Project: ISFdb Top Short Fiction

The ISFdb Top Short Fiction list.

The ISFdb Top Novels list.

ISFdb article on Wikipedia.

The Internet Speculative Fiction database is an excellent resource. Along with concise bibliographical information on speculative fiction and non-fiction, it allows users to rate nearly everything, from novels and stories, to essays and book covers. These ratings, or "votes" as they are sometimes referred to on the site, translate into two "Top" speculative lists: Top Novels and Top Short Fiction, based on user ratings.

Unfortunately, despite the seemingly numerous editors and registered users (Wikipedia indicates over 67,400 people visited the site monthly, back in 2013), not many actually rate the works they read. Therefore, these "Top" lists include primarily the more popular of speculative novels and stories. As of this date (1 November 2022), the Top Short Fiction list includes only 155 individual works, and considering the vast number of works in the database, this is a smidgen of what is available. In addition, of the 155 stories, only a mere 69 authors are represented. There are eight authors with more than five stories on the list: Isaac Asimov (8), Robert A. Heinlein (8), Harlan Ellison (8), H. P. Lovecraft (7), Edgar Allan Poe (6), Philip K. Dick (6), Ted Chiang (6), and George R. R. Martin (6), and four others with five (Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, James Tiptree, Jr., and Arthur C. Clarke). Robert Silverberg comes in close with four.

In brief, this potentially excellent reference resource is underutilized. In order to make of it a better tool, I encourage people to create an account and rate the works they read, as I do.

To date I have read 60 of the 155 short fiction works included on the list (as far as I can remember those I have read). This is not because I am oh so well-read, but simply because, as mentioned above, the stories that have so far made it onto the list are among the most popular, or most read. (You will note that stories adapted into popular feature films, for instance, tend to make the list.) Perusing the list a week or so ago, I decided to hunt each story down, regardless of where they rank on the list, and read every one of them. And when the idea festered and bloomed, it became a serious challenge, leading to a project: I will write an article for each of the stories included in the list, and post it on this site. (Let's see how far I actually get--even one story a week will take me nearly three years.)

So, based on today's version of the list, which I have captured and pasted a copy below, I will read read/re-read and review each of these titles. Some articles will be brief, since the more popular stories have been reviewed to death, while others may be more elaborate. I will stick, for the time being, to the 155. If you heed my request and rate the stories you read and have read, that list will likely expand. (Note that to be eligible to make it onto either of the Top lists, stories need a minimum of six ratings/votes; I've noticed that many stories are nearly there with four or five.) The lists are updated every Sunday, and I will be checking in to see if they expand. (The Top Novels list currently includes 391 entries).

1 November 2022

Rank	Rating	Title	Year	Author(s)
1	9.79	Flowers for Algernon	1959	Daniel Keyes
2	9.67	Nightmare at 20,000 Feet	1962	Richard Matheson
3	9.67	It's a Good Life	1953	Jerome Bixby
4	9.67	Reasons to Be Cheerful	1997	Greg Egan
5	9.5	The Screwfly Solution	1977	James Tiptree, Jr.
6	9.5	Dear Devil	1950	Eric Frank Russell
7	9.38	The Women Men Don't See	1973	James Tiptree, Jr.
8	9.33	The Black Cat	1843	Edgar Allan Poe
9	9.33	Behold the Man	1966	Michael Moorcock
10	9.3	The Shadow Over Innsmouth	1936	H. P. Lovecraft
11	9.18	Jeffty Is Five	1977	Harlan Ellison
12	9.17	Story of Your Life	1998	Ted Chiang
13	9.14	A Rose for Ecclesiastes	1963	Roger Zelazny
14	9.14	The Last Question	1956	Isaac Asimov
15	9.14	Scanners Live in Vain	1950	Cordwainer Smith
16	9.14	Light of Other Days	1966	Bob Shaw
17	9.12	The Little Black Bag	1950	C. M. Kornbluth
18	9.11	Fondly Fahrenheit	1954	Alfred Bester
19	9.08	Mimsy Were the Borogoves	1943	Lewis Padgett
20	9.08	The Call of Cthulhu	1928	H. P. Lovecraft
21	9.06	Nightfall	1941	Isaac Asimov
22	9.00	The Pit and the Pendulum	1842	Edgar Allan Poe
23	9.00	The Tell-Tale Heart	1843	Edgar Allan Poe
24	9.00	The Cask of Amontillado	1846	Edgar Allan Poe
25	9.00	The Machine Stops	1909	E. M. Forster
26	9.00	Enemy Mine	1979	Barry B. Longyear
27	9.00	Kaleidoscope	1949	Ray Bradbury
28	8.93	The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas	1973	Ursula K. Le Guin
29	8.91	A Sound of Thunder	1952	Ray Bradbury
30	8.9	The Word for World Is Forest	1972	Ursula K. Le Guin
31	8.88	Sandkings	1979	George R. R. Martin
32	8.88	Second Variety	1953	Philip K. Dick
33	8.86	The Marching Morons	1951	C. M. Kornbluth
34	8.86	The Quest for Saint Aquin	1951	Anthony Boucher
35	8.83	The Gernsback Continuum	1981	William Gibson
36	8.83	And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side	1972	James Tiptree, Jr.
37	8.83	Arena	1944	Fredric Brown
38	8.83	The Lucky Strike	1984	Kim Stanley Robinson
39	8.82	The Veldt	1950	Ray Bradbury
40	8.75	The Monkey's Paw	1902	W. W. Jacobs
41	8.75	The Dunwich Horror	1929	H. P. Lovecraft
42	8.71	"—And He Built a Crooked House"	1941	Robert A. Heinlein
43	8.71	By His Bootstraps	1941	Robert A. Heinlein
44	8.71	The Nine Billion Names of God	1953	Arthur C. Clarke
45	8.71	An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge	1890	Ambrose Bierce
46	8.7	Tower of Babylon	1990	Ted Chiang
47	8.7	Passengers	1968	Robert Silverberg
48	8.7	A Boy and His Dog	1969	Harlan Ellison
49	8.67	Desertion	1944	Clifford D. Simak
50	8.67	Impostor	1953	Philip K. Dick
51	8.67	Nightwings	1968	Robert Silverberg
52	8.67	Sailing to Byzantium	1985	Robert Silverberg
53	8.62	Foundation	1942	Isaac Asimov
54	8.62	Hell Is the Absence of God	2001	Ted Chiang
55	8.62	We Can Remember It for You Wholesale	1966	Philip K. Dick
56	8.6	When It Changed	1972	Joanna Russ
57	8.57	The Persistence of Vision	1978	John Varley
58	8.55	I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream	1967	Harlan Ellison
59	8.5	Fire Watch	1982	Connie Willis
60	8.5	Houston, Houston, Do You Read?	1976	James Tiptree, Jr.
61	8.5	The Colour Out of Space	1927	H. P. Lovecraft
62	8.5	A Martian Odyssey	1934	Stanley G. Weinbaum
63	8.5	Seventy-Two Letters	2000	Ted Chiang
64	8.47	The Cold Equations	1954	Tom Godwin
65	8.46	"All You Zombies ..."	1959	Robert A. Heinlein
66	8.44	Allamagoosa	1955	Eric Frank Russell
67	8.43	Blood Music	1983	Greg Bear
68	8.43	The Ugly Chickens	1980	Howard Waldrop
69	8.43	Beyond Lies the Wub	1952	Philip K. Dick
70	8.43	To Serve Man	1950	Damon Knight
71	8.33	Understand	1991	Ted Chiang
72	8.33	The Pusher	1981	John Varley
73	8.33	The Star	1955	Arthur C. Clarke
74	8.31	Ender's Game	1977	Orson Scott Card
75	8.29	Speech Sounds	1983	Octavia E. Butler
76	8.29	The Crystal Egg	1897	H. G. Wells
77	8.25	Microcosmic God	1941	Theodore Sturgeon
78	8.25	There Will Come Soft Rains	1950	Ray Bradbury
79	8.22	Coraline	2002	Neil Gaiman
80	8.17	The State of the Art	1989	Iain M. Banks
81	8.17	That Only a Mother	1948	Judith Merril
82	8.14	That Hell-Bound Train	1958	Robert Bloch
83	8.14	Neutron Star	1966	Larry Niven
84	8.14	The Way of Cross and Dragon	1979	George R. R. Martin
85	8.14	The Bicentennial Man	1976	Isaac Asimov
86	8.00	The Big Front Yard	1958	Clifford D. Simak
87	8.00	Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death	1973	James Tiptree, Jr.
88	8.00	A Song for Lya	1974	George R. R. Martin
89	8.00	The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath	1943	H. P. Lovecraft
90	8.00	The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar	1845	Edgar Allan Poe
91	8.00	First Contact	1945	Murray Leinster
92	7.94	"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman	1965	Harlan Ellison
93	7.91	The Sentinel	1951	Arthur C. Clarke
94	7.89	Nine Lives	1969	Ursula K. Le Guin
95	7.89	The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth	1965	Roger Zelazny
96	7.88	The Fall of the House of Usher	1839	Edgar Allan Poe
97	7.86	A Meeting with Medusa	1971	Arthur C. Clarke
98	7.86	The Monkey Treatment	1983	George R. R. Martin
99	7.86	The Day Before the Revolution	1974	Ursula K. Le Guin
100	7.85	Press Enter ▮?	1984	John Varley
101	7.83	Rescue Party	1946	Arthur C. Clarke
102	7.83	Earthmen Bearing Gifts	1960	Fredric Brown
103	7.83	Air Raid	1977	John Varley
104	7.8	Nightflyers	1980	George R. R. Martin
105	7.75	The Rats in the Walls	1924	H. P. Lovecraft
106	7.67	Liar!	1941	Isaac Asimov
107	7.67	The Green Hills of Earth	1947	Robert A. Heinlein
108	7.58	Born of Man and Woman	1950	Richard Matheson
109	7.57	Super-Toys Last All Summer Long	1969	Brian W. Aldiss
110	7.57	Shambleau	1933	C. L. Moore
111	7.56	Bloodchild	1984	Octavia E. Butler
112	7.56	The Fog Horn	1951	Ray Bradbury
113	7.56	The New Accelerator	1901	H. G. Wells
114	7.56	Third from the Sun	1950	Richard Matheson
115	7.5	Bears Discover Fire	1990	Terry Bisson
116	7.5	Requiem	1940	Robert A. Heinlein
117	7.5	Grotto of the Dancing Deer	1980	Clifford D. Simak
118	7.5	Call Him Lord	1966	Gordon R. Dickson
119	7.44	The Deathbird	1973	Harlan Ellison
120	7.43	Dagon	1919	H. P. Lovecraft
121	7.42	The Roads Must Roll	1940	Robert A. Heinlein
122	7.4	Gonna Roll the Bones	1967	Fritz Leiber
123	7.38	The Star	1897	H. G. Wells
124	7.33	Out of All Them Bright Stars	1985	Nancy Kress
125	7.33	Vaster Than Empires and More Slow	1971	Ursula K. Le Guin
126	7.33	Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand	1973	Vonda N. McIntyre
127	7.29	Or All the Seas with Oysters	1958	Avram Davidson
128	7.29	26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss	2008	Kij Johnson
129	7.25	Helen O'Loy	1938	Lester del Rey
130	7.25	Life-Line	1939	Robert A. Heinlein
131	7.17	The Whimper of Whipped Dogs	1973	Harlan Ellison
132	7.17	Roog	1953	Philip K. Dick
133	7.17	Division by Zero	1991	Ted Chiang
134	7.17	A Subway Named Mobius	1950	A. J. Deutsch
135	7.14	The Father-Thing	1954	Philip K. Dick
136	7.14	Reason	1941	Isaac Asimov
137	7.12	The Weapon Shop	1942	A. E. van Vogt
138	7.12	Runaround	1942	Isaac Asimov
139	7.00	Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes	1967	Harlan Ellison
140	7.00	Grandpa	1955	James H. Schmitz
141	7.00	Coming Attraction	1950	Fritz Leiber
142	7.00	The Monsters	1953	Robert Sheckley
143	7.00	Meathouse Man	1976	George R. R. Martin
144	7.00	He Who Shapes	1965	Roger Zelazny
145	6.89	Aye, and Gomorrah ...	1967	Samuel R. Delany
146	6.86	Dinner in Audoghast	1985	Bruce Sterling
147	6.83	Slow Sculpture	1970	Theodore Sturgeon
148	6.83	Strange Playfellow	1940	Isaac Asimov
149	6.57	Good News from the Vatican	1971	Robert Silverberg
150	6.55	Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones	1968	Samuel R. Delany
151	6.33	Fermi and Frost	1985	Frederik Pohl
152	6.33	The Man Who Could Work Miracles	1898	H. G. Wells
153	6.17	The Hole Man	1974	Larry Niven
154	6.17	Blowups Happen	1940	Robert A. Heinlein
155	5.5	Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W	1974	Harlan Ellison