 |
Murray Leinster |
144 |
7.33 |
The Weapon Shop |
1942 |
A. E. van Vogt |
145 |
7.33 |
Vaster Than Empires and More Slow |
1971 |
Ursula K. Le Guin |
146 |
7.33 |
Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand |
1973 |
Vonda N. McIntyre |
147 |
7.29 |
A Subway Named Mobius |
1950 |
A. J. Deutsch |
148 |
7.29 |
26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss |
2008 |
Kij Johnson |
149 |
7.25 |
Helen O’Loy |
1938 |
Lester del Rey |
150 |
7.25 |
Life-Line |
1939 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
151 |
7.17 |
Division by Zero |
1991 |
Ted Chiang |
152 |
7.14 |
Reason |
1941 |
Isaac Asimov |
153 |
7.12 |
Slow Sculpture |
1970 |
Theodore Sturgeon |
154 |
7.12 |
Runaround |
1942 |
Isaac Asimov |
155 |
7.00 |
Bloodchild |
1984 |
Octavia E. Butler |
156 |
7.00 |
Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes |
1967 |
Harlan Ellison |
157 |
7.00 |
Grandpa |
1955 |
James H. Schmitz |
158 |
7.00 |
Coming Attraction |
1950 |
Fritz Leiber |
159 |
7.00 |
The Monsters |
1953 |
Robert Sheckley |
160 |
7.00 |
The Fun They Had |
1951 |
Isaac Asimov |
161 |
7.00 |
Meathouse Man |
1976 |
George R. R. Martin |
162 |
7.00 |
He Who Shapes |
1965 |
Roger Zelazny |
163 |
7.00 |
The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse |
1954 |
Ray Bradbury |
164 |
6.89 |
Aye, and Gomorrah … |
1967 |
Samuel R. Delany |
165 |
6.86 |
Dinner in Audoghast |
1985 |
Bruce Sterling |
166 |
6.86 |
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs |
1973 |
Harlan Ellison |
167 |
6.83 |
Dress of White Silk |
1951 |
Richard Matheson |
168 |
6.83 |
Strange Playfellow |
1940 |
Isaac Asimov |
169 |
6.57 |
Fermi and Frost |
1985 |
Frederik Pohl |
170 |
6.57 |
Good News from the Vatican |
1971 |
Robert Silverberg |
171 |
6.55 |
Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones |
1968 |
Samuel R. Delany |
172 |
6.50 |
Witch War |
1951 |
Richard Matheson |
173 |
6.50 |
The Outsider |
1926 |
H. P. Lovecraft |
174 |
6.33 |
The Man Who Could Work Miracles |
1898 |
H. G. Wells |
175 |
6.33 |
Ponies |
2010 |
Kij Johnson |
176 |
6.17 |
The Hole Man |
1974 |
Larry Niven |
177 |
6.17 |
Blowups Happen |
1940 |
Robert A. Heinlein |
178 |
5.50 |
Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54′ N, Longitude 77° 00′ 13″ W |
1974 |
Harlan Ellison |