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SKS
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PostBest Short Story?

Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:12 pm
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What are some of the best alternative reality short stories you've ever read? On a similar note, what are the best short story anthologies for alternative reality fiction?
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Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:28 pm
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Just out of curiousity, what would you consider an "alternative reality" short story? Are these stories that have been posted on this site, or ones that truly take place in an alternative reality?
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"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
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SKS
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 12:49 pm
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"Alternative Reality" is the term we have settled on in lieu of using the term "speculative fiction". While the latter term is well-codified as an umbrella term for speaking generally about science fiction, fantasy, and horror, we personally encountered a lot of resistance to the term in discussions on our associate pages. The consensus we found was that most people consider "speculative fiction" to be largely synonymous with "science fiction"

And so, for the purposes of the magazine, we took a cue from our own name, and decided to use the term "alternative reality fiction" in its place. This term is meant to encompass all types of fiction that take place in a fictional reality markedly different from our own, most often science fiction, fantasy, horror and historical fiction.

So, no. Not stories from the magazine. Alternative reality stories more generally.
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Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:50 pm
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O.K.

Hmmmmm... This takes out a couple of my favorites ( "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" would have taken the top spot, otherwise. "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Black Cat", "The Cask of the Amontillado" and "L.T.'s Theory of Pets" would have ranked high as well.)

Hmmmmm..... I'd have to say, from my understanding of the definition, would have to be "The Road Virus Heads North".

In terms of novellas, I would have normally Said "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption". But, in its stead, I'd say "Secret Window, Secret Garden".
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"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
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DougGogerty
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:38 am
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I've always liked Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. Asimov is at his best in short story form... I like a lot of his early Robot stories. A lot of the stuff in "Weird Tales" and other early SciFi magazines are enjoyable. Currently, they are releasing Robert E Howard's work from "Weird Tales" in anthology form. I think they are up to volume 3 or something. He has some good short stories...

I also like most of Edgar Allen Poe's stuff. I especially like The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Which leads to my liking of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

I am also quite partial to The New Computer, but I'm biased...
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Violanthe
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:46 pm
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I haven't read many short stories, actually. Are there some good compendiums?
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:22 pm
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If you want Short Stories, the best volume I can think of is Stephen King's collection, Everything's Eventual. That has a great number of my favorites (All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, L.T.'s Theory of Pets, The Road Virus Heads North, Autopsy Room Four, The Man in the Black Suit), plus brief accounts and stories of how the ideas came to him or what they meant to him, which are both highly informative and, more often than not, contagiously funny.

If you want novellas, I'd suggest two more King collections, Four Past Midnight (The Langoliers and Secret Window, Secret Garden) and Different Seasons (Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption) (The collection as a whole really shows a more "literary" side of his).
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"It ain't all buttons and charts little Albatross. You know what the first rule of flyin' is?... Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she ain't keepin' up just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her up when she ought to fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes her home." Captain Malcom Reynalds, "Serenity"
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Jay Tomio
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:46 am
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Quote:
I haven't read many short stories, actually. Are there some good compendiums?


Some that I think are excellent:

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
Tales of Old Earth by Michael Swanwick
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth: And Other Stories by Roger Zelazny
The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
The Complete Short Stories by J.G. Ballard
New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
A Universal History of Infamy by Jorge Luis Borges
A New Universal History of Infamy by Rhys Hughes
Nowhere Near Milk Wood by Rhys Hughes
The Jaguar Hunter by Lucius Shepard
Trujillo by Lucius Shepard
Burning Your Boats: Collected Short Stories by Angela Carter
The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter
The Fantasy Writer's Assistant by Jeffrey Ford
The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka
Endangered Species by Gene Wolfe
Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories by Gene Wolfe
The Island of Doctor Death: And Other Stories by Gene Wolfe
In the Palace of Repose by Holly Phillips
The Wind's Twelve Quarters by Ursula Leguin
Things That Never Happen by M. John Harrison
Secret Life by Jeff VanderMeer
A Periodic Table of Science Fiction by Michael Swanwick
The Panic Hand by Jonathan Carroll
Lost Pages by Paul Di Filippo
Neutrino Drag by Paul Di Filippo
The Emperor of Gondwanaland: And Other Stories by Paul di Filippo
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Voyages by Starlight by Ian R. Macleod
Breathmoss and Other Exhalations by Ian R. Macleod
Greetings from Lake Wu by Jay Lake
Little Gods by Tim Pratt
The Secret of This Book by Brian Aldiss
The Devil in Brisbane by Zoran Zivkovic
The Martian Chronciles by Ray Bradbury
A Medicine for Melancholy by Ray Bradbury
The Man Who Had No Idea by Thomas Disch
EVERYTHING by Philip K. Dick
Partial Eclipse: And Other Stories by Graham Joyce
Tales of Ten Worlds by Arthur C. Clarke
The Gods of Pegana by Lord Dunsany
The Book of Wonder by Lord Dunsany
Tales of Three Hemispheres by Lord Dunsany
Star Songs of an Old Primate by James Tiptree
The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber
The White People: And Other Tales by Arthur Machen
The Three Impostors by Arthur Mchen (collection version incldues The Great God Pan as well)
Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith
Red World of Polaris by Clark Ashton Smith
Strange Shadows by Clark Ashton Smith
The Start of the End of It All: And Other Stories by Carol Emshwiller
If Lions Could Speak: And Other Stories by Paul Park
Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison (this is an anthology not a collection, but perhaps the single most important one in terms of progressive quality speculaive fiction ever publishied)
The Essential Ellison: A 50 Year Retrospective by Harlan Ellison
Of Tales and Enigmas by Minsoo Kang
Love's Body, Dancing in Time by L. Timmel Duchamp
Seven Tales and a Fable by Gwyneth Jones
Mother Aegypt by Kage Baker
Transfigured Night: And Other Stories by Richard Bowes
Novelties and Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction - John Crowley
Antiquities: Seven Stories - byy John Crowley
Will the Last Person To Leave the Planet Please Shut Off the Sun? by Michael Resnick
The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye by Jonathan Lethem
Men and Cartoons: Stories by Jonathan Lethem
Night Moves: And Other Stories by Tim Powers
13 Phantasms: And Other Stories by James Blaylock
The Longest Single Note: And Other Strange Compositions by Peter Crowther
The House on the Borderland And Other Novels by William Hope Hodgson (okay so it's horror)
At the Mountains of Madness: And Other Novels of Terror
by HP lovecraft
Punktown by Jeffrey Thomas
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
Unconquered Countries by Geoff Ryman
Luminous by Greg Egan
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
Werewolves in Their Youth by Micahel Chabon
Mothers and Other Monsters by Maureen Mchugh
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DougGogerty
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:37 pm
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Quote:
Some that I think are excellent:

I guess that would be a good start... I'll look for the complete list later!
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Violanthe
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:12 pm
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As usual, Jay, thanks for such a comprehensive list!
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Jay Tomio
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:21 am
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I forgot Vermillion Sands by JG Ballard.
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Violanthe
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:18 pm
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Thanks, Jay. I'm wondering, is there one or two you would suggest to start with? Say, for someone who usually reads novels and hasn't read much short fiction?
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DougGogerty
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:20 pm
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In the before time there were lots of science fiction short stories being written. So, many early science fiction writers wrote in this format. Robert E. Howard, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, Philip K Dick -- the list goes on and on.

So, you cannot go wrong with compilations of any of these writers. Many of them are at their best in the short format. Also, there are plenty of collections to choose from. I personally started with Poe and Bradbury. Dick and Asimov came next. You may like Fritz Leiber if you aren't already familiar with him. He wrote some fantasy...
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Jay Tomio
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Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 4:42 am
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Quote:
Thanks, Jay. I'm wondering, is there one or two you would suggest to start with? Say, for someone who usually reads novels and hasn't read much short fiction?


What type of short story do you prefer to test out first?
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Violanthe
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Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 11:56 am
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I'm more of a fantasy (leaning toward historical or political, rather than high fantasy) person myself. But the question was intended more generally as well. Perhaps, a few recommendations for science fiction and a few for fantasy (and maybe one or two specifically for me)?
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pecooper
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PostShort story collection recommendations

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:59 pm
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I don�t know what Jay is going to recommend, Violanthe, but I�ll take a stab at a list.

Roger Zelazny.
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth: And Other Stories
This is a great collection of his early works. Zelazny is a writer who bridges the science fiction/fantasy gap. He is also one of the finest writers of short fiction. If you can�t find this one, you might try some of his other collections: The Last Defender of Camelot, Frost & Fire or Unicorn Variations.

Ray Bradbury.
The Martian Chronicles
This is his best known collection. Ray Bradbury is probably the best known SF shot fiction writer. He�s even read outside the field. If you can�t find this one, he has some others I would recommend: A Medicine for Melancholy or R Is For Rocket.

Lord Dunsany.
In the Land of Time: And Other Fantasy Tales
This is the most recent collection of his work. It contains representative stories from his whole career. Lord Dunsany is the premier fantasy writer of the early 20th century, and he is somebody you should definitely read, if only for perspective. If you can�t find this one, there are the fantasy books that Jay recommends: The Gods of Pegana and The Book of Wonder. There is also a collection of very entertaining tall tails, Tales of Three Hemispheres.

Cordwainer Smith
The Rediscovery of Man
Technically, this is science fiction, but the style and subject matter are very reminiscent of fantasy. Cordwainer Smith wrote the some of the oddest and most bizarre SF of all time. He was who Robert Silverberg wanted to be when he grew up. Don�t try to read these stories straight through. This book is for dipping into. He does have some other collections.

R.A. Lafferty.
Nine Hundred Grandmothers
My favorite of his collections. R.A. Lafferty is another unclassifiable short fiction writer. His stuff is wacky, sometimes funny, and always very strange. He also has a large number of collections, any one of which is readable.

Harlan Ellison.
Pretty much any of his collections.
Harlan Ellison was one of the foremost short fiction writers of the 60s and 70s, and still turns out a story occasionally. You should get familiar with him. He writes at the top of his lungs. Get one book and read it. Then stop, because when you read too much of his stuff close together, you begin to notice that he repeats himself horribly. I don�t suggest reading Dangerous Visions. It may have been an important anthology in its day, but a lot of what it contains doesn�t really hold up at all well.

Clifford D. Simak.
Over the River & Through the Woods
The most available of his short story collections. Just plain nice SF. Clifford D. Simak was SF�s pastoralist, and his work repays reading. If you can�t find this book, he has other collections. All the Traps of Earth Is probably the best of them. There is also City, which is a collection of linked stories that is often listed as a novel.
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Violanthe
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 12:31 pm
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Thanks pecooper! That's a great intro to short fiction!
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