Hugo awards 2023 short stories/novelettes (1 of 1 or 2)

[cahn]

Hugo nominees are out, and I have a bunch of stuff on hold and have also read the short story and novelette nominees that are available free and in English. I will post again if there is a packet with the other stories translated into English.

I think this year the theme is "people in power SUCK."

Short stories

“D.I.Y.”, by John Wiswell (Tordotcom, August 2022) - This is a story about a world in which the analogue of Hogwarts is a corporation with lots of power and it SUCKS. I... actually rather liked this one, in a way where I don't think it was being particularly subtle or saying something particularly profound, but it was satisfying to read.

“Rabbit Test”, by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2022) - hey, I read this before nominations! This is a story, clearly inspired by this last year, about how people in power SUCK when it comes to abortion. (I found it powerful and heartbreaking because uh apparently this is my single issue. It is also the story's single issue. Just so you know.)

Hmm. I think maybe DIY>Rabbit for me (possibly because Rabbit is a bit of a sore spot for me) but I could easily go the other way.

Novelettes

“The Difference Between Love and Time”, by Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, Solaris) - This is one of two stories I've read so far that didn't have the theme of People in Power SUCKING. Instead, it is about the space-time continuum embodied as a person, which is a conceit that I hated Very Very Much. I think I have to come to the conclusion that whenever Valente wants to even mention concepts that are physics-related, I can't staaaaaand it, it sets off something in my brain that's all "noooooo that's not right! that's not even wrong!"

The really irritating thing about this story is that I got to the end (only because it was Hugo homework!) and I actually... I actually liked the ending, I could see how it would be moving if I had, even a little bit, been able to buy into this whole space-time continuum personification thing (NO) (WHAT) (THIS IS SO DUMB) and ugh I can see why people might like it and why it got nominated! I just... I can't, okay. I won't vote for it below No Award but I will just complain about it a LOT here.

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, by John Chu (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2022) - People in power SUCK when it comes to superheroes. I liked that this story had an Asian superhero! That was cool! Otherwise I admit that lifting weights, which was a major setting of the story, is not super my thing. But the story was still fine.

“Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, by S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld, December 2022) - this is a story about how the rich and powerful SUCK but there may be a shadowy AI that is doing something about that. I had read this before nominations. I liked it but not enough to read it twice.

“We Built This City”, by Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld, June 2022) - this is a story about how the uncaring corporate government SUCKS when it comes to people who are just trying to do their jobs and make things work. That's the story. It was fine.

“A Dream of Electric Mothers”, by Wole Talabi (Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Tordotcom) - Two hours into the third session of our fourth cabinet meeting on the border dispute with the co-operative kingdom of Dahomey, my colleagues finally agree that we need to seek the dream-counsel of our electric mother. Oh YAY, a story that actually has a reasonably interesting speculative element, is not a story about how people in power SUCK!, and does not involve the personification of the space-time continuum!

Mothers > everything else, I'm not even sure how to vote on the rest of it (mostly because "Difference" is screwing up my thoughts; I had more of a reaction to it than the others but that reaction is both negative and positive!)

Comments

[hidden_variable]

whenever Valente wants to even mention concepts that are physics-related, I can't staaaaaand it, it sets off something in my brain that's all "noooooo that's not right! that's not even wrong!"

Perversely, this made me want to go read "The Difference Between Love and Time," just to see if it was really that bad. And... yeah. I think I might conceivably be okay with this concept in a much smaller dose--as a short poem, say. Totally agree with you both on how annoying it is when extended at this length, and how the ending might actually be compelling if you accept the central premise.

[cahn]

heeeeeeee! Though I do understand; it would have made me want to read it too :)

Yeah, and I think it's also something about Valente's writing, in particular, doing physics-adjacent concepts that is just nails-on-a-chalkboard to me. I've been known to like her writing otherwise! And I agree with you that the concept itself might be OK in different circumstances! (I could even see a longer story in which the concept wasn't quite so central.) I think it's that I get the distinct impression that she doesn't know anything about it and doesn't care, she's just stringing together words that sound cool to her. (I'm not saying that's what she's actually doing, necessarily, just that this is how my brain feels about it.)

[sophia_sol]

I found D.I.Y. an entirely decent read, but it didn't particularly speak to me. I liked it, but that's about it.

I had a different reaction to Rabbit Test than you. Definitely a single-issue story, and I agree with it and you about the seriousness of the issue in question, but it was SO unsubtle that I couldn't like it. If a story is going to be about an issue, then I prefer when it can both stand alone as an interesting work of speculative fiction AND say something interesting and relevant about our world; and when the entire point of a story is nothing but the Message it is giving to the readers, I become personally irritated by it. I'm glad the story worked so well for you though!

And then, again in opposition to you, I really loved the John Chu novelette. It actually made it onto my yearly short story rec list last year! It's one of the things that I nominated this year too. I found it really charming!

Back to agreement though on Murder by Pixels. It's interesting but not interesting enough to read more than once.

I liked A Dream of Electric Mothers, I was so enormously irritated by the Valente that I didn't even finish it, and I know I read We Built This City because I read everything Clarkesworld publishes but not a single thing about it even looks familiar anymore, that's how little it stuck with me.

Overall, not a crowd of finalists that really excites me. The John Chu novelette is the only one I feel at all interested in seeing as a winner. Though I suppose I wouldn't be mad if it were Electric Mothers. But. Sigh.

[cahn]

I had a different reaction to Rabbit Test than you. Definitely a single-issue story, and I agree with it and you about the seriousness of the issue in question, but it was SO unsubtle that I couldn't like it.

I don't think I entirely disagree with you? Like, I could identify that I didn't think I liked it as much as D.I.Y. (which I also didn't think was an impressive story, but thought it was one I vibed with) but I wasn't quite sure why. That may be at least part of why!

And then, again in opposition to you, I really loved the John Chu novelette. It actually made it onto my yearly short story rec list last year! It's one of the things that I nominated this year too. I found it really charming!

I'm glad! I didn't vibe with this one the way I did with "D.I.Y." but it's doing good things and it's not surprising to me that people who aren't me love it! (And, conversely, that people who aren't me don't like DIY all that much, that also tracks!)

I was so enormously irritated by the Valente that I didn't even finish it

LOLOLOL I wouldn't have finished it if it hadn't been Hugo homework and also relatively short. IT'S SO IRRITATING.

[hamsterwoman]

if I had, even a little bit, been able to buy into this whole space-time continuum personification thing (NO) (WHAT) (THIS IS SO DUMB)

Ahaha, I have not read this particular Valente (and will not, probably, because I'm taking a break from Hugo homework this year, and I at least tell myself I'm done reading Valente voluntarily, the yield rate is too low) but I am so amused by your reaction, and can imagine having a similar one at Bad Science.

Also, "stringing together words that sound cool to her" seems to me to be how she writes in general (which very, very occasionally works for me, as in The Past is Red/The Future Is Blue but mostly does not), so that would not surprise met at all.

[cahn]

Haha, it was worth reading it to amuse you :D (Well, it was short. I see that she's also got a YA book and... ugh, I probably won't make it through that.)

Also, "stringing together words that sound cool to her" seems to me to be how she writes in general (which very, very occasionally works for me, as in The Past is Red/The Future Is Blue but mostly does not), so that would not surprise met at all.

Oh good, it's not just me! I find it SO frustrating. I think it can work when the subject is more dreamlike (I also liked The Past Is Read, and I remember liking Habitation of the Blessed forever ago), but I just can't when it's anything hard-science-related.

[ase]

Time to hit the library again, I see! Thank you for posting to remind me. :-)

[cahn]

:) Well... maybe? I am so far underwhelmed by the field of contestants, but who knows, maybe there will be something interesting there...

[ase]

Well, I can always get Babel or otherwise start from the novels and work my way to the shorter stories.

[cahn]

But Babel wasn't even nominated! Though I'm super curious as to what you think of it and whether I should read it so I fully support your reading that rather than the actual nominees :D