2023 Best SF/F

Update 9/5/24: Tagged 1 πŸ†Sturgeon Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 9/3/24: Tagged 1 πŸ†Eugie Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 8/15/24: Tagged 3 of 11 πŸ†British Fantasy Award finalists for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 8/12/24: Tagged 3 πŸ†Asimov's Readers' Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 8/11/24: Tagged 3 πŸ†Hugo Award (short fiction) winners (click link to highlight).
(More)

Every month, on the 1st, we add the most recommendedπŸ‘ 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” anthologiesπŸ“™ and award finalistsπŸ† 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 storiesπŸš€✨πŸŒˆπŸ“š with final scores from the annual library.

1. Year-To-Date


2/1/24: 100% done (✓123/123)
Next Update: N/A

Recommendations By010203040506070809101112
πŸ‘ABrown
πŸ‘ACWise
πŸ‘CPayseur
πŸ‘KBurnham
πŸ‘MHaskins
πŸ‘PGuran.r
πŸ‘SDowie
πŸ‘STomaino
πŸ‘Tangent
πŸ‘Goodreads πŸ“˜
πŸ‘LibraryJournal πŸ“˜
πŸ‘Kirkus πŸ“˜
πŸ‘PW πŸ“˜
Note: CPayseur, ACWise, and PGuran are a month behind because they review 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, 5 that are open to all, and 4 that are open to members of a convention or association. Highlighted awards are currently open for voting.

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 at the 2023 YTD page, grouped by length (novella, novelette, short story), by publication, by new writer (year 1, year 2), or by author.


A. Open to All

B. Open to Members
Here are some helpful aggregation lists for Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form (Metacritic's 2023 SF/F Movies to Watch), and Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form (Metacritic's 2023 SF/F TV Shows to Watch). GoodReads Choice Awards 2023 is also useful for science fiction novels and fantasy novels.

C. Jury-Only

3. Best SF/F


9/18/24: 96% complete (πŸ†33/35; πŸ“™6/7; πŸ‘26/26; 65/68)
Next Updates: mid-October πŸ†British and πŸ†World Fantasy Award winners

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
EugieπŸ†₁Eugie+3πŸ†₁Eugie+4
HugoπŸ†₁Hugo+3πŸ†₁Hugo+4
LocusπŸ†₁Locus+3πŸ†₁Locus+4
NebulaπŸ†₁Nebula+3πŸ†₁Nebula+4
SturgeonπŸ†₁Sturgeon+3πŸ†₁Sturgeon+4
2. Subgenre AwardsFinalistsWinners
British FantasyπŸ†₂BFantasy+2 Oct 11-13 @ FantasyCon
BSFAπŸ†₂BSFA+2πŸ†₂BSFA+3
LambdaπŸ†πŸ†
Otherwise
Shirley JacksonπŸ†₂SJackson+2πŸ†₂SJackson+3
StokerπŸ†₂Stoker+2πŸ†₂Stoker+3
World FantasyπŸ†₂WFantasy+2 Oct 17-20 @ World Fantasy Convention
3. Readers AwardsFinalistsWinners
AnalogπŸ†₃Readers+1πŸ†₃Readers+2
ApexπŸ†₃Readers+2
Asimov'sπŸ†₃Readers+1πŸ†₃Readers+2
ClarkesworldπŸ†₃Readers+1πŸ†₃Readers+2
UncannyπŸ†₃Readers+1πŸ†₃Readers+2
ChoiceπŸ†₃Choice+1πŸ“˜πŸ†
Reading ListπŸ†₃ReadingList+2πŸ“˜πŸ†
4. Year's BestHonorable MentionTable of Contents
Best American SF/FπŸ“™₁BASFF+1πŸ“™₁BASFF+2
Neil Clarke Feb 2025
5. Subgenre BestHonorable MentionTable of Contents
Allan KasterπŸ“™₂AKaster+1
Ellen DatlowπŸ“™₂EDatlow+1
Paula Guran (F)πŸ“™₂PGuran.F+1
Paula Guran (DF&H)πŸ“™₂PGuran.DF+1
6. ReviewersRecommendedAward Worthy
Alex BrownπŸ‘ABrown+1πŸ‘ABrown+2
A.C. WiseπŸ‘ACWise+1πŸ‘ACWise+2
Karen BurnhamπŸ‘KBurnham+1πŸ‘KBurnham+2
Maria HaskinsπŸ‘MHaskins+1πŸ‘MHaskins+2
Paula GuranπŸ‘PGuran+1πŸ‘PGuran+2
Rich HortonπŸ‘RHorton.r+1πŸ‘RHorton.r+2
Sam TomainoπŸ‘STomaino+1πŸ‘STomaino+2
TangentπŸ‘Tangent+1πŸ‘Tangent+2
BooklistπŸ‘Booklist+1πŸ“˜πŸ‘Booklist+2πŸ“˜
GoodreadsπŸ‘Goodreads+1πŸ“˜πŸ‘Goodreads+2πŸ“˜
Library JournalπŸ‘LibraryJournal+1πŸ“˜πŸ‘LibraryJournal+2πŸ“˜
Kirkus ReviewsπŸ‘Kirkus+1πŸ“˜πŸ‘Kirkus+2πŸ“˜
Publishers' WeeklyπŸ‘PW+1πŸ“˜πŸ‘PW+2πŸ“˜


Eric Wong
Updated Wednesday September 18, 2024

5 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks for the heads up! I've updated the 2023 YTD page to 2023 SF/F Ballots with links to magazine readers awards (and their stories).

      Delete
  2. Devon Eriksen's "Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1" was published Nov 11, 2023 and meets eligibility criteria for the Astounding award multiple times over, can you add his book to the list of novels eligible for nomination? Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete