Looking at people a little bit younger, Robert Reed and Robert Charles Wilson are potential Grand Masters.
Another worthy author who hasn’t been mentioned would be John Varley. He’s 71 and his first publication was in 1974.
Excellent suggestion!
Varley would be a great choice. He inspired me to start writing myself.
As for Robert Reed, I’m mystified by his appeal. Considering the fact he has a short story out every couple of months, there have been very few that ever impressed me.
Also gaming. About half of the ideas for Shadow Run comes from his work.
An interesting choice (although it’s somewhat unlikely that he will become a Grand Master anytime soon) would be Ted Chiang. He first published a piece of short science fiction in 1991. He’s now published a total of 17 short science fiction pieces. Ten of them have been nominated for awards. Six have won awards. (Two of them were just published, so they haven’t even had a chance to be nominated yet.) He’s the most consistent writer of science fiction, I think. That’s only a little more than one piece of short science fiction every two years. (Incidentally, the movie Arrival was made from one of those stories.)
I do think that Chaing is one of the best writers of short fiction in the field, but his body of work is too small.
For the past several decades, science fiction has centered on the novel. Harlan Ellison was the only short-story writer to be named a Grand Master, and I think everybody considers Harlan a special case.
There aren’t too many writers today whose reputation is almost entirely based on short stories. Chiang, certainly, but he’s way too young. Kelly Link hasn’t written a novel yet, but she’s a Pulitzer finalist and brilliant short story writer. Also way too young, though. Jim Kelly has a huge body of short fiction and only a couple of novels that didn’t make much of a dent. Robert Reed and John Kessel are also much better known for their short work but both have more novels than Kelly.
Kelly would make a fine winner. He’s vastly underappreciated. But I’m certain that the novelists will all get the nod before he does.