I’ve brought you plenty of lists of “books of the year” for 2011 so far, but few lists of shorter fiction that top the charts. We’ll change all that this week. Here’s Rachel Swirsky’s list of the best short stories of the year. Most of her recommendations come complete with links for free online reading. There’s some great stuff here!

The Locus 2011 Recommended Reading List is now available. What a wealth of good reading is to be had here! The only criticism I have of the list is that it includes precious little horror fiction, a point brought to my attention by Laird Barron (and confirmed in the comments to his post by Ellen Datlow). One thing’s for sure: he sold a couple of books with that post!

Speaking of free reading, Baen Books has a whole library of free ebooks. I’m constantly amazed by what you can get for free these days.

And the model for ebooks does seem to be “free,” or at least very, very cheap. One author writing for Forbes is concerned that readers are starting to expect – to demand – free, and to be unwilling to pay anything at all for an ebook. It’ll be interesting (I can’t think of a better word, except maybe “terrifying”) to see if publishing goes the way of the music industry.

Along those lines, Joshua Palmetier writes about the importance of shelf space. It’s a horrible thing when one retailer’s decision can make or break you all by itself. It’s tough to be a new author these days.

Popular authors list their favorite works in this Flavorwire feature. David Foster Wallace is the only one who surprised me – the rest have collections of classics, as you might expect, but Wallace is in there with SF and thrillers. That seems to suit at least his nonfiction writing, which often reads an enthrallingly as fiction – he must have adapted the sensibilities of popular fiction to his essays, whether consciously or not. Try Consider the Lobster and Other Essays sometime and see if you don’t agree.

When was the last time you received a handwritten letter? I’m happy to say that I still do from time to time, though almost always they are thank you notes – but still, when my nephews are grown men, it will be fun to show them what they wrote to me about books I gave them once upon a time. Now, though, if you enjoy receiving actual snailmail, you might consider the Month of Letters Challenge. It’s tempting to invest in some lovely stationery, not to mention Year of the Dragon stamps.

Would you like to take a chance on winning an amazing prize, even as you do tremendous good? Patrick Rothfuss is once again running his campaign for Heifer International. I contributed, because I think this is a wonderful way to run a charity – they take to heart the adage, “Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Even if you don’t win any of the swag, you’ll have a warm feeling that you’ve done some serious good for others.

And once you’ve done some good for others, here’s a chance to do a fun thing for yourself: put together the wardrobe you need to be a true steampunk. I love the octopus necklace!

My review of Issue 2 of the new horror magazine Phantasmagorium is up at Fantasy Literature. The second issue is a vast improvement over the first. This publication is promising, and I'm looking forward to Issue 3.

Connie Willis is science fiction’s latest Grand Master. A reward well deserved.

The 2012 Crawford Award winner has been announced: Genevieve Valentine for Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti. I’ve read the first few pages, and hope to start reading in earnest this coming week.

The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2011 awards.

The British Science Fiction Association has announced its shortlist for its 2011 awards. I have some reading to attend to if I’m to catch up with these.

The Bram Stoker Award ballot has been announced. And there’s not a single story I’ve read, or even own.

I’m similarly at a loss as to the books nominated for the Edgar Awards. I am really in bad need of some uninterrupted reading time.

The website This Is Horror has announced its awards for 2011. Based on the award, I read Gary McMahon’s The Concrete Grove this past week, and wow, that’s a scary book! If that’s an indication of how on-the-mark these awards are, I’d say they’re worth paying attention to.

Pity the poor male novelist. Or, ya know, don’t. I don’t. This essay must set some sort of record for self-absorption.

Damien Walter offer seven literary science fiction and fantasy novels every well-read genre reader should have under her belt. I’ve read exactly one of them: John Fowles’ The Magus (many years ago; I have little recollection of it now and should give it a reread). I do have all of the others on my “to be read” list, some even in the “to be read” pile. Which ones have you read?

Scientist and science fiction writer David Brin offer his list of the greatest science fiction and fantasy tales. Now this list is finally one in which I’m fairly well-read. I have particularly fond memories of reading Stand on Zanzibar for my science fiction master class a few years ago, disliking it when I read it, and liking it much more after hearing it brilliantly dissected by Geoffrey Ryman.

Kat Warren is one of Book Balloon’s stalwarts – a voracious reader with excellent taste. Here, she lists her favorite reads from 2011. You could do worse than to purchase these and read them one right after the other. They are, as Kat would say, “finest kind.”

I’ve always admired people who can speak more than one language fluently. The closest I ever came was high school French, and I do remember having the very occasional dream in French. I think my circuits are stuck on English now. But there are those who pick up languages the way I pick up books. Michael Erard has written a new book about hyperpolyglottery, and Nataly Kelly interviewed him about it for The Huffington Post.

I take great comfort from the fact that Laura Ingalls Wilder wasn’t published until she was in her mid-sixties; that gives me a good decade or so to go before I’m officially past the point at which publication becomes well-nigh impossible. She and I aren’t the only ones getting a late start, though; this article discusses seven such writers.

Publishers wonder if Amazon isn’t going to take the entire industry down. In this article, they talk of Amazon’s latest venture into publishing books, rather than merely marketing them.

One of the oddest things about ebooks is that, essentially, the author need never stop writing them. The book can be edited, updated, even substantially changed at the author’s whim, if he’s on the right website. While I can imagine this making great good sense for textbooks and scientific publications, it seems odd when one is discussing fiction. It also reminds me of a fellow lawyer who once opined that a brief is never done, it is simply “due.” In this world, no book is ever truly done, and isn’t even really “due.”

Nick Mamatas lists some bits of advice writers ought to cease offering to would-be writers. First on his list is “Don’t give up,” because, he says, some people should give up. Wow, that’s a hard pill to swallow!

Can you read this poem aloud without making any mistakes? English is a very strange language.

When authors make it big, they apparently buy big houses. I’ll take Gore Vidal’s Italian villa, please.

My sisters are often the source of items to be found in this column, and this week my sister Peg, who is going through a spate of home redecoration, sent me this article on homes with books. I love the room shown in the very first photograph, but really, I’d take any of these houses – except the one with the book wallpaper. Who needs wallpaper when you’ve got the real thing?