recommended reading?

It seems to good to be true. Here:

"Every year, come January, I have made a habit of searching out lists of recommended short speculative fiction (that is, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, up to novella length). I then read as many of the recommended stories as possible before the deadline for voting in the Locus Awards.

Because the only award for which I vote is the Locus Award, I try to follow Locus' rules for annual eligibility when compiling my list. That is, magazines are eligible based on cover date, and books are eligible in the year in which they became generally available.

My list is compiled from Rich Horton's year-end summaries posted to sff.net, Tangent Online's Recommended Reading List, various award shortlists, the monthly recommended reading lists by Mark R. Kelly and Rich Horton in Locus, my own reading, and other miscellaneous sources."

And look what's at the alphabetical head of his 2003 Consolidated Recommended Reading List:

Short Stories

"L'Aquilone du Estrellas", Dean Francis Alfar (Strange Horizons 1/03)
"Hunger: A Confession", Dale Bailey (F&SF 3/03)
"The Great Game", Stephen Baxter (Asimov's 3/03)
"The Dog Movie", Albert E. Cowdrey (F&SF 4/03)
"Fairy Tale", Gardner Dozois (Sci Fiction 1/03)
"Boys", Carol Emshwiller (Sci Fiction 1/03)
"The Pineapple Girl", S. Evans (Abyss & Apex 3-4/03)
"Start with Color", Bill Kte'pi (Strange Horizons 3/03)
"The Tale of the Golden Eagle", David D. Levine (F&SF 6/03)
Sideshow and Other Stories, Thomas Ligotti (Subterranean Press)
"Frankenstein's Daughter", Maureen F. McHugh (Sci Fiction 4/03)
"The Haunting", Joyce Carol Oates (F&SF 4/03)
"Shutdown: Retrovival", Aaron A. Reed (F&SF 3/03)
"Incursions", Kit Reed (F&SF 5/03)
"555", Robert Reed (F&SF 5/03)
"The Machine", M. Rickert (F&SF 1/03)
"June Sixteenth at Anna's", Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov's 4/03)
"Death Penalty", Leslie What (Sci Fiction 2/03)
"Castaway", Gene Wolfe (Sci Fiction 2/03)
"Graylord Man's Last Words", Gene Wolfe (Asimov's 5/03)

It is just one person's opinion, of course, but anyone who puts a story I wrote on a short list of recommended reading (with authors like Joyce Carol Oates and Gene Wolfe) does more than light up my day. I feel like doing cartwheels. Here is someone literate (read his Live Journal and see all the stuff he reads) and who doesn't know me from Adam - and he thinks my story is okay. And his list includes print anthologies, magazine fiction and online fiction.

To quote Carl - "Wow."

And if, and if somehow beyond my wildest dreams, "L'Aquilone" is even nominated for any of these big awards, then... wait, wait, too much blood in my head for a moment there. But then again, it's all right to dream a little, right? Right.

That does it. I need to write more.