Favorites from WotF anthologies

Good question!

Tina's "Twelve Seconds", of course. I got to see that one before it won. Fortunately it was too late for her to follow my bad advice!

Bill Ledbetter's "Rings of Mars" and Dr. Phil's Moon story (I forget the name) were right in my favorite niche. Stephen Sottong's "Planetary Scouts" was one I wish I had written!

Meghan's story ("The Siren", but again I may be forgetting the name) was very clever in the way it took a common trope and used it to explore the lives of people with mental illness.

Brad's "Exanastasis" was the first WotF story I ever read, so it set the standard.

Nick Tchan's "The Command to Love" is one I should've -- well, not hated, but not liked. It's sort of steampunk, sort of bizarre fantasy, completely not my thing. And I loved it! That takes extra skill.

Laurie Tom's "Living Rooms" is still my favorite fantasy of the 21st century.

Kary's? My lips are sealed... until April!

When I get home I'll try to do a complete list, but I'd say my all-time favorite is Jordan Ellinger's "After the Final Sunset, Again". I'd put it in my top-10 short stories of all time. I don't know why it hits me so hard, but it does. I'd give Martin's left pinky to be able to write a story like that.

http://www.jordanellinger.com/writers-of-the-future-vol-25/

There are a lot of good ones, but "Schrödinger’s Hummingbird" by Diana Rowland from Vol 22 is my favorite. A non-standard, logical exploration of time-travel powers. And freaking heartbreaking.

Okay, here's a more complete list of my favorites. I've read the last ten volumes and the Best Of, which I highly recommend.

"Twelve Seconds" by Tina Gower
"Of Woven Wood" by Marie Croke
"In Apprehension, How Like A God" by R.P.L Johnson
"Living Rooms" by Laurie Tom
"Garden of Tang Zi" by Emery Huang
"The Assignment of Runner ETI" by Fiona Lehn
"After the Final Sunset, Again" by Jordan Lapp/Ellington
"The Gas Drinkers" by Edward Cevdik
"Games on the Children's Ward" by Michail Velichansky
"On My Way to Paradise" by Dave Farland/Woverton
"Mudpuppies" by Robert Reed
"Jacob's Ladder" by M. Shayne Bell

There are dozens and dozens more that I really enjoyed, but I tried to narrow it down to my favorites. This was fun, thanks for starting this thread!

Hmm, I have to get my Nook to see look over my copies but I very much liked "Twelve Seconds" and "Planetary Scouts" too.

However one I can't recall the writer of but the title was "Cop For A Day", I think.

Good question.

Top 3:

1. Twelve Seconds by Tina Gower. V.29. This is my favorite short story of all time. I admire it as much for the writing as for the story. Possibly more. It completely changed my writing after I'd read it half a dozen times. (That didn't take long.) Now, nearly everything I write is 1st person present. Thus, nearly all my sales are in 1PP. I even followed Tina into several Margie Lawson classes because I had to know more about her style. What I learned there also boosted my writing.

2. Our Last Words by Damon Kaswell. V.23. This story caused salt water to leak from my eyes. No other story had done that before, none has since. I've only read it that initial time because I fear a complete loss of emotional control should I read it again. This is also the only time I've ever hunted down the author to tell them how much I enjoyed their work.

3. Saturn in G Minor by Stephen Kotowych. V.23. This starts out OK. Interesting, etc. Then the concept sank in, and I became lost in the characters, then it concluded more beautifully than any story I've ever read. The execution of the set up was way better than you'd imagine it could be while reading the story proper. It left me breathless.

Hmm, I have to get my Nook to see look over my copies but I very much liked "Twelve Seconds" and "Planetary Scouts" too.

However one I can't recall the writer of but the title was "Cop For A Day", I think.

Chrome Oxide. How could you forget that name?

Ha! I already have my list ready! I've read all the volumes at least twice.

My favorite WOTF stories. I chose these mostly because of their startlingly unique and original ideas, tropes, settings, and twists. Some are wickedly funny. Others are breathlessly suspenseful. They all have characters that are incredibly real. I could easily have doubled the size of this list.
Warning: there are slight spoilers on this list--very slight spoilers though--I wouldn't worry too much.)

Anne of a Thousand Years, by Michael Paul Meltzer (VIII) (to me, a perfect story)
A Plea for Mercy, by Ovjind Bernander (VII) (Stuck in an Alien snowglobe, come on!)
Flutterbyes, by Jo Etta Ledgerwood (VI) (hilarious!)
Riches Like Dust, by Scot Noel (VI) (what a great adventure)
The Magician, by Michael Landweber (VI) (sooo well-written)
Black Star and Dark Companion, by R. Garcia Robertson (IV) (talk about unique tropes)
The Poly Islands, by Gerald Warfield (XXVIII) (best setting ever!)
The Dictates, by Vaugn Heppner (freakin' funny!)
Silicon De Bergerac, by W. Eric Schult(X) An answering machine that talks back to you! I loved it.
Old Times There, by Dennis Minor IV (one of my favorite robot stories ever.)
Cop for a Day, by Chrome Oxide XXIX (clever and funny!)
Buffalo Dreams, by Jane Mailander (IV) (so good in so many ways)
The Troublesome Kordai Alliance and How it Was Settled, by Flonet Biltgen (IV) (you will laugh!)
The Stone Cyper, by Tony Pi (XXIII) (suspense!)
Evolution’s End, by Lee Beavington (XXII) (classic sci-fi!)
The Keeper Alone, by Michael Livingston (XXI) (really gives a sense of mood)
The Wallet & Maudie, by Dan’l Danehy-Oakes &Alan Wexelblack (V) (very poignant)
Arcadus Arcane, by Dennis J Pimple (I) (a great deal w/the devil story)
The Ebbing, by Leonard Carpenter, (I) (this is my kind of story)
Atlantis Ohio, by Mark Siegel, (XVI) (I really liked this one--great characters, fantastic idea)
A Conversation with Schliegelman (XVI) (perhaps one of the top ten time travel stories ever.)
Bottomless, by Luc Reid (XX) (talent is all through this story)
Conversation with a Mechanical Horse, by Floris M Kleijne (XX) (so good, darkly funny)
Eating, Drinking, Walking, by Dylan Otto Krider (XXVIII) (with a title like that, you can't go wrong.)
Cruciger, by Erin Casher (XXIV) (award for best character.)
Snakes & Ladders, by Paula R Stiles (XXIV) (I wish I thought of this idea!)
No Pets, by Tawn Stokes, (III) (Short and brutally funny---and sooo clever)
The Unreachable Voices of Ghosts, by Jeffrey Lyman XXVII (my favorite of the volume--very emotional)
Adjusting the Moon, by Kerawynn Long (IX) (loved this one---a perfect story really)
Wings, by Alan Smale (XIII) (I can read this one over and over it's that good.)
The Monitor, by John Richard DeRose. (IX) (breaks all the rules--I don't think there's any dialogue--loved it!)
Burnt Offerings, by Shira Daemon (XI) You'll never think of "the burning bush" the same way.
The Witch’s Cat, by Ann Miller Jordan (XI) Yes, even cat's can be the main character.
Invisible Man, by Larry Ferrill (VIII) Great suspenseful touching story.
Winter Night, With Kittens, by Sam Wilson (VIII) A sci-fi horror piece that will leave you breathless
Georgi, by James Glass, (VII) It won first place and it deserved it.
PloughShares, M. W. Keiper (XII) Very very short and very very amusing.
The Unhappy Golem of Rabbi Leitch (XII) I loved how this story ended
Evolution, by Esrac (weirdly, often the published finalists are my favorite in the volume--this is another story I can read over and over.)

Hmm, I have to get my Nook to see look over my copies but I very much liked "Twelve Seconds" and "Planetary Scouts" too.

However one I can't recall the writer of but the title was "Cop For A Day", I think.

Chrome Oxide. How could you forget that name?

Oh, that was his story. It didn't fit that name.

Great answers! Thanks guys

Ha! I already have my list ready! I've read all the volumes at least twice.

For the record, this is awesomely insane. Just possessing every volume is an accomplishment given how many are out of print. And the cost, and tracking them all down via booksellers...

So you totally inspired me to go back, back to the past. I just received my copy of vol 21 today. My first Budrys antho.
There's 15 stories in this one! Must have been a fun workshop week.

Anyway, I'll start on the stories tonight.

I haven't read as many of the anthologies as I should, but my favourites are:

After the Final Sunset, Again by Jordan Lapp/Ellington (my 1#)
Living Rooms by Laurie Tom
Of Woven Wood by Marie Croke
The Unreachable Voices of Ghosts, by Jeffrey Lyman
Maddy Dune's First and only spelling bee by Patrick O'Sullivan
Life in Steam by Gra Linnaea (mostly for showing me that there was at least 1 market for the stories that I like to write)

I've been meaning to post this for a long time, but I always got distracted; and now that I finally took the time to post it, who did I find posting just above?

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I've read precious few of the volumes yet, but "The command for love" by Nick Tchan is way beyond awesome.

I've been meaning to post this for a long time, but I always got distracted; and now that I finally took the time to post it, who did I find posting just above?

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I've read precious few of the volumes yet, but "The command for love" by Nick Tchan is way beyond awesome.

Thank you very much (and my apologies for taking so long to check in). Sometimes you have no idea whether anyone reads your stories and it's always immensely flattering to learn that someone did, let alone like it.

You're very welcome.
It's a story I really loved. I didn't actually read in WOTF anthology but in the Campbellian, and I thought "that's a story that really deserved to win WOTF." I hope I'll manage to write a story as good as that, some day.

I've only read V 28, v 30 and half of V 29 so far, but of those the most memorable was "My Name is Angela" (Harry Lang),

Gerald Warfield's "The Poly Islands" was an excellent read as well.

Conversation with a Mechanical Horse, by Floris M Kleijne (XX) (so good, darkly funny)

Thanks, Preston, I appreciate that! It was a fun story to write, too...

Ha! I already have my list ready! I've read all the volumes at least twice.

For the record, this is awesomely insane. Just possessing every volume is an accomplishment given how many are out of print. And the cost, and tracking them all down via booksellers...

So you totally inspired me to go back, back to the past. I just received my copy of vol 21 today. My first Budrys antho.
There's 15 stories in this one! Must have been a fun workshop week.

It was, Dustin, check it out: https://www.floriskleijne.nl/wotf/2005/ ! And the location was great: the Public Library in Seattle for the workshop, and the Space Needle and SF Museum for the Gala. Also, I highly recommend making it to the workshop twice: 2nd time around, I was able to shed enough of my star-struckness to actually take in some of the content...

Hope you enjoyed Vol.XXI! (And hope you enjoyed Meeting the Sculptor best, of course... )

Hi Floris!

Thanks for stopping by. Took me a few minutes to figure out who you were, then I ran to my shelf and grabbed V.21 and read your story - again. Loved it - again.

I don't have V.20, but will order it today.

You've inspired me to just go ahead and write my next story in a similar format to Sculptor. I prefer it, personally. It's like James Patterson for short stories (With or without jumps in time). He sells well enough.

Although Dave prefers the straight forward narrative, he's willing to take chances, Scott Parkin is proof of that.

For the record, I would LOVE to go to the workshop twice. Heh. I've had two shots at it, but came up empty. Still, I'm at my computer most mornings doing the best I can in order to get shot #3.

See ya around!

The two that stand out most in my mind are:

"Carrying the God" - Lee Battersby. I like evil endings.
"The Paradise Aperture" - David Carani. I thought this was a very unique story.

My top 5 are:
Stars That Make Dark Heaven Light - Sharon Joss
Switch - Steve Pantazis
Memories Bleed Beneath the Mask - Randy Henderson
The Jack of Souls - Stephen Merlino
The Minarets of An-Zabat - Jeremy TeGrotenhuis

Meghan's story ("The Siren", but again I may be forgetting the name) was very clever in the way it took a common trope and used it to explore the lives of people with mental illness.

Ditto! Her story is by far my favorite I've read in any WoTF anthology.

There are so many. There's a used book store in my town and whenever I had some spending money, I inevitably found one of the collections. And so many of the stories really stuck with me.

There was one about a homeless woman who finds a wallet that gives her money that she gradually uses to improve her situation. She only loses it when she plunks down cash on a luxury television. But she is still on the path to a better life and her speech to a mall security guard is a tear jerker.

I wish I could remember the title or which year it was selected.

My personal favorite so far is Adramelech by Sean Hazlett, V. 33.

What about the anthologies in general though? I'd love some suggestions about which one to buy next. (So far mine is V. 35. I've loved every story there.)

My personal favorite so far is Adramelech by Sean Hazlett, V. 33.

What about the anthologies in general though? I'd love some suggestions about which one to buy next. (So far mine is V. 35. I've loved every story there.)

My favourite volume is 31. I've read 30-35 (minus 32, which I'm part way through) and am currently part way through 36 and two or three older volumes.

I've only been reading since 35, but my favorite so far has been "Educational Tapes" by Katie Livingston that was in 36.

The way it told the story was very unique. It's not often you can tell a story from a second-person perspective and have it told that well.

My personal favorite so far is Adramelech by Sean Hazlett, V. 33.

What about the anthologies in general though? I'd love some suggestions about which one to buy next. (So far mine is V. 35. I've loved every story there.)

Sean was a member here for years. Cool dude.

V.31 is my favorite collection.

Funny to see my list from six years ago.
#1 is the same.
2 and 3 have changed.