Introduction to my "best of the year" picks

After seeing the various best-of-the-year anthologies, I thought I will put out my own list. But with a twist!

While a typical printed best-of-2007 anthology includes stories published during the year 2006, my list includes stories published during the year 2007! Let's see if next year's versions of popular anthologies include some of my picks.

My reading is not as widespread as professional anthology editors. Means my list will likely be smaller, & from fewer publishers.

Since my picks are not selling on a bookstore shelf, I don't need to worry about big name authors whose name on the jacket makes a reader pick a book. A story enters my list strictly on its own merits, & on no other consideration. Expect to find some never-heard-of authors here.

While ultimately the choice is based on indescribable factors that made me especially like a certain story, some idea of the kind of things I favor can be found in the ratings document. The most important is entertainment; then enlightenment.

Finally, this is not a static list - even 2 years down the line, I might add an entry to 2007 list. That's the advantage of an online list.

The stories are chosen from among those that have my rating A, & were first published during the said year; could be in short or long form. But all A-rated stories may not make it here.

Entries prefixed with a "*" are available online as free download. Link on source in my list will get you the whole story. Link is also found in my review of the story (link on story title).