Clifford D. Simak

American science fiction writer (1904–1988)

"Simak" redirects here. For the village in Iran, see Simak, Iran.

Clifford D. Simak

Born| Clifford Donald Simak
(1904-08-03)August 3, 1904
Millville, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died| April 25, 1988(1988-04-25) (aged 83)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation| Journalist, popular writer
Alma mater| University of Wisconsin–Madison
Period| 1931–1986 (fiction)
Genre| Science fiction, fantasy
Subject| Popular science
Notable works|

* Way Station
* City
* The Visitors

Simak's first story, "The World of the Red Sun", was listed on the cover of Wonder Stories in 1931. Simak as pictured in Wonder Stories in 1931.

Clifford Donald Simak (/ˈsɪmək/;[1] August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award.[2][3] The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master,[4] and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.[5] He is associated with the pastoral science fiction subgenre.[6]

## Biography

[edit]

### Early life, education, and journalism career

[edit]

Simak was born in Millville, Wisconsin in 1904.[3] The son of John Lewis and Margaret (Wiseman) Simak, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison and then taught in the public schools until 1929.[3] He later worked at various newspapers in the Midwest. He began a lifelong association with the Minneapolis Star and Tribune (in Minneapolis, Minnesota) in 1939, which continued until his retirement in 1976. He became Minneapolis Star's news editor in 1949 and coordinator of Minneapolis Tribune's Science Reading Series in 1961.[3]

### Personal life

[edit]

He married Agnes Kuchenberg on April 13, 1929, and they had two children, Richard "Dick" Scott (1947–2012) and Shelley Ellen. In his novel Time and Again he wrote, "I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty three years and have two children. My favorite recreation is fishing (the lazy way, lying in a boat and letting them come to me). Hobbies: Chess, stamp collecting, growing roses." He dedicated the book to his wife Kay, "without whom I'd never have written a line". He was well liked by many of his science fiction-writing friends, especially Isaac Asimov.

### Death

[edit]

He died in Minneapolis on April 25, 1988.[3][7][8]

## Writing career

[edit]

The first installment of Simak's "Time Quarry" was the cover story in the debut issue of Galaxy Science Fiction in 1950. Simak's novelette "Installment Plan" was the cover story in the February 1959 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

Simak became interested in science fiction after reading the works of H. G. Wells as a child. His first contribution to the literature was "The World of the Red Sun", published by Hugo Gernsback in the December 1931 issue of Wonder Stories with one opening illustration by Frank R. Paul.[9] Within a year, he placed three more stories in Gernsback's pulp magazines and one in Astounding Stories, then edited by Harry Bates.[9] Yet his only science fiction publication between 1932 and 1938 was "The Creator" (Marvel Tales #4, March–April 1935), a story with religious implications, which was then rare in the genre.

Once John W. Campbell, at the helm of Astounding from October 1937,[10] began redefining the field, Simak returned and was a regular contributor to Astounding Science Fiction (as it was renamed in 1938)[10] throughout the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1938–1950). At first, as in the 1939 serial novel Cosmic Engineers, he wrote in the tradition of the earlier "super science" subgenre that E. E. "Doc" Smith perfected, but he soon developed his own style, which is usually described as gentle and pastoral.[11] During this period, Simak also published a number of war and western stories in pulp magazines. City, a fix-up novel from this period based on short stories with a common theme of mankind's eventual exodus from Earth, won the International Fantasy Award.

Simak continued to produce award-nominated novels throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Aided by a friend, he continued writing and publishing science fiction and, later, fantasy, into his 80s. He believed that science fiction not rooted in scientific fact was responsible for the failure of the genre to be taken seriously, and stated his aim was to make the genre a part of what he called "realistic fiction."

## Themes

[edit]

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Simak's stories often have a rural setting, which led to his style being described as "pastoral" or "pastoral science fiction".[12]: 27 Crusty individualistic backwoodsman characters often appear - for example, Hiram Taine, the protagonist of "The Big Front Yard". Hiram's dog "Towser" (sometimes "Bowser") is common to many of Simak's works. The rural setting is not always idyllic; for instance, in Ring Around the Sun, it is largely dominated by intolerance and isolationism.

Many of his aliens have a dry, otherworldly sense of humor, and others are unintentionally amusing, in their speech, behavior or appearance. His robots are full of personality, as are his dogs. By contrast, his "heroes" are ciphers. His protagonists are often boring men, never described and never reappearing. One of Simak's editors objected to his stories because his heroes were "losers". Simak replied, "I like losers."[13]

Many of Simak's story lines involve a quest, or a mission. Characters set out, alone, and acquire companions, often unlikely matches, along the way. On the journey, some fall by the wayside, and of these, some are reunited with the group, whilst others never heard from again.

Simak's stories often say that there is no past time for a time traveler to go to. Our world moves along in a stream of time, and to move to a different place in time is to move to another world. Thus in City our Earth is overrun by ants, but the intelligent dogs and the remaining humans escape to other worlds in the time stream. In Ring Around the Sun, the persecuted paranormals escape to other Earths which, if they could all be seen at once, would be at different stages of their orbit around the Sun, hence the title. In Time Is the Simplest Thing a paranormal escapes a mob by moving back in time, only to find that the past is a place where there are no living things and inanimate objects are barely substantial.

Time travel also plays an important role in Time and Again. A long-lost space traveler returns with a message which is science fiction-slanted, yet religious in tone. Having crashed on a planet, he is then nurtured by ethereal duplicates that seem to accompany every sentient being throughout life. His befuddled observations are seized upon by religious factions, and a schism then threatens to erupt into war on Earth.

Intelligence, loyalty and friendship, the existence of God and souls, the unexpected benefits and harm of invention, tools as extensions of humanity, and more questions are often explored by Simak's robots, whom he uses as "surrogate humans".[14] They begin as likable mechanical persons, but change in surprising ways. Having achieved intelligence, robots move on to common themes such as, "Why are we here?" and "Do robots have souls"? Examples are the faithful butler Jenkins in City, the religious robot Hezekiel in A Choice of Gods, the frontier robots in Special Deliverance and A Heritage of Stars, and the monk-like robots in Project Pope who seek heaven.

In "All the Traps of Earth", a 600 year-old robot, a family retainer who earned the name Richard Daniel, is considered chattel to be reprogrammed and lose all its memories. The robot runs away, hitches onto a spaceship, and passes through hyperspace unprotected. Daniel gains the ability to see and fix problems in anything – a ship, a robot, a human – telekinetically, but is still drifting and hunted as chattel. He stumbles on a frontier planet and finds a purpose, helping the pioneers as a doctor, a servant, a colonist, and a friend. And here Daniel achieves an epiphany: Human beings are more clever than they know. Human-created robots, set loose, can become agents with para-human abilities that benefit humanity. Thus do robots, and humankind, escape "all the traps of earth".

The religious theme is often present in Simak's work, but the protagonists who have searched for God in a traditional sense tend to find something more abstract and inhuman. Hezekiel in A Choice of Gods cannot accept this: "God must be, forever, a kindly old (human) gentleman with a long, white, flowing beard."

Simak's short stories and longer novellas range from the contemplative and thoughtfully idyllic to pure terror, although the punch line is often characteristically understated, as in "Good Night, Mr. James" and "Skirmish'". There is also a group of humorous stories, including "The Big Front Yard". Way Station is, in the midst of all of the science fiction paraphernalia, a psychological study of a lonely man who has to make peace with his past and finally manages to do so, but not without personal loss. The contemplative nature of the Simak character is a recurring trait of the author's style.

Other traditional science fiction themes in Simak's work include the importance of knowledge and compassion, such as in "Immigrant" and "Kindergarten". Identity play, as in "Good Night, Mr. James" (filmed as The Outer Limits: The Duplicate Man in 1964). Fictions come to life in "Shadow Show" and elsewhere, such as the novel Out of Their Minds. There is a revolt of the machines in "Skirmish", and a meeting with an alien world in "Beachhead", also known as "You'll Never Go Home Again". (Many of these are in his collection Strangers in the Universe.)

Simak sometimes wrote stories close to his profession as a writer. For example, in the novelette "So Bright the Vision" (1968), he portrayed artificial intelligence writing software similar to ChatGPT, but focusing on socio-psychological issues.[15]

Finally, Simak throws in many science fictional fillips that remain unexplained. Simak's characters encounter alien creatures and concepts they simply cannot understand, and never will. For example, in Special Deliverance, the humans are stalked by The Wailer, which turns out to be a huge wolf-like creature that bellows an infinitely sad howl. They never learn what the creature is, why it seems sad, or how it got there.

Simak sums up his life's work in the foreword to his collection Skirmish. After explaining what themes he avoids – no large-scale alien invasions, no space wars, no empire sagas – he states:

> Overall, I have written in a quiet manner; there is little violence in my work. My focus has been on people, not on events. More often than not I have struck a hopeful note ... I have, on occasions, tried to speak out for decency and compassion, for understanding, not only in the human, but in the cosmic sense. I have tried at times to place humans in perspective against the vastness of universal time and space. I have been concerned where we, as a race, may be going, and what may be our purpose in the universal scheme – if we have a purpose. In general, I believe we do, and perhaps an important one.

## Works

[edit]

Main article: Clifford D. Simak bibliography

From 1950 to 1986 Clifford Simak wrote more than 30 novels and four non-fiction works, with Way Station winning the 1964 Hugo Award. More than 100 of his short stories were published from 1931 to 1981 in the science fiction, western, and war genres, with "The Big Front Yard" winning the 1959 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short Story in 1981.[2] One more short story, "I Had No Head and My Eyes Were Floating Way Up in the Air", had been written in 1973 for publication in Harlan Ellison's never-published anthology The Last Dangerous Visions and was first published posthumously in 2015.[16]

One of his short stories, "Good Night, Mr. James", was adapted as "The Duplicate Man" on The Outer Limits in 1964. Simak notes this is a "vicious story—so vicious that it is the only one of my stories adapted to television."[13]

## Awards and honors

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The Science Fiction Writers of America made Simak its third SFWA Grand Master in 1977, after Robert Heinlein and Jack Williamson.[3][4] In 1987 the Horror Writers Association named him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, with Fritz Leiber and Frank Belknap Long.[5] Asteroid 228883 Cliffsimak, discovered by French amateur astronomer Bernard Christophe in 2003, was named in his memory.[17] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on March 30, 2010 (M.P.C. 69496).[18]

Other lifetime awards

* Minnesota Academy of Science Award for distinguished service to science 1967
* First Fandom Hall of Fame award 1973

Best-of-year literary awards[2]

* Retro Hugo for best novelette, “Rule 18” (Astounding Science-Fiction, July 1938)
* Retro Hugo for best novelette, "City" (Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1944)[19]
* International Fantasy Award for best fiction book (1953) for City
* Hugo Award for best novelette (1959) for "The Big Front Yard"
* Hugo Award for best novel (1964) for Way Station
* Jupiter Award for best novel (1978) for A Heritage of Stars
* Hugo Award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing Deer"
* Nebula Award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing Deer"[2]
* Locus Award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing Deer"
* Analytical Laboratory award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing Deer"

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "NLS: Say How". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 8, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
2. ^ a b c d "Simak, Clifford D." Archived August 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index to Literary Nominees. Locus Publications. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
3. ^ a b c d e f "Science Fiction Novelist Clifford D. Simak, 83". The Los Angeles Times. April 29, 1988. p. 46\. Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2017 - via Newspapers.com.
4. ^ a b "Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master" Archived July 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Retrieved June 18, 2012.
5. ^ a b "Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement" Archived November 15, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Horror Writers Association (HWA). Retrieved April 5, 2013.
6. ^ Cokinos, Christopher. "The Pastoral Complexities of Clifford Simak: The Land Ethic and Pulp Lyricism in Time and Again". Extrapolation, Volume 55, Number 2 https://doi.org/10.3828/extr.2014.9
7. ^ Bramscher, Paul. "Clifford Simak's Biography". Paul Bramscher. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2017.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (archive.org link)
8. ^ "Clifford D. Simak, 83, Journalist And Science-Fiction Writer, Dies". The New York Times. April 28, 1988. p. D27.
9. ^ a b Clifford D. Simak at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved April 5, 2013.
10. ^ a b "Astounding/Analog – Series Bibliography" Archived December 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. ISFDB. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
11. ^ Sandro Pergameno, introduction to the Italian edition of Project Pope. Nord, Milan, 1982.
12. ^ Ewald, Robert J. (2006). "The Early Simak". When the Fires Burn High and the Wind is from the North: The pastoral science fiction of Clifford D. Simak. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-55742-218-7.
13. ^ a b Simak, C.D. Skirmish. Author's foreword.
14. ^ Simak, C.D. Skirmish: The great short fiction of Clifford D. Simak. Author's foreword.
15. ^ "ChatGPT Predicted 55 Years Ago in Science Fiction Novel". March 9, 2023.
16. ^ Simak, Clifford D. (October 2015). I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories. Open Road Integrated Media. pp. 61–82. ISBN 978-1-5040-1267-6.
17. ^ "228883 Cliffsimak (2003 PT4)". Minor Planet Center. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
18. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Archived from the original on April 26, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
19. ^ "1945 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced". July 29, 2020.

## Sources

[edit]

* Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series. Detroit, Gale Research Co.
* Sam Moskowitz Seekers of Tomorrow (1967) (one chapter covers Simak)
* "Obituaries: Clifford D. Simak." The Herald (Melbourne), April 29, 1988.
* Weatherby, W. J. "Obituary of Clifford Simak, realist of SF". Guardian Newspapers Limited/The Guardian (London), April 29, 1988.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Muriel R. Becker, Clifford D. Simak, a Primary and Secondary Bibliography (1980).
* Hardy Kettlitz, Clifford D. Simak: pastorale Harmonien, Shayol Verlag, 2012. (German).
* Mark Owings, The Electric Bibliograph 1: Clifford D. Simak.
* Phil Stephensen-Payne, Clifford D. Simak: A Working Bibliography (1991, ISBN 1-871133-28-9)

## External links

[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Clifford D. Simak.

* Clifford Donald Simak Papers
* Eldonejo ‘Mistera Sturno’ An authorized translation of Way Station into Esperanto as a free ebook.
* Works by Clifford D. Simak at Project Gutenberg
* Works by or about Clifford D. Simak at the Internet Archive
* Works by Clifford D. Simak at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
* Clifford D. Simak at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* Clifford D. Simak at the Internet Book List
* Clifford D. Simak at IMDb
* The Science Fiction Short Stories of Clifford D. Simak
* "An Interview with Clifford D. Simak" from Tangent, May 1975
* "City Slickers, Country Bumpkins, Ants, Robots and Mutants" (Part One and Part 2) at The Grantville Gazette
* Clifford D. Simak – The International Bibliography
* Clifford D. Simak at Find a Grave

* v
* t
* e

Novels by Clifford D. Simak

* The Creator (1946)
* Cosmic Engineers (1950)
* Time and Again (1951)
* City (1952)
* Ring Around the Sun (1953)
* Time is the Simplest Thing (1961)
* Way Station (1963)
* All Flesh is Grass (1965)
* The Werewolf Principle (1967)
* Why Call Them Back from Heaven? (1967)
* The Goblin Reservation (1968)
* Shakespeare's Planet (1976)
* The Visitors (1980)
* Project Pope (1981)

* v
* t
* e

Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement

* Fritz Leiber / Frank Belknap Long / Clifford D. Simak (1987)
* Ray Bradbury / Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1988)
* Robert Bloch (1989)
* Hugh B. Cave / Richard Matheson (1990)
* Gahan Wilson (1991)
* Ray Russell (1992)
* Joyce Carol Oates (1993)
* Christopher Lee (1994)
* Harlan Ellison (1995)
* Ira Levin / Forrest J Ackerman (1996)
* William Peter Blatty / Jack Williamson (1997)
* Ramsey Campbell / Roger Corman (1998)
* Edward Gorey / Charles L. Grant (1999)
* Nigel Kneale (2000)
* John Farris (2001)
* Stephen King / J. N. Williamson (2002)
* Martin H. Greenberg / Anne Rice (2003)
* Michael Moorcock (2004)
* Peter Straub (2005)
* Thomas Harris (2006)
* John Carpenter / Robert Weinberg (2007)
* F. Paul Wilson / Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (2008)
* Brian Lumley / William F. Nolan (2009)
* Ellen Datlow / Al Feldstein (2010)
* Rick Hautala / Joe R. Lansdale (2011)
* Clive Barker / Robert McCammon (2012)
* R. L. Stine / Stephen Jones (2013)
* Jack Ketchum / Tanith Lee (2014)
* Alan Moore / George Romero (2015)
* Dennis Etchison / Thomas F. Monteleone (2016)
* Linda Addison (2017)
* Graham Masterton (2018)
* Owl Goingback / Thomas Ligotti (2019)
* Carol J. Clover / Jewelle Gomez / Marge Simon (2020)
* Jo Fletcher / Nancy Holder / Koji Suzuki (2021)

* v
* t
* e

Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Awards (SFWA Grand Masters)

1975–1999|

* Robert A. Heinlein (1975)
* Jack Williamson (1976)
* Clifford D. Simak (1977)
* L. Sprague de Camp (1979)
* Fritz Leiber (1981)
* Andre Norton (1984)
* Arthur C. Clarke (1986)
* Isaac Asimov (1987)
* Alfred Bester (1988)
* Ray Bradbury (1989)
* Lester del Rey (1991)
* Frederik Pohl (1993)
* Damon Knight (1995)
* A. E. van Vogt (1996)
* Jack Vance (1997)
* Poul Anderson (1998)
* Hal Clement (1999)

2000–present|

* Brian Aldiss (2000)
* Philip José Farmer (2001)
* Ursula K. Le Guin (2003)
* Robert Silverberg (2004)
* Anne McCaffrey (2005)
* Harlan Ellison (2006)
* James Gunn (2007)
* Michael Moorcock (2008)
* Harry Harrison (2009)
* Joe Haldeman (2010)
* Connie Willis (2012)
* Gene Wolfe (2013)
* Samuel R. Delany (2014)
* Larry Niven (2015)
* C. J. Cherryh (2016)
* Jane Yolen (2017)
* Peter S. Beagle (2018)
* William Gibson (2019)
* Lois McMaster Bujold (2020)
* Nalo Hopkinson (2021)
* Mercedes Lackey (2022)
* Robin McKinley (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Hugo Award for Best Novelette

Retro Hugos|

* "Rule 18" by Clifford D. Simak (1939)
* "The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein (1941)
* "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov (1943)
* "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (1944)
* "First Contact" by Murray Leinster (1946)
* "The Little Black Bag" by Cyril M. Kornbluth (1951)
* "Earthman, Come Home" by James Blish (1954)

1955–1960|

* "The Darfsteller" by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1955)
* "Exploration Team" by Murray Leinster (1956)
* "The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber (1958)
* "The Big Front Yard" by Clifford D. Simak (1959)

1967–1980|

* "The Last Castle" by Jack Vance (1967)
* "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber (1968)
* "The Sharing of Flesh" by Poul Anderson (1969)
* "Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (1973)
* "The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974)
* "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W" by Harlan Ellison (1975)
* "The Borderland of Sol" by Larry Niven (1976)
* "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov (1977)
* "Eyes of Amber" by Joan D. Vinge (1978)
* "Hunter's Moon" by Poul Anderson (1979)
* "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin (1980)

1981–1990|

* "The Cloak and the Staff" by Gordon R. Dickson (1981)
* "Unicorn Variation" by Roger Zelazny (1982)
* "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis (1983)
* "Blood Music" by Greg Bear (1984)
* "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler (1985)
* "Paladin of the Lost Hour" by Harlan Ellison (1986)
* "Permafrost" by Roger Zelazny (1987)
* "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1988)
* "Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (1989)
* "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" by Robert Silverberg (1990)

1991–2000|

* "The Manamouki" by Mike Resnick (1991)
* "Gold" by Isaac Asimov (1992)
* "The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan (1993)
* "Georgia on My Mind" by Charles Sheffield (1994)
* "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (1995)
* "Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly (1996)
* "Bicycle Repairman" by Bruce Sterling (1997)
* "We Will Drink a Fish Together..." by Bill Johnson (1998)
* "Taklamakan" by Bruce Sterling (1999)
* "1016 to 1" by James Patrick Kelly (2000)

2001–2010|

* "Millennium Babies" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2001)
* "Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang (2002)
* "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (2003)
* "Legions in Time" by Michael Swanwick (2004)
* "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link (2005)
* "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (2006)
* "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald (2007)
* "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (2008)
* "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear (2009)
* "The Island" by Peter Watts (2010)

2011–2020|

* "The Emperor of Mars" by Allen Steele (2011)
* "Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders (2012)
* "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (2013)
* "The Lady Astronaut of Mars", by Mary Robinette Kowal (2014)
* "The Day the World Turned Upside Down" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, translated by Lia Belt (2015)
* "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang (2016)
* "The Tomato Thief" by Ursula Vernon (2017)
* "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer (2018)
* "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" by Zen Cho (2019)
* "Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin (2020)

2021–present|

* "Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (2021)
* "Bots of the Lost Ark" by Suzanne Palmer (2022)
* "The Space-Time Painter" by Hai Ya (2023)
* "The Year Without Sunshine" by Naomi Kritzer (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Hugo Award for Best Short Story (1981–2000)

* "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981)
* "The Pusher" by John Varley (1982)
* "Melancholy Elephants" by Spider Robinson (1983)
* "Speech Sounds" by Octavia E. Butler (1984)
* "The Crystal Spheres" by David Brin (1985)
* "Fermi and Frost" by Frederik Pohl (1986)
* "Tangents" by Greg Bear (1987)
* "Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers" by Lawrence Watt-Evans (1988)
* "Kirinyaga" by Mike Resnick (1989)
* "Boobs" by Suzy McKee Charnas (1990)
* "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991)
* "A Walk in the Sun" by Geoffrey A. Landis (1992)
* "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993)
* "Death on the Nile" by Connie Willis (1994)
* "None So Blind" by Joe Haldeman (1995)
* "The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh (1996)
* "The Soul Selects Her Own Society" by Connie Willis (1997)
* "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" by Mike Resnick (1998)
* "The Very Pulse of the Machine" by Michael Swanwick (1999)
* "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" by Michael Swanwick (2000)

* Complete list
* Retro
* 1955–1960
* 1961–1980
* 1981–2000
* 2001–2020
* 2021–present

* v
* t
* e

Locus Award for Best Short Story

1971–1980|

* "The Region Between" by Harlan Ellison (1971)
* "The Queen of Air and Darkness" by Poul Anderson (1972)
* "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973)
* "The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974)
* "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
* "Croatoan" by Harlan Ellison (1976)
* "Tricentennial" by Joe Haldeman (1977)
* "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978)
* "Count the Clock that Tells the Time" by Harlan Ellison (1979)
* "The Way of Cross and Dragon" by George R. R. Martin (1980)

1981–2000|

* "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981)
* "The Pusher" by John Varley (1982)
* "Sur" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1983)
* "Beyond the Dead Reef" by James Tiptree Jr. (1984)
* "Salvador" by Lucius Shepard (1985)
* "With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole" by Harlan Ellison (1986)
* "Robot Dreams" by Isaac Asimov (1987)
* "Angel" by Pat Cadigan (1988)
* "Eidolons" by Harlan Ellison (1989)
* "Lost Boys" by Orson Scott Card (1990)
* "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991)
* "Buffalo" by John Kessel (1992)
* "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993)
* "Close Encounter" by Connie Willis (1994)
* "None So Blind" by Joe Haldeman (1995)
* "The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh (1996)
* "Gone" by John Crowley (1997)
* "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by James Patrick Kelly (1998)
* "Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling (1999)
* "macs" by Terry Bisson (2000)

2001–present|

* "The Missing Mass" by Larry Niven (2001)
* "The Bones of the Earth" by Ursula K. Le Guin (2002)
* "October in the Chair" by Neil Gaiman (2003)
* "Closing Time" by Neil Gaiman (2004)
* "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" by Neil Gaiman (2005)
* "Sunbird" by Neil Gaiman (2006)
* "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" by Neil Gaiman (2007)
* "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick (2008)
* "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang (2009)
* "An Invocation of Incuriosity" by Neil Gaiman (2010)
* "The Thing About Cassandra" by Neil Gaiman (2011)
* "The Case of Death and Honey" by Neil Gaiman (2012)
* "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013)
* "The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2014)
* "The Truth About Owls" by Amal El-Mohtar (2015)
* "Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer (2016)
* "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017)
* "The Martian Obelisk" by Linda Nagata (2018)
* "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019)
* "The Bookstore at the End of America" by Charlie Jane Anders (2020)
* "Little Free Library" by Naomi Kritzer (2021)
* "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022)
* "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)
* "How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub" by P. Djèlí Clark (2024)

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Nebula Award for Best Short Story

1966–1980|

* ""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison (1966)
* "The Secret Place" by Richard McKenna (1967)
* "Aye, and Gomorrah" by Samuel R. Delany (1968)
* "The Planners" by Kate Wilhelm (1969)
* "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg (1970)
* "Good News from the Vatican" by Robert Silverberg (1972)
* "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ (1973)
* "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death" by James Tiptree Jr. (1974)
* "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
* "Catch That Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber (1976)
* "A Crowd of Shadows" by Charles L. Grant (1977)
* "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978)
* "Stone" by Edward Bryant (1979)
* "giANTS" by Edward Bryant (1980)

1981–2000|

* "Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981)
* "The Bone Flute" by Lisa Tuttle (refused, 1982)
* "A Letter from the Clearys" by Connie Willis (1983)
* "The Peacemaker" by Gardner Dozois (1984)
* "Morning Child" by Gardner Dozois (1985)
* "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress (1986)
* "Tangents" by Greg Bear (1987)
* "Forever Yours, Anna" by Kate Wilhelm (1988)
* "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge" by James K. Morrow (1989)
* "Ripples in the Dirac Sea" by Geoffrey A. Landis (1990)
* "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991)
* "Ma Qui" by Alan Brennert (1992)
* "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993)
* "Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1994)
* "A Defense of the Social Contracts" by Martha Soukup (1995)
* "Death and the Librarian" by Esther Friesner (1996)
* "A Birthday" by Esther Friesner (1997)
* "Sister Emily's Lightship" by Jane Yolen (1998)
* "Thirteen Ways to Water" by Bruce Holland Rogers (1999)
* "The Cost of Doing Business" by Leslie What (2000)

2001–2020|

* "macs" by Terry Bisson (2001)
* "The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park (2002)
* "Creature" by Carol Emshwiller (2003)
* "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler (2004)
* "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn (2005)
* "I Live With You" by Carol Emshwiller (2006)
* "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand (2007)
* "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler (2008)
* "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (2009)
* "Spar" by Kij Johnson (2010)
* "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison / "Ponies" by Kij Johnson (2011)
* "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2012)
* "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013)
* "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky (2014)
* "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon (2015)
* "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2016)
* "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017)
* "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" by Rebecca Roanhorse (2018)
* "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019)
* "Give the Family My Love" by A. T. Greenblatt (2020)

2021–present|

* "Open House on Haunted Hill" by John Wiswell (2021)
* "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022)
* "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)
* "Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200" by R. S. A. Garcia (2024)

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