2009: The Year in Shorts

Every year, for the past several years, I've made it a goal to read at least one short work per day of the year. I may read several on one day and none over a few days, but I try to average it out. When I finally get all my archived postings up you'll see that some years I do better than others, but I've managed to hit that minimum each time.

Count for the year (as of December 28, 2009): 638 (goal of 365; 0 to go!).

Last year? 848! Can I do it again?

Goal for the year: Finish up the anthologies that I've got hanging around partly read before I start any new anthologies! A goal that will live in vain, more than likely, but one can hope!

Dan Abnett: The Founding (A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus)(1 story in 2009, continuing to read).

Daniel Abraham: Flat Diane (originally published in Fantasy & Science Fiction).

Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta: Rough Draft (Fictionwise).

Poul Anderson: The novels and short stories of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization series (25 entries in 2008, continuing to read). The Barbarian (Manybooks). On Thud and Blunder (SFWA). Security (Manybooks). To Outlive Eternity (from Baen Books and Webscriptions). The Burning Bridge. The Man Who Came Early.

Christopher Anvil: Interstellar Patrol 3 stories in 2009, continuing to read; (available for free here).

Ryan Arwood: The Aliens, Part 0 (of twenty; I don't know where I got it from, but I'm not seeking out the rest!).

Isaac Asimov (editor): The Hugo Winners (Volumes 1 and 2) (9 stories in 2006, 0 in 2007) (started the collection again in 2008 from the beginning: 6 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg (editors): Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) (7 stories in 2008, continuing to read). Reboot in 2009—started all over (3 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

Robert Lynn Asprin (editor): Sanctuary (omnibus of Thieves' World, Tales from the vulgar Unicorn and Shadows of Sanctuary) Also: First Blood (omnibus of the first two books in the series, plus one additional story) (11 stories, first book in the series finished; 9 stories, second book completed, 1 additional story in 2008, continuing to read).

Paolo Bacigalupi: The People of Sand and Slag; Yellow Card Man (Fictionwise).

James Baen (editor): Destinies, Volume 1, Number 1 (4 entries in 2007, in process).

Jim Baen: New Destinies 01.

Kage Baker: The Empress of Mars (formerly at Fictionwise).

Iain M. Banks: The State of the Art (1 story in 2008, continuing to read).

Christopher Barzak: The Language of Moths (1 story in 2009).

Gregory Benford: In Alien Flesh, Doing Lennon, Freezeframe, Mozart on Morphine, Matter's End, Dark Sanctuary, Time Shards, Relativistic Effects, Of Space-Time and the River (Fictionwise).

Judith Berman: The Awakening (Fictionwise).

Alfred Bester: Virtual Unrealities (2 stories in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

Ben Bova: The Sam Gunn Omnibus (19 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

Bertrand R. Brinley: The Mad Scientists' Club (8 entries in 2009, collection completed). The New Adventurers of The Mad Scientists' Club (6 entries in 2009, collection completed).

Michael A. Burstein: Paying It Forward (Fictionwise).

Lillian Stewart Carl and John Helfers (editors): The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold (1 entry in 2008, continuing to read).

Hal Clement: Hot Planet, Attitude (2 stories in 2009).

Glen Cook: An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire (1 entry in 2009, continuing to read).

Ellen Datlow (editor): Lovecraft Unbound (5 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

Gordon R. Dickson: Dickson! (2 stories in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

Arthur Conan Doyle (edited with a Foreword and Notes by Leslie S. Klinger): The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume 01 (40 entries in 2009, collection complete).

Gardner Dozois: The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Third Annual Collection (6 stories in 2006, five stories in 2007, continuing to read).

Gardner Dozois: The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection (3 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan: The New Space Opera (2 entries in 2007, 1 in 2008, continuing to read).

David Drake: The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume One; The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume Two; The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Volume Three (32 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

David Drake, Jim Baen and Eric Flint (editors): The World Turned Upside down (30 entries in 2009, collection complete).

Greg Egan: Chaff. Closer. Cocoon (3 stories in 2009). Crystal Night and Other Stories (1 entry in 2009, continuing to read).

Harlan Ellison: The Essential Ellison (edited by Terry Dowling, Richard Delap, Gil Lamont) (32 entries in 2009, continuing to read). An Edge in My Voice (63 entries in 2009, collection completed).

Richard Feynman: "Surely, You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character (42 entries read, collection completed). "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character (25 entries read, collection completed).

Eric Flint (editor): The Ring of Fire (16 stories, collection completed). Grantville Gazette, Volume 1 (8 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

Jacques Futrelle: The Thinking Machine: The Enigmatic Problems of Prof. Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S. (24 stories in 2009, collection completed).

Martin Gardner: The Colossal Book of Mathematics (4 entries in 2009, continuing to read). When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish (6 entries in 2009, continuing to read)

Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn (editors): Warhammer 40,000: Let the Galaxy Burn (5 entries in 2008, 7 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

Henry Gee (editor): Futures from Nature: 100 Speculative Fictions (101 entries, collection completed).

Edmond Hamilton: The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Volume Two: The Star-Stealers (The Complete Tales of the Interstellar Patrol) (4 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

Peter Hamilton: A Second Chance at Eden (4 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

David G. Hartwell (editor): The Science Fiction Century, Volume 1 and Volume 2 (2 stories in 2006, continuing to read).

David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (editors): Year's Best SF 10 (1 story in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (editors): Year's Best SF 13 (2 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (editors): The Space Opera Renaissance.

William Hope Hodgson: The House on the Borderland and Other Mysterious Places (The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson, Volume 2): 10 entries in 2009, continuing to read.

Rudyard Kipling: Complete Verses (Definitive Edition) (71 poems, counting every two poems as one entry, 35 entries in 2008, 20 entries in 2009; continuing to read). The Wish House and Other Stories (3 entries in 2009; continuing to read).

Nancy Kress: Out Of All Them Bright Stars (Fictionwise).

Henry Kuttner: Elak of Atlantis (1 story in 2008, continuing to read).

John Lambshead & John Treadway: The Hammer's Slammers Handbook (extended excerpt) (1 story in 2009).

Geoffrey A. Landis: Elemental; Embracing the Alien; Falling Onto Mars; Impact Parameter (Fictionwise).

Howard Philips Lovecraft and S.T. Joshi (editor and annotator): The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (2 stories, in 2009, continuing to read).

Arthur Machen and S.T. Joshi (editor): The Three Impostors and Other Stories (The Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen, Volume 1) (2 stories in 2009, continuing to read).

George Mann (editor): The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (4 entries in 2008, continuing to read).

Jack McDevitt: Outbound (8 entries in 2008, continuing to read).

Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz (3 entries in 2009, collection completed).

Michael Moorcock: Elric, Stealer of Souls (3 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

C.L. Moore: Black God's Kiss (2 stories in 2009, continuing to read).

Larry Niven (editor): Tales from Known Space Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven (10 stories in 2009, continuing to read).

Ellis Peters: A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael (1 story in 2009, continuing to read).

H. Beam Piper: A complete re-reading of his various works (5 stories in 2007, continuing to read).

Jerry Pournelle: Exile and Glory (omnibus of High Justice and Exiles to Glory) (2 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

Jerry Pournelle and Jim Baen (editors): Far Frontiers 01 (3 stories in 2009, continuing to read).

Rick Raphael: Code Three (1 story in 2009, continuing to read).

Alastair Reynolds: Galactic North (1 story in 2009, continuing to read).

Spider Robinson: The Callahan Chronicals (20 stories in 2009, collection complete).

Clifford D. Simak: Eternity Lost (The Collected Stories of Clifford D. Simak, Volume 1) (3 entries in 2008, continuing to read). City (6 stories in 2008, continuing to read).

"Cordwainer Smith" (Dr. Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger): The Instrumentality of Mankind (5 entries in 2008, continuing to read).

Allen Steele: Zwarte Piet's Tale, The Good Rat, The Death of Captain Future, Agape Among the Robots (Fictionwise).

Gav Thorpe: The Last Chancers (omnibus) (2 stories in 2009, continuing to read).

Jack Vance: The Jack Vance Treasury (11 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

Robert Van Gulik: Judge Dee at Work (3 stories in 2009, continuing to read) (omnibus review of series here).

Mark L. Van Name and T.K.F. Weisskopf (editors): Transhuman (8 entries in 2008, continuing to read).

Vernor Vinge: A variety of collections and stories (7 stories in 2006, 0 in 2007, 20 in 2008). 1 entry in 2009 (introduction to Bison Frontiers of Imagination of The Skylark of Space by E.E. "Doc" Smith)

Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden and Stephen R. Bisette (editors and authors): Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman (5 entries in 2009, continuing to read).

David Weber (editor): More Than Honor (1 story in 2007, in process). The Service of the Sword (2 stories in 2009, continuing to read).

Jack Williamson (edited by Stephen Haffner): The Metal Man and Others; The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume One (5 entries in 2007, continuing to read).

P.G. Wodehouse: A Man of Means (1 entry in 2008, continuing to read) (found at Manybooks).

Donald A. Wollheim (editor): The 1972 Annual World's Best SF (8 stories in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

Magazines/Periodicals:

Eric Flint (editor): Jim Baen's Universe, Volume 1, Number 1 (33 stories read in 2008, issue completed). Jim Baen's Universe, Volume 1, Number 2 (2 stories read in 2008, continuing to read).

Non Fiction Read: I'm going to start counting non-fiction in this round-up. I have found that the non-fiction magazines are piling up because, naturally, I want to keep the short count going. So each non-fiction magazine read will count between one and five entries, depending on how many articles really caught my attention (instead of just being skimmed). I will also count non-fiction that I read down here when the author is not linked to fiction reading or is part of a collection that is mixed between fiction and non-fiction.

Freeman Dyson: The Scientist as Rebel (2 entries in 2008, continuing to read). Started again in 2009: 29 entries in 2009, collection completed.

Loren Eiseley: The Unexpected Universe (1 essay in 2008, continuing to read). The Star Thrower (8 essays in 2009, continuing to read).

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays (1 essay in 2008, continuing to read).

Alan Lightman: Dance for Two (7 essays in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

Chet Raymo: The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage (3 essays in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

Ian Stewart: Letters to a Young Mathematician (14 essays in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).

Lewis Thomas: Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony (24 entries in 2009, collection completed).

Rick N. Tumlinson and Erin R. Medlicott (editors): Return to the Moon (4 essays in 2006, 0 in 2007, continuing to read).