2019: 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: 415 (out of 365) as of December 31, 2019.

(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:

Ingrid Burrington: Networks of New York—An Illustrated Field Guide to Urban Internet Infrastructure (1 essay, completed).

James S.A. Corey: The Butcher of Anderson Station; Gods of Risk; Strange Dogs; The Churn; The Vital Abyss (5 stories, 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); 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, continuing to read).

Greg Egan: Perihelion Summer (1 story, completed). Zeitgeber (1 story, completed).

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 2019) 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; continuing to read).

Henry Gee (editor): Futures from Nature 01. Made up of: Introduction: Nostalgia for the Future (Henry Gee); Cognitive Ability and the Light Bulb (Brian W. Aldiss); Don't Imitate (Gilles Amon); Check Elastic Before Jumping (Neal Asher); Twenty2 (Nate Balding); Under Martian Ice (Stephen Baxter); Party Smart Card (Barrington J. Bayley); RAM Shift Phase 2 (Greg Bear); A Life with a Semisent (Gregory Benford); Damned If You Don't (Lucy Bergman); The Punishment Fits the Crime (David Berreby); Toy Planes (Tobias S. Buckell); A Concrete Example (J.P. Boon; J. Casti; Carl Djerassi; J. Johnson; A. Lovett; T. Norretranders; V. Patera; C. Sommerer; R. Taylor; and S. Thurner); The Aching of Dion Harper (Arthur Chrenkoff); Improving the Neighborhood (Arthur C. Clarke); Omphalosphere: New York 2057 (Jack Cohen); Picasso's Cat (Ron Collins); My Grandfather's River (Brenda Cooper); Sandcastles: A Dystopia (Kathryn Cramer);  Adam's Hot Dogs at the End of the World (Jeff Crook); The Party's Over (Penelope Kim Crowther); Transport of Delight (Roland Denison); The Perfect Lover (Paul Di Filippo); Printcrime (Cory Doctorow); A Brief History of Death Switches (David Eagleman); Only Connect (Greg Egan); 9At the Zoo (Warren Ellis);  The Liquidators (Michael Garrett Farrelly); In the Days of the Comet (John M. Ford); Ars Longa, Vita Brevis (James Alan Gardner); Are We Not Men? (Henry Gee); It Never Rains in VR (John Gilbey); Gordy Gave Me Your Name (Jim Giles); Nostalgia (Hiromi Goto); Spawn of Satan? (Nicola Griffith); Take Over (Jon Courtenay Grimwood); Speak, Geek (Eileen Gunn); Heartwired (Joe Haldeman); The Forever Kitten (Peter F. Hamilton); The Road to the Year 3000 (Harry Harrison); Operation Tesla (Jeff Hecht); Making the Sale (Fredric Heeren); Subpoenaed in Syracuse (Tom Holt); Men Sell Not Such in Any Town (Nalo Hopkinson); Total Internal Reflection (Gwyneth Jones); Ringing Up Baby (Ellen Klages); Semi-Autonomous (Jim Kling); Product Development (Nancy Kress); I Love Liver: A Romance (Larissa Lai); Avatars in Space (Geoffrey A. Landis); Comp.Basilisk FAQ (David Langford); Gathering of the Clans (Reinaldo José Lopes); Taking Good Care of Myself (Ian R. MacLeod); Undead Again (Ken MacLeod); Words, Words, Words (Elisabeth Malartre); My Morning Glory (David Marusek); Don't Mention the "F" Word (Neil Mathur); Meat (Paul J. McAuley); The Candidate (Jack McDevitt); A Modest Proposal for the Perfection of Nature (Vonda N. McIntyre); The Republic of George's Island (Donna McMahon); The Stars My Incarnation (Robert A. Metzger); The Computiful Game (Paul Steven Miller); Oscar Night, 2054 (Syne Mitchell); The Visible Men (Michael Moorcock); The Albian Message (Oliver Morton); Photons Do Not Lie (Euan Nisbet); Stranger in the Night (Salvador Nogueira); Tick-Tock Curly-Wurly (Gareth Owens); Daddy's Slight Miscalculation (Ashley Pellegrino); Brain Drain (Frederik Pohl); Great Unreported Discoveries No. 163 (Mike Resnick); Feeling Rejected (Alastair Reynolds); The Trial of Jeremy Owens (Peter Roberts); Prometheus Unbound, At Last (Kim Stanley Robinson); Dreadnought (Justina Robson); Falling (Benjamin Rosenbaum); Panpsychism Proved (Rudy Rucker); The Abdication of Pope Mary III (Robert J. Sawyer); The Charge-Up Man (Catherine H. Shaffer); From the Desk of Jarrod Foster (Biren Shah); Pluto Story (Robert Silverberg); Madame Bovary, C'est Moi (Dan Simmons); Tuberculosis Bacteria Join UN (Joan Slonczewski); For He on Honeydew Hath Fed... (Paul Smaglik); A Man of the Theater (Norman Spinrad); Ivory Tower (Bruce Sterling); Play it Again, Psam (Ian Stewart); MAXO Signals (Charles Stross); Golden Year (Igor Teper); Paratext (Scarlett Thomas); Murphy's Cat (Joan D. Vinge); Win a Nobel Prize! (Vernor Vinge); A Leap of Faith (Theo von Hohenheim); Nadia's Nectar (Ian Watson); Statler Pulchrifex (Matt Weber); All Is Not Lost (Scott Westerfeld); The Key (Ian Whates); The Godmother Protocols (Heather M. Whitney); The Great Good-bye (Robert Charles Wilson); Pigs on the Wing (K. Erik Ziemelis). (101 stories read, collection completed).

Kenneth Hite: Deep Time (1 entry, completed). The Lovecraft Gazetteer (1 entry, completed).

Robert E. Howard: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. Made up of: Foreword (Mark Schultz); Introduction (Patrice Louinet); Cimmeria; The Phoenix on the Sword; The Frost-Giant's Daughter; The God in the Bowl; The Tower of the Elephant; The Scarlet Citadel; Queen of the Black Coast; Black Colossus; Iron Shadows in the Moon (variant of The Slithering Shadow); The Pool of the Black One; Rogues in the House; The Vale of Lost Women; The Devil in Iron; The Phoenix on the Sword (first submitted draft); Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age; The Hyborian Age; Untitled Synopsis ("A squad of Zamorian soldiers..."); The Scarlet Citadel (synopsis); Black Colossus (synopsis); Untitled Fragment ("The battlefield stretched silent..."); Untitled Synopsis ("The setting: The city of Shumballa..."); Untitled Draft ("Amboola awakened slowly..."); Hyborian Names and Countries; Hyborian Age Maps; Hyborian Genesis—Notes on the Creation of the Conan Stories (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Conan Typescripts and the Chronology (Patrice Louinet); Notes on the Original Howard Texts (Uncredited). (28 entries, collection completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser—Swords and Deviltry. Made up of:
Induction; The Snow Women; The Unholy Grail; Ill Met in Lankhmar (4 stories, collection completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—Swords Against Death. Made up of: The Circle Curse; The Jewels in the Forest; Thieves' House; The Bleak Shore; The Howling Tower; The Sunken Land; The Seven Black Priests; (all read again in 2019) Claws from the Night; The Price of Pain-Ease; Bazaar of the Bizarre.  (7 stories in 2018, 7 stories re-read in 2019, 3 stories read in 2019, collection completed).

Fritz Leiber: Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser—Swords in the Mist. Made up of: The Cloud of Hate; Lean Times in Lankhmar; Their Mistress, the Sea; When the Sea-King's Away; The Wrong Branch; Adept's Gambit (6 stories, collection completed).

Michael Moorcock: Elric—The Stealer of Souls. Made up of: Foreword (Alan Moore); Introduction; At the Beginning—Putting a Tag On It; The Dreaming City; 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, continuing to read).

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; 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, continuing to read).

Clifford D. Simak and David W. Wixon (editor): New Folks' Home and Other Stories. Made up of: (read in 2018) Introduction: The Names in Simak (David W. Wixon); New Folks' Home; (read in 2019) The Questing of Foster Adams; Hermit of Mars; Worlds Without End; Barb Wire Brings Bullets!; Second Childhood; Beachhead; Sunspot Purge; Drop Dead; Worrywart (2 stories in 2018, 9 stories in 2019, collection completed).

Jonathan Strahan (editor): The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (Volume 01). Made up of: 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); 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 read, continuing to read).

Howard Tayler: No I'm Fine (1 story, completed).

Jack Vance: Magnus Ridolph. Made up of: Hard-Luck Diggings; Sanatoris Short-Cut; The Sub-Standard Sardines; The Unspeakable McInch; The King of Thieves; To B or Not to C or to D; The Howling Bounders; The Spa of the Stars; The Kokod Warriors; Coup de Grace (10 stories, collection completed).

John Varley: Blue Champagne. Made up of: The Pusher; Blue Champagne; Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo; Options; Lollipop and the Tar Baby; The Manhattan Phone Book; The Unprocessed Word; Press Enter [] (7 entries, only stories not in other collections read, collection completed).

John Varley: The John Varley Reader. Made up of: Introduction; Introduction to "Picnic on Nearside"; Picnic on Nearside; Introduction to "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank"; Overdrawn at the Memory Bank; Introduction to "In the Hall of the Martian Kings"; In the Hall of the Martian Kings; Introduction to "Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance"; Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance; Introduction to "The Barbie Murders"; The Barbie Murders; Introduction to "The Phantom of Kansas"; The Phantom of Kansas; Introduction to "Beatnik Bayou"; Beatnik Bayou; Introduction to "Air Raid"; Air Raid; Introduction to "The Persistence of Vision"; The Persistence of Vision; Introduction to "PRESS ENTER [ ]"; PRESS ENTER [ ]; Introduction to "The Pusher"; The Pusher; Introduction to Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo; Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo; Introduction to "Options"; Options; Introduction to "Just Another Perfect Day"; Just Another Perfect Day; Introduction to "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons"; In Fading Suns and Dying Moons; Introduction to "The Flying Dutchman"; The Flying Dutchman; Introduction to "Good Intentions"; Good Intentions; Introduction to "The Bellman"; The Bellman; Afterword (25 entries; only stories not in other collections read; collection completed).

Lawrence Watt–Evans: The Lawrence Watt–Evans Fantasy Megapack. Made up of: Author's Introduction; The Temple of Life; Mehitabel Goodwin; Heart of Stone; The Final Challenge; Beth's Unicorn; The Bride of Bigfoot; Keeping Up Appearances; Dropping Hints; The Bogle in the Basement; The Man for the Job; Chaperone; Out of the Woods; Ghost Stories; The Frog Wizard; Horsing Around; Spirit Dump; Arms and the Woman; Mittens and Hotfoot; Just Perfect; Trixie; In Re: Nephelegeretes; In for a Pound; Something to Grin About; Best Present Ever (24 stories, collection completed).

Gene Wolfe: Storeys from the Old Hotel. Made up of: (read in 2018) (read again in 2019) An Introduction; (read in 2019) The Green Rabbit from S'Rian; Beech Hill; Sightings at Twin Mounds; Continuing Westward; Slaves of Silver; The Rubber Bend; Westwind; Sonya, Crane Wessleman, and Kittee; The Packerhaus Method; Straw; The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton; To the Dark Tower Came; Parkroads—A Review; The Flag; Alphabet; A Criminal Proceeding; In Looking-Glass Castle; Cherry Jubilee; Redbeard; A Solar Labyrinth; Love, Among the Corridors; Checking Out; Morning-Glory; (read in 2018) Trip, Trap (and again in 2019); From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton; Civis Laputus Sum; The Recording; Last Day; Death of the Island Doctor; On the Train; In the Mountains; At the Volcano's Lip; In the Old Hotel; Choice of the Black Goddess (1 entry in 2018, 35 stories in 2019, collection completed).

Gene Wolfe: The Fifth Head of Cerberus. A novel in parts (three novellas), made up of: (rad in 2018) The Fifth Head of Cerberus; 'A Story', by John V Marsch; V.R.T. (1 entry in 2018, continuing to read).

Periodicals:

(The) Excellent Travelling Volume: (The) Excellent Travelling Volume 001-004 (16 entries, continuing to read).

GDW: The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 001-004 (16 entries, continuing to read).

Locus Publications: Locus, January 2017; February 2017; March 2017; April 2017; May 2017; June 2017; July 2017; August 2017; September 2017; October 2017; November 2017; December 2017; January 2018; March 2018; April 2018; June 2018; July 2018; August 2018; September 2018; October 2018; November 2018; December 2018; January 2019; February, 2019 (96 entries, continuing to read).

(Locus tends to have at least two large profiles or interviews per issue, plus a number of regular features. I tag that as four short story equivalents. The same for JTAS, TETV.)