Finishing Hugo novellas
Jun. 20th, 2022 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnI have in fact been doing my Hugo homework in bits and pieces, even though Babylon 5 is way more compelling (btw, I am now at the beginning of S4, aaaaaaaaaaah)
Fireheart Tiger (de Bodard) - I found this piece on princesses and power struggles and a fire elemental more readable than her Fallen series, and all of those things are relevant to my interests! But it didn't really stick with me after I'd finished.
The Past Is Red (Valente) - Okay, um - this is actually pretty good! It's about the post-climate-apocalyptic society that forms on the Pacific Garbage Patch, which by this point has melded into a large island, and Tetley, a girl who grows up there. It's clearly fabulist/fantastical and not supposed to at all be in any way a realistic depiction of dystopia (say I to the part of me that kept going "but it wouldn't work that way!"). It's about optimism and hope and also about the dark sides of those things, especially when they intersect with the dark parts of the human psyche -- but Tetley herself is clearheaded as well as hopeful.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Chambers) - In this novella, Dex, a tea monk (a monk who serves tea while people talk to him about their problems) meets a wild robot, Mosscap. They go on a long hike. That's pretty much it. I think I was supposed to get more out of it than that, but I didn't really. Dex seems to angst a lot for reasons that just didn't resonate with me at all. I think something in me is just not temperamentally suited for Chambers?
Oh gosh, I have to rank these now, huh.
Elder Race > Past > Spindle > Fireheart > Grass > Psalm, I guess. IDK. I liked Elder Race the most, but besides that I feel like it's even more the vagaries of my personal opinion than usual. This category I found kind of workmanlike -- I liked a lot of these stories and felt like they weren't doing anything that I found super interesting or innovative, which is something I always like to see for the Hugo.
Fireheart Tiger (de Bodard) - I found this piece on princesses and power struggles and a fire elemental more readable than her Fallen series, and all of those things are relevant to my interests! But it didn't really stick with me after I'd finished.
The Past Is Red (Valente) - Okay, um - this is actually pretty good! It's about the post-climate-apocalyptic society that forms on the Pacific Garbage Patch, which by this point has melded into a large island, and Tetley, a girl who grows up there. It's clearly fabulist/fantastical and not supposed to at all be in any way a realistic depiction of dystopia (say I to the part of me that kept going "but it wouldn't work that way!"). It's about optimism and hope and also about the dark sides of those things, especially when they intersect with the dark parts of the human psyche -- but Tetley herself is clearheaded as well as hopeful.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Chambers) - In this novella, Dex, a tea monk (a monk who serves tea while people talk to him about their problems) meets a wild robot, Mosscap. They go on a long hike. That's pretty much it. I think I was supposed to get more out of it than that, but I didn't really. Dex seems to angst a lot for reasons that just didn't resonate with me at all. I think something in me is just not temperamentally suited for Chambers?
Oh gosh, I have to rank these now, huh.
Elder Race > Past > Spindle > Fireheart > Grass > Psalm, I guess. IDK. I liked Elder Race the most, but besides that I feel like it's even more the vagaries of my personal opinion than usual. This category I found kind of workmanlike -- I liked a lot of these stories and felt like they weren't doing anything that I found super interesting or innovative, which is something I always like to see for the Hugo.
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Date: 2022-06-21 11:50 pm (UTC)and I'm glad you liked The Past is Red too - I had to work semi-regularly to remind myself to not take the worldbuilding seriously on a literal level because it made no sense, but it really is a lovely story!
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Date: 2022-06-24 04:09 am (UTC)The Past Is Red is definitely one where I had to keep reminding myself not to take the worldbuilding seriously! But otherwise it was great :D