Two weeks ago, we reported that Locus Online, the web-based offshoot of the newspaper of the science fiction and fantasy field, had announced the results of their ambitious poll to determine the best science fiction and fantasy novels of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The complete poll had three additional categories: novella, novelette, and short story. Since all votes were write-ins, compiling the short fiction results took a while longer, but LO‘s diligent editor Mark R. Kelly finally published them Saturday, January 5th. Here are the Top 10 vote-getters in the short fiction categories:

20th Century Short Story

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. Bradbury, Ray: “A Sound of Thunder” (1952)
7. Heinlein, Robert A.: “All You Zombies–” (1959)
8. Gibson, William: “Johnny Mnemonic” (1981)
9. Tiptree, James, Jr.: “The Screwfly Solution” (1977)
10. Jackson, Shirley: “The Lottery” (1948)

20th Century Novelette

1. Keyes, Daniel: “Flowers for Algernon” (1959)
2. Asimov, Isaac: “Nightfall” (1941)
3. Zelazny, Roger: “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” (1963)
4. Asimov, Isaac: “The Bicentennial Man” (1976)
5. Martin, George R. R.: “Sandkings” (1979)
6. 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. Godwin, Tom: “The Cold Equations” (1954)

20th Century Novella

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. Campbell, John W.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)
5. Varley, John: “The Persistence of Vision” (1978)
6. Wolfe, Gene: “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” (1972)
7. Leiber, Fritz: “Ill Met in Lankhmar” (1970)
8. Heinlein, Robert A.: “The Man Who Sold the Moon” (1950)
9. Kress, Nancy: “Beggars in Spain” (1991)
10. Moore, C. L. (& Henry Kuttner): “Vintage Season” (1946)

21st Century Short Story

1.  Chiang, Ted: “Exhalation” (2008)
2.  Lanagan, Margo: “Singing My Sister Down” (2004)
3.  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) — tie
5.* Le Guin, Ursula K.: “The Bones of the Earth” (2001) — tie
7.  Johnson, Kij: “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss”
8.  Abraham, Daniel: “The Cambist and Lord Iron” (2007)
9.*  Johnson, Kij: “Spar” (2009)
9.*  Reynolds, Alastair: “Zima Blue” (2005)

21st Century Novelette

1.  Chiang, Ted: “Hell Is the Absence of God” (2001)
2.  Chiang, Ted: “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” (2007)
3.  Gaiman, Neil: “A Study in Emerald” (2003)
4.  Bacigalupi, Paolo: “The Calorie Man” (2005)
5.*  Link, Kelly: “The Faery Handbag” (2004) — tie
5.*  Bacigalupi, Paolo: “The People of Sand and Slag” (2004) — tie
7.  Ford, Jeffrey: “The Empire of Ice Cream” (2003)
8.  Stross, Charles: “Lobsters” (2001)
9.*  Mieville, China: “Reports of Certain Events in London” (2004) — tie
9.*  Watts, Peter: “The Island” — tie

21st Century Novella

1. Link, Kelly: “Magic for Beginners” (2005)
2. Stross, Charles: “Palimpsest” (2009)
3. 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”
6. Reynolds, Alastair: “Diamond Dogs” (2001)
7. Willis, Connie: “Inside Job”
8. Stross, Charles: “The Concrete Jungle” (2004)
9. Baker, Kage: “The Empress of Mars” (2003)
10. Scalzi, John: “The God Engines” (2009)

The Complete results are here, including the Top 50 selections for most categories.

Congratulations — and thanks — are due to Mark, for what was surely a massive undertaking to organize and execute a poll on this scale.