Every issue, we Electric Spec editors select from hundreds of stories. We make our difficult choices based on all sorts of factors, like quality of writing, creativity, vision, voice, and many others—including, of course, individual taste.

But there's one quality we simply can't assess at the time of publication: staying power.

What we're talking about here is how a story sticks with you over time. How often it bubbles up in your thoughts, how strong an impression it leaves in your psyche. Only time can tell which stories have this quality of hanging with you long after you’ve read them.

To celebrate the new decade (yes, the decade technically ends on January 1, 2021. . . please forgive the informal calendar keeping), we've each thought about the top three stories from over the years that have stuck with us most. Here's what we came up with:

Lesley’s Picks:
Lesley L. Smith has been with Electric Spec since our founding in 2006, so she has the largest list of stories to think about. "Of course, I love all our Electric Spec stories!" Lesley says. "Here's some stories that stuck in my mind. . ."

• "All Kinds of Monsters" by Matthew Howe (2008, Volume 3, Issue 2) [link http://electricspec.com/Volume3/Issue2/Howe.html]
  This horror story hit me as quite creepy and hard to forget.

• "In the Belly of the Beast" by Larry Hodges (2012, Volume 7, Issue 2) [link http://electricspec.com/Volume7/Issue2/hodges.html]
  This was a fantasy that I can't seem to forget because the protagonist's escape the dragon's stomach. I hadn't seen that before.

• "A Partial Record of the Early Life of Lys" by E. Saxey (2019, Volume 14, Issue 3) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume14/Issue3/saxey.html]
  This tale managed to be both a haunting story and fun SF time-related fiction at the same time. That's hard to pull off.

Grayson's Picks:
Grayson Towler started with Electric Spec in 2016, and looks forward to reading many more stories in the years to come. "One thing that seems to create a lasting impression for me is when an author swings for the fences," he says. "All these stories are examples of authors who tried to write something that is particularly tricky to pull off... and did it with style. Here’s my top three:"

• "The 'aiei of Snow" by D.A. D'Amico (2017, Volume 12, Issue 1) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume12/Issue1/damico.html]
  Truly beautiful writing requires such a delicate touch—too much poetic flare, and the writing starts to call attention to its own cleverness instead of serving the story. This tale is an imaginative, moving fantasy with a lyrical voice. Stunning work.

• "Corporate Robo Renegade Piston" by Nicholas Sugarman (2017, Volume 12, Issue 2) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume12/Issue2/sugarman.html]
  Okay, I'm a sucker for Kaiju flicks, which have their own idiosyncratic barometer of quality. But in a text medium with no spectacular/cheesy on-screen effects to rely on, good Kaiju stories are actually quite rare. This one was not just my favorite Electric Spec stories, but my favorite Kaiju prose tale of all time.

• "Pride Goeth Before a Fall" by Tim McKeever (2019, Volume 14, Issue 2) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume14/Issue2/mckeever.html]
  If I had to pick the toughest sub-genre to get right, it would be "Deal with the Devil" stories. So many, many pitfalls. But this story, with its delightful noir touch, absolutely nailed it.

Nikki's Picks:
Nikki Baird was a long-time slush reader but became an Editor for Electric Spec in 2016 (with Volume 11). Picking which stories she liked best was like asking her to say which child is her favorite. But running through past issues to see which ones stood out was also like bumping into long lost friends. Here are the three that she hugged the hardest when she found them:

• "The Perchant" by Bill Davidson (2018, Volume 13 issue 2) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume13/Issue2/davidson.html]
  So many post-apocalyptic stories are so depressing, but this one managed a fine line between something Wellsian, like The Time Machine's Eloi and Morlocks, but with a very different--and much more uplifting--ending.

• "G10ria" by Michael Milne (2018, Volume 13 issue 3) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume13/Issue3/milne.html]
  An AI is there to bring back a woman on the brink of total cognitive decline. I loved how deftly Michael built the backstory of the woman, Gloria, but also incorporated the growing self-awareness of the AI behind the scenes.

• "The Blessing of Song" by Bill Davidson (2019, Volume 14 issue 1) [link http://www.electricspec.com/Volume14/Issue1/davidson.feb2019.html]
  This is a totally awful story that has a gross-out factor and (spoiler alert) involves the question of whether or not humanity actually deserves to be wiped out. But so many lost-in-space stories are told solely from the point of view of the rescuers of a lost generation, and this comes from the lost ones, and does so in a way that has you laughing out loud even as you're cringing. (And yeah, I picked the same author twice. At least I'm consistent.)

What stories have stuck with you, Electric Spec readers? Come tell us on the blog [link]! We’d love to hear your favorites that have stood the test of time.

And here's to another decade of brilliant speculative fiction!