Short stories 11 to 17 are late and disorderly

This batch of stories is an unusual number because I feel bad for posting them so late. I had plans to do a proper Hugo round-up post as I did for novellas, but for various reasons that didn't happen. So here are some of the short stories and novelettes that were shortlisted for Hugo awards.

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The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker — An enjoyable mystery-ish story about a mystery writing a in cabin in the woods. Things inevitably go wrong, but it wasn’t quite the horror scenario I was expecting. I enjoyed it. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-blur-in-the-corner-of-your-eye

The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim — A long story about interesting far-future alien tech which records history. People interacting with said tech while trying to work out what happened to a failed colony planet. Also a sad love story. It was OK, but it didn’t really grab me. Source: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-archronology-of-love/

Omphalos by Ted Chiang — An unexpected story told in an unusual way. Almost an epistolary story, but told through prayers rather than letters. Set in a world a bit less technologically developed than ours, and following a scientist who knows exactly how long ago the world was created. And that it was created by a divine being. I enjoyed it more than I expected. Source: Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Emergency Skin by NK Jemisin — An entertaining read partially depicting a society sitting somewhere between Athos (Bujold, Ethan of Athos) and the alt-right. It’s also told in an unusual way, which works very efficiently to tell the story and highlight the horrors of that particular society. We actually only get half the story, but it’s more than enough. Source: Amazon Forward Collection

As the Last I May Know by SL Huang — An intriguing premise: weapons of mass destruction can only be set off if the president first murders a little girl. I enjoyed the story and was quite taken by both the power play and the moral questions raised. Source: https://www.tor.com/2019/10/23/as-the-last-i-may-know-s-l-huang/

For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll — An amusing story about a cat fighting Satan for a poet’s soul. It was not what I expected from the title, and was certainly entertaining enough. Source: https://www.tor.com/2019/07/10/for-he-can-creep-siobhan-carroll/

Blood is Another Word for Hunger by Rivers Solomon — A very weird story. Not sure what to make of it, to be honest. I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t love it. I'm sorry that I have failed to adequately describe the weirdness of murder resulting in spontaneous births. Source: https://www.tor.com/2019/07/24/blood-is-another-word-for-hunger-rivers-solomon/

#ReadShortStories, even if only because they're Hugo shortlisted (56–60)

I spent some of my weekend making a push on the Hugo ballot and the last three stories in this batch are the result. I've now finished the short story ballot, so a comparison of all the Hugo short story nominees will be coming soon. Stay tuned.



The Shadow We Cast Through Time by Indrapramit Das — A dark and fantastical take of a far future but lowish-tech colony on some alien planet. The story evoked a compelling mood, but I found it a bit too slow to draw me in effectively, for all that it was interesting during sufficiently long bursts of reading. Source: New Suns edited by Nisi Shawl

A Billion Dots of Light by Matt Thompson — Flash about a very dehumanised pod-generation ship. Pretty horrifying and with a bit of a clichéd ending. Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01105-w

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. Source: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-court-magician

Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory — The story was OK but I found it a bit old fashioned. I’m also not sure that the title made sense in the end with the direction the story took, but I don’t want to spoil it by explaining. I was weirded out by how often the (gay!) protagonist described how beautiful his mother was. That was super weird, and only got more so with repetition. Overall, the science parts with the apocalypse were interesting, the rest was fine. Source: https://www.tor.com/2018/09/19/nine-last-days-on-planet-earth-daryl-gregory/

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. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-tale-of-the-three-beautiful-raptor-sisters-and-the-prince-who-was-made-of-meat/

#ReadShortStories (106 to 110)

This batch sees me finishing off Not So Stories — full review of the anthology coming very soon — and start in on Uncanny issue 21. I am looking forward to having a short break from themed anthologies (I do have more lined up, so it will be short) and reading a general mix of stories without obligations.

Strays Like Us by Zina Hutton — A story about Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, who no longer has a place in the world, and a stray kitten. The story was fine, but I’m not sure how well it fits with the other stories in the anthology. It put me more in mind of various forgotten/unworshipped god stories more than colonialism per se. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore

How the Simurgh Won Her Tail by Ali Nouraei — A lovely story within a story. A grandfather visiting his sick (cancer, I think) granddaughter in hospital and telling her the titular story. It was very heartwarming, despite the depressing hospital setting and the hints of life outside the hospital. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore

There is Such Thing as a Whizzy-Gang by Raymond Gates — A story about a boy in Australia, his uncle that likes to (mostly) benevolently tease him and the Whizzy-Gang that attacks him. Not a bad read, but I didn’t really spot any direct engagement with colonialism. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore

How the Camel Got Her Paid Time Off by Paul Krueger — If not for the title itself, this story would feel quite unresolved, which I have mixed feelings about. I didn’t mind the story overall, but I again didn’t find it to be quite what I expected. It’s about animals fighting (or not) for worker rights. Source: Not So Stories edited by David Thomas Moore

I Frequently Hear Music in the Very Heart of Noise by Sarah Pinsker — Part story, part history of the early 20 century music and art scene in New York. I didn’t love it. A lot of references went over my head and those that didn’t — meh. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/frequently-hear-music-heart-noise/

Hugo Ballot Discussion: Novelettes

It's actually been several days since I finished reading the Hugo shortlisted novelettes, but I hadn't been in the right headspace to write a considered blog post, hence the delay.

Links in the story title go to my original reviews (not all of which exist). You can see the full Hugo Ballot at the official website. Venue links go to the page where you can read each story online. The discussion follows the shortlist and mini-reviews.

“Children of Thorns, Children of Water,” by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny, July-August 2017)

In this story we follow Thuan and his friend as they attempt to infiltrate one of the Houses of the Fallen in an alternate reality Paris. During the standard examination for entry into the House (as servants), something unusual goes wrong and everyone has to evacuate a wing of the house.

From what I remember, this story has a minor spoiler for House of Shattered Wings, but definitely doesn't require reading the second novel, House of Binding Thorns (I haven't yet). That said, my reading of the story was influenced by my prior knowledge of the world building and I suspect it wouldn't stand alone as a story as well as it does part of a whole. I believe it was intended to promote interest in House of Binding Thorns, which it does reasonably well. I am definitely interested in reading the sequel now that I've been reminded of the world again (if only I wasn't already so far behind on my reading...).

“Extracurricular Activities,” by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com, February 15, 2017)

Set in the same universe as Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem, this story follows Jedao while he is still young. He goes on an undercover mission to extract a friend from academy. I really enjoyed this story. It was funny with serious moments. A good read for both readers of the novels and new comers to the world.

“The Secret Life of Bots,” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, September 2017)

A delightful story about an ageing maintenance bot on an ageing spaceship that has been pulled out of a scrap yard for a last desperate mission. This story strikes a perfect balance between informing the reader of the human-centred happenings and the struggles faced by the bots.

“A Series of Steaks,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld, January 2017)

An excellent story about 3D printing forgeries of beef. It was a delightful read that made me giggle and also marvel at the level of details included. If the author wasn’t already on my list of short story writers I like, this story would have put her there.

“Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time,” by K.M. Szpara (Uncanny, May/June 2017)

A drunk trans guy gets illegally bitten and turned by a vampire. In a society that has flying cars and socially integrated vampires, but still treats trans people similarly to ours, Finley bumps up against problems unique trans vampires (who aren’t legally supposed to exist). A really good, thoughtful story.

“Wind Will Rove,” by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s, September/October 2017)

I didn’t hate this story but it’s hard to articulate why I didn’t particularly like it. It’s competently written and all that, it’s more the subject matter that didn’t do it for me, I think. On the surface, a story about a generation ship mid-flight and a musical historian/school teacher should be interesting. And indeed, the opening was more appealing, talking about the myth of her grandmother playing her fiddle during a spacewalk (completely nonsensical, but that fact was acknowledged). But a lot of the story focussed on a large string-centric folk music playing group, which didn’t do it for me. (Once upon a time, the string section was the bane of my existence, so I’m not pretending objectivity or anything on that point.) As an exploration of how a generation ship society might cope — years down the track — with having once lost all their cultural databases, I didn’t feel it went far enough. Partly this could be explained by how closely the story followed the protagonist, but I still feel there were more interesting issues to explore than just those the author focussed on. So it’s not a bad story, but I didn’t love it.

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This is a very strong category and I find my favourite stories very difficult to rank. The four middle stories (in the order listed above) all absolutely delighted me and I don't know how to choose! The other two didn't grab me as much, which is not to say that they aren't good stories, just that they aren't my favourites in this batch. I actually nominated both "Extracurricular Activities" and "The Secret Life of Bots" but if I had read "A Series of Steaks" before nominations closed, I would have added it to my ballot.

"Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time" is probably the most interesting take on vampires interacting with elements of modern or future society that I've read. "Extracurricular Activities" was a very accessible introduction to the world of Ninefox Gambit — more so than the actual first novel — and followed a very charismatic character that I will always be happy to read more about. Then it comes to a showdown between a story about an ageing and sentient maintenance robot and a story about 3D printing fraudulent beef. The stories are so different it's hard to compare them and I absolutely loved both of them. Good thing we have preferential voting in the Hugos (yay, democracy)... but it's still too hard to choose.

Hugo Ballot Discussion: Novellas

Since the Hugo ballot was announced over the weekend, I'm going to run a few blog posts discussing the works in the fiction categories. This is the first post in that series, in which I will talk a bit about the shortlisted novellas (and link to my earlier more detailed reviews of them). Why am I starting with novellas? Because I happen to have read the entire shortlist already.

In the meantime, if you haven't yet, you can check out the full Hugo ballot at Tor.com. Below I have reproduced the novella shortlist with links to my reviews of each novella. Each got a full standalone review except for "And Then There Were (N-One)" by Sarah Pinsker, in large part because I read that one in Uncanny and didn't realise it was a novella at the time.


Best Novella

All Systems Red, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
“And Then There Were (N-One),” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny, March/April 2017)
Binti: Home, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
The Black Tides of Heaven, by JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)
Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
River of Teeth, by Sarah Gailey (Tor.com Publishing)

This is a really strong category and, for me, ranking these novellas comes down more to personal preference than any sort of objective writing quality. Some of these just resonated more with me than others. All of them tell interesting stories from interesting and relatively uncommon points of view, and there's quite a bit of diversity on display. The struggle to rank them is real.

That said, my favourite, long after reading them all, is All Systems Red. But I wouldn't put any of the others out of the running (not even River of Teeth, which made me sad with its hippo violence). This is a category that could swing in any direction.

(What exciting times we live in that there aren't any Puppy nominees to discount. Hopefully, we're passed all that now.)

Have you read these novellas? Which was your favourite?

Short stories 36 to 40

Continuing the trend, another mix of short stories. My favourite in this batch is definitely the JY Yang, although the two flash pieces (Pinsker and Vo) were interesting, just not that meaty, what with being flash.


The Sewell Home for the Temporally Displaced by Sarah Pinsker — A cute flash story about inadvertent time travel and lesbians. Source: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-sewell-home-for-the-temporally-displaced/

One Saturday Night, with Angel by Peter Ball — Angels are walking the Earth and, while know one knows much about them, it doesn’t look good. The protagonist of this story is being stalked by one, which has a very strong, caustic smell. OK story but didn’t grab me. Source: Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein

Auspicium Melioris Aevi by JY Yang — A really interesting look at cloning and extensive training as a means of duplicating past wisdom to sell. I guessed the shape of the ending but the choice of historical figure to clone (in the case of the main character — there were multiple sets) and the attendant historical details were fascinating. As was the brief interrogation of some of his life choices. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/auspicium-melioris-aevi/

The Psychology Game by Xia Jia — An interesting concept but the way it’s explored is a bit too pedagogical/preachy for my taste. I would have enjoyed a more plotted take. But not a bad exploration of AI and where we would (or wouldn’t) draw the line at giving them tasks. Source: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/xia_10_17/

Twelve Pictures From a Second World War by Nghi Vo — Snapshots from a WWII in which various fairytale/folk/mythical beings took part alongside the ordinary humans. An entertaining but very short story. Source: http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/twelve-pictures-from-a-second-world-war/