Rocket Stack Rank Blog

Showing posts with label Blog. Show all posts

Monday, August 18, 2025

News & Highlights

🔎Finding a Science-Fiction/Fantasy Magazine to Subscribe To

Diversity in Outstanding SF/F Short Fiction
Stories with 🌈LGBT people: 2024 2023 2022 2021 More...
Stories by 📚People of Color: 2024 2023 2022 2021 More...

Monthly Ratings & Annual Outstanding Selections
📅2025: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
🏆Best SF/F: 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020

🏆Best SF/F: 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

🚀Hard SF: 2024 2023 2022 2021 More...
✨High Fantasy: 2024 2023 2022 2021 More...
😱SF/F Horror: 2024 2023 2022 2021 More...

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Annotated 2024 Locus Reading List for Short Fiction

Update 8/16/25: Tagged 3 🏆Hugo Award (short fiction) winners (click link to highlight).
Update 7/7/25: Tagged 7 of 10 🏆World Fantasy Award finalists for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 6/24/25: Tagged 3 of 9 🏆British Fantasy Award finalists for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 6/23/25: Tagged 5 🏆Eugie Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 6/21/25: Tagged 3 🏆Locus Award (short fiction) winners (click link to highlight).
(More)

Here is the annotated 2024 Locus Recommended Reading List for short fiction, merged with RSR's 2024 Best SF/F list (aka our aggregated list of "outstanding" stories from 2024 that score 2 or more based on 👍reviewers, 🏆awards, and year's best 📙anthologies). All the stories are grouped by length and score, with stories from the Locus list highlighted in red.

The merge lets us analyze the Locus list to see which stories that were broadly recognized as outstanding were left out, which publications stood out, which authors did particularly well (or not), how many were eligible for the Astounding Award, and how RSR's own recommendations stack up with Locus reviewers in general.

As with every RSR annotated list, there are links galore to the stories, their authors, the magazines, any award nominations/wins or "year's best" anthology inclusions, and search-links to find other reviews.

Anyone can vote for the Locus Awards at this link. Due date is Thursday April 15, 2025.

If you want to skip the analysis and just start reading, click here (free stories highlighted).

Outstanding SF/F by People of Color 2023

In the spirit of Lightspeed Magazine's famous People of Color Destroy Science Fiction series, here are 62 stories by 57 people of color that had scores of 3 or higher from RSR's 2023 Best SF/F list. That list contains the 262 most-recommended stories out of 600+ covered, so the 62 stories by people of color make up around 24% of the best of 2023.

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 seventh year we've done this list (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015-2016).

Outstanding High Fantasy of 2023

Here are 26 outstanding high fantasy stories from 2023 that were 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 26 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2023. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

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.

Outstanding SF/F Horror of 2023

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 43 outstanding SF/F horror stories from 2023 that were 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 43 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2023. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

Outstanding Hard Science Fiction of 2023

Here are 30 outstanding hard science fiction stories from 2023 that were 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 30 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2023. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

Outstanding LGBT Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2023

June is Pride Month, and here are 50 outstanding stories with LGBT characters from 2023 reviewed by RSR 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). For earlier outstanding stories, click this link.

This list of stories and the recommendations for each story will be updated as award finalists/winners and the table of contents for year's best anthologies are announced. As long as an LGBT story scores 2 or more (even if it was not recommended by RSR), it will be included here.

As always, our focus is on the stories, not the authors. These are stories with memorable LGBT characters—not necessarily stories by noted LGBT authors. These include stories in which a key character merely happens to be an LGBT person as well as stories where the LGBT angle is crucial to the plot.

Annotated 2023 Locus Reading List for Short Fiction

Update 10/20/24: Tagged 1 of 2 🏆World Fantasy Award winners for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 10/14/24: Tagged 1 of 2 🏆British Fantasy Award winners for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 9/5/24: Tagged 1 🏆Sturgeon Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 9/3/24: Tagged 1 🏆Eugie Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 8/15/24: Tagged 3 of 11 🏆British Fantasy Award finalists for short fiction (click link to highlight).
(More)

Here is the annotated 2023 Locus Recommended Reading List for short fiction, merged with RSR's 2023 Best SF/F list (aka our aggregated list of "outstanding" stories from 2023 that score 2 or more based on 👍reviewers, 🏆awards, and year's best 📙anthologies). All the stories are grouped by length and score, with stories from the Locus list highlighted in red.

The merge lets us analyze the Locus list to see which stories that were broadly recognized as outstanding were left out, which publications stood out, which authors did particularly well (or not), how many were eligible for the Astounding Award, and how RSR's own recommendations stack up with Locus reviewers in general.

As with every RSR annotated list, there are links galore to the stories, their authors, the magazines, any award nominations/wins or "year's best" anthology inclusions, and search-links to find other reviews.

Anyone can vote for the Locus Awards at this link. Due date is Thursday April 15, 2024.

If you want to skip the analysis and just start reading, click here (free stories highlighted).

Outstanding SF/F by People of Color 2022

In the spirit of Lightspeed Magazine's famous People of Color Destroy Science Fiction series, here are 60 stories by 53 people of color that had scores of 3 or higher from RSR's 2022 Best SF/F list. That list contains the 255 most-recommended stories out of 600+ covered, so the 60 stories by people of color make up around 23% of the best of 2022.

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 seventh year we've done this list (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015-2016).

Outstanding High Fantasy of 2022

Here are 21 outstanding high fantasy stories from 2022 that were 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 21 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2022. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

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.

Outstanding SF/F Horror of 2022

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 26 outstanding SF/F horror stories from 2022 that were 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 26 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2022. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

Outstanding Hard Science Fiction of 2022

Here are 22 outstanding hard science fiction stories from 2022 that were 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 22 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2022. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

Outstanding LGBT Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2022

June is Pride Month, and here are 41 outstanding stories with LGBT characters from 2022 reviewed by RSR 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). For earlier outstanding stories, click this link.

This list of stories and the recommendations for each story will be updated as award finalists/winners and the table of contents for year's best anthologies are announced. As long as an LGBT story scores 2 or more (even if it was not recommended by RSR), it will be included here.

As always, our focus is on the stories, not the authors. These are stories with memorable LGBT characters—not necessarily stories by noted LGBT authors. These include stories in which a key character merely happens to be an LGBT person as well as stories where the LGBT angle is crucial to the plot.

Annotated 2022 Locus Reading List for Short Fiction

Update 9/18/24: Tagged 31 stories from 📙Neil Clarke's Best Science Fiction of the Year (click link to highlight).
Update 10/31/23: Tagged 2 🏆World Fantasy Award winners for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 10/22/23: Tagged 3 🏆Hugo Award winners for short fiction (click link to highlight).
Update 9/6/23: Tagged 1 🏆Eugie Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 8/25/23: Tagged 1 🏆Sturgeon Award winner (click link to highlight).
(More)

Here is the annotated 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List for short fiction, merged with RSR's 2022 Best SF/F list (aka our aggregated list of "outstanding" stories from 2022 that score 2 or more based on 👍reviewers, 🏆awards, and year's best 📙anthologies). All the stories are grouped by length and score, with stories from the Locus list highlighted in red.

The merge lets us analyze the Locus list to see which stories that were broadly recognized as outstanding were left out, which publications stood out, which authors did particularly well (or not), how many were eligible for the Astounding Award, and how RSR's own recommendations stack up with Locus reviewers in general.

As with every RSR annotated list, there are links galore to the stories, their authors, the magazines, any award nominations/wins or "year's best" anthology inclusions, and search-links to find other reviews.

Anyone can vote for the Locus Awards at this link. Due date is Thursday April 15, 2023.

If you want to skip the analysis and just start reading, click here (free stories highlighted).

Outstanding SF/F by People of Color 2021

In the spirit of Lightspeed Magazine's famous People of Color Destroy Science Fiction series, here are 42 stories by 40 people of color that had scores of 3 or higher from RSR's 2021 Best SF/F list. That list contains the 272 most-recommended stories out of 600+ covered, so the 42 stories by people of color make up around 15% of the best of 2021.

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 sixth year we've done this list (2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015-2016).

Outstanding High Fantasy of 2021

Here are 19 outstanding high fantasy stories from 2021 that were 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 19 out of 250+ best SF/F stories from 2021. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

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.

Outstanding SF/F Horror of 2021

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 38 outstanding SF/F horror stories from 2021 that were 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 38 out of 270+ best SF/F stories from 2021. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

Outstanding Hard Science Fiction of 2021

Here are 21 outstanding hard science fiction stories from 2021 that were 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 21 out of 270+ best SF/F stories from 2021. A story's score is the sum of the +n points in it's "Recommended By" list (click the Details link to see the awards, year's best, and reviewers and the points).

Outstanding LGBT Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021

June is Pride Month, and here are 41 outstanding stories with LGBT characters from 2021 reviewed by RSR 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). For earlier outstanding stories, click this link.

This list of stories and the recommendations for each story will be updated as award finalists/winners and the table of contents for year's best anthologies are announced. As long as an LGBT story scores 2 or more (even if it was not recommended by RSR), it will be included here.

As always, our focus is on the stories, not the authors. These are stories with memorable LGBT characters—not necessarily stories by noted LGBT authors. These include stories in which a key character merely happens to be an LGBT person as well as stories where the LGBT angle is crucial to the plot.

Annotated 2021 Locus Reading List for Short Fiction

Update 11/9/23: Tagged 31 TOC/46 HM stories from 📙Neil Clarke's year's best science fiction anthology (click link to highlight).
Update 11/9/22: Tagged 2 🏆World Fantasy Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 10/30/22: Tagged 2 🏆Shirley Jackson Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 10/19/22: Tagged 3 🏆Asimov's Readers' Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 9/30/22: Tagged 4 (out of 15) 🏆Shirley Jackson Award finalists (click link to highlight).
(More)

Here is the annotated 2021 Locus Recommended Reading List for short fiction, merged with RSR's 2021 Best SF/F list (aka our aggregated list of "outstanding" stories from 2021 that score 2 or more based on 👍reviewers, 🏆awards, and year's best 📙anthologies). All the stories are grouped by length and score, with stories from the Locus list highlighted in red.

The merge lets us analyze the Locus list to see which stories that were broadly recognized as outstanding were left out, which publications stood out, which authors did particularly well (or not), how many were eligible for the Astounding Award, and how RSR's own recommendations stack up with Locus reviewers in general.

As with every RSR annotated list, there are links galore to the stories, their authors, the magazines, any award nominations/wins or "year's best" anthology inclusions, and search-links to find other reviews.

Anyone can vote for the Locus Awards at this link. Due date is Thursday April 15, 2022.

If you want to skip the analysis and just start reading, click here (free stories highlighted).