Outstanding SF/F by People of Color 2017

In the spirit of Lightspeed Magazine's famous People of Color Destroy Science Fiction series, here are 59 stories by 47 people of color that had scores of 2+ from RSR's 2017 Best SF/F list. That list contains the 287 most-recommended stories out of 842 covered, so the 59 stories by people of color make up around 21% of the best of 2017.

Some stories not reviewed by RSR are in the Best SF/F list because they were award finalists 🏆, included in year's best anthologies 📙, or recommended by other prolific reviewers 👍 (see Q&A for SF/F awards, year's best anthologies, and prolific reviewers followed).

Readers asked us to make it easy for them to find good stories written by authors with diverse racial backgrounds, and that’s what this list is meant to accomplish (author identity plays no role in our ratings). This is the second year we've done this list (2015-2016).

Outstanding SF/F Horror of 2016-2017

Update 10/16/18: Added 10 stories with addition of Shirley Jackson, British Fantasy, World Fantasy, and BSFA award finalists.

Although horror isn't our focus, we do review horror stories that turn up in our regular magazines, so in honor of Halloween, here are 36 outstanding science fiction & fantasy horror stories from 2016-2017 that were either finalists for major SF/F awards 🏆, included in "year's best" SF/F anthologies 📙, or recommended by prolific reviewers 👍 in short fiction (see Q&A). Each story shows a "Recommended By" list where a score is tallied from the +2, +1 or +0 after each recommendation.

Observations:

• 7 are Science Fiction and 25 are Fantasy. One is both and 3 are unknown (not reviewed by RSR but are Shirley Jackson award finalists).
• 21 are free online (click to see yellow highlights).
• The 5 from Lightspeed and 5 for Tor novellas, together, are over 1/4 of the total.
• Kathleen Kayembe and Maria Dahvana Headley each have two stories here.
• RSR recommended 14 of the stories and only recommended against 2 (with 3 not reviewed).

Outstanding Hard Science Fiction of 2017

Here are 33 outstanding stories of hard science fiction from 2017 that were either finalists for major SF/F awards 🏆, included in "year's best" SF/F anthologies 📙, or recommended by prolific reviewers 👍 in short fiction (see Q&A). That's 33 out of 95 hard science fiction stories from that year, and out of 279 outstanding SF/F stories from 2017. Each story shows a "Recommended By" list where a score is tallied from the +2, +1 or +0 after each recommendation.

Observations:

• 20 are free online (click to see yellow highlights).
• 7 (over 1/5) are from Analog Science Fiction.
• The most prolific authors in this list are Suzanne Palmer, Alastair Reynolds and Jay Werkheiser with 2 stories each.
• RSR recommended 15 of the stories and only recommended against 3.

Outstanding High Fantasy of 2016-2017

Update 8/31/18: Added Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 and Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2018 and 2017.

Here are 51 outstanding stories of high fantasy from 2016-2017 that were either finalists for major SF/F awards 🏆, included in "year's best" SF/F anthologies 📙, or recommended by prolific reviewers 👍 in short fiction (see Q&A). That's 51 out of 166 high fantasy stories from those two years, and out of 470 outstanding SF/F stories from 2016 and 2017. Each story shows a "Recommended By" list where a score is tallied from the +2, +1 or +0 after each recommendation.

For our purposes, we define "high fantasy" as a fantasy story that takes place in a secondary world. That is, something like Lord of the Rings, where Middle Earth is clearly not in the past or future of our world.

We've included portal fantasies, provided the destination is a secondary world.

Observations:

• 31 are free online (click to see yellow highlights).
• 16 (almost 1/3) are from Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• The most prolific author in this list is Lois McMaster Bujold with 3 novellas.
• RSR recommended 28 of the stories and only recommended against 2.

Outstanding LGBT Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2017

June is Pride Month, and here are 34 outstanding stories with LGBT characters from 2017 that were either finalists for major SF/F awards 🏆, included in "year's best" SF/F anthologies 📙, or recommended by prolific reviewers 👍 in short fiction (see Q&A).

This list could be useful for making nominations for the 2018 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards for Best Short Fiction (published in 2010-2017). Anyone can nominate through June 30, 2018. Stories from 2017 are below. See Outstanding LGBT Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2015-2016 for earlier stories.

Annotated 2017 File 770 List for Short Fiction

While we’re waiting for the Hugo administrators to produce the list of finalists, almost fifty "Filers" (commenters from File 770) shared their nominations, and we’ve used that to create lists for Best Novella, Best Novelette, and Best Short Story. In a couple of weeks, we can see how well they predicted the actual finalists.

In the 34 stories below, "votes" is the number of Filers who nominated that work, with the cut-off being three or more. Here are a few interesting findings from the 14 novellas, 10 novelettes, and 10 short stories:

2017 Annotated Nebula Award Finalists

Update 4/17/18: Tagged Sturgeon Award finalists.
Update 4/02/18: Upgrade to dynamic table.
Update 2/26/18: Added link to free F&SF story "Dirty Old Town".

Here are the 2017 Nebula Award finalists for short fiction, sorted by score to highlight the stories that made it into the most "year's best" SF/F anthologies and were most recommended by prolific reviewers.

A story gets 2 points for each "year's best" SF/F anthology it's in (GDozois+2, RHorton+2, JStrahan+2, NClarke+2). Other factors that increase a story's score include honorable mentions from Locus Magazine reviewers Gardner Dozois (GDozois+1) and Rich Horton (RHorton+1) and "year's best" and honorable mentions from prolific short fiction reviewers Greg Hullender at Rocket Stack Rank (RSR+2, RSR+1), Sam Tomaino at SFRevu (SFRevu+2, SFRevu+1), and Jason McGregor at Featured Futures (JMcGregor+2, JMcGregor+1), all of whom reviewed 500+ SF/F stories for their magazines/blogs in 2017.

Annotated 2017 Locus Reading List for Short Fiction

Update 4/30/18: Tagged 30 Locus Award finalists and wrote observations.
Update 4/17/18: Tagged Sturgeon Award finalists.
Update 2/20/18: Added 2017 Nebula Award finalists.
Update 2/10/18: Added recommendations from RHorton's The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2018 Edition.
Update 2/7/18: Added links to all 5 Asimov's stories.

Here is the annotated 2017 Locus Recommended Reading List for short fiction, sorted by score to highlight the stories that made it into the "year's best" anthologies so far (GDozois, JStrahan, NClarke, RHorton) and "year's best" lists of prolific reviewers (GDozois, RHorton, RSR, SFRevu, JMcGregor).

Annotations include time estimates, links to the story on the author’s website (if available), author links with Campbell Award-eligibility marked (superscript for year 1 or 2), blurbs for RSR-reviewed stories, links to reviews, and links to digital back issues (of print magazines) at eBookstores and library websites.

To Us May Grace Be Given, by L.S. Johnson

[GigaNotoSaurus]

★★★★★ Intense and Powerfully Moving

(Western Fantasy) Addy and her mom barely scratch out a living on their homestead. Bill Boyland is going to take their land away, but Addy’s mom is ready to do a deal with the devil to stop him. (15,368 words; Time: 51m)

The Emperor and the Maula, by Robert Silverberg

[Single]

★★★☆☆ Average

(Space Opera) Laylah comes to the Ansaar homeworld to convince the emperor that conquered Earth deserves better treatment. But it’s death for a barbarian to even set foot there, much less beg an audience with the Lord of the Universe. (32,936 words; Time: 1h:49m)

This story is Hugo-eligible in 2018 because it is a substantial modification to the original (much shorter) story by the same name published in 2007.

Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue, by Charlie Jane Anders

[Boston Review]

★★★★☆ Thought-Provoking but Exciting Too

(Dystopia) In a near-future ruled by conservatives, an organization called “Love and Dignity for Everyone,” kidnaps Rachael in order to “fix” her. But she doesn’t want to be “fixed.” (7,410 words; Time: 24m)

Recommended By: GDozois+1 RHorton+2 JStrahan+2

The Hunger After You're Fed, by James S.A. Corey

Read this issue

(Near-Future SF) In a world where everyone has basic income, a secretive writer speaks to a generation that struggles to make their comfortable lives meaningful. (3,763 words; Time: 12m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Sidewalks, by Maureen F. McHugh

Read this issue

(SF) Dr. Rosni Gupta examines Malni, a woman who’s institutionalized because she speaks gibberish. She’s sure it’s just another language, but what could it be? (5,789 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

The Birding: A Fairy Tale, by Natalia Theodoridou

Read this issue

(Apocalypse) A plague has turned almost everyone in the world into birds, but Maria is determined to make her way home and find her husband. (8,640 words; Time: 28m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

December 2017 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 9; Time & Words: ◷4h:03m 💬73.1K
Recommended By Stories: 20; Time & Words: ◷8h:23m 💬151K
Total Stories: 38; Time & Words: ◷15h 💬273.6K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

Forever Night, by Dana Beehr

Read this issue

(Dark Fantasy) Her grandmother stopped the darkness at great price, so when Elseir comes to Tomas’s village, he’s eager to help her in her new quest. Whatever it is. (7,007 words; Time: 23m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Trette's Bones, by Grace Seybold

Read this issue

(Dark Fantasy) In a town where becoming an adult means surrendering a body part and getting a ghostly replacement, the narrator opts to sacrifice a finger, but their twin sister has something extreme in mind. (8,167 words; Time: 27m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Sasabonsam, by Tara Campbell

Read this issue

(African Folklore Horror) In the darkness, a Sasabonsam hangs from a tree waiting for suitable victims to walk underneath. You shouldn’t go out alone. (1,794 words; Time: 05m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Chilling but Satisfying

Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities, edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich

Find this book

(SF Exploration) Stories on the theme of planetary exploration in the near future. (52,377 words; Time: 2h:54m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Shikasta, by Vandana Singh

Find this book

(SF Exploration) Four college friends collaborated on a probe to an extrasolar planet. Now they’re struggling to make sense of what the probe is telling them and wondering if they need new definitions for life and even for science itself. (14,251 words; Time: 47m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended