I’m always interested in what gets overlooked. Hidden in a corner of the February 2005 issue of Locus, in the recommended reading section, is Locus‘s list of the “Best of the Best” short stories of 2004. This list was arrived at by the simplest of methods. Each of the stories listed received a minimum of five votes from our group of recommenders. It’s not a flawless system, but all of the stories recommended are worthy, and if we all might have changed the list (some of my favorite stories of the year are here, some are missing), it’s still interesting. Stories are listed alphabetically, by author.

“Leviathan Wept”, Daniel Abrahams
“The Garden”, Eleanor Arnason
“Quarry”, Peter S. Beagle
“The Fear Gun”, Judith Berman
“A Night in the Tropics”, Jeffrey Ford
“Men Are Trouble”, James Patrick Kelly
“Under the Flag of Night”, Ian McDowell
“Pat Moore”, Tim Powers
“Cold Fires”, M. Rickert
“The Voluntary State”, Christopher Rowe
“The Word That Sings the Scythe”, Michael Swanwick
“The Lost Pilgrim”, Gene Wolfe