My "best of the year" picks: 1961

Going over Joachim Boaz's list of his "Top 11" novels from 1960s, I thought I'll produce my own. But with some differences.

1. It won't have a "Top 11" or any numerical limit. If I liked a story, or find it noteworthy, it gets included.
2. It's not restricted to novels & includes short fiction too.
3. It's a mix of online & offline stuff; links included for online stories.

When compiling the list, I ran into two problems:

1. It's taking too long. I've spent over an hour, & am still just covered 1963.
2. List itself is growing too big. Small bites will probably be more palatable.

I hope to update this list as & when I find more entries, but I often get lazy updating such lists. This list was last updated: 12 April 2012.

List below is in order of publication - earliest first, unknown dated last. All stories originally published during 1961.

1. [ss] Arthur Clarke's "Death & the Senator"; Analog, May: Certain heart ailments may be best treated in a zero gravity environment.
2. [novelette] Lloyd Biggle, Jr's "Monument"; download; Analog, June: Non-violent, non-Gandhian, resistance against colonialism.
3. [ss] Arthur Clarke's  "Before Eden"; Amazing Stories, June: A human expedition to Venus finds something that could be prelife - but its chances of survival are ruined by innocently careless actions of man, in spite of all precautions of the expedition...
4. [ss] Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"; download; F&SF, October: An extreme version of the idea of "equal opportunity" 
5. [novel] Arthur Clarke's "A Fall of Moondust": Shipwreck & rescue set in an extremely exotic locale - neither land nor water, neither air nor space!

Related: "Best of" lists; fiction from 1961, 1960s.