I love short fiction because I enjoy dropping into worlds and having a short out-of-body adventure, without a long time commitment. I also like lingering in the detailed world of novels. I very much admire the skill of the short story writer to get in, tell it, and get out…it’s why I like Haiku as well, I suppose.

One can think of short fiction as writing’s appetitzers, heavy tapas, and desserts; with the novel being the entree.

Laura’s very right about specific authors making us hungry for whatever they write!

It was at the 2005 Nebulas, where iirc we met, that I confirmed what I had long suspected - there exists no demand for my fiction. Whereupon I decided that life is too damn short for me to spend the rest of mine sitting in front of this computer writing stories that no one wants to buy. It has proved a very liberating decision.

There are exceptions — certain writers are just such amazing short fiction writers that I gobble up everything they do. Michael Swanwick, Harlan Ellison, Gregory Feeley, James Patrick Kelley, Connie Willis, James Tiptree, Jr. and Robert Heinlein when they were around, … etc. But for most short fiction, I don’t find the payoff in terms of story punch is worth it.

If this list had appeared as I had originally planned it at IROSF, there would have been links to my original reviews of the stories there, and perhaps further commentary.

That’s what I consider the function of the reviewer, to wade through the vast quantities of the stuff out there and pick out the occasional gem-like object - hey, you might like this one.

This is a further-winnowed list. On the site, I try to rec the fiction I consider good for that zine, this is the list of stuff I like for itself.

Lois, i’d love to see you write an essay for Deep Genre convincing me why I should make an effort to read more short fiction. Not because of my own shortcomings as a novelist, that is - okay, that was a joke - but make a case for short fiction that will help me, someone who truly prefers novels, to see the benefits and strengths of short fiction.

Just a thought.

When I began compiling the list, I had been convinced that F&SF had a far superior year to Asimov’s.

If I had not decided to include only stand-alone work, Matthew Hughes’ Guth Bandar series from F&SF would probably have been on my list.

If I were going to have recced a Ryman story, it would have been “Hero Kai”.

“Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter” by Geoff Ryman in F&SF is a real stand out for me
this year.

Don