The 111 Greatest Science Fiction Stories
While the long forms of writing, namely novels, dominate the speculative fiction field, the short form has played an enormous role in its development. During much of the so-called Golden Age of science fiction, the short story ruled, feeding the many periodicals established for the burgeoning market of readers. Most of those specialized magazines are gone now, but writers in the field continue to hone their craft by writing stories for publication in periodicals, anthologies and their own collections.
For our purposes we define short stories as generally having fewer than 17,500 words. A prose work longer than that is usually called a novella or a novel. Some literary awards also recognize a "novelette" category for stories with at least 7,500 words, but that's too complicated for us. If you can read it in less than an hour, it's likely a short story.
Latest update: May 2, 2024
1809
"The Conquest of the Earth by the Moon"
Washington Irving,
United States, story
1816
"The Sandman"
E.T.A. Hoffmann,
France, story
1874
"The Tachypomp"
Edward Page Mitchell,
United States, story
1881
"The Clock That Went Backward"
Edward Page Mitchell,
United States, story
1885
"The Great Keinplatz Experiment"
Arthiur Conan Doyle,
England, story
"The Crystal Man"
Edward Page Mitchell,
United States, story
1896
"In the Abyss"
H.G. Wells,
England, story
1897
"The Crystal Egg"
H.G. Wells,
England, story
"The Star"
H.G. Wells,
England, story
1918
"The Red One"
Jack London,
United States, story
1934
"Twilight"
John W. Campbell,
United States, story
"A Martian Odyssey"
Stanley G. Weinbaum,
United States, story
1936
"Devolution"
Edmond Hamiliton,
United States, story
1937
"Call Me Joe"
Poul Anderson,
United States, story
1938
"Helen O'Loy"
Lester del Rey,
United States, story
"Microcosmic God"
Theodore Sturgeon,
United States, story
1942
"Foundation"
Isaac Asimov,
United States, story
"The Twonky"
Lewis Padgett,
United States, story
"The Weapon Shop"
A.E. Van Vogt,
United States, story
1943
"Mimsy Were the Borogroves"
Lewis Padgett,
United States, story
1944
"Arena"
Fredric Brown,
United States, story
"City"
Clifford D. Simak,
United States, story
"Huddling Place"
Clifford D. Simak,
United States, story
1945
"First Contact"
Murray Leinster,
United States, story
1947
"With Folded Hands..."
Jack Williamson,
United States, story
1948
"Mars Is Heaven!"
Ray Bradbury,
United States, story
"The Lottery"
Shirley Jackson,
United States, story
"That Only a Mother"
Judith Merrill,
United States, story
"Scanners Live in Vain"
Cordwainer Smith,
United States, story
1950
"There Will Come Soft Rains"
Ray Bradbury,
United States, story
"The Veldt"
Ray Bradbury,
United States, story
"The Little Black Bag"
C.M. Kornbluth,
United States, story
"Coming Attraction"
Fritz Leiber,
United States, story
"Born of Man and Woman"
Richard Matheson,
United States, story
1951
"The Quest for St. Aquin"
Anthony Boucher,
United States, story
1952
"Surface Tension"
James Blish,
United States, story
1953
"It's a Good Life"
Jerome Bixby,
United States, story
"A Work of Art"
James Blish,
United States, story
"The Nine Billion Names of God"
Arthur C. Clarke,
England, story
"A Sauceer of Loneliness"
Theodore Sturgeon,
United States, story
"The Father-Thing"
Philip K. Dick,
United States, story
"The Cold Equations"
Tom Godwin,
United States, story
1955
"Tunnel Under the World"
Frederik Pohl,
United States, story
"Allamagoose"
Eric Frank Russell,
England, story
1956
"The Last Question"
Isaac Asimov,
United States, story
"The Country of the Kind"
Damon Knight,
United States, story
1957
"Tunesmith"
Lloyd Biggle, Jr.,
United States, story
1958
"Who Can Replace a Man?"
Brian W. Aldiss,
England, story
1959
"The Martian Crown Jewels"
Poul Anderson,
United States, story
"'—All You Zombies—'"
Robert A. Heinlein,
United States, story
"Flowers for Algernon"
Daniel Keyes,
United States, story
1961
"Harrison Bergeron"
Kurt Vonnegut,
United States, story
1963
"A Rose for Ecclesiastes"
Roger Zelazny,
United States, story
1965
"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman"
Harlan Ellison,
United States, story
"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth"
Roger Zelazny,
United States, story
1966
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"
Philip K. Dick,
United States, story
1967
"Aye, and Gomorrah"
Samuel R. Delaney,
United States, story
"I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"
Harlan Ellison,
United States, story
"Gonna Roll the Bones"
Fritz Leiber,
United States, story
1968
"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones"
Samuel R. Delany,
United States, story
"Passengers"
Robert Silverberg,
United States, story
1969
"Super-Toys Last All Summer Long"
Brian W. Aldiss,
England, story
1970
"Slow Sculpture"
Theodore Sturgeon,
United States, story
1971
"Inconstant Moon"
Larry Niven,
United States, story
1972
"Goat Song"
Poul Anderson,
United States, story
"Eurema's Dam"
R.A. Lafferty,
Russia, story
"Roadside Picnic"
Arkady and Boris Strugatski,
Russia, story
"The Word for World Is Forest"
Ursula K. Le Guin,
United States, story
1973
"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas"
Ursula K. Le Guin,
Russia, story
1974
"Standing Woman"
Yasutaka Tsutsui,
Japan, novel
1975
"Catch That Zeppelin!"
Roger Zelazny,
United States, novel
"Home Is the Hangman"
Roger Zelazny,
United States, novel
1976
"The Bicentennial Man"
Isaac Asimov,
United States, story
1977
"Jeffty Is Five"
Harlan Ellison,
United States, story
1980
"Grotto of the Dancing Bear"
Clifford D. Simak,
United States, story
1982
"Burning Chrome"
William Gibson,
Canada, story
"Fire Watch"
Connie Willis,
United States, story
1983
"Speech Sound"
Octavia E. Butler,
United States, story
1984
"Bloodchild"
Octavia E. Butler,
United States, story
1985
"Dogfight"
William Gibson, Michael Swanwick,
Canada, United States, story
"Pots"
C.J. Cherryh,
United States, story
"Snow"
John Crowley,
United States, story
"Tourists"
Lisa Goldstein,
United States, story
"A Clean Escape"
John Kessel,
United States, story
"The Road Not Taken"
Harry Turtledove,
United States, story
1986
"Tangents"
Greg Bear,
United States, story
"Face Value"
Karen Joy Fowler,
United States, story
"Rats"
James Patrick Kelly,
United States, story
1988
"Shrödinger's Kitten"
George Alec Effinger,
United States, story
1990
"Bears Discover Fire"
Terry Bisson,
United States, story
1991
"They're Made Out of Meat"
Terry Bisson,
United States, story
1992
"Even the Queen"
Connie Willis,
United States, story
1993
"Georgia on My Mind"
Charles Sheffield,
United States, story
1994
"The Martian Child"
David Gerrold,
United States, story
1995
"One"
George Alec Effinger,
United States, story
2001
"Hell Is the Absence of God"
Ted Chiang,
United States, story
2007
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"
Ted Chiang,
United States, story
2008
"Exhalation"
Ted Chiang,
United States, story
2009
"The Egg"
Andy Weir,
United States, story
2016
"Seasons of Glass and Iron"
Amal El-Motar,
Canada, story
2017
"Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience"
Rebecca Roanhorse,
Canada, story
2020
"Two Truths and a Lie"
Sarah Pinsker,
United States, story
