List of science fiction short stories
Encyclopedia
This is a non-comprehensive list of short stories with significant science fiction
elements. Due to the large number of short stories this list is limited to stories that have done one of the following:
" (1956) by R. Brentor : First use of technology to induce intelligence in cats
"Sheena 5" (2000) by Stephen Baxter : About a genetically modified squid
(1934) by Stanley G. Weinbaum
: The earliest story to make alien personalities and civilizations as real as those of humans.
"Construction Shack" (1973) by Clifford D. Simak
: Pluto
's status as a planet changes on the discovery it's artificial. When Simak wrote the story Pluto was still considered a planet by astronomers and the public.
" (1884) by Edwin A. Abbott: A classic tale of a two-dimensional being meeting 'A Sphere'
"—And He Built a Crooked House—" (1941) by Robert A. Heinlein
: Story of a house that extends into the fourth dimension, much to the puzzlement of its occupants.
"A Subway called Moebius" (1950) by A. J. Deutsch: Trains go missing when a subway becomes topologically complicated.
"Tangents" (1986) by Greg Bear
: Story of a mathematician encountering and discussing beings living in four spatial dimensions.
: A science fiction play in the Czech language - noted for introducing the term "robot
" (though the robots described there would today be described as androids).
"Robbie
" (1939) by Isaac Asimov
: First robot story by Isaac Asimov, published in the September 1940 issue of Super Science Stories
.
"Runaround
" (1942) by Isaac Asimov
: First story to list the Three Laws of Robotics
, published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding.
"The Quest for St. Aquin" (1951) by Anthony Boucher
: First, and possibly only, time a robot is portrayed as canonized theologian
" (1895) by H.G. Wells: Probably the very first significant time travel story ever.
"Vintage Season
" (1946) by C. L. Moore
: Time-travelling tourists from the future seen from a perspective contemporary to the writer's era.
"A Sound of Thunder
" (1952) by Ray Bradbury
: This story revolves around a business called Time Safari, Inc. Time Safari promises to take people back in time so they can hunt prehistoric animals, such as Tyrannosaurus rex. In order to avoid a time paradox, they are very careful to leave history undisturbed on the principle that even the slightest change can cause major changes in the future.
"You Were Right, Joe" (1957) by J. T. McIntosh
: The disembodied mind of a man is cast into the far off future where it is re-incorporated in the body of a Herculean body builder, maintaining all the while a line of communication with the scientist that stayed behind.
"" — All You Zombies — "" (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein
: A story featuring a neatly tangled set of time travel paradoxes.
"Hawksbill Station
" (1968) by Robert Silverberg
: The Station in the title is a prison colony created in the pre-Cambrian era by means of a time machine invented by an eponymous Dr. Hawksbill.
"A Little Something For Us Tempunauts
" (1975) by Philip K. Dick
: US time travellers, tempunauts, find that instead of travelling 100 years into the future, they have gone merely a few days.
"Fire Watch
" (1982) by Connie Willis
: The story of a time-travelling "historian" who goes back to The Blitz in London. He's annoyed by this as he had spent years preparing to travel with St. Paul and gets sent to St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, instead. Winner of the 1983 Hugo Award
and a Nebula Award
.
"Ripples in the Dirac Sea" (1988) by Geoffrey A. Landis
: The affecting story of a scientist seesawing inescapably through time, this brilliant work effectively deconstructs most time-travel stories that came before. Winner of the 1989 Nebula Award
for best short story.
"A Night on the Barbary Coast" (2003) by Kage Baker
: Time travel facilitator and a botanist return to the wild and woolly San Francisco of the 1850s. Winner of the first of the Norton awards for San Francisco based speculative fiction in 2003.
" (1981) by Vernor Vinge
: One of the first cyberpunk
stories to flesh out the idea of cyberspace.
"Burning Chrome" (1982) by William Gibson
: A story of computer crackers.
""(Learning About) Machine Sex"" (1988) by Candas Jane Dorsey
: A young female hacker invents "wet-ware", which is software and hardware that can plug into the human body. Sexual elements are important as per title.
and the Nebulas
. Complete lists of the short stories that won these awards are at Hugo Award for Best Short Story
and Nebula Award for Best Short Story
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
elements. Due to the large number of short stories this list is limited to stories that have done one of the following:
- Defined a sub-genre of science fiction.
- Founded an important science fiction series.
- Been the first to introduce a science fiction concept.
- Won major science fiction or general fiction awards.
- Topped a major bestseller list.
- Been important to the field of science fiction in another way.
Intelligent animals
"Genius of the SpeciesGenius of the Species
"Genius of the Species" is a short story by Reginald Bretnor , which originally appeared in the anthology 9 Tales of Space and Time edited by Raymond Healy....
" (1956) by R. Brentor : First use of technology to induce intelligence in cats
"Sheena 5" (2000) by Stephen Baxter : About a genetically modified squid
Extraterrestrial Intelligence
A Martian OdysseyA Martian Odyssey
"A Martian Odyssey" is a science fiction short story by Stanley G. Weinbaum originally published in the July 1934 issue of Wonder Stories. It was Weinbaum's first published story, and remains his best known. It was followed four months later by a sequel, "Valley of Dreams"...
(1934) by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Stanley G. Weinbaum
Stanley Grauman Weinbaum was an American science fiction author. His career in science fiction was short but influential...
: The earliest story to make alien personalities and civilizations as real as those of humans.
Artificial Worlds
- "see also Big Dumb ObjectBig Dumb ObjectIn discussion of science fiction, a Big Dumb Object is any mysterious object in a story which generates an intense sense of wonder just by being there; to a certain extent, the term deliberately deflates this...
"
"Construction Shack" (1973) by Clifford D. Simak
Clifford D. Simak
Clifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1977.-Biography:Clifford Donald Simak was born in...
: Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
's status as a planet changes on the discovery it's artificial. When Simak wrote the story Pluto was still considered a planet by astronomers and the public.
Non 3-Dimensional Space
"FlatlandFlatland
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square", Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture...
" (1884) by Edwin A. Abbott: A classic tale of a two-dimensional being meeting 'A Sphere'
"—And He Built a Crooked House—" (1941) by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
: Story of a house that extends into the fourth dimension, much to the puzzlement of its occupants.
"A Subway called Moebius" (1950) by A. J. Deutsch: Trains go missing when a subway becomes topologically complicated.
"Tangents" (1986) by Greg Bear
Greg Bear
Gregory Dale Bear is an American science fiction and mainstream author. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict , artificial universes , consciousness and cultural practices , and accelerated evolution...
: Story of a mathematician encountering and discussing beings living in four spatial dimensions.
Robot Stories
"Rossums Universal Robots" (1921) by Karel ČapekKarel Capek
Karel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings...
: A science fiction play in the Czech language - noted for introducing the term "robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
" (though the robots described there would today be described as androids).
"Robbie
Robbie
"Robbie" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was his first robot story and writing commenced on June 10, 1939. It was first published in the September 1940 issue Super Science Stories magazine as "Strange Playfellow", a title that was chosen by editor Frederik Pohl and described as...
" (1939) by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
: First robot story by Isaac Asimov, published in the September 1940 issue of Super Science Stories
Super Science Stories
Super Science Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine published by Popular Publications from 1940 and 1943, and again from 1949 to 1951. Popular launched it under their "Fictioneers" imprint, which they used for magazines paying writers less than one cent per word...
.
"Runaround
Runaround
"Runaround" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, featuring his recurring characters Powell and Donovan. It was written in October 1941 and first published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction...
" (1942) by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
: First story to list the Three Laws of Robotics
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and later added to. The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories...
, published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding.
"The Quest for St. Aquin" (1951) by Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
: First, and possibly only, time a robot is portrayed as canonized theologian
Time Travel
"The Chronic ArgonautsThe Chronic Argonauts
"The Chronic Argonauts" is a short story written by H. G. Wells. First published by the Royal College of Science in 1888, it is the first well-developed use of a machine constructed to travel through time in science fiction, as it predates Wells's more famous time traveling novel, The Time...
" (1895) by H.G. Wells: Probably the very first significant time travel story ever.
"Vintage Season
Vintage Season
"Vintage Season" is a science fiction novella by Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore . It has been anthologized many times and was selected for The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 2A.-Authorship:...
" (1946) by C. L. Moore
C. L. Moore
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction....
: Time-travelling tourists from the future seen from a perspective contemporary to the writer's era.
"A Sound of Thunder
A Sound of Thunder
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. As of 1984 it was the most re-published science fiction story up to the present time...
" (1952) by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
: This story revolves around a business called Time Safari, Inc. Time Safari promises to take people back in time so they can hunt prehistoric animals, such as Tyrannosaurus rex. In order to avoid a time paradox, they are very careful to leave history undisturbed on the principle that even the slightest change can cause major changes in the future.
"You Were Right, Joe" (1957) by J. T. McIntosh
J. T. McIntosh
J. T. McIntosh was a pseudonym used by Scottish writer and journalist James Murdoch MacGregor.-Biography:Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, but living largely in Aberdeen, MacGregor used the McIntosh pseudonym as well as "H. J...
: The disembodied mind of a man is cast into the far off future where it is re-incorporated in the body of a Herculean body builder, maintaining all the while a line of communication with the scientist that stayed behind.
"" — All You Zombies — "" (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
: A story featuring a neatly tangled set of time travel paradoxes.
"Hawksbill Station
Hawksbill Station
Hawksbill Station is a science fiction novel written by Robert Silverberg. The novel is an expanded version of a short story first published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1967; the novel was published in 1968...
" (1968) by Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...
: The Station in the title is a prison colony created in the pre-Cambrian era by means of a time machine invented by an eponymous Dr. Hawksbill.
"A Little Something For Us Tempunauts
A Little Something For Us Tempunauts
"A Little Something for Us Tempunauts" is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It was first published in the anthology Final Stage in 1975.-Plot summary:...
" (1975) by Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
: US time travellers, tempunauts, find that instead of travelling 100 years into the future, they have gone merely a few days.
"Fire Watch
Fire Watch (story)
"Fire Watch" is a science-fiction story written in 1982 by Connie Willis. The story involves a time-travelling historian who goes back to the Blitz in London, to participate in the fire watch at St. Paul's Cathedral....
" (1982) by Connie Willis
Connie Willis
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...
: The story of a time-travelling "historian" who goes back to The Blitz in London. He's annoyed by this as he had spent years preparing to travel with St. Paul and gets sent to St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, instead. Winner of the 1983 Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and a Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
.
"Ripples in the Dirac Sea" (1988) by Geoffrey A. Landis
Geoffrey A. Landis
Geoffrey A. Landis is an American scientist, working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics...
: The affecting story of a scientist seesawing inescapably through time, this brilliant work effectively deconstructs most time-travel stories that came before. Winner of the 1989 Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for best short story.
"A Night on the Barbary Coast" (2003) by Kage Baker
Kage Baker
Kage Baker was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.- Biography :Baker was born in Hollywood, California and lived there and in Pismo Beach most of her life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language...
: Time travel facilitator and a botanist return to the wild and woolly San Francisco of the 1850s. Winner of the first of the Norton awards for San Francisco based speculative fiction in 2003.
Cyberpunk
"True NamesTrue Names
True Names is the science fiction novella which brought Vernor Vinge to prominence in 1981. It is one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this, it is often referenced as a seminal...
" (1981) by Vernor Vinge
Vernor Vinge
Vernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep , A Deepness in the Sky , Rainbows End , Fast Times at Fairmont High ...
: One of the first cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
stories to flesh out the idea of cyberspace.
"Burning Chrome" (1982) by William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
: A story of computer crackers.
""(Learning About) Machine Sex"" (1988) by Candas Jane Dorsey
Candas Jane Dorsey
Candas Jane Dorsey is a Canadian poet and science fiction novelist.Born and still living in Edmonton, Alberta, Dorsey became a writer from an early age, and a freelance writer since 1980. She writes across genre boundaries, writing poetry, fiction, mainstream and speculative, short and long form,...
: A young female hacker invents "wet-ware", which is software and hardware that can plug into the human body. Sexual elements are important as per title.
Award winning short stories
The two main awards given in American science fiction are the HugosHugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and the Nebulas
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
. Complete lists of the short stories that won these awards are at Hugo Award for Best Short Story
Hugo Award for Best Short Story
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
and Nebula Award for Best Short Story
Nebula Award for Best Short Story
Winners of the '“Nebula Award for Best Short Story”'. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year. Winning titles are listed first, with other nominees listed below.-Winners and nominees:-External links:* *...
.
See also
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964 is a 1970 anthology of science fiction short stories, edited by Robert Silverberg. It is generally considered one of the best, if not the best, of the many science fiction anthologies...
, the best short stories from before the awarding of the Nebulas.