2018 Best SF/F

Update 6/18/20: Added anthologist 📙Allan Kaster (click link to highlight).
Update 1/25/20: Added reviewer 👍A.C. Wise (click link to highlight). (More)
Every month, on the 1st, we add the most recommended👍 stories from the previous month's ratings to our Year-To-Date (YTD) list, grouped by story length and current score (must be 2 or more). This is our annual library.

After year's end, during the three-month award nomination season, the YTD list becomes the SF/F Ballots list and story scores are updated as “year’s best” anthologies📙 and award finalists🏆 are announced. For some awards and the Locus Recommended Reading List, we’ll create an annotated list of the finalists sorted by latest score to help people choose stories to read.

After most nominations close in March, the SF/F Ballots list becomes the Best SF/F list and story scores continue to be updated until November when the last award winners (World Fantasy) are announced. During this time, we’ll produce themed selections of outstanding stories🚀✨🌈📚 with final scores from the annual library.

1. Year-To-Date


2/1/19: 100% done (✓70/70)
Next Update: Complete

Recommendations By010203040506070809101112
👍GDozois.r+2 👍GDozois.r+1✓✓✓—————————
👍GTognetti+2 👍GTognetti+1✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
👍JMcGregor+2 👍JMcGregor+1✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
👍KBurnham+2 👍KBurnham+1—————✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
👍RHorton.r+2 👍RHorton.r+1✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
👍RSR+2 👍RSR+1✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
👍STomaino+2 👍STomaino+1✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
Note: KBurnham is a month behind because she reviews online stories (which generally have no advance copies) for a print magazine with a one month lead time.

2. SF/F Ballots


Here are links to ballots for various SF/F awards, 6 that are open to all, and 4 that are open to members of a convention or association.

The magazine-specific awards come with a longlist link to all stories published by each magazine, with blurbs to help you remember the ones you've read and scores to guide further reading.

For the general awards, see the outstanding stories on this page, grouped by length (novella, novelette, short story), by publication, by new writer (year 1, year 2), or by author.

Awards in bold are currently available for voting.

Open to All

Open to Members
Here are some helpful aggregation lists for Best Novel (John DeNardo's Best of the Best), Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form (Metacritic's 2018's Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Superhero Films - scroll down), and Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form (Metacritic's TV Shows Mentioned on Most Critic Top 10 Lists - 2018). GoodReads' Choice Awards 2018 is also useful for science fiction novels, fantasy novels, and graphic novels.

Jury-Only

3. Best SF/F


11/03/19: 100% complete (🏆33/33; 📙11/11; 👍16/16)
Next Updates: October (British Fantasy Awards), November (World Fantasy Awards)

Clicking on a completed award/year's best/reviewer link will highlight the stories whose score was increased by that award/year's best/reviewer.

1. General AwardsFinalistsWinners
Eugie🏆₁Eugie+3🏆₁Eugie+4
Hugo🏆₁Hugo+3🏆₁Hugo+4
Locus🏆₁Locus+3🏆₁Locus+4
Nebula🏆₁Nebula+3🏆₁Nebula+4
Sturgeon🏆₁Sturgeon+3🏆₁Sturgeon+4
2. Subgenre AwardsFinalistsWinners
British Fantasy🏆₂BFantasy+2🏆₂BFantasy+3
BSFA🏆₂BSFA+2🏆₂BSFA+3
Lambda🏆₂Lambda+2🏆₂Lambda+3
Shirley Jackson🏆₂SJackson+2 Jul @ ReaderCon
Stoker🏆₂Stoker+2🏆₂Stoker+3
Tiptree March May @ WisCon
World Fantasy🏆₂WFantasy+2🏆₂WFantasy+3
3. Readers AwardsFinalistsWinners
Analog🏆₃Readers+1🏆₃Readers+2
Apex🏆₃Readers+2
Asimov's🏆₃Readers+1🏆₃Readers+2
Clarkesworld🏆₃Readers+1🏆₃Readers+2
Uncanny🏆₃Readers+1🏆₃Readers+2
4. Year's BestHonorable MentionTable of Contents
Best American SF/F📙₁BASFF+1📙₁BASFF+2
Jonathan Strahan📙₁JStrahan+2
Neil Clarke📙₁NClarke+1📙₁NClarke+2
Rich Horton📙₁RHorton+2
5. Subgenre BestHonorable MentionTable of Contents
Allan Kaster📙₂AKaster+1
Bogi Takacs📙₂BTakacs+1
David Afsharirad📙₂DAfsharirad+1
Ellen Datlow📙₂EDatlow+1
Paula Guran📙₂PGuran+1
6. ReviewersRecommendedAward Worthy
Gardner Dozois👍GDozois.r+1👍GDozois.r+2
Gary Tognetti👍GTognetti+1👍GTognetti+2
Jason McGregor👍JMcGregor+1👍JMcGregor+2
Karen Burnham👍KBurnham+1👍KBurnham+2
Maria Haskins👍MHaskins+1👍MHaskins+2
Rich Horton👍RHorton.r+1👍RHorton.r+2
Greg Hullender👍RSR+1👍RSR+2
Sam Tomaino👍STomaino+1👍STomaino+2


Eric Wong
Updated Sunday November 3, 2019

7 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. LauraFebruary 16, 2019 at 9:15 PM

    You have Domestic Violence by Madeline Ashby listed as a novelette, but the word count I get is about 4970.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EFWongFebruary 17, 2019 at 10:37 AM

      Thanks. I repasted the text in Word and got 4,983 but my spreadsheet showed 9,983 so it must have been a typo when I first entered it.

      Delete
  2. LauraSeptember 30, 2019 at 7:30 PM

    "Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good"
    by LaShawn M. Wanak, originally in FIYAH 7, was reprinted in Apex 120:

    https://www.apex-magazine.com/sister-rosetta-tharpe-and-memphis-minnie-sing-the-stumps-down-good/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Greg HullenderOctober 4, 2019 at 8:29 AM

    We deleted a comment in which an author asked us to review his book. Rocket Stack Rank doesn't review anything over 50,000 words, and requests for us to review short fiction need to be sent to greghull@rocketstackrank.com.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LauraJanuary 7, 2020 at 2:15 PM

    It looks like Goodreads has removed the Year's Best anthology series pages. Here are the ones at LibraryThing:

    Best American SF/F
    Jonathan Strahan
    Neil Clarke
    Rich Horton

    These pages are unlikely to disappear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EFWongJanuary 16, 2020 at 8:44 AM

      Thanks. I've updated these four Year's Best, plus the four subgenre Year's Best (Takacs, Afsharirad, Datlow, Guran), to LibraryThing series links.

      Delete

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