Wednesday, January 1, 2020

2020: The Year in Shorts

Across the eons comes a tale of a time in a galaxy far, far away, when John DeNardo of SF Signal started tracking his short stories read as a way of trying to make a goal of reading one short work for each day of the year. I've managed, more often than not, to match that goal myself. While the tradition has faded at SF Signal, it continues here. The legend continues!

Number of Stories Read: 434 (out of 365) as of December 28, 2020.

(Administrative Note: You'll see in a previous entry for this category that there are a number of anthologies/collections that I did not complete in 2015. Some of them even go back to 2014. I regard these as abandoned. Some will be started again—from the beginning. Others will not be visited again.)

Stories/Collections:

Ambrose Bierce: An Inhabitant of Carcosa (1 story, completed).

Lois McMaster Bujold: The Weatherman (1 story, completed).

Lois McMaster Bujold: The Borders of Infinity. Made up of: Framing Story; The Mountains of Mourning; Labyrinth; Borders of Infinity (4 stories, completed).

Robert W. Chambers: The Court of the Dragon (1 story, completed).

Tony Daniel: Revising the Map to Utopia (found in Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein) (1 entry, completed).

Gardner Dozois (editor): The Year's Best Science Fiction (First Annual Collection). Made up of: (read in 2018) Introduction: Summation: 1983 (Gardner Dozois); Cicada Queen (Bruce Sterling); Beyond the Dead Reef (James Tiptree, Jr.); Slow Birds (Ian Watson); Vulcan's Forge (Poul Anderson); Man-Mountain Gentian (Howard Waldrop); Hardfought (Greg Bear); Manifest Destiny (Joe Haldeman); (read in 2019) Full Chicken Richness (Avram Davidson); (read in 2020) Multiples (Robert Silverberg); Cryptic (Jack McDevitt); The Sidon in the Mirror (Connie Willis); Golden Gate (R. A. Lafferty); Blind Shemmy (Jack Dann); In the Islands (Pat Murphy); Nunc Dimittis (Tanith Lee); Blood Music (Greg Bear); Her Furry Face (Leigh Kennedy); Knight of Shallows (Rand B. Lee); The Cat (Gene Wolfe); The Monkey Treatment (George R. R. Martin); Nearly Departed (Pat Cadigan); Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine (John Kessel); Carrion Comfort (Dan Simmons); Gemstone (Vernor Vinge); Black Air (Kim Stanley Robinson); Honorable Mentions: 1983 (Gardner Dozois). (8 stories in 2018, 1 story in 2019, 0 stories in 2020, continuing to read).

Lord Dunsany (Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 8th Baron Dunsany): At the Edge of the World. Made up of: About "At the Edge of the World" and Lord Dunsany: The Dreams of Mana-Yood-Sushai (Lin Carter); The Cave of Kai; Of the Gods of Averon (variant of The Sorrow of Search); Mlideen; The King That Was Not; The Men of Yarnith; In the Land of Time; Time and the Gods; The Opulence of Yahn (variant of Usury); The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth; Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean; The Idle City; Bethmoora; Idle Days on the Yann; The Hashish Man; Carcassonne; In Zaccarath; The Dream of King Karna-Vootra; How the Enemy Came to Thlūnrāna?; The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom That Befell Him; A Shop in Go-By Street; The Avenger of Perdóndaris; How the Dwarfs Rose Up in War (variant of A Pretty Quarrel); The Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men; The Loot of Bombasharna; The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater; The Bride of the Man-Horse; The Quest of the Queen's Tears; How One Came, as Was Foretold, to the City of Never; A Day at the Edge of the World (variant of The Long Porter's Tale); Erlathdronion (variant of A Tale of the Equator); Epilogue to "The Book of Wonder"; Afterword (Lin Carter) (13 stories, continuing to read).

Harlan Ellison (author) and Terry Dowling (editor): The Essential Ellison. Made up of: (read in 2017) Introduction: Sublime Rebel (Terry Dowling) (re-read in 2019); The Beginnings (Terry Dowling) (re-read in 2019); The Sword of Parmagon (re-read in 2019); The Gloconda (re-read in 2019); (read in 2020) The Wilder One; The Saga of Machine Gun Joe; Glowworm; Life Hutch; S.R.O.; Worlds of Terror; Lonelyache; Punky & the Yale Men; A Prayer for No One's Enemy; Worlds of Love; In Lonely Lands; The Time of the Eye; Grail; That New Old-Time Religion; I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream; Corpse; The Whimper of Whipped Dogs; A Stab of Merriment; The Voice in the Garden; Erotophobia; Mom; Ecowareness; The Outpost Undiscovered by Tourists; Dept. of "What Was the Question?" Dept.; Dept. of "Trivial Pursuit" Dept.; Trouble With Women; The Very Last Day of a Good Woman; Valerie: A True Memoir; The Other Eye of Polyphemus; All the Birds Come Home to Roost; To the Mattresses With Mean Demons; The Tombs (Excerpt); "Our Little Miss"; A Love Song to Jerry Falwell; Telltale Tics and Tremors; True Love: Groping for the Holy Grail; Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W; Rococco Technology; The Sky Is Burning; The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World; Along the Scenic Route; The Song the Zombie Sang (with Robert Silverberg); Knox; Heart's Blood; From Alabamy, with Hate; My Father; My Mother; Tired Old Man; Gopher in the Gilly; Nights & Days in Good Old Hollyweird; Strange Wine; The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Wedgie; The Man on the Mushroom; Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto; Face-Down in Gloria Swanson's Swimming Pool; Petards & Hangings; Soldier; The Night of Delicate Terrors; Shattered Like a Glass Goblin; At the Mouse Circus; Shadows from the Past; Free With This Box!; Final Shtick; One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty; Jeffty Is Five; Contracts on the Soul; Daniel White for the Greater Good; Neither Your Jenny nor Mine; Alive and Well and on a Friendless Voyage; The Classics; "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman; Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes; A Boy and His Dog; The Deathbird; Dark Liberation; The Thick Red Moment; The Man Who Was Heavily into Revenge; Driving in the Spikes; Afterword (4 entries in 2017; 4 entries in 2019; 0 stories in 2020, continuing to read).

James Frenkel (editor): True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier. Made up of: (read in 2018) Preface (James R. Frenkel); Introduction (Vernor Vinge); A Time of Transition/The Human Connection (Danny Hillis); True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy (Timothy C. May); (read in 2020) Eventful History: Version 1.x (John M. Ford); How is the NII Like a Prison? (Alan Wexelblat); Intelligent Software (Pattie Maes); The Right to Read (Richard M. Stallman); Cryptography and the Politics of One's True Name (Leonard N. Foner); The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat (F. Randall Farmer and Chip Morningstar); Social Dimensions of Habitat's Citizenry (F. Randall Farmer); Habitat Anecdotes (F. Randall Farmer); True Magic (Mark Pesce); True Names (Vernor Vinge); Afterword (Marvin Minsky). (4 entries in 2018, 0 entries in 2020, continuing to read).

Henry Gee and Colin Sullivan (editors)Futures from Nature 02. Made up of: Introduction: When Destiny Calls (Colin Sullivan); A Pocket Full of Phlogiston (S. R. Algernon); The Chair (Madeline Ashby); Recoper (Neal Asher); The Cleverest Man in the World (Tony Ballantyne); Formic Gender Disorder (Barrington J. Bayley); Annie Webber (Elizabeth Bear); The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Panda (Jacey Bedford); Gifts of the Magi (Anatoly Belilovsky); Caveat Time Traveller (Gregory Benford); Eating with Integrity (David Berreby); Expectancy Theory (Ananyo Bhattacharya); To My Father (David G. Blake); War of the Roses (Polenth Blake); likeMe (Keith Brooke); In the Recovery Room (Eric Brown); The Universe Reef (Tobias S. Buckell); A Kiss Isn't Just a Kiss (Steve Carper); Life, Abundant and with Simple Joy (Sarah K. Castle); Reach for the Stars (Priya Chand); Tea with Jillian (Brenda Cooper); Squealer (Robert Nathan Correll); Acting Up (Elizabeth Counihan); You, in Emulation (Kathryn Cramer); Jenna's Clocks (T.F. Davenport); High on the Hog (Sean Davidson); Pop-ups (Robert Dawson); The Omniplus Ultra (Paul Di Filippo); The Gower Street Cuckoos (Joe Dunckley); Transmission Received (Peter J. Enyeart); A Perfect Drug (Dan Erlanson); Words and Music (Ronald D. Ferguson); Recursion (Simon Quellen Field); Non-Skid (John Frizell); Corrective Action (John Gilbey); Health Tips for Traveller (David W. Goldman); The Chess Players (Dan Gollub); Buzz Off (John Grant); Man of Steel (rpg); Midnight in the Cathedral of Time (Preston Grassmann); The Best of Us (Lee Hallison); Press '1' to Begin (Nye Joell Hardy); Fine-Tuning the Universe (Merrie Haskell); Me Am Petri (Martin Hayes); Event Horizon (Jeff Hecht); The Perfect Egg (Tania Hershman); The Ostracons of Europa (Ken Hinckley); Her Name Was Jane (Joses Ho); Midnight at the A&E (Taik Hobson);Trying to Let Go (Kerstin Hoppenhaus); World Wire Web (Gareth D. Jones); Ted Agonistes (Rahul Kanakia); Shoppers (James Patrick Kelly); The Problem of Junior (Swapna Kishore); Warez (David Langford); Stay Special (Susan Lanigan); Dead Yellow (Tanith Lee); A Good Time (Shelly Li); Mortar Flowers (Jessica May Lin); The Stuff We Don't Do (Marissa Lingen); Monkeys (Ken Liu); A Game of Self-Deceit (Clayton Locke); Succussion (Steve Longworth); After Experiment Seven (Michael W. Lucht); Escapism (Nick Mamatas); Hard Man to Surprise (David Marusek); Twitterspace (William Meikle); Picnic with Ants (Mark W. Moffett); Be Swift, My Darling (John Moran); Can of Wormholes (Neale Morison); George and Priti (Anand Odhav Naranbhai); Frog in a Bucket (Gareth Owens); For Your Information (Conor Powers-Smith); Invisible (João Ramalho-Santos); A Better Mousetrap (Mike Resnick); The Pair-Bond Imperative (Jennifer Rohn); Immeasurable (H.E. Roulo); The Rumination on What Isn't (Alex Shvartsman); Unglued (Amber D. Sistla); Out of the Blue (Mohamad Atif Slim); Steve Sepp, Tasty! Tasty! (Matthew Sanborn Smith); The Silver Bullet and the Golden Goose (Norman Spinrad); Dark They Were, and Strange Inside (Vaughan Stanger); Survivors and Saviours (Philip T. Starks); The Day We Made History (Ian Stewart); The Greatest Science-Fiction Story Ever Written (Eric James Stone); 1-9-4-Blue-3-7-2-6-Gamma-Tetrahedron (Ian Randal Strock); Extremes (Rachel Swirsky); White Lies (Grace Tang); Expatriate (Julian Tang); 21st-Century Girl (Adrian Tchaikovsky); A Sentence to Life (Igor Teper); Life in a Monastic Lab (Joost Uitdehaag); Let Slip the Dogs (William T. Vandemark); To All Sister Capsules (S.C. Virtes); Glass Future (Deborah Walker); The Drained World (Ian Watson); A Piratical Sabbatical (Ian Whates); The Front Line (Sylvia Spruck Wrigley); The Cambrian (George Zebrowski); Here Be Monsters (Stephanie Zvan) (101 stories read, collection completed).

Robert A. Heinlein: Future History 01—The Man Who Sold the Moon. Made up of: Introduction (William H. Paterson, Jr.); Introduction (John W. Campbell, Jr.); Preface (Robert A. Heinlein); Life-Line; "Let There Be Light—"; The Roads Must Roll; Blowups Happen; The Man Who Sold the Moon; Afterword (Mark L. van Name) (9 entries, collection completed). 

Robert A. Heinlein: Future History 02—The Green Hills of Earth. Made up of: Introduction (William H. Paterson, Jr.); Delilah and the Space-Rigger; Space Jockey; The Long Watch; Gentleman, Be Seated; The Black Pits of Luna; "It's Great to be Back"; "—We Also Walk Dogs"; Ordeal in Space; The Green Hills of Earth; Logic of Empire (11 stories, collection completed).

Robert A. Heinlein: The Menace from Earth. Made up of: The Year of the Jackpot; By His Bootstraps; Columbus Was a Dope; The Menace from Earth; Sky Lift; Goldfish Bowl; Project Nightmare; Water is for Washing; Afterword (Robert Buettner (9 stories, collection completed).

Robert A. Heinlein: Searchlight (from The Past Through Tomorrow) (1 story). A Tenderfoot in Space (form New Worlds to Conquer).

William Hope Hodgson: The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson 02—The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places. Made up of: (read in 2020) The Cosmic Circle of Wonder and Imagination (Jeremy Lassen); The House on the Borderland (novel); Carnacki, The Ghost-Breaker: The Thing Invisible; The Gateway of the Monster; The House Among the Laurels; The Whistling Room; The Searcher of the End House; The Horse of the Invisible; The Haunted Jarvee; The Find; The Hog; Other Hauntings: The Goddess of Death; Terror of the Water-Tank (variant of The Terror of the Water-Tank); Bullion; The Mystery of the Water-Logged Ship; The Ghosts of the Glen Doon; Mr. Jock Danplank; The Mystery of Captain Chappel; The Home-Coming of Captain Dan; Merciful Plunder; The Haunting of the Lady Shannon; The Heathen's Revenge; A Note on the Texts (essay by uncredited) (12 stories, continuing to read).

M.R. James: The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James, Volume One—Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories. Made up of: (read in 2020) Introduction (S.T. Joshi); Suggestions for Further Reading; A Note on the Text; Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book; Lost Hearts; The Mezzotint; The Ash-Tree; Number 13; Count magus; "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"; The Treasure of Abbot Thomas; A School Story; The Rose Garden; The Tractate Middoth; Casting the Runes; The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral; Martin's Close; Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance; Appendix; Ghost Stories; A Night in King's college Chapel; Preface to Ghost-Stories of an Antiquary; Preface to More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. (5 entries, continuing to read).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser 04—Swords Against Wizardry. Made up of: Introduction (Neil Gaiman); In the Witch's Tent; Stardock; The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar; The Lords of Quarmall (5 stories, completed).

Michael Moorcock: Elric—The Stealer of Souls. Made up of: (read in 2019) Foreword (Alan Moore); Introduction; At the Beginning—Putting a Tag On It; The Dreaming City; (read in 2020) While the Gods Laugh; The Stealer of Souls; Kings in Darkness (with James Cawthorn); The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams (originally The Flame Bringers); Mission to Asno!; Origins (artwork); Dead God's Homecoming; Black Sword's Brothers; Sad Giant's Shield; Doomed Lord's Passing; Elric; The Secret Life of Elric of Menibone; Final Judgment (Alan Forrest); The Zenith Letter (Anthony Skene) (4 stories in 2019, 0 stories in 2020, continuing to read).

C.L. Moore: Northwest of Earth. Made up of: Shambleau; Black Thirst; The Tree of Life; Scarlet Dream; Dust of Gods; Lost Paradise; Julhi; The Cold Gray God; Yvala; Song in a Minor Key (10 stories, collection completed).

William Patterson: Introduction (found in Beyond This Horizon by Robert A. Heinlein) (1 entry, completed).

Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfael 00—A Rare Benedictine—The Advent of Brother Cadfael (4 stories, collection completed).

Tim Powers: Nobody's Home—An Anubis Gates Story (1 story, completed). The Properties of Rooftop Air—An Anubis Gates Story (1 story, completed).

Tim Powers: The Bible Repairman and Other Stories. Made up Of: Introduction; The Bible Repairman; A Soul in a Bottle; The Hour of Babel; Parallel Lines; A Journey of Only Two Paces; A Time to Cast Away Stones. (7 stories, collection completed).

Tim Powers: Down and out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers. Made up of: Foreword: Paths Through Dark Woods (David Drake); Introduction: The Powers Effect (Tony Daniel); Salvage and Demolition; The Bible Repairman; Appointment at Sunset; The Better Boy (with James Blaylock); Pat Moore; The Way Down the Hill; Itinerary; A Journey of Only Two Paces; The Hour of Babel; Where They Are Hid; We Traverse Afar (with James Blaylock); Through and Through; Night Moves; Dispensation; A Soul in a Bottle; Parallel Lines; Fifty Cents (with James Blaylock); Nobody's Home; A Time to Cast Away Stones; Down and Out in Purgatory; Sufficient Unto the Day (stories not italicized were read recently in another anthology) (14 stories, collection completed).

Alastair Reynolds: Beyond the Aquila Rift—The Best of Alastair Reynolds (Made up of: (read in 2017) Great Wall of Mars; Weather; (read in 2019) Beyond the Aquila Rift; Minla's Flowers; Zima Blue; (read in 2020) Fury; The Star Surgeon's Apprentice; The Sledge-Maker's Daughter; Diamond Dogs; Thousandth Night; Troika; Sleepover; Vainglory; Trauma Pod; The Last Log of the Lachrimosa; The Water Thief; The Old Man and the Martian Sea; In Babelsberg; Story Notes for Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds (2 stories in 2017 0 stories in 2018, 3 stories in 2019, 0 stories in 2020, continuing to read).

Cordwainer Smith (Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger) and John J. Pierce (editor): The Best of Cordwainer Smith. Made up of: The Instrumentality of Mankind Timeline (John J. Pierce); Cordwainer Smith: The Shaper of Myths (John J. Pierce); Scanners Live in Vain; The Lady Who Sailed the Soul (with Genevieve Linebarger); The Game of Rat and Dragon; The Burning of the Brain; The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal; Golden the Ship Was — Oh! Oh! Oh! (with Genevieve Linebarger); The Dead Lady of Clown Town; Under Old Earth; Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons; Alpha Ralpha Boulevard; The Ballad of Lost C'mell; A Planet Named Shayol (13 entries, completed).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (Volume 01). Made up of: (read in 2019) Introduction (Jonathan Strahan); How to Talk to Girls at Parties (Neil Gaiman); El Regalo (Peter S. Beagle); I, Row-Boat (Cory Doctorow); In the House of the Seven Librarians (Ellen Klages); (read in 2020) Another Word for Map Is Faith (Christopher Rowe); Under Hell, Over Heaven (Margo Lanagan); Incarnation Day (Walter Jon Williams); The Night Whiskey (Jeffrey Ford); A Siege of Cranes (Benjamin Rosenbaum); Halfway House (Frances Hardinge); The Bible Repairman (Tim Powers); Yellow Card Man (Paolo Bacigalupi); Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Geoff Ryman); The American Dead (Jay Lake); The Cartesian Theater (Robert Charles Wilson); Journey Into the Kingdom (M. Rickert); Eight Episodes (Robert Reed); The Wizards of Perfil (Kelly Link); The Saffron Gatherers (Elizabeth Hand); D. A. (Connie Willis); Femaville 29 (Paul Di Filippo); Sob in the Silence (Gene Wolfe); The House Beyond Your Sky (Benjamin Rosenbaum); The Djinn's Wife (Ian McDonald) (5 stories in 2019, 0 stories in 2020, continuing to read).

Uncredited: Star Wars—From A Certain Point of View—A New Hope. Made up of: Raymus (Gary Whita); The Bucket (Christie Golden); The Sith of Datawork (Ken Liu); Stories in the Sand (Giffin McElroy); Reirin (Sabaa Tahir); The Red One (Rae Carson); Rites (John Jackson Miller); Master and Apprentice (Claudia Gray); Beru Whitesun Lars (Meg Cabot); The Luckless Rodian (Renee Ahdieh); Not for Nothing (Mur Lafferty);  We Don't Serve Their Kind Here (Chuck Wendig); The Kloo Horn Cantina Caper (Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction); Added Muscle (Paul Dini); You Owe Me a Ride (Zorai Cordova); The Secrets of Long Snoot (Delilah S. Dawson); Born in the Storm (Daniel Jose Older); Laina (Wil Wheaton); Fully Operational (Beth Revis); An Incident Report (Mallory Ortberg); Change of Heart (Elizabeth Wein); Eclipse (Madeleine Roux); Verge of Greatness (Pablo Hidalgo); Far Too Remote (Jeffrey Brown); The Trigger (Kieron Gillen); Of MSE-6 and Men (Glen Weldon); Bum (Ben Acker and Ben Blacker); End of Watch (Adam Christopher); The Baptist (Nnedi Okorafor); Time of Death (Cavan Scott); There Is Another (Gary D. Schmidt); Palpatine (Ian Doescher); Sparks (Paul S. Kemp); Duty Roster (Jason Fry); Desert Son (Pierce Brown); Grounded (Greg Rucka); Contintency Plan (Alexander Freed); The Angle (Charles Soule); By Whatever Sun (E.K. Johnston and Ashley Eckstein); Whills (Tom Angleberger) (8 stories, continuing to read).

Jack Vance: Dying Earth 01—The Dying Earth. Made up of: Turjan of Miir; Mazirin the Magician; T'sais; Liane the Wayfarer; Ulan Dhor Ends a Dream; Guyal of Sfere (6 stories, completed). Dying Earth 02—The Eyes of the Overworld. Made up of: The Overworld; Cil; The Mountains of Magnatz; The Sorcerer Pharesm; The Pilgrims; The Cave in the Forest; The Manse of Iucounu (0 stories, continuing to read). Dying Earth 03—Cugel's Saga. Made up of: From Shanglestone Strand to Saskervoy (Flutic; The Inn of Blue Lamps); From Saskervoy to Tustvold Mud-Flats (Aboard the "Galante"; Lausicaa; The Ocean of Sighs); From Tustvold to Port Perdusz (The Columns; Faucelme); From Port Perdusz to Kaspara Vitatus (On the Docks; The Caravan); From Kaspara Vitatus to Cuirnif (The Seventeen Virgins; The Bagful of Dreams); From Cuirnif to Pergolo (The Four Wizards; Spatterlight) (0 stories, continuing to read). Dying Earth 04—Rhialto the Marvellous. Made up of: Foreword; Morreion; The Murthe; Fader's Waft (0 stories, continuing to read).

Periodicals:

Challenge: Issue 25 (counts as 12 entries).

The Excellent Travelling Volume: Issues 001-010 (counts as 40 entries).

The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society: Issues 001-024 (counts as 96 entries).

Locus: March 2019, April 2019, May 2019, June 2019, July 2019, August 2019September 2019, October 2019November 2019, December 2019January 2020 (counts as 44 entries).



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