# Best Science Fiction short story ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891 "2005-01-27T06:56:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/1 "2005-01-27T06:56:17Z")
What do you guys believe to be the greatest science fiction short story ever (or what would you consider to be the top 3, 5, or 10 (or 26, for that matter). The criteria I use when judging such weighty matters whilst I sit contemplating my cereal box are: 1. Timelessness 2. Relevancy to the human condition My vote for the top dog: _Flowers for Algernon_ Some other greats (IMHO): _Nightfall_ - Isaac Asimov (not the atrocious movie) _The Quest for Saint Aquin_ - Anthony Boucher _The Nine Billion Names of God_ - Arthur C. Clarke And one that is not a great, but I really enjoy: _Microcosmic God_ - Theodore Sturgeon Note: IANA English major. Sometimes I have bad taste. That is my right as a 'Merican. ---
**Author:** ![LtningBug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@LtningBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LtningBug)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/2 "2005-01-27T07:23:24Z")
I’m going to have to toss out “All You Zombies” by Heinlein as a classic. Perhaps not the best, but up there. I agree with “Nightfall,” very much one of Asimov’s best. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/3 "2005-01-27T07:34:22Z")
**Flowers for Algernon** is too long to qualify as a “short” story, ainnit? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/4 "2005-01-27T07:40:29Z")
[Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) has it at 224 pages so I’d consider it a longish novella, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/5 "2005-01-27T07:53:41Z")
Also “Inconstant Moon” by Larry Niven. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/6 "2005-01-27T08:05:31Z")
_Flowers for Algernon_ is considered a novel. I think one of the most beautifully written short stories of any genre is Ray Bradbury’s “The Foghorn.” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/7 "2005-01-27T08:53:21Z")
Lovecraft’s _The Colour Out of Space_ is my fav. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/8 "2005-01-27T09:07:46Z")
Sticking to the OP’s criterion, I’d say Robert Heinlein’s _The Cold Equation_. I still remember the first time I read it, and the way it knocked the wind right out of me. Philip K. Dick’s _Oh, to be a Blobel!_ ranks pretty high, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/9 "2005-01-27T09:15:40Z")
Isaac Asimov’s _[The Last Question](http://dookaloosy.dyndns.org/wail_-_thoughts_on_a_book_-_Asimov1.htm)_. ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/10 "2005-01-27T09:31:14Z")
To my mind it can only be Kurt Vonnegut’s _Harrison Bergeron_. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/11 "2005-01-27T10:53:25Z")
William Gibson, _The Gernsback Continuum_ ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/12 "2005-01-27T11:04:59Z")
Harlan Ellison _I have no mouth, and I must scream_ ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/13 "2005-01-27T11:30:50Z")
_The Persistence of Vision_ by John Varley. I think it is considered a novella(??), but to me if it’s in a volume with other short works it’s a short story. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/14 "2005-01-27T12:05:07Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > _Flowers for Algernon_ is considered a novel. No it’s not. There’s the original, vastly superior, short story (about 30 pages long) that appeared in one of the pulps in the '50s, and there’s the bloatware version of the short story where he padded it up to novel size. The short story is one of the best SF stories ever written–the novel? Not so much. 😛 Also, “The Cold Equations” isn’t Heinlein, it’s Tom Godwin (but Heinlein said repeatedly that it was one of his favorite stories which is why it’s associated with him) I’d add in “The Proud Robot” by Lewis (Kuttner and Moore) Padgett–how often do you find a genuinely side-splittingly funny short story? Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/15 "2005-01-27T12:06:54Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > **Flowers for Algernon** is too long to qualify as a “short” story, ainnit? The original version (told entirely in Charly Gordon’s journal entries) is certainly a short story. Is there a novelization of the movie, or something, out there? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/16 "2005-01-27T13:34:00Z")
I’ve often felt that, in terms of what makes a story _science fiction_, as opposed to “a good story set in a SF venue,” the ideal SF story is Larry Niven’s “Wait It Out.” The entire scenario that makes the telling of the story possible is founded in an unusual fact of physics. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/17 "2005-01-27T13:36:41Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Sticking to the OP’s criterion, I’d say Robert Heinlein’s _The Cold Equation_. I still remember the first time I read it, and the way it knocked the wind right out of me. Credit where credit is due: _The Cold Equations_ is by Tom Godwin. I second _I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream_ by Ellison. Other top choices: _The Last Flight of Dr. Ain_ by James Tiptree, Jr. _The Ballad of Lost C’Mell_ by Cordwainer Smith _The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas_ by Ursula K. LeGuin _Sandkings_ by George R. R. Martin _The Pusher_ by John Varley _Flowers for Algernon_ was originally a short story. It was later expanded to novel length. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/18 "2005-01-27T13:43:11Z")
Good choices, all, but how about: \*\*Arena[/b} by Fredric Brown **a Martian Odyssey** by Stanley G. Weinbaum **Who Goes There?** by John W. Campbell (the only story of his I ever liked) **With Folded Hands** by Jack Williamson Several short stories by Hal Clement, the names of which I can’t recall ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/19 "2005-01-27T13:46:30Z")
I admit, _Inconstant Moon_ by Niven was the first one that occured to me. 1. Solid Characters 2. Foundation is science 3. But the science doesn’t get in the way of the story Sadly, too many SF writers let the story be dominated by the science and don’t give sufficient time to the humans. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891/20 "2005-01-27T13:56:18Z")
Heinlein certainly had some great short stories. _The Man Who Traveled in Elephants_ is perhaps my favorite, although it probably isn’t SF – it took me the longest time as a kid to figure out what the expression “traveled in” meant. Other good ones: The aformentioned _All You Zombies_ and the lesser-known _By His Bootstraps_ are both excellent. Any subsequent writer who tries to write a time-travel paradox story has a high standard to live up to. _They_ is another good one. Even paranoids have enemies… _The Long Watch_. If it came down to it, I’d like to think I could do what Johnnie Dahlquist did. _Magic, Incorporated_ is just plain weird, but a lot of fun. and, finally: _If This Goes On –_, perhaps the best SF story of all time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-science-fiction-short-story-ever/286891.md?page=2)