The Long List Anthology Volume 4: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List

by David Steffen (Editor), Mary Robinette Kowal (Contributor), Tobias S. Buckell (Contributor)

This is the fourth annual edition of the Long List Anthology. Every year, supporting members of WorldCon nominate their favorite stories first published during the previous year to determine the top five in each category for the final Hugo Award ballot. This is an anthology collecting more of the stories from that nomination list to get them to more readers.

The Long List Anthology Volume 4 collects 15 science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories from that nomination list, stories by writers from all corners of the world. From utopian science fiction to dystopian horror, from a society based entirely on personal upvotes/downvotes to one where one's status is defined by enchanted gloves, from a kickass blockade-running spaceship pilot to an artist who can twist the world with his perspective. There is a wide variety of styles and types of stories here, and something for everyone.

Contents:
—Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance / short story by Tobias S. Buckell
—Waiting Out the End of the World at Patty's Place Cafe / short story by Naomi Kritzer
—Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue / short story by Charlie Jane Anders
—Confessions of a Con Girl / short story by Nick Wolven
—Utopia, LOL? / short story by Jamie Wahls
—The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom / short story by Max Gladstone
—Paradox / short story by Naomi Kritzer
—Angel of the Blockade / short story by Alex Acks
—The Fisher of Bones / short story by Sarah Gailey
—Crispin's Model / short story by Max Gladstone
—The Dark Birds / short story by Ursula Vernon
—Waiting On a Bright Moon / short story by JY Yang
—Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics / short story by Jess Barber, Sara Saab
—A Human Stain / short story by Kelly Robson
—The Worshipful Society of Glovers / short story by Mary Robinette Kowal

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Horror, Fiction

345 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 17, 2018

Reviews

[Alexander Pyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I have read a "long list" and this wasn't bad. Some of the stories I found to be wanting, but I will list my best picks that maybe should have been short listed.

Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance by Tobias Bucknell (I read this previously in Lightspeed, but I loooove this story.)
Angel in the Blockade - by Alex Acks
Crispin's Model by Max Gladstone
Waiting on a Bright Moon by JY Yang
A Human Stain by Kelly Robson

[bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

* = favourites

Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance by Tobias S. Buckell: 5/5*
Waiting Out the End of the World at Patty's Place Cafe by Naomi Kritzer: 4.75/5
Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue by Charlie Jane Anders: 5/5
Confessions of a Con Girl by Nick Wolven: 5/5*
Utopia, LOL? by Jamie Wahls: 2.75/5
The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom by Max Gladstone: 4/5
Paradox by Naomi Kritzer: 3.5/5
Angel of the Blockade by Alex Acks: 5/5* (This one was my absolute favourite!)
The Fisher of Bones by Sarah Gailey: 5/5 (SUPER haunting... I'm still thinking about this one, but I wouldn't count it as a favourite for some reason. However, this is the best story in the anthology in terms of technique and impact, in my opinion)
Crispin's Model by Max Gladstone: 3.5/5
The Dark Birds by Ursula Vernon: 4.75/5
Waiting On a Bright Moon by JY Yang: 5/5
Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics by Jess Barber and Sarah Saab: 5/5*
A Human Stain by Kelly Robson: 3.75/5
The Worshipful Society of Glovers by Mary Robinette Kowal: 4/5

Final average rating: 4.4/5

Overall, it's an extremely solid anthology of short sci-fi/fantasy/horror stories. Usually when I read short story anthologies, there's one or two standouts and the rest are a slog, but that definitely wasn't the case here. I would recommend every single one of the stories I read here, with one or two exceptions.

[Rainbowgardener · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with many short story collections, the rating is an average between some excellent ones and some not so much. But in this case there were some terrible ones, a bunch of kind of run of the mill dystopian future stories and fantasy stories and only a few really excellent ones.
I'm too old to really enjoy short story collections. By the time I have finished reading fifty short stories, I don't really remember any of them. It gives me that eating cotton candy feeling, pleasant in the mouth and then just disappears, with no substance, leaving nothing behind.

[Roxie Klinksiek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

Of course I expected great stories, after all they were all on the long list for the Hugo award. Some of them were charming, some were thoughtful, and some I really didn't enjoy at all. But over all they were all well written. If you like horror and dark fantasy you will love this collection.

[Steve Lomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the final 3 stories this is a set of brilliantly imagined world's used to explore a number of important issues/concepts in depth.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hated "A Human Stain", a couple of other meh ones, the rest were great.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good and some meh.

[MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

REad at some point but forgot to note. Off to put the others on reserve. Hugo nominations...what's not to like?

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed some of the offerings, but passed on a lot of them after only a few pages.