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Diversity in Outstanding SF/F Short Fiction
Stories with 🌈LGBT people: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2015-2016
Stories by 📚People of Color: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2015-2016

Monthly Ratings & Annual Outstanding Selections
📅2022: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
🏆Best SF/F: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
🚀Hard SF: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
✨High Fantasy: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016-2017
😱SF/F Horror: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016-2017

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).

September 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 45; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 96; Time & Words: [26h] 💬468K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

August 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 11; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 29; Time & Words: [7h:16m] 💬131K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

July 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 37; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 85; Time & Words: [27h] 💬495K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

June 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 9; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 33; Time & Words: [8h:33m] 💬154K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

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.

May 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 38; Time & Words: [15h] 💬273K
Total Stories: 92; Time & Words: [25h] 💬451K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

April 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 11; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 29; Time & Words: [8h:31m] 💬154K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

March 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 47; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 94; Time & Words: [29h] 💬530K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

February 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 11; Time & Words: [3h:48m] 💬68K
Total Stories: 28; Time & Words: [8h:27m] 💬152K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

Annotated 2021 Locus Reading List for Short Fiction

Update 9/30/22: Tagged 4 (out of 15) 🏆Shirley Jackson Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 9/30/22: Tagged 1 🏆Sturgeon Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 9/20/22: Tagged 2 🏆British Fantasy Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 9/5/22: Tagged 1 🏆Eugie Award winner (click link to highlight).
Update 9/5/22: Tagged 3 🏆Hugo Award winners (click link to highlight).
(More)

Update 8/14/22: Tagged 5 🏆British Fantasy Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 7/21/22: Tagged 9 🏆World Fantasy Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 6/30/22: Tagged 5 🏆Eugie Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 6/26/22: Tagged 3 🏆Locus Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 6/25/22: Tagged 3 🏆Analog Readers' Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 6/9/22: Tagged 40 stories from the 📙Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology (click link to highlight).
Update 5/36/22: Tagged 10 (of 12) stories from 📙Alan Kaster's year's top hard science fiction anthology (click link to highlight).
Update 5/22/22: Tagged 3 🏆Nebula Award winners (click link to highlight).
Update 5/13/22: Tagged 10 🏆Sturgeon Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 5/11/22: Tagged 30 🏆Locus Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 4/19/22: Tagged 1 🏆BSFA Award (short fiction) winner (click link to highlight).
Update 4/7/22: Tagged 18 🏆Hugo Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 3/30/22: Tagged 8 stories from 📙Paula Guran's year's best dark fantasy and horror anthology (click link to highlight).
Update 3/30/22: Tagged 3 stories from 📙Ellen Datlow's year's horror anthology (click link to highlight).
Update 3/8/22: Tagged 18 🏆Nebula Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 3/1/22: Tagged 1 🏆Clarkesworld Reader's Poll winner (click link to highlight).
Update 2/28/22: Tagged 2 of 4 🏆BSFA Award (short fiction) finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 2/18/22: Tagged 14 🏆Analog Readers' Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 2/18/22: Tagged 16 🏆Asimov's Readers' Award finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 2/16/22: Tagged 7 🏆Uncanny Reader's Poll winners and finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 2/1/22: Tagged 8 🏆Clarkesworld Reader's Poll finalists (click link to highlight).
Update 1/24/22: Tagged 20 stories from 📙Paula Guran's year's best fantasy anthology (click link to highlight).
Update 1/23/22: Tagged 1 🏆Reading List: Best Adult Genre Fiction winner (click link to highlight).
Update 1/20/22: Tagged 1 🏆Apex Story of the Year winner (click link to highlight).
Update 12/9/21: Tagged 4 🏆Choice Award finalists (click link to highlight).

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).

SF/F Ballots For Stories From 2021

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 2021 YTD page, grouped by length (novella, novelette, short story), by publication, by new writer (year 1, year 2), or by author.

Five New Reviewers

I've added recommendations from four 👍reviewers and three 🏆awards to improve coverage of standalone 📘novellas in RSR's monthly and year-to-date lists of short fiction. Prior to this change, the 2021 YTD page had just eight novellas, all from magazines. Now, there are 24 novellas with scores from 2-5.

Recommendations for standalone novellas come from Goodreads.com and three of the big four book industry journals: Publishers' Weekly (PW), Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal.

1. 👍R.Goodreads: A novella recommended by 70+% of readers (5★+4★ ≥ 70%, ratings ≥ 200) on Goodreads.com gets a +1. It gets a +2 if 80+% of readers recommend it.
2. 👍R.PW: A novella with a ★starred review in Publishers' Weekly gets a +1. About 500 out of 10,000 books reviewed each year at PW earn a starred review. A novella gets a +2 if it makes the annual PW "Best Books" or "Summer Reads" SF/Fantasy/Horror list.
3. 👍R.Kirkus: A novella recommended in Kirkus Reviews gets a +1. A ★starred review gets a +2. About 10% of 7,000 books reviewed each year at Kirkus earn a starred review (Washington Post).
4. 👍R.LibraryJournal: A novella with a ★starred review in Library Journal gets a +1.

Awards for standalone novellas come from Goodreads, Booklist (the fourth big book industry journal), and the American Library Association.

1. 🏆A.₃Choice: A novella finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror categories gets a +1. A winner gets a +2.
2. 🏆A.₃Booklist: A novella in the Booklist Editors' Choice Adult Books list gets a +2.
3. 🏆A.₃ReadingList: A novella finalist in The Reading List: Best Adult Genre Fiction gets a +1. A winner gets a +2. The Reading List is put together by librarians in the Reading List Council established by the CODES section of RUSA in the American Library Association.

I've also added recommendations from Tangent Online (👍R.Tangent). Combined with the standalone novella reviewers, each of the 12 magazines followed by RSR now have 3-4 recommendations for their top stories (before stories gain recommendations from award nominations and year's best anthologies).

January 2022 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 31; Time & Words: 💬NaNM
Total Stories: 82; Time & Words: [25h] 💬462K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

December 2021 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 4; Time & Words: [1h:21m] 💬24K
Total Stories: 34; Time & Words: [9h:26m] 💬170K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

Outstanding SF/F by People of Color 2020

In the spirit of Lightspeed Magazine's famous People of Color Destroy Science Fiction series, here are 56 stories by 43 people of color that had scores of 3 or higher from RSR's 2020 Best SF/F list. That list contains the 256 most-recommended stories out of 600+ covered, so the 56 stories by people of color make up around 22% of the best of 2020.

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

November 2021 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 23; Time & Words: [10h] 💬194K
Total Stories: 81; Time & Words: [25h] 💬458K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.

Outstanding High Fantasy of 2020

Here are 19 outstanding high fantasy stories from 2020 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 2020. 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.

October 2021 Ratings

5★ & 4★ Stories: 0; Time & Words: 💬0
Recommended By Stories: 11; Time & Words: [3h:35m] 💬65K
Total Stories: 38; Time & Words: [10h] 💬191K
Read How to Use RSR on the sidebar or this link to use this post.