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2025 Favorites

Time to turn the page on 2025 in hopes for better things in the year ahead.

This is the 12th SSMT year-end note, which is difficult for me to fathom. Twelve! That’s more than a quarter of my life.

Each year around this time I list out all the short stories I’ve posted about on the site during the previous 12 months, ranked based on how much I enjoyed them. This being the 12th such ranking, I thought it would be fun to look back quickly at each year’s No. 1 story. There are a lot of literary prizes out there, but I’m not sure I can think of any that come with the prestige of Short Story Magic Tricks Story of the Year.

2014

1. ‘Hot Ice’ by Stuart Dybek
2. ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’ by Flannery O’Connor
3. ‘The Lady With The Little Dog’ by Anton Chekhov
4. ‘Jeeves And The Impending Doom’ by P.G. Wodehouse
5. ‘The Babysitter’ by Robert Coover

2015

1. ‘The Dead’ by James Joyce
2. ‘The Semplica Girl Diaries’ by George Saunders
3. ‘Bullet In The Brain’ by Tobias Wolff
4. ‘Wash’ by William Faulkner
5. ‘A Rose For Emily’ by William Faulkner

2016

1. ‘Blight’ by Stuart Dybek
2. ‘The Vanishing American’ by Leslie Parry
3. ‘Eisenheim The Illusionist’ by Steven Millhauser
4. ‘The Red-Headed League’ by Arthur Conan Doyle
5. ‘Dog Heaven’ by Stephanie Vaughn

2017

1. ‘Axis’ by Alice Munro
2. ‘Sea Oak’ by George Saunders
3. ‘Pastoralia’ by George Saunders
4. ‘Roman Fever’ by Edith Wharton
5. ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman’ by Haruki Murakami

2018

1. ‘The Adventure Of The Speckled Band’ by Arthur Conan Doyle
2. ‘Brokeback Mountain’ by Annie Proulx
3. ‘St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves’ by Karen Russell
4. ‘The Man Of The World’ by Frank O’Connor
5. ‘Irish Revel’ by Edna O’Brien

2019

1. ‘The Beginning Of A Long Story’ by Maeve Brennan
2. ‘The Point’ by Charles D’Ambrosio
3. ‘The Doll Queen’ by Carlos Fuentes
4. ‘Pig-hoo-o-o-o-e-y’ by P.G. Wodehouse
5. ‘Mystery In São Cristóvão’ by Clarice Lispector

2020

1. ‘Wenlock Edge’ by Alice Munro
2. ‘The Green Banana’ by J.F. Powers
3. ‘Love Letter’ by George Saunders
4. ‘A Jonquil For Mary Penn’ by Wendell Berry
5. ‘Family Furnishings’ by Alice Munro

2021

1. ‘The Mad Lomasneys’ by Frank O’Connor
2. ‘Bluebell Meadow’ by Benedict Kiely
3. ‘The Turkey Season’ by Alice Munro
4. ‘Another Christmas’ by William Trevor
5. ‘Bravado’ by William Trevor

2022

1. ‘Roses, Rhododendron’ by Alice Adams
2. ‘Foaling Season’ by Aryn Kyle
3. ‘Children On Their Birthdays’ by Truman Capote
4. ‘The Last Thing We Need’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
5. ‘Read This And Tell Me What It Says’ by A. Manette Ansay

2023

1. ‘The Other Side Of The Street’ by John Updike
2. ‘A Strange And Sometimes Sadness’ by Kazuo Ishiguro
3. ‘Mrs. Sen’s’ by Jhumpa Lahiri
4. ‘The Gorge’ by Umberto Eco
5. ‘The Rent Manual’ by Sidik Fofana

2024

1. ‘Death By Landscape’ by Margaret Atwood
2. ‘The Moon In Its Flight’ by Gilbert Sorrentino
3. ‘Torch Song’ by John Cheever
4. ‘You Never Get It Back’ by Cara Blue Adams
5. ‘Peach Cobbler’ by Deesha Philyaw

I’m bound to be biased as this literally is a list of stories that are ranked according to how much I liked them, but even with that said, wow, that’s a really cool list of stories! You could do a lot worse anthology wise than to spend a couple weeks reading those 55 stories.

And now it’s time to unveil the 2025 rankings. Which stories from this year will rise to the top? Which will enter the SSMT pantheon?

2025

1. ‘The Best Of Everything’ by Richard Yates
2. ‘A Manual For Cleaning Women’ by Lucia Berlin
3. ‘Office Hours’ by Ling Ma
4. ‘The Country Husband’ by John Cheever
5. ‘Marito In Citta’ by John Cheever
6. ‘Emperor Of The Air’ by Ethan Canin
7. ‘Peking Duck’ by Ling Ma
8. ‘The Canal’ by Richard Yates
9. ‘A Wrestler Of Sharks’ by Richard Yates
10. ‘Conversion Of The Jews’ by Philip Roth
11. ‘The Red Convertible’ by Louise Erdrich
12. ‘The Deposition’ by Tobias Wolff
13. ‘A Really Good Jazz Piano’ by Richard Yates
14. ‘Intruders Of Sleepless Nights’ by Pamela Painter
15. ‘Korea’ by John McGahern
16. ‘The Year Of Getting To Know Us’ by Ethan Canin
17. ‘Goodbye Marcus, Goodbye Rose’ by Jean Rhys
18. ‘Happiest Moment’ by Lydia Davis
19. ‘Scales’ by Louise Erdrich
20. ‘Best Western’ by Louise Erdrich
21. ‘A Clearing’ by Wendell Berry
22. ‘Snowfall’ by Deesha Philyaw
23. ‘Great Experiment’ by Jeffrey Eugenides
24. ‘Every Night For A Thousand Years’ by Chris Adrian
25. ‘They’re Not Your Husband’ by Raymond Carver
26. ‘Sweethearts’ by Richard Ford
27. ‘Crown-Fire’ by Erskine Caldwell
28. ‘For A Long Time, This Was Griselda’s Story’ by Anthony Doerr
29. ‘Star Food’ by Ethan Canin
30. ‘Lies’ by Ethan Canin
31. ‘We Are Nighttime Travelers’ by Ethan Canin
32. ‘The Man In The Moon’ by William Maxwell
33. ‘The Smile On Happy Chang’s Face’ by Tom Perrotta
34. ‘The Little Statue’ by Maeve Murphy
35. ‘A Glutton For Punishment’ by Richard Yates
36. ‘Liquid Papers’ by Nicolette Polek
37. ‘The B.A.R. Man’ by Richard Yates
38. ‘Xmas, Jamaica Plain’ by Melanie Rae Thon
39. ‘Minotaur’ by Jim Shepard
40. ‘American Beauty’ by Ethan Canin
41. ‘The Hollow Children’ by Louise Erdrich
42. ‘Nothing To Declare’ by Richard Ford
43. ‘The Hunter’s Wife’ by Anthony Doerr
44. ‘When Eddie Levert Comes’ by Deesha Philyaw
45. ‘Fires’ by Rick Bass
46. ‘The Romance Of Certain Old Clothes’ by Henry James
47. ‘Delivery’ by Bruce Barrow
48. ‘Dirt’ by Maud Casey
49. ‘Blackbird Pie’ by Raymond Carver
50. ‘La Vita Nuova’ by Allegra Goodman
51. ‘The Toast’ by Rebecca Curtis
52. ‘Helen On Eighty-Sixth Street’ by Wendi Kaufman
53. ‘The Hand’ by Colette
54. ‘Snares’ by Louise Erdrich
55. ‘The Prom Terrorists’ by Rabih Alameddine
56. ‘Biology’ by Kevin Wilson
57. ‘The Nice Restaurant’ by Mary Gaitskill
58. ‘A Tiny Feast’ by Chris Adrian
59. ‘The Lucid Eye In Silver Town’ by John Updike
60. ‘The Rider Was Lost’ by Nancy Hale
61. ‘The Fir Tree’ by Hans Christian Andersen
62. ‘Do Not Disturb’ by A.M. Homes
63. ‘The Shell Collector’ by Anthony Doerr
64. ‘Lessons With Father’ by Jai Chakrabarti
65. ‘Across The Bridge’ by Graham Greene
66. ‘Still-Life’ by John Updike
67. ‘The Pearl Of Love ‘ by H.G. Wells
68. ‘Boy And Girl Games Like Coupling’ by Jamie Paige
69. ‘A Woman Driving Alone’ by Marie-Helene Bertino
70. ‘The Ghost Birds’ by Karen Russell
71. ‘There He Go’ by Ladee Hubbard
72. ‘Where We Are Now’ by Ethan Canin
73. ‘Things My Mother Said’ by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
74. ‘Goodbye To The Road Not Taken’ by A.M. Homes
75. ‘Live Wires’ by Thomas Beller
76. ‘Psychology’ by Katherine Mansfield
77. ‘What’s Wrong With You? What’s Wrong With Me?’ by J.M. Holmes
78. ‘They Told Us Not To Say This’ by Jenn Alandy Trahan
79. ‘The Last Grownup’ by Allegra Goodman
80. ‘Smote, Or When I Find I Cannot Kiss You In Front Of A Print By Bridget Riley’ by Eley Williams
81. ‘Song Of Roland’ by Jamaica Kincaid
82. ‘The Last Question’ by Isaac Asimov
83. ‘How To Make The Wrong Impression’ by Katherine Heiny
84. ‘Let’s Play Dead’ by Senaa Ahmad
85. ‘Doggerland’ by Kaliane Bradley
86. ‘Crouch End’ by Stephen King
87. ‘Happy’ by Richard Ford
88. ‘A Sudden Story’ by Robert Coover
89. ‘Dagon’ by H.P. Lovecraft
90. ‘Los Angeles’ by Ling Ma
91. ‘Good Legs’ by Joshua Ferris
92. ‘The Space’ by Christopher Boucher
93. ‘Fathers’ by Robley Wilson Jr.

As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.

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