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Top Short Fiction Titles as Voted by ISFDB Users

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Rank Rating Title Year Author(s)
1 9.71 Flowers for Algernon 1959 Daniel Keyes
2 9.67 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet 1962 Richard Matheson
3 9.67 It's a Good Life 1953 Jerome Bixby
4 9.67 Reasons to Be Cheerful 1997 Greg Egan
5 9.50 The Screwfly Solution 1977 James Tiptree, Jr.
6 9.50 Dear Devil 1950 Eric Frank Russell
7 9.38 The Women Men Don't See 1973 James Tiptree, Jr.
8 9.33 The Black Cat 1843 Edgar Allan Poe
9 9.33 Behold the Man 1966 Michael Moorcock
10 9.30 The Shadow Over Innsmouth 1936 H. P. Lovecraft
11 9.18 Jeffty Is Five 1977 Harlan Ellison
12 9.17 Story of Your Life 1998 Ted Chiang
13 9.14 A Rose for Ecclesiastes 1963 Roger Zelazny
14 9.14 The Last Question 1956 Isaac Asimov
15 9.14 Scanners Live in Vain 1950 Cordwainer Smith
16 9.14 Light of Other Days 1966 Bob Shaw
17 9.12 The Little Black Bag 1950 C. M. Kornbluth
18 9.11 Fondly Fahrenheit 1954 Alfred Bester
19 9.08 Mimsy Were the Borogoves 1943 Lewis Padgett
20 9.08 The Call of Cthulhu 1928 H. P. Lovecraft
21 9.06 Nightfall 1941 Isaac Asimov
22 9.00 The Pit and the Pendulum 1842 Edgar Allan Poe
23 9.00 The Tell-Tale Heart 1843 Edgar Allan Poe
24 9.00 The Cask of Amontillado 1846 Edgar Allan Poe
25 9.00 The Machine Stops 1909 E. M. Forster
26 9.00 Enemy Mine 1979 Barry B. Longyear
27 9.00 Kaleidoscope 1949 Ray Bradbury
28 8.93 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 1973 Ursula K. Le Guin
29 8.91 A Sound of Thunder 1952 Ray Bradbury
30 8.90 The Word for World Is Forest 1972 Ursula K. Le Guin
31 8.88 Sandkings 1979 George R. R. Martin
32 8.88 Second Variety 1953 Philip K. Dick
33 8.86 The Marching Morons 1951 C. M. Kornbluth
34 8.86 The Quest for Saint Aquin 1951 Anthony Boucher
35 8.83 The Gernsback Continuum 1981 William Gibson
36 8.83 And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side 1972 James Tiptree, Jr.
37 8.83 Arena 1944 Fredric Brown
38 8.83 The Lucky Strike 1984 Kim Stanley Robinson
39 8.82 The Veldt 1950 Ray Bradbury
40 8.75 The Monkey's Paw 1902 W. W. Jacobs
41 8.75 The Dunwich Horror 1929 H. P. Lovecraft
42 8.71 "—And He Built a Crooked House" 1941 Robert A. Heinlein
43 8.71 By His Bootstraps 1941 Robert A. Heinlein
44 8.71 The Nine Billion Names of God 1953 Arthur C. Clarke
45 8.71 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 1890 Ambrose Bierce
46 8.70 Tower of Babylon 1990 Ted Chiang
47 8.70 Passengers 1968 Robert Silverberg
48 8.70 A Boy and His Dog 1969 Harlan Ellison
49 8.67 Desertion 1944 Clifford D. Simak
50 8.67 Impostor 1953 Philip K. Dick
51 8.67 Nightwings 1968 Robert Silverberg
52 8.67 Sailing to Byzantium 1985 Robert Silverberg
53 8.62 Foundation 1942 Isaac Asimov
54 8.62 Hell Is the Absence of God 2001 Ted Chiang
55 8.62 We Can Remember It for You Wholesale 1966 Philip K. Dick
56 8.60 When It Changed 1972 Joanna Russ
57 8.57 The Persistence of Vision 1978 John Varley
58 8.55 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream 1967 Harlan Ellison
59 8.50 Fire Watch 1982 Connie Willis
60 8.50 Houston, Houston, Do You Read? 1976 James Tiptree, Jr.
61 8.50 The Colour Out of Space 1927 H. P. Lovecraft
62 8.50 A Martian Odyssey 1934 Stanley G. Weinbaum
63 8.50 Seventy-Two Letters 2000 Ted Chiang
64 8.47 The Cold Equations 1954 Tom Godwin
65 8.46 "All You Zombies ..." 1959 Robert A. Heinlein
66 8.44 Allamagoosa 1955 Eric Frank Russell
67 8.43 Blood Music 1983 Greg Bear
68 8.43 The Ugly Chickens 1980 Howard Waldrop
69 8.43 Beyond Lies the Wub 1952 Philip K. Dick
70 8.43 To Serve Man 1950 Damon Knight
71 8.33 Understand 1991 Ted Chiang
72 8.33 The Pusher 1981 John Varley
73 8.33 The Star 1955 Arthur C. Clarke
74 8.31 Ender's Game 1977 Orson Scott Card
75 8.29 Speech Sounds 1983 Octavia E. Butler
76 8.29 The Crystal Egg 1897 H. G. Wells
77 8.25 Microcosmic God 1941 Theodore Sturgeon
78 8.25 There Will Come Soft Rains 1950 Ray Bradbury
79 8.22 Coraline 2002 Neil Gaiman
80 8.17 The State of the Art 1989 Iain M. Banks
81 8.17 That Only a Mother 1948 Judith Merril
82 8.14 That Hell-Bound Train 1958 Robert Bloch
83 8.14 Neutron Star 1966 Larry Niven
84 8.14 The Way of Cross and Dragon 1979 George R. R. Martin
85 8.14 The Bicentennial Man 1976 Isaac Asimov
86 8.00 The Big Front Yard 1958 Clifford D. Simak
87 8.00 Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death 1973 James Tiptree, Jr.
88 8.00 A Song for Lya 1974 George R. R. Martin
89 8.00 The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath 1943 H. P. Lovecraft
90 8.00 The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar 1845 Edgar Allan Poe
91 8.00 First Contact 1945 Murray Leinster
92 7.94 "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman 1965 Harlan Ellison
93 7.91 The Sentinel 1951 Arthur C. Clarke
94 7.89 Nine Lives 1969 Ursula K. Le Guin
95 7.89 The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth 1965 Roger Zelazny
96 7.88 The Fall of the House of Usher 1839 Edgar Allan Poe
97 7.86 A Meeting with Medusa 1971 Arthur C. Clarke
98 7.86 The Monkey Treatment 1983 George R. R. Martin
99 7.86 The Day Before the Revolution 1974 Ursula K. Le Guin
100 7.85
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 1984 John Varley
101 7.83 Rescue Party 1946 Arthur C. Clarke
102 7.83 Earthmen Bearing Gifts 1960 Fredric Brown
103 7.83 Air Raid 1977 John Varley
104 7.80 Nightflyers 1980 George R. R. Martin
105 7.75 The Rats in the Walls 1924 H. P. Lovecraft
106 7.67 Liar! 1941 Isaac Asimov
107 7.67 The Green Hills of Earth 1947 Robert A. Heinlein
108 7.58 Born of Man and Woman 1950 Richard Matheson
109 7.57 Super-Toys Last All Summer Long 1969 Brian W. Aldiss
110 7.57 Shambleau 1933 C. L. Moore
111 7.56 Bloodchild 1984 Octavia E. Butler
112 7.56 The Fog Horn 1951 Ray Bradbury
113 7.56 The New Accelerator 1901 H. G. Wells
114 7.56 Third from the Sun 1950 Richard Matheson
115 7.50 Bears Discover Fire 1990 Terry Bisson
116 7.50 Requiem 1940 Robert A. Heinlein
117 7.50 Grotto of the Dancing Deer 1980 Clifford D. Simak
118 7.50 Call Him Lord 1966 Gordon R. Dickson
119 7.44 The Deathbird 1973 Harlan Ellison
120 7.43 Dagon 1919 H. P. Lovecraft
121 7.42 The Roads Must Roll 1940 Robert A. Heinlein
122 7.40 Gonna Roll the Bones 1967 Fritz Leiber
123 7.38 The Star 1897 H. G. Wells
124 7.33 Out of All Them Bright Stars 1985 Nancy Kress
125 7.33 Vaster Than Empires and More Slow 1971 Ursula K. Le Guin
126 7.33 Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand 1973 Vonda N. McIntyre
127 7.29 Or All the Seas with Oysters 1958 Avram Davidson
128 7.29 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss 2008 Kij Johnson
129 7.25 Helen O'Loy 1938 Lester del Rey
130 7.25 Life-Line 1939 Robert A. Heinlein
131 7.17 The Whimper of Whipped Dogs 1973 Harlan Ellison
132 7.17 Roog 1953 Philip K. Dick
133 7.17 Division by Zero 1991 Ted Chiang
134 7.17 Reason 1941 Isaac Asimov
135 7.14 The Father-Thing 1954 Philip K. Dick
136 7.14 Runaround 1942 Isaac Asimov
137 7.12 The Weapon Shop 1942 A. E. van Vogt
138 7.00 Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes 1967 Harlan Ellison
139 7.00 Grandpa 1955 James H. Schmitz
140 7.00 Coming Attraction 1950 Fritz Leiber
141 7.00 The Monsters 1953 Robert Sheckley
142 7.00 Meathouse Man 1976 George R. R. Martin
143 7.00 He Who Shapes 1965 Roger Zelazny
144 6.89 Aye, and Gomorrah ... 1967 Samuel R. Delany
145 6.86 Dinner in Audoghast 1985 Bruce Sterling
146 6.83 Slow Sculpture 1970 Theodore Sturgeon
147 6.83 Strange Playfellow 1940 Isaac Asimov
148 6.57 Good News from the Vatican 1971 Robert Silverberg
149 6.55 Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones 1968 Samuel R. Delany
150 6.33 Fermi and Frost 1985 Frederik Pohl
151 6.33 The Man Who Could Work Miracles 1898 H. G. Wells
152 6.17 The Hole Man 1974 Larry Niven
153 6.17 Blowups Happen 1940 Robert A. Heinlein
154 5.50 Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W 1974 Harlan Ellison
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