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Entry tags:
hugo update
Novellas: done! Just novelettes, short stories, and graphic novels to go.
"The Erdmann Nexus," by Nancy Kress – I love stories involving the more magical elements of quantum mechanics, like particle entanglement. (Anyone who's ever read any of my fic will have figured this out already.) There's also some good characterization here, especially the two main characters (semi-retired physics professor Erdmann and his home care assistant, Carrie), though the force causing the quantum entanglement problem isn't as well-explained as it should be.
"The Political Prisoner," by Charles Coleman Finlay – a double agent in a theocratic dystopia gets caught in a political purge and grows to sympathize with the aliens he helped demonize with propaganda. A fast, uncomplicated read that draws unsubtle parallels between the religious society and Soviet Russia, but still, a pretty good story.
"The Tear," by Ian McDonald – Poetic and dreamlike at times, and very reminiscent of LeGuin's writing style. I'd have been more impressed with the concept of a species in which people acquire different personalities by ingesting symbionts if Star Trek hadn't gotten there first, but "The Tear" has a slightly different approach to the concept that allows it to still feel relatively fresh. Although there is a plot about the interactions between the planet's inhabitants and spacefaring aliens on the run from their enemies, this is really more of a mood and character piece, and quite well-done, if a touch obscure at times. Would probably bear re-reading.
"True Name," by Cory Doctorow – unutterably tedious, and the only one of the five I couldn't finish. (I got halfway through.) In fact, I can't think of any logical reason this story was nominated other than fans who just assumed anything with Doctorow's name on it had to be good, because it's almost impossible for me to believe anyone actually liked this. I consider myself a computer geek, and I have a minor in literature, and even I couldn't find anything entertaining about the political machinations of a group of sentient software daemons. Contains my nominee for this year's Bad Sex Writing Award: Nadia was splayed out like a map, like a city, and Alonzo flew among her towers; like a transcriptase enzyme unfastening DNA’s bodice, laying bare the tender codons within, he knew her.
"Truth," by Robert Reed – Now this is how you write a story about how the terrorists are coming to get us. "Truth" was a grim, chilling mindfuck told from the POV of an interrogator investigating a prisoner who may be a time-traveling jihadist. The end felt a little too pat and would have worked better if there had been more of a hint about what the author had planned, but this was a damned good story regardless, and my favorite of the five.
"The Erdmann Nexus," by Nancy Kress – I love stories involving the more magical elements of quantum mechanics, like particle entanglement. (Anyone who's ever read any of my fic will have figured this out already.) There's also some good characterization here, especially the two main characters (semi-retired physics professor Erdmann and his home care assistant, Carrie), though the force causing the quantum entanglement problem isn't as well-explained as it should be.
"The Political Prisoner," by Charles Coleman Finlay – a double agent in a theocratic dystopia gets caught in a political purge and grows to sympathize with the aliens he helped demonize with propaganda. A fast, uncomplicated read that draws unsubtle parallels between the religious society and Soviet Russia, but still, a pretty good story.
"The Tear," by Ian McDonald – Poetic and dreamlike at times, and very reminiscent of LeGuin's writing style. I'd have been more impressed with the concept of a species in which people acquire different personalities by ingesting symbionts if Star Trek hadn't gotten there first, but "The Tear" has a slightly different approach to the concept that allows it to still feel relatively fresh. Although there is a plot about the interactions between the planet's inhabitants and spacefaring aliens on the run from their enemies, this is really more of a mood and character piece, and quite well-done, if a touch obscure at times. Would probably bear re-reading.
"True Name," by Cory Doctorow – unutterably tedious, and the only one of the five I couldn't finish. (I got halfway through.) In fact, I can't think of any logical reason this story was nominated other than fans who just assumed anything with Doctorow's name on it had to be good, because it's almost impossible for me to believe anyone actually liked this. I consider myself a computer geek, and I have a minor in literature, and even I couldn't find anything entertaining about the political machinations of a group of sentient software daemons. Contains my nominee for this year's Bad Sex Writing Award: Nadia was splayed out like a map, like a city, and Alonzo flew among her towers; like a transcriptase enzyme unfastening DNA’s bodice, laying bare the tender codons within, he knew her.
"Truth," by Robert Reed – Now this is how you write a story about how the terrorists are coming to get us. "Truth" was a grim, chilling mindfuck told from the POV of an interrogator investigating a prisoner who may be a time-traveling jihadist. The end felt a little too pat and would have worked better if there had been more of a hint about what the author had planned, but this was a damned good story regardless, and my favorite of the five.
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I just scared the hell out of my dogs by laughing uncontrollably for about two minutes straight.
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