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Top Short Fiction Titles as Voted by ISFDB Users

by | Apr 30, 2023 | Announcing . . ., Speculative Fiction

Top Short Fiction Titles as Voted by ISFDB Users

(This report is generated once a week. Downloaded on: Sunday, April 30, 2023)

 

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