2020 Hugo picks: Novelettes
May. 21st, 2020 07:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormsewerLike last year, this is once again a really strong slate [1]. I enjoyed all of these.
6. "For He Can Creep" by Siobhan Carroll
A cat seeks to protect his human from dealings with the Devil.
Based on one of the best pieces of poetry ever, "For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry" by Christopher Smart. It's a little on the cutesy side, but given how favorably inclined I am to the subject matter, I don't mind.
5. "The Archronology of Love" by Caroline M. Yoachim
A team investigates the destruction of a new human colony by means of a technology that allows any location in the past to be viewed, with caveats.
I really liked the technology for viewing the past. Somehow I can just imagine that if we did find a technology like that, it would have frustrating limitations like those in the story. I liked the premise and the characters. By the end I was still a little fuzzy about the role of the alien statements in italics spread throughout the story, which made me feel unsatisfied.
4. "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" by Sarah Pinsker
A mystery writer holes up in a cabin in the woods to write her next novel, but then things start to go awry.
I enjoyed it as it set up all these classic horror situations and then waltzed on by them. I was happy to finally find out what was actually going on, but then disappointed to find the story then ended right there. This felt more like a first chapter than a complete story.
3. "Away With the Wolves" by Sarah Gailey
A werewolf who only finds escape from a chronic illness when in wolf form struggles with identity and belonging in her small village.
In some ways this is standard-issue for contemporary short-form SF, but the more I thought about it after finishing it, the more refreshing I found it. A werewolf story devoid of violence, at least against humans. A main character who is deeply supported by those closest to her, whose only real enemy, really, is herself. A story devoid of conflict in the conventional sense, but that nonetheless manages to be absorbing and wonderful. I'm reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin in Steering the Craft: "Modern manuals of writing often conflate story with conflict. This reductionism reflects a culture that inflates aggression and competition while cultivating ignorance of other behavioral options. No narrative of any complexity can be built on or reduced to a single element. Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are others, equally important in any human life, such as relating, finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing. Change is the universal aspect of all these sources of story. Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing." I think a lot of writers would agree with the sentiment that conflict per se does not have to center every story, but I rarely encounter works of fiction (outside Le Guin) that embody it. This is one, and I applaud it.
2. "Omphalos" by Ted Chiang
In an alternate world where there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth and its ecosystems were suddenly brought into being about 8000 years ago, an archaeologist learns about a disturbing new discovery.
This is the only nominee I read before nominations were announced, and if I'd remembered to submit nominations this year, I've would have nominated this. I've often thought about how so many scientists of Newton's era were devout Christians and believed that science would lead us to God. Ted Chiang here imagines what science might be like if that had actually been the case. The difference in outlook is so different and so wonderfully presented, and the ending is lovely. He has a singular talent for imagining worlds completely orthogonal to ours in fantastical ways, and yet approaching the understanding of those worlds by logical and scientific means. He's so good at this.
1. "Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin
A representative from a space colony that escaped a dying Earth returns to it in search of something they need.
It's pretty clear where this is going is pretty early on: an inversion of Atlas Shrugged. I was skeptical at first, because I don't think it any more likely that all our problems would suddenly be solved if all the white-male-alpha-CEO-types of the world suddenly disappeared than that a perfect society would result if everyone except those guys was gone. But the more I got into it, the more appealing Jemisin's vision of the future seemed, and the more I felt a longing to bring that society about. It also gets points for being one of those rare pieces about a utopia that is actually a utopia and still manages to be an absorbing story. I am surprised to not be ranking the Chiang story first, but I have to give honors to the story that energizes me about working to make the world a better place.
[1] Is the novelette just a superior format for short fiction? Long enough to explore the setting and develop character and theme, but not so long it can fool itself into believing it is a novel?
See also:
Short stories
6. "For He Can Creep" by Siobhan Carroll
A cat seeks to protect his human from dealings with the Devil.
Based on one of the best pieces of poetry ever, "For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry" by Christopher Smart. It's a little on the cutesy side, but given how favorably inclined I am to the subject matter, I don't mind.
5. "The Archronology of Love" by Caroline M. Yoachim
A team investigates the destruction of a new human colony by means of a technology that allows any location in the past to be viewed, with caveats.
I really liked the technology for viewing the past. Somehow I can just imagine that if we did find a technology like that, it would have frustrating limitations like those in the story. I liked the premise and the characters. By the end I was still a little fuzzy about the role of the alien statements in italics spread throughout the story, which made me feel unsatisfied.
4. "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" by Sarah Pinsker
A mystery writer holes up in a cabin in the woods to write her next novel, but then things start to go awry.
I enjoyed it as it set up all these classic horror situations and then waltzed on by them. I was happy to finally find out what was actually going on, but then disappointed to find the story then ended right there. This felt more like a first chapter than a complete story.
3. "Away With the Wolves" by Sarah Gailey
A werewolf who only finds escape from a chronic illness when in wolf form struggles with identity and belonging in her small village.
In some ways this is standard-issue for contemporary short-form SF, but the more I thought about it after finishing it, the more refreshing I found it. A werewolf story devoid of violence, at least against humans. A main character who is deeply supported by those closest to her, whose only real enemy, really, is herself. A story devoid of conflict in the conventional sense, but that nonetheless manages to be absorbing and wonderful. I'm reminded of Ursula K. Le Guin in Steering the Craft: "Modern manuals of writing often conflate story with conflict. This reductionism reflects a culture that inflates aggression and competition while cultivating ignorance of other behavioral options. No narrative of any complexity can be built on or reduced to a single element. Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are others, equally important in any human life, such as relating, finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing. Change is the universal aspect of all these sources of story. Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing." I think a lot of writers would agree with the sentiment that conflict per se does not have to center every story, but I rarely encounter works of fiction (outside Le Guin) that embody it. This is one, and I applaud it.
2. "Omphalos" by Ted Chiang
In an alternate world where there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth and its ecosystems were suddenly brought into being about 8000 years ago, an archaeologist learns about a disturbing new discovery.
This is the only nominee I read before nominations were announced, and if I'd remembered to submit nominations this year, I've would have nominated this. I've often thought about how so many scientists of Newton's era were devout Christians and believed that science would lead us to God. Ted Chiang here imagines what science might be like if that had actually been the case. The difference in outlook is so different and so wonderfully presented, and the ending is lovely. He has a singular talent for imagining worlds completely orthogonal to ours in fantastical ways, and yet approaching the understanding of those worlds by logical and scientific means. He's so good at this.
1. "Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin
A representative from a space colony that escaped a dying Earth returns to it in search of something they need.
It's pretty clear where this is going is pretty early on: an inversion of Atlas Shrugged. I was skeptical at first, because I don't think it any more likely that all our problems would suddenly be solved if all the white-male-alpha-CEO-types of the world suddenly disappeared than that a perfect society would result if everyone except those guys was gone. But the more I got into it, the more appealing Jemisin's vision of the future seemed, and the more I felt a longing to bring that society about. It also gets points for being one of those rare pieces about a utopia that is actually a utopia and still manages to be an absorbing story. I am surprised to not be ranking the Chiang story first, but I have to give honors to the story that energizes me about working to make the world a better place.
[1] Is the novelette just a superior format for short fiction? Long enough to explore the setting and develop character and theme, but not so long it can fool itself into believing it is a novel?
See also:
Short stories
