2020 Hugo nominees: Best Novelette
Jun. 21st, 2020 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonelvisSince these are novelettes, some of them are available for free online, so I've added links where I could.
"For He Can Creep," Siobhan Carroll
I hated the overwrought writing style so much that I nearly noped out after the first paragraph and only kept going because I had a subway ride and nothing else to read on my phone. And you'd think a story about a cat that has to figure out how to outsmart the Devil would absolutely be my thing, but not when it contains sentences like "On the third floor the imps cease their gamboling," in which case I just get surly and resentful that better novelettes didn't make the cut.
"Omphalos," Ted Chiang
I worried that for once, a Ted Chiang story would not be for me, because so much of this one hinges on Christianity, and specifically young Earth theories, here treated as fact in a world where the Church controls scientific research. But an astronomy paper unexpectedly throws our archaeologist narrator's faith into question, and "Omphalos" slowly became an examination of how unnerving it is to realize that what you've held faith in may not be what you think it is, and that your place in the universe is tenuous – but also ultimately up to you to own and control.
"Away With the Wolves," Sarah Gailey
I read this one when it first appeared in Uncanny and enjoyed it very much, and skimming it again now, it's still damned good. Suss is a woman in chronic pain who finds relief only when she transforms into a wolf, and as the pain grows worse, she wonders how much of herself she'll lose by remaining in wolf form – will she kill village livestock? Destroy the villagers' livelihoods? Lose her friends? It's a gentle and emotional story, and Suss' final decision feels absolutely right.
"Emergency Skin," N.K. Jemisin
An unnamed soldier is sent to Earth with a mission: retrieve cancer cells necessary to the survival and comfort of the elite members of his colony planet. But it turns out that there's a much more sinister motivation behind the colony, and for some reason, no matter how unsubtle Jemisin's message about the danger posed by greedy, plutocratic, racist misogynists, I am very much in the mood for that message.
"The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye," Sarah Pinsker
Another one from Uncanny, though it didn't grab me. An author holed up in a backwoods cabin so she can finish her book unexpectedly gets caught up in a murder mystery, but I found the explanation and resolution unsatisfying.
"The Archronology of Love," Caroline M. Yoachim
I am often a sucker for Great Romantic Stories of Lost Love, and this should have fit the bill … but for some reason did not. Possibly it's because we learn so little about the protagonist's dead "lifelove," MJ: he was a scientist, he was killed in the same Martian plague that killed an entire colony, and his partner is brokenhearted, but I never felt like I understood why Saki and MJ loved each other. Maybe I'd connect with this story differently another day, IDK.
The rankings:
1. "Emergency Skin"
2. "Away With the Wolves"
3. "Omphalos"
4. "The Archronology of Love"
5. "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye"
6. No award
"For He Can Creep," Siobhan Carroll
I hated the overwrought writing style so much that I nearly noped out after the first paragraph and only kept going because I had a subway ride and nothing else to read on my phone. And you'd think a story about a cat that has to figure out how to outsmart the Devil would absolutely be my thing, but not when it contains sentences like "On the third floor the imps cease their gamboling," in which case I just get surly and resentful that better novelettes didn't make the cut.
"Omphalos," Ted Chiang
I worried that for once, a Ted Chiang story would not be for me, because so much of this one hinges on Christianity, and specifically young Earth theories, here treated as fact in a world where the Church controls scientific research. But an astronomy paper unexpectedly throws our archaeologist narrator's faith into question, and "Omphalos" slowly became an examination of how unnerving it is to realize that what you've held faith in may not be what you think it is, and that your place in the universe is tenuous – but also ultimately up to you to own and control.
"Away With the Wolves," Sarah Gailey
I read this one when it first appeared in Uncanny and enjoyed it very much, and skimming it again now, it's still damned good. Suss is a woman in chronic pain who finds relief only when she transforms into a wolf, and as the pain grows worse, she wonders how much of herself she'll lose by remaining in wolf form – will she kill village livestock? Destroy the villagers' livelihoods? Lose her friends? It's a gentle and emotional story, and Suss' final decision feels absolutely right.
"Emergency Skin," N.K. Jemisin
An unnamed soldier is sent to Earth with a mission: retrieve cancer cells necessary to the survival and comfort of the elite members of his colony planet. But it turns out that there's a much more sinister motivation behind the colony, and for some reason, no matter how unsubtle Jemisin's message about the danger posed by greedy, plutocratic, racist misogynists, I am very much in the mood for that message.
"The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye," Sarah Pinsker
Another one from Uncanny, though it didn't grab me. An author holed up in a backwoods cabin so she can finish her book unexpectedly gets caught up in a murder mystery, but I found the explanation and resolution unsatisfying.
"The Archronology of Love," Caroline M. Yoachim
I am often a sucker for Great Romantic Stories of Lost Love, and this should have fit the bill … but for some reason did not. Possibly it's because we learn so little about the protagonist's dead "lifelove," MJ: he was a scientist, he was killed in the same Martian plague that killed an entire colony, and his partner is brokenhearted, but I never felt like I understood why Saki and MJ loved each other. Maybe I'd connect with this story differently another day, IDK.
The rankings:
1. "Emergency Skin"
2. "Away With the Wolves"
3. "Omphalos"
4. "The Archronology of Love"
5. "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye"
6. No award