2010 Hugo Nominees - Short and Novelette round-up

Short story was a tough decision. The only story I actively disliked was “Bride of Frankenstein,” although “The Moment” didn’t do much for me either. Neither story seemed to be saying anything all that interesting. On the other hand, “Spar” really jumped out at me as something special, but I also really enjoyed “Bridesicle” and “Non-zero Probablities.” For those two latter stories, my only complaint was that I liked them so much I wanted more. “Spar” I didn’t really want more of, which I guess is an accomplishment for a short story. In other words, on an intellectual level, and as an appreciation of the craft of short stories, “Spar” wins hands down. But I actually enjoyed reading the other two stories as much, with the edge probably going to “Non-Zero Probablilities.” I guess I’ll vote with my head rather than my heart.

1. “Spar” Kij Johnson
2. “Non_Zero Probablities” N. K. Jemisin
3. “Bridesicle” Wil McIntosh
4. “The Moment”
5. No Award
6. “Bride of Frankenstein” Resnick

Novelette’s an easy one for me though. I enjoyed all six of these stories, but five of them were mild “likes.” I’ve ranked them below, but 2-6 (and especially 4-6) are virtually tied. “The Island,” “Sinner, Baker, etc. etc.” and “One of Our Bastards” each presented original and exciting worlds, but I often found those worlds needlessly complex, especially in this short format, where you don’t really have time for effective world-building and detailed plot and character development. “It Takes Two” and “Overtime” gave us contemporary stories with speculative fiction twists. They were nice, but they also felt a bit inconsequential – the former focusing on an erotic tryst and the latter edging into slapstick. Swirsky’s story, however, really grabbed me and touched me in a very surprising way. It’s the least cutting edge of the six – it’s basically an Asimov robot story with a touch more emotional and psychological complexity – but maybe that’s a virtue (at least, from this reviewer’s prespective). Swirsky’s story is not only my favorite Hugo-nominated novelette, it’s my favorite short fiction of 2010 that I’ve read.

1. “Eros, Philia, Agape” Rachel Swirsky

2. Sinner Baker

3. “It Takes Two” Griffith

4. “Overtime” Stross

5. “The Island” Peter Watts

6. “One of Our Bastards is Missing” Paul Cornell

2010 Hugo nominee (and Nebula winner), short story: "Spar" by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)

Now, this is a short story. Rather than give a little hint of a broader world or tell a cute vignette, this novel takes an unusual (and provocative) situation and uses it to briefly explore ideas of alien otherness, sexuality, and psychology.

The story is not for the easily offended. There are graphic (though mostly evocative rather than descriptive) depictions of sex. In fact, that’s pretty much the entire story.

There’s so little plot here, I’m afraid to spoil it. Let’s just say it involves the interactions of a female narrator and a very non-humanoid alien, whose ship she is trapped on after an accident. We get hints of what has happened, and we get a sense of how the narrator mourns and how lost she is. Taken straight, it’s an original depiction of alien interactions and the psychology of a desperate situation, but I think the story also has deeper things to say about sex and relationships. It actually makes some of the same points as Palimpsest, though I things it's sharper for being shorter.

Overall, the story is more than the sum of its small word count, something that’s rare and special in short fiction.

Available at Clarkesworld in both print and audio.

Grade: A-

2010 Hugo nominee, short story: "Non-Zero Probabilities" by N.K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld 9/09)"

Adele lives in a New York City that, through some unexplained event or intervention, has become a center of improbable events. For some people, this means the spontaneous remission of their cancer, or a big lottery win. For others, this means horrible accidents and deadly duck attacks. People react by turning to religion or superstition.

In this short story, we get a pretty thorough exploration of Adele’s troubled faith and her uncertainness in relationships. In fact, these uncertainties seem to be the point. Adele has a lot of the same questions about love and life that we all have, but an odd and original speculative fiction setting brings these issues into stark relief.

I really enjoyed this story, but I do have my usual short fiction complaint: I wanted more. There are so many great possibilities with this setting, that I wanted to see more bizarre events and learn more about Adele, a very relatable character, and her background.

This is a well-written, intriguing story with a great character. I’d like to see more from Jemisin, and I might seek some out. Available from Clarkesworld, including an audio version.

Grade: A-

2010 Hugo nominee, short story: "The Bride of Frankenstein" by Mike Resnick (Asimov's 12/09)

When I said Boneshaker was "cute," I meant it in the best sense of the word. This story is cute in the worst sense. “Cutesy” might be more appropriate. Mike Resnick gets nominated for a Hugo pretty much every year, and I think this nomination may have been out of force of habit.

This version of the Frankenstein story is told from the perspective of Victor Frankenstein’s wife, who happens to be a shallow, vindictive nag. She begrudges her husband’s experiments, gives him the cold shoulder, and daydreams about marrying a wealthier man. Then she meets the monster as he works his way through the western canon in the library where she often hides from her husband. They discuss the nature of life, death, and romantic literature (though nothing particularly deep gets said in these discussions), and her views begin to change.

I guess it was supposed to be heartwarming, but I thought it was dreck. The central character is a ridiculous caricature. You used to see the nagging housewife a lot in tv, films, and novels, but I we kind of moved on from there about thirty or forty years ago. And, if we are supposed to take her seriously as a character, her transformation comes far too easily.

It’s very light. The right person, in the right mood, will probably have fun with it, but there’s not much to take away here. It’s probably not as offensive as I’ve maybe made it sound here, but it’s also not even remotely award-worthy.

Grade: C-

2010 Hugo nominee, short story: "The Moment" by Lawrence M. Schoen (Footprints)

This is a very short story, and, honestly, I don’t have much to say about it. I like the image that Schoen creates here. The story takes place at what is presumably Neil Armstrong’s footprint on the moon. We get a series of vignettes across a cosmological timescale, most of which are long strings of nonsense words and ideas describing various exotic alien species (your typical broccoli-people, “proto-godlings,” etc.). There are also little bits of irony and satire about cosmic bureaucracy. There’s some sort of inspiring message about human courage at the end, but it rang a bit hollow for me and didn’t make a whole lot of sense in context.

It’s hard for me not to read this story in the context of the recent discussions of the cancellation of the Constellation project (NASA's attempt to return to the moon), especially since there’s some satire of audits and cost evaluations. It seems that Schoen is saying “damn the costs, it’s the fraking moon!” (though again, that’s me bringing to the table specific debates that probably hadn’t even happened yet when he wrote this story). It’s a nice sentiment, and one that I’m inclined towards, and yet…

I admire what Schoen did here, but I didn’t particularly like it.

Can be read for free here.

Grade: C-

2010 Hugo (and Nebula) nominee, short story: "Bridesicle" by Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)

I've taken a few opportunities on this blog to declare my dislike for the short story as a literary format. I will eventually cover short stories in greater depth - they're too important to the history of the genre to ignore - and I've decided to cover the short fiction Hugo nominees here as well. I enjoyed this first entry quite a bit, though it still demonstrates why the format bothers me.

Mira was cryogenically frozen after dying in a horrible accident. Decades later, the technology exists to revive frozen corpses like Mira, but the procedure is expensive, so many bodies simply sit in cold storage. Mira awakes, however, to learn that some company has taken an ingenious approach to the situation by creating a dating service. Wealthy men looking for brides can shop the cryogenic storage facility and pay to revive any women they like. For decades, Mira awakes only briefly and only in the context of awkward dates with prowling men. The fact that Mira was a lesbian only makes the situation more complicated.

It's a rich and inventive set-up, and McIntosh portrays Mira quite well as a desperate and sympathetic character. It's also a plot that, by itself, probably would not carry a novel. And yet there's so much implicit drama here that McIntosh doesn't have space to develop. There are questions of coercion and sexuality, and a clear metaphor for mail-order brides, and, perhaps, other more common non-romantic reasons for marriage. There are big questions about the future of gender relationships - why do only men shop for women? Why, hundreds of years in the future, would everyone assume Mira is straight? There's even a whole subplot about transferred consciences - called "hitchers" - that has further implications, but we really only see an over-the-top nagging mother portrayed. In other words, I wanted more. Maybe not a full novel, but more than the evocative sketch we get here.

By the way, I started with this story because it was conveniently available in audio format thanks to the StarShipSofa podcast. It's a very nice weekly collection of short stories by great authors and a few editorials on the sf world - highly recommended for fans of science fiction. It's also the first podcast to be nominated for a Hugo (Best Fanzine category).

Grade: B+