Best Stories of 2004 (so far)…
Well, I’ve agreed to do a panel on the best short fiction of 2004 for Worldcon (as per below), so I’m thinking I really need to start giving this some serious thought. I’m also supposed to be having a meeting in two weeks with my co-editor to begin serious discussions on short lists and such, so it’s probably a good time to actually work out what I’d put on such a list.

As a starting point I’ve thrown together a list of stories that have impressed me this year. It’s missing stuff, is not comprehensive, and is not representative of what will or won’t be in any of the year’s bests I’m working on (that comes later). I still have stacks of stories and such to go through, and I’ve skipped all over the place in my reading, so this list will change a lot. But, for the moment, here goes…

Daniel Abrahams, “Flat Diane”
Daniel Abrahams, “Leviathan’s Wept”
Paolo Bacigalupi, “The Pasho”
Stephen Baxter, “PeriAndry’s Quest”
Peter S. Beagle, “Quarry”
Holly Black, “The Night Market”
Richard Butner, “The Wounded”
Gregory Feeley, “Arabian Wine”
Jeffrey Ford, “Jupiter’s Skull”
Jeffrey Ford, “The Annals of the Eelin-Ok”
Neil Gaiman, “Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves…”
Theodora Goss, “Miss Emily Gray”
Elizabeth Hand, “Wonderwall”
Joanne Harris, “Waiting for Gandalf”
Alex Irvine, “Volunteers”
James Patrick Kelly, “Men Are Trouble”
John Kessel, “The Baum Plan for Financial Independence”
Jay Lake, “The Angel’s Daughter”
Jay Lake, “The Rose Egg”
Margo Lanagan, “Singing My Sister Down”
Kelly Link, “The Faery Handbag”
Elizabeth Lynn, “The Silver Dragon”
Tim Powers, “Pat Moore”
Robert Reed, “A Plague of Life”
Robert Reed, “How it Feels”
M. Rickert, “Cold Fires”
Christopher Rowe, “The Voluntary State”
Delia Sherman, “CATNYP”
Ellen Steiber, “Screaming for Faeries”
Charles Stross, “Elector”
Charles Stross & Cory Doctorow, “Appeals Court”
Michael Swanwick, “The Geek”
Michael Swanwick, “The Word That Sings the Scythe”
Jeff VanderMeer, “Three Days in a Border Town”
Howard Waldrop, “The Wolfman of Alcatraz”
Gene Wolfe, “The Little Stranger”
Gene Wolfe, “The Lost Pilgrim”

One thought: if you’ve seen something that’s not here that you thought was impressive, email me or post on my board or add a comment. I’m looking for stuff and I really don’t want to miss anything. I will say this: so far, based on my reading to date, it’s a much more impressive year for short fantasy than short SF. I know I must be missing something, but so far I’m not sure what.