tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post5020608453856154230..comments2024-03-17T08:27:53.658-05:00Comments on Stonekettle Station: Stonekettle Station’s Top Ten Science Fiction Short StoriesJim Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-8143485083713481432015-09-06T11:41:38.572-05:002015-09-06T11:41:38.572-05:00Thanks.Thanks.Tinanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-46265132480019556752015-08-15T13:45:18.309-05:002015-08-15T13:45:18.309-05:00Thanks for the beer sampler, Jim.
Now about me. ...Thanks for the beer sampler, Jim. <br />Now about me. I'm looking for a short story I read a couple of decades ago where a lonely astronaut goes to the edge of the solar system and back. One the edge he feels the presence of another intelligence pronouncing "with all of love". Do you or anyone else recognize this story? ThanksAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17952575139392690391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-52911361758903530822014-04-07T22:37:30.987-05:002014-04-07T22:37:30.987-05:00Just about anything by Ray Bradbury. Frederik Pohl...Just about anything by Ray Bradbury. Frederik Pohl but Plague of Pythons is my favorite.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02248742415802594678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-90990709509569480832009-10-19T11:26:03.042-05:002009-10-19T11:26:03.042-05:00I run hot and cold on Charlie Stross' novels. ...I run hot and cold on Charlie Stross' novels. Some (e.g., Singularity Sky, Atrocity Archives, Halting State) are classic must-reads, but others not as much. But everything he ever wrote in the short form floats right to the top of my glass. "Lobsters" and "Antibodies" are two freaking brilliant pieces of work. Check them out, if you will.<br /><br />I like many of Catherine Asaro's shorter SF works, a couple of which won Nebulas, if memory serves. As with Stross, I run hot and cold on her novels -- some I read over and over (e.g., Primary Inversions, The Last Hawk, The Ruby Dice) while others are a big meh.Nick from the O.C.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-90290160044151343812009-08-31T16:08:18.996-05:002009-08-31T16:08:18.996-05:00"The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce. On..."The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce. One of my favorite early science fiction stories.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16970991839844064695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-77322891374964268672009-08-31T14:41:18.035-05:002009-08-31T14:41:18.035-05:00Oh yes, Bisson has been one of my recent finds alo...Oh yes, Bisson has been one of my recent finds along with Jeffrey Ford. Bisson has that humor that just gets me. While "Bears Discover Fire" is considered one of his best (and you can read "They're Made Out Of Meat" <a href="http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>) there's a story of his concerning a lawyer who trying to woo a girl while studying for the bar and is receiving faxes from his friend who studies chaos theory on a fax machine that doesn't work. I can't remember the title, that, to me, is one of his best. It is very hilarious form both the social side and the effects of the trapped butterflies his friend is studying (which leads to a pocket of time that is traveling backward). Genius.Steve Buchheithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12999709767641212586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-66713508399648156272009-08-30T11:46:05.473-05:002009-08-30T11:46:05.473-05:00Arrrgh!
Re-reading Bisson's "Bears Disco...Arrrgh!<br /><br />Re-reading Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire" and realizing (a) I misspelled his name in the earlier comment and (b) the proper title of his modern classic is "They're Made Out Of Meat." So I'm pedantically correcting myself.<br /><br />"Bears" still gets me in the gut, by the way.<br /><br />And now I'm going to re-read "Meat."Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18275812152895151542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-44691430011923558362009-08-30T11:31:48.065-05:002009-08-30T11:31:48.065-05:00Cordwainer Smith - The Ballad of Lost C'mell
...Cordwainer Smith - The Ballad of Lost C'mell<br /><br />Ursula LeGuin - The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas<br /><br />Alfred Bester - 5,271,009 and Fondly FahrenheitLaurennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-88518971364964834082009-08-30T11:30:58.614-05:002009-08-30T11:30:58.614-05:00A great list, Jim, but I'm going to join Vince...A great list, Jim, but I'm going to join Vince on "Nightfall." You're right that Asimov wasn't much of a writer, but "Nightfall" is just one of those iconic stories, plus it's one of those "all is forgiven" sorts of stories for Asimov--the concept is just so brilliant and beautifully handled that the dialogue and characterizations just get washed away beneath the whole <i>idea</i> of the story.<br /><br />Somewhere in the top SF stories there's an across-the-board honorable mention for Frederic Brown, who may well have been the master's master of the short-short story, the one-pager, frequently wrapping up with a zinger or godawful pun. I'm not completely sure that "brilliant" is necessarily the right word considering the medium, but he's worth a nod.<br /><br />I'm not sure it counts as SF, but Terry Bison's "Bears Discover Fire" is unbelievably affecting. And--I'm not sure if it's top ten, but it's a solid candidate for eleventh place--Bison's "They're Made Of Meat" has become a modern classic.<br /><br />PKD's best short isn't really SF (though it's been published as such), but if we're defining the category broadly, I'd go with "Roog," which is beautiful, tragic and strangely terrifying--the account of a poor dog's heroic or delusional ongoing, ignored war against a sinister menace.<br /><br />I actually like all of Vince's suggestions, though I think I'd substitute Bradbury's "I Sing The Body Electric" with either "The Veldt" or "The Sound Of Thunder." "Zero Hour" and "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms In <b>Your</b> Cellar!" rate honorable mention though they've always struck me as kind of the same story, sort of. (On a tangent: I'm re-reading <i>Dandelion Wine</i> for the first time since junior high; am I the only one here who slightly prefers Uncle Ray's <i>non</i>-SF stories?)Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18275812152895151542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-3579878456463069432009-08-29T22:34:42.715-05:002009-08-29T22:34:42.715-05:00I've read a great deal of sci-fi short fiction...I've read a great deal of sci-fi short fiction -- like you, Heinlein is my hands-down favorite. First sci-fi I ever read was <i>Methuselah's Children</i> and I devoured everything he ever wrote afterward. <br /><br />Another that sticks with me hauntingly is entitled, I believe, <i>If This Goes On--</i>.<br /><br />Also, <i>The Roads Must Roll.</i> How fun was that? :)<br /><br />However, I'm still light-headed from fighting sinus dreck for a week, which leaves me a little vague on other specific writers I enjoyed over the years. :(Alesia Matsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15519487703722156234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-22441780050512287822009-08-29T22:30:24.869-05:002009-08-29T22:30:24.869-05:00Absolutely love the Science Fiction Hall of Fame v...Absolutely love the Science Fiction Hall of Fame volumes.<br /><br />If you're looking for other great collections, check out Groff Conklin's A Treasury of Science Fiction (from 1948! Amazon has 24 used and new from $0.89) which includes some of my favorites. Though they're longer than short stories, C.L Moore's "Vintage Season" is superb, as is her "Mimsy were the Borogroves."<br /><br />If you want *really* short stories, Asimov's 100 Great Science Fiction Short-Short Stories is amazingly entertaining. The next one he did, called "Microcosmic Tales" wasn't nearly as good.<br /><br />Another collection worth checking out is The Hard SF Renaissance by Hartwell / Cramer.<br /><br />Stories in particular that have stuck with me recently are Haldeman's "For White Hill" and Greg Egan's "Border Guards" which, hey, is online, along with an applet he wrote that let's you play quantum soccer from the story:<br /><br />http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/BORDER/Border.html<br /><br />"For White Hill" is very haunting, but is even more interesting when you know that it's based on Shakespeare's sonnet "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day" with each section corresponding to a line in the sonnet.mensleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-8297616407810150322009-08-29T21:57:46.556-05:002009-08-29T21:57:46.556-05:00All of the above- ooh, got to get out the Cordwain...All of the above- ooh, got to get out the Cordwainer Smith!- plus just about everything Connie Willis has written, plus...... (sorry, my fingers don't know what to type first!)Pam Adamsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-82410310114219864652009-08-29T21:41:59.683-05:002009-08-29T21:41:59.683-05:00I know you're talking about SF here, but if yo...I know you're talking about SF here, but if you love short stories, you might want to check out Charles de Lint, who is one of the best short story writers I've come across.<br /><br />Nina Kiriki Hoffman comes in a second, but de Lint is fabulous. He's also a male author who always gets his female characters right.Random Michelle Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817444379694818074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-72891137982747208502009-08-29T21:07:18.148-05:002009-08-29T21:07:18.148-05:00Yeah, that last line of "The Nine Billion nam...Yeah, that last line of "The Nine Billion names of God" still stays with me as well. Because it's funny, insightful, and melancholic all at the same time.Steve Buchheithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12999709767641212586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-42135334582932814872009-08-29T15:30:20.560-05:002009-08-29T15:30:20.560-05:00Nightfall is one of the few Asimov stories I like,...Nightfall is one of the few Asimov stories I like, along with Founding Fathers.<br /><br />But I'm really not big on his writing. I enjoyed the Foundation Trilogy, once. But it's like slogging through War and Peace.Jim Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11259550121437562338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8243351006478134285.post-53686854841238316632009-08-29T15:02:20.247-05:002009-08-29T15:02:20.247-05:00Isaac Asimov - Nightfall (really, how did you miss...Isaac Asimov - Nightfall (really, how did you miss this one)<br /><br />Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, A Boy and His Dog<br /><br />Cordwainer Smith - Ballad of Lost C'Mell, Scanners Live In Vain<br /><br />Candas Jane Dorsey - (Learning About) Machine Sex<br /><br />Daniel Keyes - Flowers For Algernon<br /><br />Isaac Asimov - The Ugly Little Boy<br /><br />Philip K Dick - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale<br /><br />Brian Aldiss - But Who Can Replace a Man?<br /><br />Robert Silverberg - The Pope of the Chimps<br /><br />Ray Bradbury - I Sing the Body Electric!vincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16955307244053931069noreply@blogger.com