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Short Fiction Summary, 2003, with Tentative Hugo Nominations
Here's my summary of my 2003 short fiction reading, with my tentative stab at Hugo nominations. There are a few outliers remaining to be counted -- two issues of On Spec, an issue of Argosy, maybe one more anthology. (I will add summary posts about each of these.) But I'm mostly done. I should note that the February Locus will include an essay from me summarizing my favorites from 2003. This post will be more of a statistical compilation thing, with a few lists.**
This year I read a total of 52 novellas (projected to reach 53 as I understand there is a novella in Argosy), 281 novelettes, and 1189 short stories. All these numbers are slightly up from last year, mainly because I read many more original anthologies in 2003 than before. The short story number is inflated as well by the many short-shorts I read. Short-shorts seem to be quite popular in online venues, and reasonably popular in small press venues. Michael Swanwick finished two series of short-shorts ("Los Caprichos" at The Infinite Matrix, and "The Periodic Table of Science Fiction" at SCI FICTION), while Richard Kadrey had another series at The Infinite Matrix, "Viper Wire", which has at least slowed down and may also have stopped. Strange Horizons published a series of short-shorts by Jay Lake. Ideomancer published a piece of "Flash Fiction" each month. And of course Analog has long featured the occasional "Probability Zero" piece. (Swanwick also had a couple of pieces that could be considered linked sets of short-shorts ("Deep in the Woods of Grammarie" in Realms of Fantasy, and "Smoke and Mirrors" in Live Without a Net), but I included them each as a single short story in my count.) I considered a short-short to be anything under 1500 words. By this definition, I saw 245 short-shorts last year, a slight decrease from 263 last year (due to the cessation of Swanwick's two series and the great reduction in the number Kadrey published). The total length of the new short fiction I read last year will reach just over 9 million words, versus a final total of not quite 8 million last year.
Novellas
The first four listed here, in no particular order, will be on my Hugo nomination list. The fifth will come from the rest of the list, probably from one of the first couple stories listed. Which is to say that this is in very approximate order of preference, but that my preference is not nailed down that tightly.
- "A Crowd of Bone", by Greer Gilman (Trampoline)
- "Off on a Starship", by William Barton (Asimov's, September)
- "The Albertine Notes", by Rick Moody (McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales)
- "The Green Leopard Plague", by Walter Jon Williams (Asimov's, October/November)
- "Greetings", by Terry Bisson (Sci Fiction, September)
- "The Cookie Monster", by Vernor Vinge (Analog, October)
- _In Springdale Town_, by Robert Freeman Wexler (PS Publishing)
- _Dear Abbey_, by Terry Bisson (PS Publishing)
- "Jailwise", by Lucius Shepard (Sci Fiction, June 4)
- "Awake in the Night", by John C. Wright (The Night Lands, January 19)
- "The Ice", by Steven Popkes (Asimov's, January)
- "The Bone Witch", by R. Garcia y Robertson (F&SF, February)
- "There's a Hole in October", by Todd McAulty (Black Gate, Spring)
- "Monterra's Deliciosa", by Anna Tambour (Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Stories &)
Which makes 14, same as I listed last year, a rather high proportion of the novellas I read (more than 25%).
Novelettes
Order of preference is even more approximate here. The first two stories are my favorites, and will certainly by on my nomination list, with the other three nominees coming from the next 8 or 9 stories listed.
"The Path of the Transgressor", by Tom Purdom (Asimov's, June) "The Empire of Ice Cream", by Jeffrey Ford (Sci Fiction, February 26)
- "Only Partly Here", by Lucius Shepard (Asimov's, April)
- "Scabbing", by Mark W. Tiedemann (F&SF, April)
- "A Study in Emerald", by Neil Gaiman (Shadows Over Baker Street)
- "Hard Times", by Neal Barrett, Jr. (Asimov's, April)
- "Amends", by H. Courreges Le Blanc (Imaginings)
- "Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs", by Adam-Troy Castro (Imaginings)
- "It Walks in Beauty", by Chan Davis (Sci Fiction, September 3)
- "Hexagons", by Robert Reed (Asimov's, July)
- "Like Minds", by Robert Reed (F&SF, October/November)
- "Romanticore", by Tim Pratt (Realms of Fantasy, December)
- "Fable From a Cage", by Tim Pratt (Realms of Fantasy, February)
- "Valley of the Sugars of Salt", by Anna Tambour (Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Stories &)
- "The Rule of Terror", by Dominic Green (Interzone, May/June)
- "Jon", by George Saunders (The New Yorker, January 27)
- "King Dragon", by Michael Swanwick (The Dragon Quintet)
- "Burning Day", by Glenn Grant (Island Dreams)
- "In Yerusalom", by Yves Menard (Island Dreams)
- "Birth Days", by Geoff Ryman (Interzone, April)
- "From the Corner of My Eye", by Alexander Glass (Asimov's, August)
- "Alfred Bester is Alive and Well and Living in Winterset, Iowa", by Bret Bertholf (F&SF, September)
- "The Census Taker", by Dale Bailey (F&SF, October/November)
- "Nightfall", by Charles Stross (Asimov's, April)
- "The Chambered Fruit", by M. Rickert (F&SF, August)
- "The Hortlak", by Kelly Link (The Dark)
- "One Thing About the Night", by Terry Dowling (The Dark)
- "Clouds and Cold Fires", by Paul Di Filippo (Live Without a Net)
- "No Solace for the Soul in Digitopia", by John Grant (Live Without a Net)
- "The Bees", by Dan Chaon (McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales)
30 novelettes, almost 11% of the total I read.
Short Stories
As usual, I find it a bit harder to place any given short story first. I'm listing seven stories here that are vying for spots on my Hugo nomination ballot, followed by a further number that I also recommend.
- "The Brief History of the Dead", by Kevin Brockmeier (The New Yorker, September 8)
- "Four Short Novels", by Joe Haldeman (F&SF, October/November)
- "Start With Color", by Bill Kte'pi (Strange Horizons, March 24)
- "Ten Bears; or a Journey to the Weterings", by Henry Wessells (NYRSF, October)
- "Ancestor Money", by Maureen McHugh (Sci Fiction, October 10)
- "Castaway", by Gene Wolfe (Sci Fiction, February 5)
- "555", by Robert Reed (F&SF, May)
- "That Which Does Not Kill Us", by Scott Westerfeld (Agog! Terrific Tales, Say... aren't you dead?)
- "The Chance Walker", by Lynda E. Rucker (The Third Alternative, Winter)
- "Shopping at the End of the World", by Douglas Lain (Strange Horizons, September 22]
- "The Tale of the Golden Eagle", by David D. Levine (F&SF, June)
- "Like, Need, Deserve", by Robert Reed (Sci Fiction, August 27)
- "Eternal Sunset", by Rhys Hughes (Album Zutique #1)
- "The Beautiful Gelreesh", by Jeffrey Ford (Album Zutique #1)
- "In the Forest of Forgetting", by Theodora Goss (Realms of Fantasy, October)
- "Lily, With Clouds", by Theodora Goss (Alchemy #1)
- "The Uterus Garden", by Alex Irvine (Polyphony 2)
- "The Dark Lady of the Equations", by Michael Swanwick (Sci Fiction, June 20)
- "Smoke and Mirrors", by Michael Swanwick (Live Without a Net)
- "Frek in the Grulloo Woods", by Rudy Rucker (Live Without a Net)
- "June Sixteenth at Anna's", by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov's, April)
- "Worshipping Small Gods", by Richard Parks (Realms of Fantasy, August)
- "Yamabushi", by Richard Parks (Realms of Fantasy, December)
- "The Plum Blossom Lantern", by Richard Parks (Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, June)
- "Kukla Boogie Moon", by Eliot Fintushel (Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, November)
- "Boys", by Carol Emshwiller (Sci Fiction, January 28)
- "Theo's Girl", by David Moles (Polyphony 2)
- "From Sunset to the White Sea", by William Mingin (Talebones, Summer)
- "Cause for a Haunting", by Patricia Rutale (On Spec, Summer)
- "Jumping", by Ray Vukcevich (Witpunk)
- "Otherwise Pandemonium", by Nick Hornby (McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales)
31 short stories, about 2.5% of those I read.
** (ADDENDUM ADDED LATER)**
I think I'm really done now. It turns out that Argosy's first issue is actually dated January/February 2004. Also, On Spec's Winter 2003 issue seems not to have appeared yet -- so I'll hold it over to 2004. I've done summary posts on On Spec, and I've read one more anthology (Strange Pleasures 2). So, to update the totals: 53 novellas, 286 novelettes, 1208 short stories. As I estimated before, right about 9,000,000 words.
