Favorite SF short story

[ProfessorPlum]

I'll start with mine, which is rather obscure and geeky but benefits from some actual biochemistry . . . "Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke.

[qnr]

1. "Or All The Seas With Oysters" by Avram Davidson

not really my "favorite," but I alwaysfound it memorable.

[Orsino]

2. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" --LeGuin

<http://lavka.lib.ru/text/hugo/Omelas_.htm>

More fantasy than sci-fi, but oh-so-relevant these days.

[kcr]

11. Certainly moving

but not one I would ever want to read again. Much too powerful.

[YankeyMCC]

3. Probably a Michael Swanwick story

But I can't pick right now, I just know most times I put down a Swanwich short story and think if not say out loud, "Wow, I wish I could write like that!"

I love this stuff he did for Sci Fiction: http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/periodictable.html

And he's definately better at short stories than full novels.

It is hard, my favorite might actually be from another author, but while I mostly read short stories I don't spend the time with each story that I do with Novels so it's hard to remember. The ones that stick in my mind are old classics that've been reread many times like "Scanners Live in Vain" "I have no mouth..." "Ugly little boy" "Helen O'Loy"

[Bridget Burke]

4. Cordwainer Smith wrote "Scanners Live in Vain"

His wonderful stories also include "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" (I still have Galaxy magazine with this story--illustrations by Virgil Finlay) & "The Dead Lady of Clown Town". The Rediscovery Of Man contains all his poetic & highly original short fiction.

R A Lafferty was another original. Many of his books came back in print after he died & they're going back out as I write. Nine Hundred Grandmothers is a readily available anthology, including "Land of the Great Horses" & "Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne."

Rounding out my Trinity of the Offbeat, Avram Davidson is another who passed on recently; thus, The Avram Davidson Treasury : A Tribute Collection. "Dagon" & "The Golem" are included.

I'm from the generation raised on Heinlein, Clarke & Asimov. Have seen my Dangerous Visions, visited cyberpunk & steampunk, etc. But I keep coming back to these three gentlemen for beautiful language & challenging ideas.

[Tangledog]

7. Ahhh, yes, the Golem

Definitely on my honorable mention list. I read it out loud to Ms. Tangledog every now and then. I'm no orator, and I can't do voices, but she enjoys it anyway.

[eyesroll]

5. "Kaliedoscope," Ray Bradbury

"We Were Out Of Our Minds With Joy," David Marusek (actually, pretty much anything Marusek's ever written, which isn't a whole lot, ranks up there)

"The Phantom of Kansas" John Varley

...a few off the top of my head...

[Tangledog]

6. The Happy Turnip

The Happy Turnip, by Thomas Disch. I don't even know if it's been anthologized; I have it in a F&SF from about 12 years ago.

I don't know that Clarke story, though I'd put the more common Nine Billion Names of God in my honorable mention list.

[Taxloss]

8. "The Machine that won the war" by Arthur C Clarke.

Followed by "The Nine Billion Names of God", also by ACC.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

9. "Behold the Man" by Michael Moorcock.

[Bok_Tukalo]

10. The one that hooked me on sci-fi: "The Star" by Author C. Clarke

<eom>

[kcr]

12. Have We Got a Rabbi on Venus

Lovely, lovely dark sarcastic little space opera by William Tenn.

[Rowdyboy]

13. Two top favorites, both by Ray Bradbury

"All Summer in a Day" ....the day the sun comes out on Venus

and

"Henry IX" .....Climate change forces sane people to migrate south. One man refuses to leave Britian.

[Enraged_Ape]

14. "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin

with...

"I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison a close runner-up.

Both of them are available in several different compilations.

[ashmanonar]

15. wow...difficult question

um, i'd say that my favorite is actually arena, by brown...excellent piece of writing, although somewhat xenophobic. "mimsy were the borogroves" by kuttner is also excellent.