rascal wrote in another thread:


Current stories without a vote will be replaced by suggestions people make in this thread after a certain time, I'd say

You need to be registered and logged in to participate in the vote.

[Update] I made a complex statistical analysis of all your suggestions and replaced the zero vote receivers One At a Time, Seven-Day Terror, Eurema's Dam, Snuffles, Slow Tuesday Night with Configuration of the North Shore, Funnyfingers, Nor Limestone Islands, Primary Education of the Camiroi, Ride a Tin Can. You should also be able to switch your vote if you so desire.

Oh this is a cruel poll. I wanted to select at least 7 of those.
Suggesting "Days of Grass, Days of Straw" and "Primary education of the Camiroi".

Hi,

I'm just passing through here. I've just read the RA Lafferty short story, 'Rainbird', in an old sci-fi anthology, and thought it was one of the most beautifully structured and self-contained tales I have read in many a year. I'm off now to surf the net in order to know more of Lafferty and his other work.

Jim

My favourite Lafferty short story? What's my favourite image from the Sistine Chapel window or The Garden of Earthly Delight? The only (imperfect) way I can think of even to arrive at a shortlist of ten is to see what comes to mind off the top of my head. These would be: Mud Violet, Old Hallowe'ens on the Guna Slopes, Ride a Tin Can, Groaning Hinges of the World, Nor Limestone Islands, Rivers of Damascus, From the Thunder Colt's Mouth, Narrow Valley, Funnyfingers, Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies--nuts, there are a whole bunch more I wanted to add, Days of Grass, Days of Straw for sure, Frog on the Mountain ahh never mind, guess we better stop at these.
(The original magazine version of Old Hallowe'ens on the Guna Slopes--the revised version in Ringing Changes is far less wild and woolly.

Days of Grass, Days of Straw. We live now in days of straw. Nice when someone like Ray finally points it out.

Suggestions:
"Nine Hundred Grandmothers"
"Narrow Valley"
"Primary Education of the Camiroi" (second)
"Continued on Next Rock"
"The Six Fingers of Time"
"All the People"
"Name of the Snake"
"Guesting Time"

How is my favourite short story not even up here?! 'The Configuration of the North Shore' definitely deserves to be in this list. (Gardner Dozois would agree with me as he collected in the Classics of Modern Fantasy anthology.)

But I am glad to see the likes of 'Days of Grass, Days of Straw' and 'Snuffles' here - two more faves of mine.

Cheers,

Daniel Otto Jack Petersen
http://antsofgodarequeerfish.blogspot.com/
(my Lafferty blog - only one on the web!)

This is a very hard choice to make. "Days of Grass, Days of Straw" takes the top place for me by a slim margin, but it is closely followed by several others, and the top position changes from day to day and mood to mood. My favorite Lafferty stories would be (in ever changing order):
- Days of Grass, Days of Straw
- Narrow Valley
- Hole on the Corner
- Been a Long, Long Time
- Ride a Tin Can
- Configuration of the North Shore
- Through Other Eyes
- Thus we Frustrate Charlemagne
- The World as Will and Wallpaper
- What's the Name of That Town
- Weirdest World
- Funnyfingers
- Slow Tuesday Night
- In Our Block
- Hog-Belly Honey
- One at a Time
- Old Foot Forgot
- Sky
- Nor Limestone Islands
- Oh Whatta You Do When the Well Runs Dry?

At least that's a short list off the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty of others I'd rank in my top ten (a list that seems to always hold 20 or 30 entries).

Wait, how did I leave "Fall of Pebble Stones" off my list? And how is it NOT on everyone's list of favorite stories?

Another glaring omssion seems to be Interurban Queen which I reread a while ago. As a non driver and great fan of public transport this story resonates with me.

Kevin, I remember that I was fairly underwhelmed by 'Fall of Pebble Stones' the first time I read it some years ago. Read it again more recently and loved it as a wonderfully odd urban tall tale, full of Lafferty's rich mythic-scientific theory of life.

'Interurban Queen' is a great one too, Harold. I've heard it argued that Lafferty is not actually being anti-automobile in that one (which is how I took it too). Must investigate further...

I just acquired the complete collection of the short stories, and had to vote for Narrow Valley because that's the one that started me off, and the one of about the twenty or so I've read yet. Just finished Holy Woman and thought that was good especially since it seemed to have been written just yesterday, after he saw the latest terrorist activities. I'm reading them consecutively so I don't miss any by jumping around, so I'll get to the listed choices before long.

Yeah, that new semi-legal complete collection (The Man Who Talled Tales for those who don't know - you can google it to find it) has got me adding all kinds of new favourites to my personal Best Of Lafferty list. Laff's very first published story 'The Wagons' is now one of my all time faves by him. 'Rang Dang Kaloof' is a new minor fave. Other notables I've enjoyed so far are 'Rain Mountain', 'Goldfish', and 'Other Side of the Moon'.

Just to be accurate: this collection is not semi-legal, it's completely illegal. The fact it has been given a creative commons license doesn't mean anything. There's a reason this publication doesn't have an ISBN or named editor.

Fair enough, Harold. I was being too generous.