[Andorion]

Hi, I am in the mood for some great sci-fi and fantasy short fiction. Please recommend me some great classic or contemporary short story collections and/or omnibuses. I have already read Legends II and I have Asimov's The Complete Robot.

Short story collections are how I got into sci-fi. I read one collection edited by Silverberg and one by Dozois.

Also does Ursula Le Guin have a good short fiction collection? I was utterly blown away by Omelas.

[Salt-Man Z]

Le Guin has fiction collections. I haven't read them, but I own one or two.

Any collection by Gene Wolfe is fantastic (I like Starwater Strains and The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories).

The Apex Book of World SF is a good series.

Jeff & Ann VanderMeer's massive anthology The Weird is utterly phenomenal: 110 stories spanning 100 years of Weird SFF.

If you haven't read it yet, Swords & Dark Magic has Erikson's "Goats of Glory" set in the Malazan universe (but otherwise unrelated to anything.) The rest of the anthology is pretty good, too.

Alastair Reynolds' Galactic North has a bunch of really good SF stories set in his Revelation Space universe.

For fantasy, I really like Donaldson's Reave the Just and Other Stories.

Don't know if you're a Kindle man, but Saladin Ahmed's collection Engraved on the Eye is free, and very good.

And he's not really SFF, but I will never miss a chance to recommend the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. (One of my favorites, "The Aleph", appears in The Weird.)

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Awards (Nebula, Hugo, etc.) anthologies

[worry]

GRRM's Tuf Voyaging collection. Tuf is like a one-man benevolent (in his own way) Bauchelain & Korbal Broach...in space!

Legends I & II: they're hit and miss but have fantasy novellas from a lot of big names.

[Avatar]

I liked Asimovs short stories a lot when I was 17 or something. I think I would still like them. Short stories were good for examining cool stuff and ideas.

[Andorion]

Salt-Man Z, on 15 February 2019 - 06:54 PM, said:

Le Guin has fiction collections. I haven't read them, but I own one or two.

Any collection by Gene Wolfe is fantastic (I like Starwater Strains and The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories).

The Apex Book of World SF is a good series.

Jeff & Ann VanderMeer's massive anthology The Weird is utterly phenomenal: 110 stories spanning 100 years of Weird SFF.

If you haven't read it yet, Swords & Dark Magic has Erikson's "Goats of Glory" set in the Malazan universe (but otherwise unrelated to anything.) The rest of the anthology is pretty good, too.

Alastair Reynolds' Galactic North has a bunch of really good SF stories set in his Revelation Space universe.

For fantasy, I really like Donaldson's Reave the Just and Other Stories.

Don't know if you're a Kindle man, but Saladin Ahmed's collection Engraved on the Eye is free, and very good.

And he's not really SFF, but I will never miss a chance to recommend the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. (One of my favorites, "The Aleph", appears in The Weird.)

Thanks for all the recs! Regarding Le Guin I was considering something like the "Winds Twelve Quarters and The Compass Rose"
What I really want to get though is the Hainish boxset.

I have Reynold's Galactic North. Its really good. I will definitely look up the rest.

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 15 February 2019 - 08:03 PM, said:

Awards (Nebula, Hugo, etc.) anthologies

Like award winning short stories?

worry, on 15 February 2019 - 08:13 PM, said:

GRRM's Tuf Voyaging collection. Tuf is like a one-man benevolent (in his own way) Bauchelain & Korbal Broach...in space!

Legends I & II: they're hit and miss but have fantasy novellas from a lot of big names.

Didn't know about the GRRM think. I read GRRM's the Hedge Knight for the first time in Legends II and Robin Hobb's novella set in the Farseer universe as well. Its the only thing written by Hobb that I have actually liked. I also a short story set in The Symphony of Ages series, though I have forgotten the author. I don't think I have ever seen Legends 1.

Avatar, on 15 February 2019 - 09:56 PM, said:

I liked Asimovs short stories a lot when I was 17 or something. I think I would still like them. Short stories were good for examining cool stuff and ideas.

Yeah, a lot of the old sci-fi short stories are really good as the authors were experimenting with new stuff there. Flowers for Algernon, the Last Question and Nightfall were all short fiction first.

[James Hutton]

worry, on 15 February 2019 - 08:13 PM, said:

GRRM's Tuf Voyaging collection. Tuf is like a one-man benevolent (in his own way) Bauchelain & Korbal Broach...in space!

With cute cats! I re-read Tuf Voyaging a month or so ago, and it's fun.

This post has been edited by James Hutton: 17 February 2019 - 12:52 PM

[Zeto Demerzel]

Andorion, on 17 February 2019 - 04:58 AM, said:

Yeah, a lot of the old sci-fi short stories are really good as the authors were experimenting with new stuff there. Flowers for Algernon, the Last Question and Nightfall were all short fiction first.

You've menteiond the Last Question and Nightfall already so you might've read it already but, if not, I'd recommend Asimov's The Complete Stories. There are two volumes and I'd just recommend the first (the second is a rip-off and features shorts found elsewhere). Meaty volume containing 40+ shorts which I still find thought provoking on re-reads. There are also a couple of Early Asimov collections (vol 1 & 2 again) featuring shorts that are a bit more ... campy.

[Maark Abbott]

Shill shill shill the me

https://www.amazon.c...k/dp/B07NP1R5K5

https://www.goodread...3-it-s-a-living

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Maark Abbott, on 20 February 2019 - 08:43 AM, said:

Shill shill shill the me

https://www.amazon.c...k/dp/B07NP1R5K5

https://www.goodread...3-it-s-a-living

Did you write something in this?

[Salt-Man Z]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 20 February 2019 - 10:09 PM, said:

Did you write something in this?

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[Andorion]

I love the idea of this anthology. Will definitely try to get it.

[RACHEL]

https://www.goodread...rom_search=true I really liked the four stories in this collection.

[Abyss]

I have disliked most anthologies i have spent time reading, typically enjoying one or two stories and skim/skip/hated the rest.

If you're feeling Olde Schoole tho, LEGENDS was mostly quality by Big Name authors working in their well known worlds.




...aside from Goodkind, i mean. This was his one chance to do a story from the Evil Chicken's pov and he blew it.

[Andorion]

RACHEL, on 21 February 2019 - 03:55 PM, said:

https://www.goodread...rom_search=true I really liked the four stories in this collection.

Hey Rachel, this is quite the gem! The story blurbs are awesome!

"Red Sails" is set in the year 1740 when British marine and a Dominican Blackfriar are hunted across a cannibal isle by a savage crew of shapeshifting pirates.
"The Night of the Jikininki" is about a sadistic samurai sword tester who leads a pair of criminals in a bid to escape a prison filled with the ravenous walking dead.
"Sinbad and the Sword of Solomon" is set in 796, where Sinbad the Sailor leads his crew to a monster-haunted island to retrieve a magic sword from its demon owner.
And "Gully Gods" enters the modern era, where a South Houston gangbanger learns the utterly horrific secret behind the incomprehensible powers of a Liberian clique of ex-child soldiers.

Abyss, on 21 February 2019 - 04:01 PM, said:

I have disliked most anthologies i have spent time reading, typically enjoying one or two stories and skim/skip/hated the rest.

If you're feeling Olde Schoole tho, LEGENDS was mostly quality by Big Name authors working in their well known worlds.




...aside from Goodkind, i mean. This was his one chance to do a story from the Evil Chicken's pov and he blew it.

I loved Legends 2, so I was considering this anyway