Hugo Short Story Round-up

Those of you who have been following along with my blog and my #ReadShortStories posts will have seen my mini-reviews of the Hugo-nominated short stories as I read them. But I did not read them in a group, so I am collecting them here together in a single blog post.

I found this to be a strong category and there were no stories I actively disliked. "STET" is definitely the story I have the most mixed feelings about, and that is mainly due to its structure, which is also sort of the point. The ranking of the rest of the stories felt a lot more subjective to me; none of the stories stood out as especially better or worse than the others and my ordering of time comes down to personal preference more than anything else. So, although the voting is not yet open, I include the stories and my mini reviews of them in the order I expect I will put them on my ballot. Although I reserve the right to change my mind, especially if I end up engaging in some interesting discussions about them that change my mind.

If you've already read the stories, what's your opinion of them? How much do you disagree with my ranking?

(Story title links below go to where they can be freely read online.)


“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat” by Brooke Bolander — I found this dinosaur-esque fairytale very entertaining. I even laughed a few times. From the chatter in the podcast around it, I gather the rest of the Uncanny dinosaur issue, which I haven’t read, is set in a shared world. But this story absolutely stood alone. It also wasn’t what I expected, since it also contained humans, not just raptors. And a witch. Anyway, very entertaining.

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow — A lovely story about a witchy librarian, who just wants to help her patrons, and one patron in particular who hasn’t been dealt the best hand by fate. I quite enjoyed it.

"The Court Magician" by Sarah Pinsker — An unexpected but interesting story about a poor boy, street magic and the more powerful real magic he eventually learns about. I liked it.

"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark — A story told in nine snippets pertaining to the lives of nine black slaves, set in a parallel world where magic and magical creatures exist. It was an interesting read, but felt a little long because of its structure.

"The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society" by T. Kingfisher — An amusing story about the tables turning on a group of fairies who usually get their way and enjoy leaving humans to pine after them. Short and sweet.

“STET” by Sarah Gailey — Hands down, the most interesting thing about this story is the form in  which it’s presented. The actual story is sad and all, but I do think the impact is lessened by the format. An interesting experiment but I didn’t feel as drawn into the story as I would a more conventional narrative, though it was still heartbreaking.