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Observations

For the most part, we're going to focus on ways in which we differ with the Locus List. This should not overshadow the fact that we think they've produced an excellent list that reflects the hard work we know they put into it.





In the section below, the links support the claims in the text by jumping to a view of the table that shows the stories and data being discussed.

1. Overlooked 💬Stories

The Locus List contained many of the stories we expected to see there, but there were a few omissions that surprised us, given how broadly popular some of these stories were.

7 of the top 9 short stories in RSR 's list were in the Locus list. That's remarkable given that there were 181 and 75 short stories in each list, respectively.

's list were in the list. That's remarkable given that there were 181 and 75 short stories in each list, respectively. Missing are "The Independence Patch" by Bryan Camp (score 8) and "Carouseling" by Rich Larson (score 7), each of which got recommendations from 5 prolific reviewers.

5 novelettes from the Locus list were in RSR's top 9.

list were in RSR's top 9. The most notable omission was "What is Eve?" by Will McIntosh (score 8), which was recommended by 5 prolific reviewers in the #2 spot.

Surprisingly, only 2 of the top 9 novellas in RSR's list were in the Locus list, even though there were just 36 and 13 novellas in each list, respectively.

2. Overlooked 📚Publications

The distribution of magazines in the Locus list is highly non-random, with a strong bias away from the traditional print magazines and in favor of smaller magazines that RSR currently doesn't review.

3. Overlooked ✒️Authors

Many of the authors we expected to see are here, but a few omissions surprised us.

4. ✍Campbell-Eligible Authors

To the extent that the inclusion of stories from smaller magazines that RSR doesn't usually review represented a desire by Locus to include more less-established authors, we expected to see a lot more Campbell-eligible authors in their list. (Authors eligible for the "Best New Author" award.) However, there were only half as many as we'd have expected based on our own aggregated list.





5. 🔵Translations

Likewise, we have a reputation for being hard on translations, but the Locus list is even harder on translations than we are.





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6. RSR Recommendations vs. Locus

Our 2018 Best SF/F list is an index of recommendations from many different sources, but we also wanted to compare the Locus List against RSR's own ratings. By that measure, Locus has produced an excellent list; RSR recommended far more of their stories than would be expected by chance and recommended against fewer. We never see magazines or anthologies anywhere near this good.

RSR reviewed 80 (59%) of the 136 novellas/novelettes/short stories in the Locus list. Some of the 56 not reviewed by RSR (3 novellas, 11 novelettes, 42 short stories) were genres we don't cover such as horror magazines and anthologies, flash stories, or author collections.

reviewed 80 (59%) of the 136 novellas/novelettes/short stories in the list. Some of the 56 not reviewed by (3 novellas, 11 novelettes, 42 short stories) were genres we don't cover such as horror magazines and anthologies, flash stories, or author collections. Out of 80 reviewed stories, RSR recommended 34, was neutral on 35, and recommended against 11. RSR 's curve normally results in 13 recommended (1/6) and 16 recommended against (1/5) out of 80 stories, so there's strong agreement with the Locus list on many outstanding works.

recommended 34, was neutral on 35, and recommended against 11. 's curve normally results in 13 recommended (1/6) and 16 recommended against (1/5) out of 80 stories, so there's strong agreement with the list on many outstanding works. 10 Novellas: RSR recommended 5, was neutral on 4, and recommended against 1.

recommended 5, was neutral on 4, and recommended against 1.

37 Novelettes: RSR recommended 15, was neutral on 17, and recommended against 5.

recommended 15, was neutral on 17, and recommended against 5.

33 Short Stories: RSR recommended 14, was neutral on 14, and recommended against 5.

: Tagged 3 🏆 World Fantasy Award winners (click link to).Here is the annotated 2018 Locus Recommended Reading List for short fiction, merged with RSR's 2018 Best SF/F list (aka our aggregated list of "outstanding" stories) for the first time, with stories from the Locus list, and sorted by score.The combination lets us analyze thelist to see which stories that were broadly recognized as outstanding were left out, which magazines were over- or under-represented, which authors did particularly well (or not), how many were Campbell-eligible, and how's own recommendations stack up with Locus reviewers in general. As with everyannotated list, there are links galore to the stories, their authors, the magazines, any award nominations/wins or "year's best" anthology inclusions, and search-links to find other reviews.If you want to skip the analysis and just start reading, click here (to highlight).Thelist includes 13 stories from Campbell Award-eligible writers, 7 in year 1 and 6 in year 2 of eligibility, versus the 16 in year 1 and 16 in year 2 stories from's 2018 Best SF/F list. Eligibility is based on ISFDB , which can be wrong or incomplete, so please feel free to note corrections in the comments.Only 1 story in thelist thatreviewed is a translation (there may be others not reviewed by), whereas there are 7 translated stories ) in's 2018 Best SF/F list.