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Home > List of science fiction short stories
This is a non-comprehensive list of short stories with significant science fiction elements . Due to the large number of short stories this list is limited to stories that have done one of the following,- Defined a sub-genre of science fiction.
- Founded an important science fiction series.
- Been the first to introduce a science fiction concept.
- Won major science fiction or general fiction awards.
- Topped a major bestseller list.
- Been important to the field of science fiction in another way.
1 Humans colonizing other planets
- Weyr Search (1968) by Anne McCaffrey
- Founding story of the Pern series. Won a Hugo in 1968.
2 Intelligent animals
- Genius of the Species (1956) by R. Brentor
- First use of technology to induce intelligence in cats
3 Large Artificial Worlds
- see also Big Dumb Object
- Orbitsville (1975) by Bob Shaw
- Huge artificial sphere enclosing a star (known as a Dyson Sphere)
4 Non 3-Dimensional Space
- Flatland (1884) by Edwin A. Abbott
- A classic tale of a two-dimensional being meeting 'A Sphere'
- ...And He Built a Crooked House (1941) by Robert Heinlein
- Story of a house that extends into the fourth dimension, much to the puzzlement of its occupants
- Robbie (1939) by Isaac Asimov
- First Robot story by Isaac Asimov, published in the September 1940 issue of Super Science Stories .
- Run Around (1942) by Isaac Asimov
- First story to list the Three Laws of Robotics, published in the March 1942 issue of Astounding.
6 Time Travel
- The Chronic Argonauts (1895) by H.G. Wells
- Probably the very first significant time travel story ever.
- All You Zombies... (1959) by Robert Heinlein
- A story featuring a neatly tangled set of time travel paradoxes.
- Ripples in the Dirac Sea (1988) by Geoffrey A. LandisGeoffrey A. Landis emerged in the late 1980s as one of the foremost scientist-writers in the science fiction genre. Landis holds a Ph. in solid-state physics from Brown University. He works for the NASA John Glenn Research Center, where he generates advan
- The affecting story of a scientist seesawing inescapably through time, this brilliant work effectively deconstructs most time-travel stories that came before. Winner of the 1989 Nebula AwardThe Nebula is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction stories published in the United States during the two previous years. See rolling eligibility below. There is no cash prize a for best short story.
7 CyberpunkCyberpunk (a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk) is a sub- genre of science fiction which focuses on computers or information technology. The plot of cyberpunk literature often revolves around the conflict between hackers, artificial intelligences, and m
- True NamesTrue Names was the science fiction novella which brought Vernor Vinge to prominence in 1981. It was one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories by William Gibson, Neal Stephenso (1981) by Vernor VingeVernor Steffen Vinge (pronounced VIN-jee, rhyming with 'stingy') (born February 10, 1944) is a mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author who is best known for his Hugo award-winning novel A Fire Upon the Deep and for his 1993 essay " Th
- One of the first stories to flesh out the idea of cyberspace.
(Note: This list may be more appropriate as a list of Significant Science Fiction Themes)
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