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Top Short Fiction Titles as Voted by ISFDB Users

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Rank Rating Title Year Author(s)
1 9.78 Flowers for Algernon 1959 Daniel Keyes
2 9.43 Reasons to Be Cheerful 1997 Greg Egan
3 9.36 The Black Cat 1843 Edgar Allan Poe
4 9.33 The Screwfly Solution 1977 James Tiptree, Jr.
5 9.29 Exhalation 2008 Ted Chiang
6 9.29 A Christmas Carol 1843 Charles Dickens
7 9.23 Story of Your Life 1998 Ted Chiang
8 9.22 The Women Men Don't See 1973 James Tiptree, Jr.
9 9.21 The Shadow Over Innsmouth 1936 H. P. Lovecraft
10 9.17 The Country of the Blind 1904 H. G. Wells
11 9.17 Fondly Fahrenheit 1954 Alfred Bester
12 9.17 Faith of Our Fathers 1967 Philip K. Dick
13 9.12 The Lottery 1948 Shirley Jackson
14 9.12 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet 1962 Richard Matheson
15 9.12 Scanners Live in Vain 1950 Cordwainer Smith
16 9.10 Dear Devil 1950 Eric Frank Russell
17 9.08 Jeffty Is Five 1977 Harlan Ellison
18 9.05 Nightfall 1941 Isaac Asimov
19 9.00 Mimsy Were the Borogoves 1943 Lewis Padgett
20 9.00 Behold the Man 1966 Michael Moorcock
21 9.00 Houston, Houston, Do You Read? 1976 James Tiptree, Jr.
22 9.00 Enemy Mine 1979 Barry B. Longyear
23 9.00 The Mezzotint 1904 M. R. James
24 9.00 The Little Black Bag 1950 C. M. Kornbluth
25 8.94 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 1973 Ursula K. Le Guin
26 8.93 The Cask of Amontillado 1846 Edgar Allan Poe
27 8.90 The Last Question 1956 Isaac Asimov
28 8.89 Arena 1944 Fredric Brown
29 8.88 Sandkings 1979 George R. R. Martin
30 8.88 The Mist 1980 Stephen King
31 8.88 A Rose for Ecclesiastes 1963 Roger Zelazny
32 8.88 Light of Other Days 1966 Bob Shaw
33 8.87 The Tell-Tale Heart 1843 Edgar Allan Poe
34 8.86 Mimsy Were the Borogoves 1943 Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore
35 8.83 Swarm 1982 Bruce Sterling
36 8.83 The Word for World Is Forest 1972 Ursula K. Le Guin
37 8.83 Liking What You See: A Documentary 2002 Ted Chiang
38 8.83 Mars Is Heaven! 1948 Ray Bradbury
39 8.81 The Nine Billion Names of God 1953 Arthur C. Clarke
40 8.76 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream 1967 Harlan Ellison
41 8.75 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 1890 Ambrose Bierce
42 8.75 It's a Good Life 1953 Jerome Bixby
43 8.73 The Call of Cthulhu 1928 H. P. Lovecraft
44 8.73 Passengers 1968 Robert Silverberg
45 8.71 The Persistence of Vision 1978 John Varley
46 8.71 And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side 1972 James Tiptree, Jr.
47 8.67 Desertion 1944 Clifford D. Simak
48 8.67 The Pit and the Pendulum 1842 Edgar Allan Poe
49 8.67 The Distributor 1958 Richard Matheson
50 8.67 Impostor 1953 Philip K. Dick
51 8.67 Nightwings 1968 Robert Silverberg
52 8.67 The Paper Menagerie 2011 Ken Liu
53 8.64 Tower of Babylon 1990 Ted Chiang
54 8.64 A Boy and His Dog 1969 Harlan Ellison
55 8.62 Foundation 1942 Isaac Asimov
56 8.62 The Marching Morons 1951 C. M. Kornbluth
57 8.62 Hell Is the Absence of God 2001 Ted Chiang
58 8.60 When It Changed 1972 Joanna Russ
59 8.60 The Machine Stops 1909 E. M. Forster
60 8.60 Kaleidoscope 1949 Ray Bradbury
61 8.57 We Can Remember It for You Wholesale 1966 Philip K. Dick
62 8.57 The Gernsback Continuum 1981 William Gibson
63 8.57 A Martian Odyssey 1934 Stanley G. Weinbaum
64 8.57 The Lucky Strike 1984 Kim Stanley Robinson
65 8.50 Learning to Be Me 1990 Greg Egan
66 8.50 Beggars in Spain 1991 Nancy Kress
67 8.50 Death on the Nile 1993 Connie Willis
68 8.50 Inconstant Moon 1971 Larry Niven
69 8.50 Fire Watch 1982 Connie Willis
70 8.50 Blood Music 1983 Greg Bear
71 8.50
"—And He Built a Crooked House"?"-And He Built a Crooked House"
 1941 Robert A. Heinlein
72 8.50 Second Variety 1953 Philip K. Dick
73 8.50 Seventy-Two Letters 2000 Ted Chiang
74 8.50 The Long Rain 1950 Ray Bradbury
75 8.47 The Cold Equations 1954 Tom Godwin
76 8.45 The Monkey's Paw 1902 W. W. Jacobs
77 8.45 The Dunwich Horror 1929 H. P. Lovecraft
78 8.44 The Quest for Saint Aquin 1951 Anthony Boucher
79 8.43 The State of the Art 1989 Iain M. Banks
80 8.43 The Ugly Chickens 1980 Howard Waldrop
81 8.43 The Man Who Bridged the Mist 2011 Kij Johnson
82 8.38 A Sound of Thunder 1952 Ray Bradbury
83 8.38 By His Bootstraps 1941 Robert A. Heinlein
84 8.38 The Crystal Egg 1897 H. G. Wells
85 8.33 Allamagoosa 1955 Eric Frank Russell
86 8.33 The Veldt 1950 Ray Bradbury
87 8.33 Microcosmic God 1941 Theodore Sturgeon
88 8.33 Lost Hearts 1895 M. R. James
89 8.33 The Day Is Done 1939 Lester del Rey
90 8.33 Understand 1991 Ted Chiang
91 8.33 Colony 1953 Philip K. Dick
92 8.33 A Study in Emerald 2003 Neil Gaiman
93 8.33 The Star 1955 Arthur C. Clarke
94 8.33 The Colour Out of Space 1927 H. P. Lovecraft
95 8.33 Enchanted Village 1950 A. E. van Vogt
96 8.33 The Dead Past 1956 Isaac Asimov
97 8.33 The Monster 1948 A. E. van Vogt
98 8.30 There Will Come Soft Rains 1950 Ray Bradbury
99 8.29 The Mask of the Red Death 1842 Edgar Allan Poe
100 8.29 The Small Assassin 1946 Ray Bradbury
101 8.22 Speech Sounds 1983 Octavia E. Butler
102 8.22 Coraline 2002 Neil Gaiman
103 8.22 Beyond Lies the Wub 1952 Philip K. Dick
104 8.21 Ender's Game 1977 Orson Scott Card
105 8.20 The Bicentennial Man 1976 Isaac Asimov
106 8.18 "All You Zombies ..." 1959 Robert A. Heinlein
107 8.17 Trucks 1973 Stephen King
108 8.17 The Undiscovered 1997 William Sanders
109 8.17 Think Like a Dinosaur 1995 James Patrick Kelly
110 8.17 The Signalman 1866 Charles Dickens
111 8.17 Harrison Bergeron 1961 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
112 8.17 Autofac 1955 Philip K. Dick
113 8.17 Evidence 1946 Isaac Asimov
114 8.17 All Summer in a Day 1954 Ray Bradbury
115 8.17 The Million Year Picnic 1946 Ray Bradbury
116 8.14 Even the Queen 1992 Connie Willis
117 8.14 Neutron Star 1966 Larry Niven
118 8.14 The Way of Cross and Dragon 1979 George R. R. Martin
119 8.14 The Haunter of the Dark 1936 H. P. Lovecraft
120 8.12 The Pusher 1981 John Varley
121 8.12 To Serve Man 1950 Damon Knight
122 8.09 The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar 1845 Edgar Allan Poe
123 8.00 Schrödinger's Kitten 1988 George Alec Effinger
124 8.00 That Hell-Bound Train 1958 Robert Bloch
125 8.00 "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman 1965 Harlan Ellison
126 8.00 Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers 1987 Lawrence Watt-Evans
127 8.00 Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death 1973 James Tiptree, Jr.
128 8.00 With Morning Comes Mistfall 1973 George R. R. Martin
129 8.00 The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath 1943 H. P. Lovecraft
130 8.00 The Damned Thing 1893 Ambrose Bierce
131 8.00 Herbert West: Reanimator 1943 H. P. Lovecraft
132 8.00 Dinosaurs 1987 Walter Jon Williams
133 8.00 The Picture in the House 1919 H. P. Lovecraft
134 8.00 The Dragon Masters 1962 Jack Vance
135 8.00 Graveyard Shift 1970 Stephen King
136 8.00 The Dreams in the Witch-House 1933 H. P. Lovecraft
137 8.00 Alpha Ralpha Boulevard 1961 Cordwainer Smith
138 8.00 The Last Castle 1966 Jack Vance
139 8.00 Sailing to Byzantium 1985 Robert Silverberg
140 8.00 Ringing the Changes 1955 Robert Aickman
141 8.00 First Contact 1945 Murray Leinster
142 8.00 The Game of Rat and Dragon 1955 Cordwainer Smith
143 8.00 The Handler 1960 Damon Knight
144 8.00 They're Made Out of Meat 1991 Terry Bisson
145 7.91 The Sentinel 1951 Arthur C. Clarke
146 7.90 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth 1965 Roger Zelazny
147 7.89 Nine Lives 1969 Ursula K. Le Guin
148 7.89 Super-Toys Last All Summer Long 1969 Brian W. Aldiss
149 7.88 Shambleau 1933 C. L. Moore
150 7.86 A Meeting with Medusa 1971 Arthur C. Clarke
151 7.86 The Monkey Treatment 1983 George R. R. Martin
152 7.86 The Day Before the Revolution 1974 Ursula K. Le Guin
153 7.86 That Only a Mother 1948 Judith Merril
154 7.83 A Walk in the Sun 1991 Geoffrey A. Landis
155 7.83 Graves 1992 Joe Haldeman
156 7.83 Rescue Party 1946 Arthur C. Clarke
157 7.83 Earthmen Bearing Gifts 1960 Fredric Brown
158 7.83 The Music of Erich Zann 1922 H. P. Lovecraft
159 7.83 Nerves 1942 Lester del Rey
160 7.83 The Engine at Heartspring's Center 1974 Roger Zelazny
161 7.83 Air Raid 1977 John Varley
162 7.83 The Fourth Profession 1971 Larry Niven
163 7.83 The World Well Lost 1953 Theodore Sturgeon
164 7.83 Slow Tuesday Night 1965 R. A. Lafferty
165 7.82 The Big Front Yard 1958 Clifford D. Simak
166 7.80 Nightflyers 1980 George R. R. Martin
167 7.79 Born of Man and Woman 1950 Richard Matheson
168 7.75 Roog 1953 Philip K. Dick
169 7.75 The Shadow Out of Time 1936 H. P. Lovecraft
170 7.73 The Fall of the House of Usher 1839 Edgar Allan Poe
171 7.73 The Rats in the Walls 1924 H. P. Lovecraft
172 7.71 Liar! 1941 Isaac Asimov
173 7.71 Call Him Lord 1966 Gordon R. Dickson
174 7.70 Third from the Sun 1950 Richard Matheson
175 7.67
Press Enter ▮?Press Enter []
 1984 John Varley
176 7.67 A Song for Lya 1974 George R. R. Martin
177 7.67 Battleground 1972 Stephen King
178 7.67 Ligeia 1838 Edgar Allan Poe
179 7.67 The Queen of Air and Darkness 1971 Poul Anderson
180 7.67 The Machine That Won the War 1961 Isaac Asimov
181 7.67 Answer 1954 Fredric Brown
182 7.62 Vaster Than Empires and More Slow 1971 Ursula K. Le Guin
183 7.60 The New Accelerator 1901 H. G. Wells
184 7.60 The Father-Thing 1954 Philip K. Dick
185 7.57 The Darfsteller 1955 Walter M. Miller, Jr.
186 7.57 Grotto of the Dancing Deer 1980 Clifford D. Simak
187 7.57 Black Destroyer 1939 A. E. van Vogt
188 7.57 The Graveyard Rats 1936 Henry Kuttner
189 7.57 The Green Hills of Earth 1947 Robert A. Heinlein
190 7.56 The Fog Horn 1951 Ray Bradbury
191 7.50 Day Million 1966 Frederik Pohl
192 7.50 Pickman's Model 1927 H. P. Lovecraft
193 7.50 In the Hills, the Cities 1984 Clive Barker
194 7.50 Shape 1953 Robert Sheckley
195 7.50 The Seesaw 1941 A. E. van Vogt
196 7.50 The Star Mouse 1942 Fredric Brown
197 7.50 Hell Is Forever 1942 Alfred Bester
198 7.50 The Court Magician 2018 Sarah Pinsker
199 7.50 Father 2020 Ray Nayler
200 7.45 Bears Discover Fire 1990 Terry Bisson
201 7.45 Gonna Roll the Bones 1967 Fritz Leiber
202 7.44 The Deathbird 1973 Harlan Ellison
203 7.44 Life-Line 1939 Robert A. Heinlein
204 7.44 The Star 1897 H. G. Wells
205 7.43 Out of All Them Bright Stars 1985 Nancy Kress
206 7.43 Dagon 1919 H. P. Lovecraft
207 7.43 The Hound 1924 H. P. Lovecraft
208 7.43 The Mountains of Mourning 1989 Lois McMaster Bujold
209 7.43 Strawberry Spring 1968 Stephen King
210 7.36 Requiem 1940 Robert A. Heinlein
211 7.33 The Longest Voyage 1960 Poul Anderson
212 7.33 The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World 1969 Harlan Ellison
213 7.33 They 1941 Robert A. Heinlein
214 7.33 Specialist 1953 Robert Sheckley
215 7.33 The Skull 1952 Philip K. Dick
216 7.33 A Thing of Beauty 1973 Norman Spinrad
217 7.33 Child of All Ages 1975 P. J. Plauger
218 7.33 Old Hundredth 1960 Brian W. Aldiss
219 7.33 The Night Wire 1926 H. F. Arnold
220 7.31 The Roads Must Roll 1940 Robert A. Heinlein
221 7.30 The Weapon Shop 1942 A. E. van Vogt
222 7.29 Kirinyaga 1988 Mike Resnick
223 7.29 Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes 1967 Harlan Ellison
224 7.29 A Subway Named Mobius 1950 A. J. Deutsch
225 7.29 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss 2008 Kij Johnson
226 7.25 Helen O'Loy 1938 Lester del Rey
227 7.25 Reason 1941 Isaac Asimov
228 7.22 Or All the Seas with Oysters 1958 Avram Davidson
229 7.17 Here There Be Tygers 1968 Stephen King
230 7.17 Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper 1943 Robert Bloch
231 7.17 Division by Zero 1991 Ted Chiang
232 7.17 MS. Found in a Bottle 1833 Edgar Allan Poe
233 7.17 At the Rialto 1989 Connie Willis
234 7.17 Mefisto in Onyx 1993 Harlan Ellison
235 7.17 Adam and No Eve 1941 Alfred Bester
236 7.17
A Descent Into the Maelström?A Descent Into the Maelstrom
A Descent Into the Maelstroem
 1841 Edgar Allan Poe
237 7.17 Heresies of the Huge God 1966 Brian W. Aldiss
238 7.17 The Last of the Winnebagos 1988 Connie Willis
239 7.17 Snow 1985 John Crowley
240 7.12 Slow Sculpture 1970 Theodore Sturgeon
241 7.11 Runaround 1942 Isaac Asimov
242 7.00 Stable Strategies for Middle Management 1988 Eileen Gunn
243 7.00 Bloodchild 1984 Octavia E. Butler
244 7.00 Grandpa 1955 James H. Schmitz
245 7.00 The Monkey 1980 Stephen King
246 7.00 Coming Attraction 1950 Fritz Leiber
247 7.00 The Monsters 1953 Robert Sheckley
248 7.00 Seventh Victim 1953 Robert Sheckley
249 7.00 Meathouse Man 1976 George R. R. Martin
250 7.00 He Who Shapes 1965 Roger Zelazny
251 7.00 A Gun for Dinosaur 1956 L. Sprague de Camp
252 7.00 The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse 1954 Ray Bradbury
253 7.00 The Defenders 1953 Philip K. Dick
254 7.00 The Pill 2020 Meg Elison
255 6.89 Aye, and Gomorrah ... 1967 Samuel R. Delany
256 6.88 The Fun They Had 1951 Isaac Asimov
257 6.86 Exploration Team 1956 Murray Leinster
258 6.86 Dress of White Silk 1951 Richard Matheson
259 6.86 The Statement of Randolph Carter 1920 H. P. Lovecraft
260 6.83 Cost of Living 1952 Robert Sheckley
261 6.83 Robot AL-76 Goes Astray 1942 Isaac Asimov
262 6.83 Proof 1942 Hal Clement
263 6.83 Slow Birds 1983 Ian Watson
264 6.80 Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand 1973 Vonda N. McIntyre
265 6.75 The Whimper of Whipped Dogs 1973 Harlan Ellison
266 6.67 Dance of the Dead 1955 Richard Matheson
267 6.67 In the Vault 1925 H. P. Lovecraft
268 6.67 Caterpillars 1912 E. F. Benson
269 6.62 Dinner in Audoghast 1985 Bruce Sterling
270 6.57 Fermi and Frost 1985 Frederik Pohl
271 6.57 Witch War 1951 Richard Matheson
272 6.57 The Man Who Could Work Miracles 1898 H. G. Wells
273 6.57 Good News from the Vatican 1971 Robert Silverberg
274 6.55 Time Considered As a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones 1968 Samuel R. Delany
275 6.50 The Sphinx 1846 Edgar Allan Poe
276 6.50 Sex, Death and Starshine 1984 Clive Barker
277 6.50 The Man Who Loved Flowers 1977 Stephen King
278 6.43 The Outsider 1926 H. P. Lovecraft
279 6.33 Strange Playfellow 1940 Isaac Asimov
280 6.33 Ponies 2010 Kij Johnson
281 6.33 Salvador 1984 Lucius Shepard
282 6.33 The Mermaid Astronaut 2020 Yoon Ha Lee
283 6.29 Misfit 1939 Robert A. Heinlein
284 6.25 The Hole Man 1974 Larry Niven
285 6.17 Marooned Off Vesta 1939 Isaac Asimov
286 6.17 The Girl Who Was Plugged In 1973 James Tiptree, Jr.
287 6.17 The Temple 1925 H. P. Lovecraft
288 6.00 Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W 1974 Harlan Ellison
289 6.00 Blowups Happen 1940 Robert A. Heinlein
290 6.00 The Breathing Method 1982 Stephen King
291 6.00 Trinity 1984 Nancy Kress
292 5.50 The Second Kind of Loneliness 1972 George R. R. Martin
293 5.50 Cain Rose Up 1968 Stephen King
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