Locus Ranked Short Fiction: Novellas, Novelettes, Short Stories

It is a bit difficult to find good rankings for SF&F short fiction. I found the 2012 Locus voted list and cite it here:

• 20th Century Novella
• 20th Century Novelette
• 20th Century Short Story
• 21th Century Novella
• 21th Century Novelette
• 21th Century Short Story

I haven’t read many of those and reviewed even less; if a review is available, I’ve linked it in the fiction title.

20th Century Novella

Rank	Stars	Author	Title	Year
1	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	Story of Your Life	1998
2	★★★★★	Le Guin, Ursula K.	The Word for World Is Forest	1972
3	★★★★	Tiptree, James, Jr.	Houston, Houston, Do You Read?	1976
4	not reviewed	Campbell, John W.	Who Goes There?	1938
5	not reviewed	Varley, John	The Persistence of Vision	1978
6	★★★★★	Wolfe, Gene	The Fifth Head of Cerberus	1972
7	not reviewed	Leiber, Fritz	Ill Met in Lankhmar	1970
8	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	The Man Who Sold the Moon	1950
9	★★★★★	Kress, Nancy	Beggars in Spain	1991
10	not reviewed	Moore, C. L. & Henry Kuttner	Vintage Season	1946
11	not reviewed	Bujold, Lois McMaster	The Mountains of Mourning	1989
12	not reviewed	Martin, George R. R.	A Song for Lya	1974
13	not reviewed	Lovecraft, H. P.	The Shadow Over Innsmouth	1942
14	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	By His Bootstraps	1941
15	not reviewed	Simak, Clifford D.	The Big Front Yard	1958
16	not reviewed	Sturgeon, Theodore	Baby Is Three	1952
17	not reviewed	Moorcock, Michael	Behold the Man	1966
17	not reviewed	Varley, John	PRESS ENTER[]	1984
19	not reviewed	Willis, Connie	The Last of the Winnebagos	1988
20	not reviewed	Vinge, Vernor	True Names	1981
21	not reviewed	Vance, Jack	The Last Castle	1966
22	not reviewed	Crowley, John	Great Work of Time	1989
22	not reviewed	Zelazny, Roger	24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai	1985
24	not reviewed	Vance, Jack	The Dragon Masters	1962
24	not reviewed	Vance, Jack	The Moon Moth	1961
26	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag	1942
27	★★★★	Longyear, Barry B.	Enemy Mine	1979
28	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	The Martian Way	1952
29	not reviewed	Farmer, Philip Jose	Riders of the Purple Wage	1967
30	not reviewed	Zelazny, Roger	He Who Shapes	1965
31	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	Seventy-two Letters	2000
32	not reviewed	Shepard, Lucius	R&R	1986
33	not reviewed	Wolfe, Gene	The Death of Doctor Island	1973
34	not reviewed	Delany, Samuel R.	The Star Pit	1967
35	not reviewed	McCaffrey, Anne	Dragonrider	1967
36	not reviewed	Resnick, Mike	Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge	1994
37	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	Universe	1941
38	not reviewed	McCaffrey, Anne	Weyr Search	1967
39	not reviewed	Silverberg, Robert	Nightwings	1968
40	not reviewed	Anderson, Poul	The Queen of Air and Darkness	1971
41	not reviewed	Lovecraft, H. P.	The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward	1921
42	not reviewed	Howard, Robert E.	Red Nails	1936
42	★★★★+☆	Silverberg, Robert	Sailing to Byzantium	1985
44	not reviewed	Brin, David	The Postman	1982
45	not reviewed	Bear, Greg	Hardfought	1983
46	not reviewed	Russell, Eric Frank	…And Then There Were None	1951
47	not reviewed	Zelazny, Roger	Home Is the Hangman	1975
48	not reviewed	Haldeman, Joe	The Hemingway Hoax	1990
48	★★★★★	Wolfe, Gene	Seven American Nights	1978
50	not reviewed	Lovecraft, H. P.	The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath	1943

20th Century Novelette

Rank	Stars	Author	Title	Year
1	not reviewed	Keyes, Daniel	Flowers for Algernon	1959
2	★★★+	Asimov, Isaac	Nightfall	1941
3	★★★★★	Zelazny, Roger	A Rose for Ecclesiastes	1963
4	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	The Bicentennial Man	1976
5	★★★★	Martin, George R. R.	Sandkings	1979
6	not reviewed	Bester, Alfred	Fondly Fahrenheit	1954
7	★★★★★	Ellison, Harlan	A Boy and His Dog	1969
8	★★★★	Bear, Greg	Blood Music	1983
9	★★★★★	Butler, Octavia E.	Bloodchild	1984
10	not reviewed	Godwin, Tom	The Cold Equations	1954
11	★★★★★	Tiptree, James, Jr.	The Women Men Don’t See	1973
12	★★★★★	Tiptree, James, Jr.	The Girl Who Was Plugged In	1973
13	not reviewed	Card, Orson Scott	Ender’s Game	1977
14	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	Tower of Babylon	1990
15	★★★+	Weinbaum, Stanley G.	A Martian Odyssey	1934
16	not reviewed	Delany, Samuel R.	Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones	1968
17	not reviewed	Dick, Philip K.	We Can Remember It for You Wholesale	1966
18	★★★★★	Gibson, William	Burning Chrome	1982
19	not reviewed	Lovecraft, H. P.	The Call of Cthulhu	1928
20	not reviewed	Brown, Fredric	Arena	1944
21	★★★★	Blish, James	Surface Tension	1952
22	not reviewed	Willis, Connie	Fire Watch	1982
23	★★★★★	Ellison, Harlan	The Deathbird	1973
24	★★★★★	Miller, Walter M., Jr.	A Canticle for Leibowitz	1955
25	★★★★	Zelazny, Roger	The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth	1965
26	not reviewed	Smith, Cordwainer	The Ballad of Lost C’Mell	1962
26	not reviewed	Niven, Larry	Inconstant Moon	1971
28	not reviewed	Kuttner, Henry [Lewis Padgett]	Mimsy Were the Borogoves	1943
29	not reviewed	Niven, Larry	Neutron Star	1966
30	not reviewed	Kelly, James Patrick	Think Like a Dinosaur	1995
31	not reviewed	Zelazny, Roger	For a Breath I Tarry	1966
32	not reviewed	Sturgeon, Theodore	Microcosmic God	1941
33	not reviewed	McCaffrey, Anne	The Ship Who Sang	1961
34	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	Foundation	1942
35	not reviewed	Dick, Philip K.	Second Variety	1953
35	not reviewed	Smith, Cordwainer	Scanners Live in Vain	1950
37	not reviewed	Shepard, Lucius	The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule	1984
38	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	–And He Built a Crooked House	1941
39	not reviewed	Leinster, Murray	First Contact	1945
40	not reviewed	Kornbluth, C. M.	The Little Black Bag	1950
41	not reviewed	Aldiss, Brian W.	Hothouse	1961
41	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	The Roads Must Roll	1940
43	not reviewed	Kornbluth, C. M.	The Marching Morons	1951
44	★★★★	Sterling, Bruce	Swarm	1982
45	not reviewed	Lovecraft, H. P.	The Dunwich Horror	1929
46	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	The Ugly Little Boy	1958
47	★★★1/2	Zelazny, Roger	The Keys to December	1966
48	not reviewed	Leiber, Fritz	Gonna Roll the Bones	1967
49	★★★	Chiang, Ted	Understand	1991
50	not reviewed	Waldrop, Howard	The Ugly Chickens	1980
50	★★★★★	Le Guin, Ursula K.	Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come out Tonight	1987

20th Century Short Story

Rank	Stars	Author	Title	Year
1	★★★★★	Clarke, Arthur C.	The Nine Billion Names of God	1953
2	★★★★	Le Guin, Ursula K.	The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas	1973
3	★★★★★	Ellison, Harlan	‘Repent, Harlequin!’ said the Ticktockman	1965
4	★★★★	Ellison, Harlan	I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream	1967
5	★★★	Clarke, Arthur C.	The Star	1955
6	not reviewed	Bradbury, Ray	A Sound of Thunder	1952
7	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	All You Zombies–	1959
8	★★★★	Gibson, William	Johnny Mnemonic	1981
9	★★★	Tiptree, James, Jr.	The Screwfly Solution	1977
10	not reviewed	Jackson, Shirley	The Lottery	1948
11	not reviewed	Bradbury, Ray	There Will Come Soft Rains	1950
12	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	The Last Question	1956
13	not reviewed	Shaw, Bob	Light of Other Days	1966
14	not reviewed	Vonnegut, Kurt	Harrison Bergeron	1961
15	not reviewed	Heinlein, Robert A.	The Green Hills of Earth	1947
16	★★★	Smith, Cordwainer	The Game of Rat and Dragon	1955
17	★★★★★	Pohl, Frederik	Day Million	1966
18	★★★+	Ellison, Harlan	Jeffty Is Five	1977
19	not reviewed	Clarke, Arthur C.	The Sentinel	1951
20	★★★★★	Russ, Joanna	When It Changed	1972
21	★★★★★	Tiptree, James, Jr.	Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death	1973
22	★★★★★	Delany, Samuel R.	Aye, and Gomorrah	1967
23	not reviewed	Bixby, Jerome	It’s a Good Life	1953
24	not reviewed	Bradbury, Ray	The Veldt	1950
25	not reviewed	Varley, John	Air Raid	1977
26	★★★★★	Le Guin, Ursula K.	The Day Before the Revolution	1974
27	★★★+	Bisson, Terry	Bears Discover Fire	1990
28	★★★★★	Butler, Octavia E.	Speech Sounds	1983
29	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	Robbie	1940
30	not reviewed	Bradbury, Ray	The Million Year Picnic	1946
30	★★★	Willis, Connie	Even the Queen	1992
30	not reviewed	Sturgeon, Theodore	The Man Who Lost the Sea	1959
33	not reviewed	Leiber, Fritz	A Pail of Air	1951
34	not reviewed	Sturgeon, Theodore	Saucer of Loneliness	1953
35	not reviewed	Davidson, Avram	Or All the Seas with Oysters	1958
35	not reviewed	Russell, Eric Frank	Allamagoosa	1955
37	not reviewed	Card, Orson Scott	Unaccompanied Sonata	1979
38	not reviewed	Martin, George R. R.	With Morning Comes Mistfall	1973
39	not reviewed	Gaiman, Neil	A Midsummer Night’s Dream	1990
40	not reviewed	Bester, Alfred	The Men Who Murdered Mohammed	1958
41	not reviewed	Asimov, Isaac	Liar!	1941
42	not reviewed	Egan, Greg	Learning to Be Me	1990
43	not reviewed	Gaiman, Neil	Troll Bridge	1993
44	★★★★	Wolfe, Gene	The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories	1970
45	not reviewed	Leiber, Fritz	Coming Attraction	1950
45	not reviewed	Silverberg, Robert	Passengers	1968
47	not reviewed	Ballard, J. G.	The Terminal Beach	1964
48	not reviewed	Bradbury, Ray	All Summer in a Day	1954
49	not reviewed	Knight, Damon	The Country of the Kind	1956
50	not reviewed	Sturgeon, Theodore	Thunder and Roses	1947

21st Century Novella

Rank	Stars	Author	Title	Year
1	★★★★★	Link, Kelly	Magic for Beginners	2005
2	not reviewed	Stross, Charles	Palimpsest	2009
3	not reviewed	MacLeod, Ian R.	New Light on the Drake Equation	2001
4	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	Liking What You See:  A Documentary	2002
5	★★★★	Vinge, Vernor	Fast Times at Fairmont High	2001
6	not reviewed	Reynolds, Alastair	Diamond Dogs	2001
7	not reviewed	Willis, Connie	Inside Job	2005
8	not reviewed	Stross, Charles	The Concrete Jungle	2004
9	not reviewed	Baker, Kage	The Empress of Mars	2003
10	not reviewed	Scalzi, John	The God Engines	2009
11	not reviewed	Gaiman, Neil	Coraline	2002
11	not reviewed	Vinge, Vernor	The Cookie Monster	2003
13	★★★★★	Swirsky, Rachel	The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window	2010
14	★★★★★	Le Guin, Ursula K.	The Finder	2001
15	★★★★★	McDonald, Ian	The Little Goddess	2005
16	not reviewed	Stross, Charles	Missile Gap	2006
17	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	The Lifecycle of Software Objects	2010
18	not reviewed	Kelly, James Patrick	Burn	2005
19	not reviewed	Kress, Nancy	The Erdmann Nexus	2008
19	not reviewed	Chwedyk, Richard	Bronte’s Egg	2002

21st Century Novelette

Rank	Stars	Author	Title	Year
1	★★1/2	Chiang, Ted	Hell Is the Absence of God	2001
2	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate	2007
3	not reviewed	Gaiman, Neil	A Study in Emerald	2003
4	not reviewed	Bacigalupi, Paolo	The Calorie Man	2005
5	not reviewed	Link, Kelly	The Faery Handbag	2004
5	not reviewed	Bacigalupi, Paolo	The People of Sand and Slag	2004
7	not reviewed	Ford, Jeffrey	The Empire of Ice Cream	2003
8	★★★★★	Stross, Charles	Lobsters	2001
9	not reviewed	Mieville, China	Reports of Certain Events in London	2004
9	not reviewed	Watts, Peter	The Island	2009
11	not reviewed	Reynolds, Alastair	Beyond the Aquila Rift	2005
12	not reviewed	Doctorow, Cory	When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth	2006
13	not reviewed	Bacigalupi, Paolo	Yellow Card Man	2006
13	not reviewed	Bacigalupi, Paolo	The Fluted Girl	2003
15	not reviewed	Gregory, Daryl	Second Person, Present Tense	2005
16	not reviewed	Bacigalupi, Paolo	Pump Six	2008
16	not reviewed	Egan, Greg	Dark Integers	2007
18	★★★★★	Beagle, Peter S.	Two Hearts	2005
19	not reviewed	Gardner, James Alan	The Ray-Gun:  A Love Story	2008
20	not reviewed	Swirsky, Rachel	Eros, Philia, Agape	2009

21st Century Short Story

Rank	Stars	Author	Title	Year
1	★★★★★	Chiang, Ted	Exhalation	2008
2	not reviewed	Lanagan, Margo	Singing My Sister Down	2004
3	not reviewed	Gaiman, Neil	How to Talk to Girls at Parties	2006
4	★★★★★	Watts, Peter	The Things	2010
5	★★★★★	Swanwick, Michael	The Dog Said Bow-Wow	2001
5	not reviewed	Le Guin, Ursula K.	The Bones of the Earth	2001
7	not reviewed	Johnson, Kij	26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss	2008
8	not reviewed	Abraham, Daniel	The Cambist and Lord Iron	2007
9	not reviewed	Johnson, Kij	Spar	2009
9	not reviewed	Reynolds, Alastair	Zima Blue	2005
11	★★★★★	Liu, Ken	The Paper Menagerie	2011
12	not reviewed	Gaiman, Neil	October in the Chair	2002
13	not reviewed	Resnick, Mike	Travels with My Cats	2004
14	not reviewed	Ford, Jeffrey	Creation	2002
15	not reviewed	Bear, Elizabeth	Tideline	2007
16	★★★★★	Stross, Charles	Rogue Farm	2003
17	not reviewed	McIntosh, Will	Bridesicle	2009
18	not reviewed	Ellison, Harlan	How Interesting:  A Tiny Man	2010
19	not reviewed	Johnson, Kij	Ponies	2010
20	not reviewed	Fowler, Karen Joy	The Pelican Bar	2009
20	not reviewed	Fowler, Karen Joy	What I Didn’t See	2002