Top Ten Novelettes

(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish)

Flash Fiction, Short stories, Novelettes, Novellas… there was a long time when I didn’t really appreciate them. I mostly associated them with those short extra stories for series which most often seemed redundant because they rarely gave new information and weren’t actually any good, at least not the ones I used to read a few years back. Then Tor.com started publishing short stories and novelettes, and suddenly I discovered a whole new world of fiction to fall in love with.

For someone who usually prefers bigger books of 500+ pages it was quite the surprise that I also love the very short kind now. They are perfect for when you lack time and want to read a whole story in just one day though. And I certainly won’t complain about there being a shit ton of stories available for free (Tor.com and Uncanny Magazine being my favorites of many sources).

Some authors completely blow my mind with their ability to express so much with such few words and I had a hard time choosing only ten. If you want more recommendations, I started a spreadsheet to keep track of all the stories I’ve read. (it’s still missing a lot though as I haven’t had time to track all the ones I’ve read yet)

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire
The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Drowning Eyes by Emily Foster
A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
The Warren by Brian Evenson

The Devil You Know by K.J. Parker
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
A Song for Quiet by Cassandra Khaw
A Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan
Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor

I also recommend subscribing to Cassandra Khaw’s tinyletter newsletter for receiving flash fiction once a week! Her writing is amazing.