Best Novelette
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018) - This is a cute one!
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 July 2018) - I really liked this story, which managed to hold my interest until the end without any breaks, which is sort of amazing. I don't think it does anything particularly impressive, but it's a solid story and more to the point, it's about pastries, whichobviously I loved.
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September 2018) - I liked this one.
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing) - This was extremely well written. Only... maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but I don't really understand the worldbuilding. This evil company was feeding elephants radium because...?? because they're eeeeevil? I don't understaaaaand...
“The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018) - This was a spare and sweet and lovely story about loss.
“When We Were Starless,” by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October 2018) - There's a fine line between not-particularly-groundbreaking and cliched, and this one sort of tipped a little on the latter side for me compared to the other nominees. Not bad, just... not quite as skilled as the others.
Voting: Ghost > Banquet > Nine > Harmless > Succeed > Starless > No Award.
Best Short Story
“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018) - I really liked this one -- not super surprising, but atmospheric and solid.
“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018) - I adore T. Kingfisher and so I feel bad about saying this, but it seemed like rather a slight story (although of course very well done as her stories always are). Loved it but not voting for it to win.
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018) - Did this have a plot that I entirely missed because it was about teeth? It was well-written, but I am sort of a sucker for plot.
“STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018) - I mentioned this earlier, but I thought this story was just bad. Interesting ideas and execution, but the internal logic of the story and characters madeno sense .
“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) - It was nice? Kind of your run-of-the-mill Fractured Fairy Tale.
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018) -![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dolorosa_12 pointed out that this says kind of obnoxiously pedestal-y things about librarians, which I hadn't really thought about in so many words while reading it, although I did rather side-eye the line that said that all librarians were either super grumpy or witches -- I mean, really?? In the end, like Among Others, it was for me a story about books and our relationship with books, not a story about people, and I really liked it for that, although I might rethink the voting priority.
Current vote: Magician > Teeth > Escape > Rose > Raptor > No Award > STET.
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018) - This is a cute one!
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 July 2018) - I really liked this story, which managed to hold my interest until the end without any breaks, which is sort of amazing. I don't think it does anything particularly impressive, but it's a solid story and more to the point, it's about pastries, which
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September 2018) - I liked this one.
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing) - This was extremely well written. Only... maybe I wasn't paying enough attention but I don't really understand the worldbuilding. This evil company was feeding elephants radium because...?? because they're eeeeevil? I don't understaaaaand...
“The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018) - This was a spare and sweet and lovely story about loss.
“When We Were Starless,” by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October 2018) - There's a fine line between not-particularly-groundbreaking and cliched, and this one sort of tipped a little on the latter side for me compared to the other nominees. Not bad, just... not quite as skilled as the others.
Voting: Ghost > Banquet > Nine > Harmless > Succeed > Starless > No Award.
Best Short Story
“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018) - I really liked this one -- not super surprising, but atmospheric and solid.
“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018) - I adore T. Kingfisher and so I feel bad about saying this, but it seemed like rather a slight story (although of course very well done as her stories always are). Loved it but not voting for it to win.
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018) - Did this have a plot that I entirely missed because it was about teeth? It was well-written, but I am sort of a sucker for plot.
“STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018) - I mentioned this earlier, but I thought this story was just bad. Interesting ideas and execution, but the internal logic of the story and characters made
“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) - It was nice? Kind of your run-of-the-mill Fractured Fairy Tale.
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018) -
dolorosa_12 pointed out that this says kind of obnoxiously pedestal-y things about librarians, which I hadn't really thought about in so many words while reading it, although I did rather side-eye the line that said that all librarians were either super grumpy or witches -- I mean, really?? In the end, like Among Others, it was for me a story about books and our relationship with books, not a story about people, and I really liked it for that, although I might rethink the voting priority.Current vote: Magician > Teeth > Escape > Rose > Raptor > No Award > STET.
