# favorite sci-fi short stories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666 "2003-01-10T02:44:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/21 "2003-01-10T19:16:43Z")
My list would be very similar to RealityChuck’s. I’ve collected SF short story collections for years, especially those from about '55 to '80. In my opinion, Donald A. Wollheim and Judith Merrill did the two best annual collections. Another big endorsement for Bob Shaw’s _Light of Other Days_. I’ve always enjoyed that story because it so artfully combines SF elements into a good traditional story. _Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones_ is also a big favorite of mine. None of the other Delany I’ve read has even approached it. In fact, most of the rest of Delany’s stuff I’ve managed to finish I found pretty inferior. Any suggestions for more Delany of this quality? Can’t remember the details of this story, but it involved a young, but well placed government official in a totalitarian society who is slipped an anti-hallucinatory drug before a meeting with the dictator. Thanks for the link to the stories on the Sci-Fi channel site. Didn’t know that was there. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/22 "2003-01-10T19:17:05Z")
Henry Kuttner wrote some good stories by himself and some good stories with his wife (C.L. Moore). The latter were published under the pen name Lewis Padgett. I think there’s a “Best of Henry Kuttner” collection. Cordwainer Smith - lots of good short fiction. “When the People Fell” “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell” many others whose titles escape me. The one about D’Joan (what was it called?) Theodore Sturgeon - tons of good short stories. “Rule of Three” “The (Widget), the (Wadget), and Boff” “Claustrophile” and many more. ---
**Author:** ![rickh57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@rickh57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rickh57)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/23 "2003-01-10T19:50:44Z")
I like Asimov’s “Last Question” along with the already mentioned Nightfall. Rick ---
**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 10, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/24 "2003-01-10T19:52:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hazel \* > \*\*Cordwainer Smith - lots of good short fiction. “When the People Fell” “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell” many others whose titles escape me. The one about D’Joan (what was it called?) > \*\* “The Dead Lady of Clown Town.” I also like Smith’s “A Planet Called Shayol” and “Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons” (If I don’t get in trouble for saying that 😉 ) More: “And He Built a Crooked House” by Robert A. Heinlein “It’s a _Good_ Life” by Jerome Bixby “Incased in Ancient Rind” by R. A. Lafferty “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill Side” by James Tiptree, Jr. “The Kugelmass Episode” by Woody Allen “Bug House” by Lisa Tuttle “The Monkey Treatment” by George R. R. Martin “The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, _Everything_” by George Alec Effinger “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hambugers” by Lawrence Watt-Evans “Stable Strategies for Middle Management” by Eileen Gunn “Tourists” by Lisa Goldstein “It” by Theodore Sturgeon If I were to pick my favorite SF short story writers, I’d list: Harlan Ellison James Tiptree, Jr. R. A. Lafferty Cordwainer Smith Frederick Brown John Varley Tom Reamy Cyril Kornbluth Theodore Sturgeon Ted Chiang Larry Niven ---
**Author:** ![LoN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@LoN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoN)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/25 "2003-01-10T20:13:07Z")
“Lennon Spex”-- Paul Di Filipino “And He Built a Crooked House” “Time Travelers Strictly Cash” “Waldo”-- Robert Heinlien “Deathbird Stories”-- Harlan Ellison Almost anything by Ray Bradbury ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/26 "2003-01-10T20:25:51Z")
“The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin (can’t believe noone mentioned this yet!) “By His Boostraps” Robert Heinlein (ditto) “Surface Tension” - James Blish. “Shatterday” - Harlan Ellison “Possible to Rue” - Piers Anthony I’m a BIG SF short-story fan - just wish I could remember more titles & authors! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/27 "2003-01-10T22:10:15Z")
\*\*LoN, \*\* I hate to nitpick, but “Time Travelers Strictly Cash” is the \*title \* of a book by Spider Robinson, not a short story by Robert Heinlein(whom Robinson has immense respect for). If I’m wrong, and there is a Heinlein story out there that I have missed, please let me know where I can get it! Anyway, my two favorites are by those same two authors. “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants” by Robert A. Heinlein. I always get tears in my eyes at the point where the veterans are in the Big Parade and “something that should not be on Broad Street in Philadelphia on the first day of January, men riding in the parade because, merciful Heaven forgive us, they could not walk.” “True Minds” by Spider Robinson. I have a ratty paperbacked copy his story collection Melancholy Elephants and got him to sign it, not in the front of the book, as is traditional, but by that story. A story about the power of \*real \* love. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/28 "2003-01-10T22:32:13Z")
Gotta say it: **Shadez** , it’s a crime to recommend a story without naming the author. Here are the authors of the stories he named. “Worlds Apart” - Woody O. Carsky-Wilson “Carry The God” - Lee Battersby “Prague 47” - Joel Best “Eating, Drinking, Walking” - Dylan Otto Krider ---
**Author:** ![Lao\_Tsu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lao\_Tsu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lao_Tsu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/29 "2003-01-10T22:48:29Z")
Just to kick in some more. “The Pope of the Chimps”, I can’t remember the author but it is in the anthology **Mirror Shades** if I remember correctly. “The Black Bag” by C. M. Kornbluth. “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison. “The Sound of Thunder” by Bradbury. I bet I just overlooked that being metioned above. “Call Him Lord” by Gordon Dickson. I can’t think of any others currently. ---
**Author:** ![Lao\_Tsu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lao\_Tsu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lao_Tsu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/30 "2003-01-10T22:50:01Z")
Oh yeah, and “Bears Discover Fire”. I knew I’d think of another once I hit Submit. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![XPav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b77776/32.png) [@XPav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XPav)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/31 "2003-01-10T23:18:01Z")
One of the recent stories that grabbed me was “A Colder War”, bt Charles Stross. Its available [here](http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm), as well as in the "Best Sci-Fi of the year in one of the last couple years. Basically, Ollie North meets Cthulu. Other stuff that I’ve read comes to mind, but this one just scared me and tied in nicely with history all at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![LoN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@LoN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoN)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/32 "2003-01-10T23:41:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baker \* > \*\*\*\*LoN, \*\* I hate to nitpick, but “Time Travelers Strictly Cash” is the \*title \* of a book by Spider Robinson, not a short story by Robert Heinlein(whom Robinson has immense respect for). If I’m wrong, and there is a Heinlein story out there that I have missed, please let me know where I can get it! Anyway, my two favorites are by those same two authors. > \*\* Eeep… I did a Google search, and you’re right. I’m thinking of the Heinlien story about the time traveler who ends up being his mother, father, brother, sister, etc… Very good, and the name escapes me. I’m glad to be in a place with other Spider Robinson fans… I’ve only read a few of his books, alas, but what I’ve read I love… ---
**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/33 "2003-01-10T23:45:56Z")
Prayers on the Wind by Walter Jon Williams Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson Blabber by Vernor Vinge Ubermensch! I forget the author’s name. Superman growing up in Nazi Germany and the last prisoner in Spandau prison. Swarm by Bruce Sterling The Way of the Cross and Dragon by George R.R. Martin The Green Hills of Earth and Life Line by Robert Heinlein At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft ---
**Author:** ![Zweistein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/54ee81/32.png) [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/34 "2003-01-10T23:52:35Z")
for some reason I second politzania, The Cold Equations is unmatched; nr 1 on my best list ever ---
**Author:** ![raisinbread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@raisinbread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raisinbread)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/35 "2003-01-11T00:01:08Z")
Oh yes, The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/36 "2003-01-11T00:01:34Z")
Included in [Science Fiction Hall of Fame](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380007959/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-5131220-3680903?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) ed Robert Silverberg: “The Microcosmic God” - Theodore Sturgeon (this is the one I’ve been trying to remember since my last post!) “Helen O’Loy” - Lester Del Rey “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” - Lewis Padgett “Flowers for Algernon” - Daniel Keyes (later transformed into a novella/novel, I believe) [The Best of New Dimensions](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671829769/qid=1042242905/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5131220-3680903?v=glance&s=books) ed Robert Silverberg “The Sliced-Crosswise-Only-On-Tuesday World” - Philip Jose Farmer “The Psychologist Who Wouldn’t Do Awful Things to Rats” - James Tiptree Jr. [Car Sinister](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380453932/qid%3D1042243187/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-5131220-3680903) ed Robert Silverberg et al. “X Marks the Pedwalk” - Fritz Lieber ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/37 "2003-01-11T00:07:49Z")
If you want the best collection of stories from the Golden Age (pre-1950) get **Adventures in Time and Space** edited by Healy and McComas. I think it was recently reissued, my version is a Popular Library hardcover I got in the mid-60s. I agree that the Hugo and Nebula winners collections are a good source of high quality stories. Also 9 Billion Names of God is a good Clarke collection. For Heinlein, check out “All You Zombies,” “By His Bootstraps” and “Them.” ---
**Author:** ![LoN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@LoN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoN)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/38 "2003-01-11T00:13:21Z")
Its _All You Zombies_… thanks. I also like _The Nine Billion Names of God_, by Clarke… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/39 "2003-01-11T02:37:43Z")
Re: Who Goes There – right, it was Campbell, don’t know why I switched 'em up. My personal number one. But also good are: A Pail of Air (I think by Leinster) “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” by Gene Wolfe “Persistence of Vision” by John Varley tasty, tasty My fave SF short story collections are the two 'Billion Year Spree" books. And back in the 50s and 60s, Groff Conklin seemed to have a knack for good anthologies. ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Makepeace\_Ladd\_III](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Andrew\_Makepeace\_Ladd\_III](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_Makepeace_Ladd_III)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-sci-fi-short-stories/147666/40 "2003-01-11T04:31:26Z")
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