The Best Short Stories of All Time

Referenced Works

Show Notes & Links

What Are We Reading?

Erika:

• “Light Chaser”, by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
• “The Galaxy, and the Ground Within” by Becky Chambers

Aleen:

• Lois McMaster Bujold
• “Every Heart a Doorway” by Seanan Maguire

Scott:

• “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by Erik Larson
• “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers
• “The Personal Librarian” by Marie Benedict
• “Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life” by Lulu Miller
• “The Dictionary of Lost Words” by Pip Williams

Jason:

• “The Angel of the Crows” by Katherine Addison
• “City of Stairs” by Robert Jackson Bennett
• “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers
• “The Premonition: A Pandemic Story” by Michael Lewis
• “Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

Best Novel

The Incomparable’s Rankings:

1. “Piranesi”, Susanna Clarke (3 first-place votes, 5.25 average)
2. “Black Sun”, Rebecca Roanhorse (1, 4.5)
3. “The Relentless Moon”, Mary Robinette Kowal (3.25)
4. “Network Effect”, Martha Wells (3)
5. “The City We Became”, N.K. Jemisin (2.75)
6. “Harrow The Ninth”, Tamsyn Muir (2.25)

Best Novella

• “Come Tumbling Down”, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
• “The Empress of Salt and Fortune”, Nghi Vo (Tor.com)
• “Finna”, Nino Cipri (Tor.com)
• “Ring Shout”, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
• “Riot Baby”, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com)
• “Upright Women Wanted”, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)

Best Novelette

• “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
• “Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
• “Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• “The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
• “Two Truths and a Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

Best Short Story

• “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
• “A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris))
• “Little Free Library”, Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
• “The Mermaid Astronaut”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
• “Metal Like Blood in the Dark”, T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
• “Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots - 2020, ed. David Steffen)