Jonathan Strahan put together a best stories list of SF/Fantasy from 2004, and he includes my story "Life in Stone", which is nice. His list reminded me to make Nebula recommendations, which I did, and I thought I'd now list my personal, short, idiosyncratic, not-as-well-read-as-I-should-be list of the best stories of 2004. Here it is:

"Miss Emily Gray" by Theodora Goss (Alchemy 2)

"Five Guys Name Moe" by Sean Klein (Sci Fiction)

"The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link (The Faery Reel)

"How to Write an Epic Fantasy" by David Lomax (Rabid Transit: Petting Zoo)

"Reports of Certain Events in London", China Mieville (McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories)

"Five Irrational Histories" by David Moles (Rabid Transit: Petting Zoo)

"Memree" by Jenn Reese (Polyphony 4)

"The Voluntary State" by Christopher Rowe (SciFiction) [This is the year Chris Rowe went from being a good, interesting writer to being something extraordinary; this is one of the most remarkable stories I've read in years]

"Singing Innocence & Experience" by Sonya Taaffe (Realms of Fantasy)

"Three Days in a Border Town" by Jeff VanderMeer (Polyphony 4)

"Tales from the City of Seams" by Greg van Eekhout (Polyphony 4)

I read lots of other stories I enjoyed this year, but these are the ones that really stuck with me, that my thoughts returned to many times, and that influenced my ideas about writing or fiction or life in some way. (This list excludes stories I've read in workshops, etc., that haven't been published yet, and also excludes stories from the two issues of Flytrap that came out this year, for the same reason that I'm not allowed to recommend them for Nebulas -- I'm biased, and think they're all great!)

(Why am I doing so many journal entries today? Because I'm sick, all hopped up on cold meds, with a short attention span, and bored!)