The Clockwork Atom Bomb
by Dominic Green
• Word count: 7367
• Page count: 19
The Clockwork Atom Bomb, a science fiction short story by Dominic Green, was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. It is about a UN Weapons Inspector who finds several powerful and illegal devices deep in the heart of Africa.

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The House Beyond Your Sky
by Benjamin Rosenbaum
• Word count: 3835
• Page count: 11
The House Beyond Your Sky is a science fiction short story by Benjamin Rosenbaum that was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
The story follows Matthias, a priest of an extremely ancient and highly advanced race of beings. As [...]

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How To Talk To Girls At Parties
by Neil Gaiman
• Word count: 5097
• Page count: 10
How To Talk To Girls At Parties is another excellent science fiction short story from master story teller Neil Gaiman. It is about a couple of teen-aged boys who go to a party to meet girls, only to find that [...]

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Eight Episodes
by Robert Reed
• Word count: 3870
• Page count: 10
Eight Episodes is a science fiction short story by the prolific Robert Reed. Nominated for the 2007 Hugo award, it is a story about a short lived web series that proves to be much deeper than anyone initially suspects.

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—And He Built a Crooked House
by Robert A. Heinlein
• Word count: 7589
• Page count: 20
—And He Built a Crooked House is a science fiction short story from one of the big names among classic science fiction authors: Robert Heinlein. First published in 1941, this story explores the idea of using mathematics and the fourth [...]

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The Star
by Arthur C. Clarke
• Word count: 2475
• Page count: 6
The Star is a classic science fiction short story by one of the genre’s most famous authors: Arthur C. Clarke. It is a story told from the point of view of a Jesuit astrophysicist aboard a starship that is investigating the Phoenix Nebula. The site [...]

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The Feeling of Power
by Isaac Asimov
• Word count: 3283
• Page count: 10
The Feeling of Power is a cool little science fiction short story by one of the giants of the genre: Isaac Asimov. Written in classic Asimov fashion, the story explores the idea of a society so dependent on computers that they have forgotten [...]

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Kin
by Bruce McAllister
• Word count: 3978
• Page count: 10
Kin is a science fiction short story by Bruce McAllister that explores the ideas of the extremes a person will go to on an over populated and regulated world and the fact that truly learning about another culture – even if it is an alien one – [...]

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Darwin’s Suitcase
by Elizabeth Malartre
• Word count: 4469
• Page count: 12
Darwin’s Suitcase is a science fiction short story about the effects of time travel to a pivotal point in history. It follows a woman living in a religiously controlled world who uses a temporal viewer to watch a scene in the life of the famous [...]

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Tideline
by Elizabeth Bear
• Word count: 4280
• Page count: 8
Tideline is a science fiction short story about the lone survivor of a war – a sentient war machine – and its struggles to create memorials for its fallen comrades. As it combs the beach looking for trinkets, it forms a most unusual friendship which prods [...]

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Beyond the Wall
by Justin Stanchfield
• Word count: 8443
• Page count: 23
Beyond the Wall is a science fiction short story about a UN security team that chases a pirate ship to a forbidden area on one of Saturn’s moons. At the base of a controversial alien wall the team experiences several mysterious events as they [...]

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In The Pound, Near Breaktime
by Kent Brewster
• Word count: 1823
• Page count: 3
In The Pound, Near Breaktime is a science fiction short story that explores the idea of what the world would be like if unwanted pets, strays and pesky animals were intelligent enough to talk.

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Old MacDonald Had a Farm
by Mike Resnick
• Word count: 5695
• Page count: 15
Old MacDonald Had a Farm is a science fiction short story that puts an ethical spin on one of humankind’s oldest questions: how can we feed the world’s poor?
It is a short story about a reporter who visits a farm where millions of [...]

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The Cube Game
by Emily Seife
• Word count: 1646
• Page count: 3
The Cube Game is a very short science fiction story written by a twelve year old girl: Emily Seife. An excellent short story for kids and adults, this piece is about a game that is played by the children of Rijuan – an experimental [...]

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The Day the Martians Came
by Frederik Pohl
• Word count: 2579
• Page count: 6
The Day the Martians Came is an interestingly abstract science fiction short story by Frederik Pohl. First published in 1967 it explores the social ramifications of humans discovering an alien race.
The story follows one night of a hotel manager as he struggles [...]

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