Hugos 2020: short story
Apr. 17th, 2020 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnHugo nominees are out!
Me: I wish people would post about them!
Also me: *does not post about them*
OK, here's a start, anyway. Ones that are available online (all the short stories and most of the novelettes, for starters) are here. Someday I will talk about my general thoughts, but since I read all the short stories I will just go ahead and talk about them. I think overall I liked these a little more than last year's stories.
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons September 9 2019) - bad things happen to protagonist, who takes revenge. I mean, that's it, that's the whole story. Don't do bad things. Especially when you're a colonizer. ...Which is OK, but I feel like, I want more? Will vote over No Award.
“As the Last I May Know”, S.L. Huang (Tor.com October 23 2019) - I have read another by Huang which I really liked, and I like this one a lot as well -- what I liked about it was that it raised questions that didn't have easy answers, and it didn't pretend they had easy answers. Voting this to win.
“Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, Rivers Solomon (Tor.com July 24 2019) - ummmm, I may have skimmed this a bit as it was a bit much for me, but at least if I'm understanding the story I wasn't so taken with it, especially because it postulates a supernatural link between murder and birth that (having experienced giving birth firsthand) I thought was kind of bizarre. I will vote over No Award, but probably last on my ballot.
“A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny January-February 2019) - I really liked this one too! I also didn't understand it fully but I felt like it was trying to do something interesting. Voting second.
“Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies January 2019) - This one seemed much more black and white than the Huang -- hey, guys, violence and war is bad, did you know?? I mean, it was a good story, I can see why people like it, but I'm not sure about it for winning the Hugo. Probably voting it fourth.
Ten excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare May 2019) - This is an interesting story, and I did like it. I may be missing something -- I felt there's a little bit of plot, but it's more interested in sketching out a milieu, I think - which I also like, but I usually like it hand-in-hand with more plot. Had there been more plot I would have voted for it to win, but as it is I will probably put it third. Maybe second.
Me: I wish people would post about them!
Also me: *does not post about them*
OK, here's a start, anyway. Ones that are available online (all the short stories and most of the novelettes, for starters) are here. Someday I will talk about my general thoughts, but since I read all the short stories I will just go ahead and talk about them. I think overall I liked these a little more than last year's stories.
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons September 9 2019) - bad things happen to protagonist, who takes revenge. I mean, that's it, that's the whole story. Don't do bad things. Especially when you're a colonizer. ...Which is OK, but I feel like, I want more? Will vote over No Award.
“As the Last I May Know”, S.L. Huang (Tor.com October 23 2019) - I have read another by Huang which I really liked, and I like this one a lot as well -- what I liked about it was that it raised questions that didn't have easy answers, and it didn't pretend they had easy answers. Voting this to win.
“Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, Rivers Solomon (Tor.com July 24 2019) - ummmm, I may have skimmed this a bit as it was a bit much for me, but at least if I'm understanding the story I wasn't so taken with it, especially because it postulates a supernatural link between murder and birth that (having experienced giving birth firsthand) I thought was kind of bizarre. I will vote over No Award, but probably last on my ballot.
“A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny January-February 2019) - I really liked this one too! I also didn't understand it fully but I felt like it was trying to do something interesting. Voting second.
“Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies January 2019) - This one seemed much more black and white than the Huang -- hey, guys, violence and war is bad, did you know?? I mean, it was a good story, I can see why people like it, but I'm not sure about it for winning the Hugo. Probably voting it fourth.
Ten excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare May 2019) - This is an interesting story, and I did like it. I may be missing something -- I felt there's a little bit of plot, but it's more interested in sketching out a milieu, I think - which I also like, but I usually like it hand-in-hand with more plot. Had there been more plot I would have voted for it to win, but as it is I will probably put it third. Maybe second.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-20 03:52 am (UTC)I'm so interested to see how you vote!
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Date: 2020-04-20 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-20 09:26 pm (UTC)