stormsewer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stormsewer) wrote2020-05-19 10:12 am
stormsewer) wrote2020-05-19 10:12 am
Entry tags:
2020 Hugo picks: Short stories
Let's get started!
A lot of these are violent revenge fantasies, which really isn't my thing, in general [1].
6. "Blood Is Another Word for Hunger" by Rivers Solomon
A slave girl takes advantage of the chaos of the Civil War to kill her owners in their sleep, which in turns leads to new births.
This is my least favorite of the violent revenge fantasies, as it gets into some pretty indiscriminate killing, and the MC seems like a fair candidate for clinical psychopathy.
5. "And Now His Lordship is Laughing" by Shiv Ramdas
In 1940s West Bengal, a woman who makes magical dolls must deal with her imperial oppressors.
This just left me feeling disgusted. Cruelty met with cruelty. It's interesting to compare this to the actual Indian response to the actual circumstances referenced by this piece, namely the innovative non-violent (and successful) resistance led by Gandhi. Maybe this wouldn't have bugged me so much a year ago. Having just finished reading Chenoweth and Stephan's Why Civil Resistance Works, which makes a strong data-driven case that non-violent resistance is superior to violent resistance both in terms of likelihood of success and in terms of the likelihood of the new regime being less repressive than what came before, I seem to find myself more sensitive to and more frustrated by depictions of righteous violence than I used to be.
4. "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island" by Nibedita Sen
As the title suggests, this is supposed quotes from scholarly sources on cannibal women and their post-colonial descendants.
I liked this violent revenge fantasy better than the ones discussed above, because, while much shorter, it seems much more interested in subtlety and nuance, and I appreciate the interesting structure.
3. "Do Not Look Back, My Lion" by Alix E. Harrow
In a world where women are the stronger, more aggressive gender, a female husband rebels against her (female) wife's warrior culture.
This one could also be considered a violent revenge fantasy, but is really more about pushing back against a culture that valorizes such things. It was well-written, well-presented, and packs a punch. I can't help thinking that if it was presented with traditional gender roles it wouldn't seem very innovative, though. Switching the genders around like this is certainly interesting, but does that make it great? I'm not sure.
2. "A Catalog of Storms" by Fran Wilde
Strange storms are assaulting humanity, and only those who shout back and risk becoming the weather themselves can fight them.
Strange and lovely.
1. "As the Last I May Know" by S. L. Huang
A girl is chosen to be the potential sacrifice that would permit her country's leader to use a nuclear-like weapon.
It's powerful, basically asking the question, "if you wouldn't be willing to kill a single child with your own hands, should you be allowed to kill thousands or millions with an order?" I ranked this one first because it's the one I thought the most about after finishing it, and my view on the story actually changed after pondering it a while. For instance, while reading it I was a bit frustrated that the story was about these vague "sere" things when it's clearly really about nuclear weapons. But then, it's hard to imagine any real contemporary nation agreeing to limit its use of nuclear weapons in this way. If it was suggested, you can just imagine all the politicians decrying the barbarism of it, and yet knowing the real reason they're against it is that they don't want any limits on their ability to deploy a much more barbaric technology. So it makes sense to set it in another world. Additionally, though normally I like unresolved endings, this one bugged me at first, because I felt like the author herself wasn't taking responsibility for seeing through the premise she dragged us into. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided the point of the story is the painful uncertainty of the situation, and the ending leaves the reader in that state, which is really the right choice, after all. So, impressive work.
[1] Actually, violent revenge fantasies seem very popular across the political spectrum right now. You guys are all making me nervous.
A lot of these are violent revenge fantasies, which really isn't my thing, in general [1].
6. "Blood Is Another Word for Hunger" by Rivers Solomon
A slave girl takes advantage of the chaos of the Civil War to kill her owners in their sleep, which in turns leads to new births.
This is my least favorite of the violent revenge fantasies, as it gets into some pretty indiscriminate killing, and the MC seems like a fair candidate for clinical psychopathy.
5. "And Now His Lordship is Laughing" by Shiv Ramdas
In 1940s West Bengal, a woman who makes magical dolls must deal with her imperial oppressors.
This just left me feeling disgusted. Cruelty met with cruelty. It's interesting to compare this to the actual Indian response to the actual circumstances referenced by this piece, namely the innovative non-violent (and successful) resistance led by Gandhi. Maybe this wouldn't have bugged me so much a year ago. Having just finished reading Chenoweth and Stephan's Why Civil Resistance Works, which makes a strong data-driven case that non-violent resistance is superior to violent resistance both in terms of likelihood of success and in terms of the likelihood of the new regime being less repressive than what came before, I seem to find myself more sensitive to and more frustrated by depictions of righteous violence than I used to be.
4. "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island" by Nibedita Sen
As the title suggests, this is supposed quotes from scholarly sources on cannibal women and their post-colonial descendants.
I liked this violent revenge fantasy better than the ones discussed above, because, while much shorter, it seems much more interested in subtlety and nuance, and I appreciate the interesting structure.
3. "Do Not Look Back, My Lion" by Alix E. Harrow
In a world where women are the stronger, more aggressive gender, a female husband rebels against her (female) wife's warrior culture.
This one could also be considered a violent revenge fantasy, but is really more about pushing back against a culture that valorizes such things. It was well-written, well-presented, and packs a punch. I can't help thinking that if it was presented with traditional gender roles it wouldn't seem very innovative, though. Switching the genders around like this is certainly interesting, but does that make it great? I'm not sure.
2. "A Catalog of Storms" by Fran Wilde
Strange storms are assaulting humanity, and only those who shout back and risk becoming the weather themselves can fight them.
Strange and lovely.
1. "As the Last I May Know" by S. L. Huang
A girl is chosen to be the potential sacrifice that would permit her country's leader to use a nuclear-like weapon.
It's powerful, basically asking the question, "if you wouldn't be willing to kill a single child with your own hands, should you be allowed to kill thousands or millions with an order?" I ranked this one first because it's the one I thought the most about after finishing it, and my view on the story actually changed after pondering it a while. For instance, while reading it I was a bit frustrated that the story was about these vague "sere" things when it's clearly really about nuclear weapons. But then, it's hard to imagine any real contemporary nation agreeing to limit its use of nuclear weapons in this way. If it was suggested, you can just imagine all the politicians decrying the barbarism of it, and yet knowing the real reason they're against it is that they don't want any limits on their ability to deploy a much more barbaric technology. So it makes sense to set it in another world. Additionally, though normally I like unresolved endings, this one bugged me at first, because I felt like the author herself wasn't taking responsibility for seeing through the premise she dragged us into. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided the point of the story is the painful uncertainty of the situation, and the ending leaves the reader in that state, which is really the right choice, after all. So, impressive work.
[1] Actually, violent revenge fantasies seem very popular across the political spectrum right now. You guys are all making me nervous.