My Hugo ballot continues! (Check out Part One to learn more about the Hugo awards and to see how I voted for best novel and best novella). In this post I'll cover the categories for novelette and short story. In Part Three I'll get to other categories, like related work, dramatic presentation (long and short), and whatever else I can get to by July 31. Seriously, how could one person possibly be educated enough to vote for all these categories?
Best Novelette
A novelette (aka, a longish short story) is an interesting beast, long enough to require some attention but packing the punch of short fiction. There's a lot of really great stuff in this category this year. There's only one finalist I really didn't care for, but I have to admit that even that is well done (it's just not my thing). This is honestly probably my favorite overall category so far. While I have my preferences, I'd be satisfied with any of these winning a Hugo.
1. “When We Were Starless,” by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October 2018)
- I've been experimenting with short story podcasts lately (full audio novels still don't really work for me for whatever reason). Anyway, I listed to this story on the Clarkesworld podcast on a recent long car trip. Somewhere on the dusty roads of Kentucky or Illinois, this odd little story from the perspective of odd little lizard people re-discovering long lost wonders left me delighted and deeply moved.
2. “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September 2018)
- My Goodreads review: "On the face of it, this is a story about invasive alien plant species that prompts deep thoughts about biology, ecology, and humanity's place among the creatures of the Earth, but it's also a story about beauty, love, and the experience of time. I also have to give it extra points for partly taking place in East Tennessee. Great stuff!"
- The margin between the top five in this category is really thin. Any of these easily could have taken my #1 spot. Anyway, I've loved Kritzer's work since her Hugo-winning story "Cat Pictures, Please" (I also saw her on a panel at CONvergence once). I listened to this one on the Uncanny podcast and about half way through I realized I had read it on their website several months earlier. It's fun to see a protagonist who is an academic (and Kritzer almost gets being an academic right, or at least she comes a lot closer than most non-academics). A story about a woman attempting an academic categorization of ghost stories becomes a deep and touching exploration of grief for her departed mother (or is she departed?).
4. “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)
- I really loved this one. If the competition wasn't so great in this category, this easily could have been my #1 pick. My Goodreads review: "An occasionally funny, always beautiful story inspired by East Asian and Buddhist mythology (I love the cintāmaṇi, or wish-fulfilling jewel, that goes back to India). A great story for anyone who's ever wanted to be a dragon."
- Man, I hate ranking this one so low, because I really enjoyed it. Oh, well. My Goodreads review: "An interesting fantasy story in which some baked goods have the power to incite specific kinds of memories in the eater. Great idea baked to perfection."
6. The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing)
- The only one on the list I didn't really care for. My Goodreads review: "More of an 'appreciated, but didn't actually like' from me. I can appreciate what Bolander's trying to do, but scatalogical scenes of elephant torture and general intensity do not make for an engaging narrative for me. Bolander seems to have a lot of fans, with a few stories having been Hugo finalists in recent years and a Nebula award for this one, but I've never been much into her work (with one exception: this year's short story Hugo finalist was pretty fun). Maybe she's more of a "writer's writer," but this just didn't come together for me, despite the worthwhile theme of humanity's inhumanity to ourselves and our fellow creatures. I did like the elephant culture, though."
Short stories do their thing and then move on. Good ones leave something behind. This year's finalists are a mixed bag for me, but nothing I hated.
1. “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018)
- My Goodreads review: "A beautifully-written and fantastic take on a disturbing fact about George Washington's teeth. (No, they were not wooden). Clark takes this fact and makes something beautiful out of it (but also still disturbing). So far this is my pick for the top spot in this year's Hugo for short story, and it makes me excited to read Clark's novella, The Black God's Drums, which is also a Hugo finalist this year." [NOTE: See what I thought about the novella here.]
2. “STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018)
- A really creative close second for me. My Goodreads review: "Who would have thought an intensely emotional story about artificial intelligence could be told through editing notes in a textbook? Sarah Gailey, that's who. Definitely in the running for my top spot in Hugo short story voting this year."
3. “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018)
- Probably the highest I've ever rated something from Bolander, who generally doesn't click with me, but this is pretty different than her usual fare. My Goodreads review: "A really fun fairy tale with three raptor sisters as protagonists (oddly, there are also humans, but just go with it, it's fun). One of the raptors is referred to as a "clever girl" at one point, delighting Jurassic Park fans everywhere. Interestingly, I liked this a lot more than the other stories I've read by the same author that were Hugo finalists in past years."
4. “The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018)
- The opposite effect: an author whose work I loved last year (especially her novelette "Wind Will Rove"), but I didn't like this year's finalist nearly as much. My Goodreads review: "An interesting fantasy premise with a deeper lesson to ponder."
5. “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
- I liked this a lot and would have rated it higher if it weren't for one issue. My Goodreads review: "There's a lot here for lovers of libraries and books, especially the fantasy genre. There is a bit of an unfortunate white savior complex to it, though, among other issues (see this excellent review for more). Offhand comment: This library has an amazing collection, even excluding the special collection magic Books."
6. “The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)
- My Goodreads review: "A fun fantasy story with pining fae folk. I liked it just fine, but it would probably be even more fun for people really into fairies."
Okay, so there you have it! Let's see how many of the remaining categories I can get through before the deadline!
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