My Hugo award votes 2026, Part 3: Novellas

 The novella series was pretty good this year, not perhaps as good as it has been in the best years. The top three stories were easy to decide; they were all very good. The rest weren’t exactly bad, but weren’t on the same level - mostly due to plot points, not the writing. Fantasy was once again more popular with four nominees against two science fiction ones. 

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom)

The story happens in a generation spaceship, where people are periodically “rebirthed” into new cloned bodies. Their memories and personalities are stored separately and are loaded into a new body when needed. A woman who works as some sort of police inspector has been taking some time off from living. She wakes up in a new body, which, to her surprise, isn’t her own. There has apparently been a murder, and some of the personality recordings have been destroyed, leading to the true death of a person. The recording of the detective was also destroyed, but there was a backup which was automatically uploaded to the closest available body if the original was damaged. So, she must find out who the murderer was and who destroyed the recordings. It soon starts to look like the culprit was the person whose body she is wearing… but why? Ok detective story, which was a bit too long with too much ”sightseeing” of the habitat. There were some strange practices which were not explained: for example, why delay getting a new body if you have dementia until the memory recording has decayed? 

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)

There has been a civil war between California and the rest of the US. One of the dividing things has been robot rights, as California recognizes sentient robots as individuals with rights. Some rights - of course, nowhere as many rights as humans. Mostly they have the right to work under human supervision at menial tasks, but that is more than in the rest of the US. A group of robots has worked in a restaurant. The restaurant closes suddenly, as the company that owned has gone under. No one has told the robots what to do. They decide to establish a new restaurant, this time a good one. But robots cannot officially own things, and they can work only for humans. Well, obstacles have been created to be overcome. They start a noodle restaurant with hand-drawn authentic noodles with savory assortments and manage to produce excellent food - even when they are review-bombed for being robots. Light story which mostly fizzled out at the end. They manage to establish a restaurant. And then what? I wasn’t a great fan of this story; I felt a bit detached from the characters, and the events weren’t really engaging, 

Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK)

Fairy tale retellings have been popular for a few years now. Now it was Cinderella's turn. Ella is abused by her stepmother and stepsister. Her time is largely filled with chores. And she isn't even alive; she and her father were killed by the stepmother. She haunts the house and is practically a part of the house. If it is untidy, she must put everything in order. And if the house is harmed, she feels intense pain - which her stepsisters used to control and torment her. She can’t leave the house, and no one but her family can see her. She can move things only inside the house. As she finds a way to leave the house, her life opens up a lot. She can listen to lectures at university; she can go see ballets and observe other watchers. She pays attention to a man who seems to love dancing and immerses himself completely in the shows.   She even gets a friend - she writes to the neighboring country where the best authority of the ghosts lives. Their correspondence turns into a long-distance friendship. Then the prince announces a three-night-long ball, where he will choose his new wife. Ella is determined to go at any cost and finds a way with some magically loaded wooden shoes covered with pieces of a broken mirror. Her sisters are also going and are planning to snare the prince. As Ella arrives at the ball as a real young woman, she meets the prince, who happens to be the lonely man from the ballet. They talk, and he has two secrets: one - the ball is just a formality - his new bride has already been selected and is a princess from a neighboring country. And the prince is cursed: if anyone sees him dancing, they will hopelessly fall in love with him. That had caused at least two suicides already. At the ball, he is wearing leg braces which prevent him from dancing “really” and he isn’t causing an epidemy of crazy love. And his bride-to-be is someone Ella knows…

An excellent, moving, exciting, and well-written story with a fresh take on the Cinderella story. 

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK)

The story continues the series, where a retired soldier with “her” (the pronoun situation in “her” language is overtly complex; there is a pronoun for a female who has abandoned her gender and started a military career). This time they travel to the US, where their friend has bought an abandoned coal mine. The friend’s cousin has disappeared after he saw strange red lights inside the mine and followed them deeper. They examine the mine and eventually see strange lights; at the same time, someone seems to visit the camp while they are away. Is something living inside the mine? Is it some malevolent being? What are its aims? How can it move almost undetected? A pretty good, exciting, and even scary story, which derives inspiration from the classic story At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. There is also a fairly similar being in some books by Brian Sanderson. 

The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK)

Celia is a daughter of a nobleman who practically singlehandedly saved the kingdom from the periodic attacks by summerpeople, elf-like creatures with a tendency to party and celebrate and wage ruthless war against people living in the north - when it occurs to them. They are fighting to avenge a princess of the summer people who was married to a northern king, who killed herself.  Celia has a big brother, Argent, whom she loves; he is handsome, kind, smart, and brave. She has another brother who everyone ignores. The big brother has a disagreement with their father (He isn’t interested in marrying any princess, as his tastes went another direction) and leaves the castle forever. Celia is hurt and accidentally (this was the first time she actually had magical power) curses his brother to a loveless life. She soon realizes what she did but can’t take the curse back and can’t even contact her brother. She connects with her other brother, who turns out to be a nice person, even if he has some confidence problems after being ignored by everyone. As Celia grows, she is supposed to marry the prince, but it turns out to be a diversion; she actually is shipped to Summerland to marry their prince and to be the target of summerpeople’s resentment. A very good story written very well, as all Novik’s stories I have read. 

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK)

Two sisters live by a river which is filled with magic “grammar”. (I think it was a bad choice of a word - I was trying to think what the magic had to do with language, especially as “nomine” was another word used in connection with the magic. The sisters sing beautiful songs and people upstream (?) enjoy them. One of those magical people falls in love with one of the sisters, and they decide to get together. However, a local businessman had wanted to marry the sister and throws her into the river, and she drowns. However, because the river is magical, she doesn’t entirely die; instead, she is rescued in the magic lands by her fiancé. She can’t return to human lands as a person, however, but she can return as a harp. And as a harp, she can sing and is able to tell who killed her. A fairly good fairy-tale-style story. The magic was pretty vague and seemed able to do whatever the plot needed it to do. There were many similarities to Naomi Novik’s story: a magic land where carefree but very strange, practically immortal beings live. And romance between humans and those humanoid elf-like beings. The language was good but perhaps bordering on pretentious. Not among my top choices. 

My voting order:

1. Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK): 1

2. What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK): 2

3, The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK): 3

4. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK): 4

5. Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom): 5

6. Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom): 6

My Hugo award votes 2026, Part 2: Short Stories

The short story category was pretty good, better than in years. There were fewer very experimental or allegorical stories and more stories that actually told a real story, but often still had room for allegories and sly references to real things and problems. When putting the stories in order, I started from the last place as it was the easiest one to determine, just like second to the last. After that, the choices were very difficult as all stories were pretty good.  

 

"Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)

There is a new technology to “revise” a person. The protagonist wants that procedure - they are apparently trans. To be eligible, they must receive testimony from six people on what three things should be changed.  The changes aren’t exactly what they were expecting. Short, and not bad, story. A bit too scene-like; no proper start and the ending was a bit vague. 

 “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223)

 A country which is free, because everyone is told so. But there are some limitations: art forms open to interpretation are not allowed, as they might provoke discontent. The son of the protagonist grows to be an author and writes stories that might offer interpretations critical of the current system that aren’t open, and the stories become popular. He is honored to be sent to “far fields,” where he will have the opportunity to create even better works. No one ever returns from there, supposedly because life there is so perfect. And usually there are few new creations by people living there. A very well-written and moving story written in fine poetic language. Not far from what the world is going towards. 

 “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63)

 Very short visions of different futures - all with catastrophes- that range from eldritch horrors or demon attacks to giant snowstorms to civil war to volcanic eruptions. But there is usually something to be learned or something that ties the protagonists together, and they are glad to be together. A nice story about love and comradeship. Somehow lacking, though. There was little actual plot. We don’t really learn much about the characters.

 “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025)

A man has become a superhero after an alien spaceship part hit him. He can shoot lasers from his eyes. He is wheelchair-bound, though. He joins the local chapter of superheroes, but their building is not wheelchair accessible. And no one of the superheroes is really interested in doing something about the matter. And no one of the super-abled is interested in real, important issues, like getting roads safer by building more roundabouts. But if you can’t be a superhero, there are other openings, like being a super villain. A fun, amusing lighthearted story.

 “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226)

A woman has a younger clone. When she hears that her ex is engaged to that clone, she gets conflicted feelings. The clone sisters decide to meet and discuss. After that discussion, the younger version’s feelings for the man start to slowly cool. A well-written bittersweet story about relations between humans and about how they develop.

 “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229)

 Cassie’s mother is a computer simulation. Cassie suffers from ECD, a neurodivergent condition that prevents her from forming emotional bonds with simulated persons. That has led to some friction in family life, and she isn’t even salivating like other girls to create an electronic person as boyfriend when she turns 18. She dreams about old things and watches old movies with physical actors. She is starting to hate the never-aging simulacrum which claims to be her mother. But what if she finds a code that can permanently delete digital persons? Another good and well-written story with some irony of neurodivergence.

My voting order will be:

1. “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223)

2. “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025)

3. “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229)

4. “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226)

5. “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)

6. “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63)

 

 

My Hugo award votes 2026, Part 1: Novellettes

Novellettes felt pretty average. There was none that was excellent, but there were no bad stories, either. It wasn’t easy to put them in order, as all of them left me mostly lukewarm. And almost all seemed to end too soon, often just when the more interesting part would start. The writing in all of them was very good. I haven’t been a great fan of Valente, but this was perhaps my favorite story by her, and I believe this the first time I put her story to the top position. After that the order could have almost anything, but this was the order what I decided - mostly just by feeling alone with no real rational justification. 

“Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)

A guardian has been dormant at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for millennia. When humans use nuclear weapons, it awakens and creates a creature that would warn humanity away from nuclear weapons. It doesn’t really work. Humans attack it with nuclear weapons. Well, perhaps the answer is a bigger monster attacking even more severely (while trying to avoid too many casualties, but of course, they can not be entirely avoided), resulting in even more nuclear attacks by humans. It even tries to negotiate, but the human leader refuses to give up the nuclear arsenal and believes they could beat the monster (which they have no chance of doing). Eventually, another approach leads to mutual benefit, even if the guardian/sea monster doesn’t at first exactly understand what monetizing licenses, duties, taxation, and corporate investments mean.

A nice take on Kaiju stories, where the monster has a reason for his rampages, and the ending has nice mutual benefits. 

“Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025)

A story connected to the Murderbot series. A group is going to a corporate space station on a relief mission of sorts. The station has just undergone a corporate takeover and is in turmoil. The computer of the ship is very helpful and starts to seem to have unusual behavior, traits, and capabilities, some of which seem pretty similar to those of another character, Murderbot. The members of the group start to get suspicious, but are accepting at the same time. A shortish novellette, which seems to be a pretty superfluous side story, and it is nowhere near the quality of the Murderbot series.

“Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)

A transfer of embryos to a new colony world has gone badly. The AI piloting the ship has somehow lost 95% of its embryos, and the colony faces a dire shortage of people and manpower. What happened and why? That is evaluated twenty years later, perhaps because the colonists, who are overworked and pressured to have plenty of children, are old enough. On the other hand, they are not the ones conducting the evaluation and, at first, don’t really have their voices heard. The story is told in different time domains. Nice writing, but somehow I didn’t really get into the story. 

“The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025)

A woman (who is trans) wasn’t able to get pregnant (she has purchased a full reproductive organ set). She was supposed to carry a clone of one of the richest women on Earth. After birth, she was supposed to live an ordinary lower-middle-class life with a spouse, so that the child would have had as similar an upbringing as possible to the original. As she didn’t get pregnant, she lost her job and faced poverty. But the woman who did get the job and is pregnant with the clone falls in love with her, or at least she claims so. So, the job as a spouse is fine also, and the pregnant woman is nice, even though her claims of love are hard to believe. They spend time together at a vast building owned by the rich woman, but it is attacked by the opposing company. They narrowly (but fairly effortlessly) escape and decide to raise the kid together as their own. A nice story, but it ends a bit hurriedly. I was expecting a twist which didn’t happen - at least in this story. Maybe in the next part.  

“When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65)

A woman lives with her dear husband in a house in a small village. She loves her husband dearly. One day, they encounter a stunning woman at the village store. Soon after, the husband starts disappearing for nights, and eventually, he doesn’t come home before morning. He loses his appetite, starts to look very pale, and his behavior becomes more irrational. Eventually, she binds her husband to bed. He doesn’t eat, vomits a black substance, and seems to have a craving for blood. Eventually, the beautiful woman arrives. The two women have a discussion (and the temptress survives a rifle shot to the chest, even when it is loaded with silver) about who will get the man. A pretty nice vampire story with a somewhat open resolution.   

“The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67)

A girl works as part of a vaudeville show. Her act is mindreading or mentalist style - she learned that from her father. She performed as a boy because, as a girl, no one would take her seriously.  One day, a new performer arrives, another girl who performs magical acts. Her performance is based on humor, as no woman could perform a “real” magic or illusionist show. She has some ambitions, however, and designs wonderful illusions. The resident magician on the vaudeville claims that the trick was stolen from him. The girl runs away and isn’t heard of for years. Later, she invites all the leading magicians to a great event. She performs wonderfully until the last act - which isn’t described, but no one who saw it performed ever again. And she wasn’t seen after that. A pretty good story, but there was little fantasy until the very end, and even then, the fantasy was very undefined. I was waiting for something more. The writing was good, and the characters were finely drawn, as always by Sarah Pinsker. 

My voting order will be: 

1. “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65)

2. “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)

3. “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67)

4. “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025)

5. “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025)

6. “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)

My Hugo award votes 2025, Part 4: Novels

 The novel category was pretty good this year. All the nominated books were good and mostly quite original. The nominees included a fairly even mix of fantasy and science fiction, though some were a bit on the borderline—The Tainted Cup and even The Ministry of Time (whose time travel element borders on fantasy) come to mind.

They all worked well as standalone books; none were middle parts of a series. At least one, The Tainted Cup, opens a new series. A couple of others (Alien Clay and A Sorceress Comes to Call, for example) could have follow-ups that would be extremely interesting to read.

After finishing all the books, it was immediately obvious which one should go in first place. Alien Clay was creative and imaginative, with a uniquely designed ecosystem and it was one of the better nominees in several years. The last place was also easy to decide, even though that book was still better than some past winners. In fact, better than many of them.

Second to fourth place was harder to determine, as those books were all about equally good, but this was my final order.

1. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)

2. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)

3. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK)

4. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)

5. Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)

6. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)

My Hugo award votes 2025, Part 2: Novelettes

The quality of the novelettes was pretty good overall. All of the stories were at least fairly enjoyable. Four of them were fantasy—some of the kind where fantastic things happen without explanation, a style that usually isn’t my favorite. None stood out as a clear winner, but none felt like a definite loser either.

As a side note, five out of the six stories had a female protagonist, and I don’t recall the gender being specified in the sixth. I decided to place the most science-fictional story first. The last place was also fairly easy to decide, but the order of the others could have gone in almost any direction.

“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)

A young woman is supposed to meet her long-time friend for the first time in a while. They both arrive at the bus stop but can’t find each other. Soon, it becomes clear that all of the woman’s friends and family are absent. They can leave traces, take objects, and communicate via text or email, but they cannot be seen.

She tries to make a new friend, but that person soon disappears too. Her brother eventually discovers they can interact as avatars in a computer game. Then the phenomenon becomes global: people everywhere lose their loved ones. Later, even the avatars begin to fade, and internet connections grow erratic.

A pretty good, wistful story that gradually fades away, just like the people in it.

“Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)

Veronica, a longtime TV news presenter, travels to visit her younger sister Violet. They haven’t spoken in years, despite having been close as children. Violet had always wanted a sister and was overjoyed when she got one.

Violet lives far away, and after Veronica’s car breaks down, she ends up spending the night at Violet’s house. A very polite and helpful young man is there, and Violet asks him to call Veronica “aunt.” The sisters have long conversations about what caused the rift between them, as well as their lives and family. Violet seems to have lost her husband and sons.

Everything feels very mundane, with no hint of fantasy or science fiction—until discussions about Veronica’s birth and the young man’s true identity surface. A cozy, gentle fantasy story that offers no explanations; strange things just happen without reason.

“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)

A sorceress lives in a coastal village. Unexpectedly, she receives an apprentice, which is unfortunate, as she has lost her magical abilities. A giant sea monster, which periodically attacks the village, is expected to return soon.

She has lived in fear of its next appearance, but now she isn’t alone. However, her apprentice is inexperienced, and the sorceress herself is powerless. Is there any hope of saving the village?

An optimistic and well-written story about perseverance. Everyone is kind, and there are no real villains (aside from the monster, and even he isn’t seriously harmed).

“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)

The main character finds a strange book, one without lights or electronics. This is highly unusual in a world where everything is editable and digital.

Interest in the book is high. The unnamed protagonist finds himself caught in schemes and intrigue. He’s friends with a dealer in arcane items who is also drawn to the book. The protagonist becomes fascinated by the idea of fixed, immutable text.

An okay story with an interesting premise, but one that doesn’t quite make sense. What force has eliminated all physical books to the point that the protagonist has never even seen one? Why does this world still use VHS tapes for some reason? And if digital books are editable, why do they come in single-book units that fill a library? That setup makes no sense.

“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)

A woman who once studied seals is now living by the sea with her husband. Her dissertation was lost due to a computer crash, while her husband, who has tenure (albeit with a low salary), has finished his.

She finds that some of the very same seals she studied live near their new home, so maybe she can start her work over. But most of her time is spent editing (basically writing) her husband’s research papers, without receiving authorship credit even when she asks.

Her husband turns out to be a major PoS. The story contains minimal speculative content, though it eventually reveals itself to be a kind of selkie tale which is a common motif that has shown up in several recent nominations. Still, this one wasn’t bad.

“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (in Lake of Souls, Orbit)

A shrimp-like alien named Spawn (later described as looking like a woodlouse) is going through an identity crisis. Its molting is delayed, and it fears it doesn’t have a soul. Those with souls are reborn as flying beings after death.

Meanwhile, an exoanthropologist awakens on a spaceship orbiting the planet. The rest of the crew is gone, with signs of a violent struggle. The ship’s ansible is also missing, but she locates it on the planet’s surface.

She makes her way down and eventually meets Spawn. They form a tentative bond. The anthropologist realizes that without delivering the data about a sentient species, the corporation funding the mission won’t care about its fate.

A well-written, fairly strong story. The ending is a bit thin, as it’s told from Spawn’s point of view.

My voting order will be:

1. “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (in Lake of Souls, Orbit)

2. “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)

3. “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)

4. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)

5. “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)

6. “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)

My Hugo award votes 2025, Part 1: Novellas

 This time, the novellas were the first Hugo nomination category I finished reading. The stories were mostly at least decent, but there were no truly exceptional or unforgettable ones. On the other hand, the overall quality was much higher than last year’s, and there were no complete stinkers like the bottom nominees of the previous year. Three of the stories were fantasy, and three leaned more toward science fiction, which made for a fairly good mix. My voting order was pretty easy to decide.

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

Veris lives a peaceful life in a small village. Most of her family was destroyed when a tyrant and his invading army came to her country and settled in a nearby castle. Close to the village lie the northern woods—no one goes there. If a child or an ignorant person wanders into the forest, they never return. Not once.

Veris once managed to retrieve a child from the forest, something unheard of. When the tyrant’s children go missing into the woods, Veris is summoned to the tyrant’s court. She has no choice: she must bring the children back, or she and her remaining family will be killed.

The forest is filled with strange and mischievous creatures, but Veris manages to strike deals with them—at a cost. She escapes the forest again, but not without sacrifice. This was a pretty good story, though it could have been slightly tighter. The backstory was also a bit sketchy. What exactly is the tyrant’s background? What is the origin of the forest and its creatures? The ending felt somewhat abrupt—was this perhaps the start of a series?

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

A sequel to the earlier novella What Moves the Dead by the same author. The main characters return. Ex-military officer Alex (who belongs to a “military gender”) travels to her family’s hunting lodge in a remote location. It has been largely unused for years. A caretaker was living there, but he has recently died from a mysterious respiratory illness that the villagers refuse to discuss.

The lodge feels unnaturally quiet. Alex and her companions hire a cook, whose son comes along to help as a handyman. Alex dreams of a woman sitting on her chest and stealing her breath. Surely it was just a dream? But the handyman begins to seem exhausted and distracted, like he hasn’t slept in days. Is something supernatural happening?

It turns out, yes—there is something otherworldly going on. The story takes a while to build up, but it ends up being a solid supernatural thriller (and, as a mild spoiler, there is no quasi-natural explanation this time). There were some genuinely tense moments. The characters were well-developed, and the writing was smooth and enjoyable. I liked this more than the first installment.

Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard

Navigators guide ships through a form of hyperspace using “shadows”—some kind of invisible (perhaps metaphysical?) extensions of their bodies. It reminded me of Lucy’s “vectors” from the anime Elfen Lied, though less lethal and with greater range. Navigators belong to various guilds that are in constant rivalry, seeing each other as competition. Meanwhile, the powers that be see the entire navigation system as expensive and possibly obsolete.

A dangerous creature has escaped from hyperspace, one that feeds on human minds. (I did wonder how such a thing evolved in a place where no sentient beings presumably exist…) A team of young trainees from different guilds is assembled to stop it. The situation becomes even more critical when their senior mentor is apparently poisoned. Can this group of misfits—each viewed with skepticism by their own superiors—succeed?

The story was quite good, although the focus leaned more toward the relationships between the characters than the central plot. I wasn’t too interested in the teenage emotional drama, but the writing itself was strong.

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Damira spent her life fighting for elephants. It was a losing battle against ivory poachers, and ultimately, she died in the struggle. Just weeks before her death, however, her consciousness was recorded.

Decades later, Russian scientists have brought back mammoths—or at least mammoth analogs—to roam Siberia. But these creatures lack the instinctive knowledge to thrive. So Damira’s mind is uploaded into a large female mammoth, making her the “matriarch” of the herd. Who better to guide them than someone who knew elephants intimately?

But even in remote Siberia, the mammoths aren’t safe. Poachers remain a threat, and the park's organizers plan to sell hunting rights to the ultra-rich, at prices only billionaires could afford. Damira, in mammoth form, is more aggressive than a natural elephant—and it’s not wise to provoke a creature that size.

A well-written and thoughtful story, told from multiple perspectives and timeframes, including the son of a poacher who doesn’t share his father’s views.

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

The story continues a series set in an alternate version of ancient China. The protagonist, Cleric Chih, serves as a chaperone for a young noblewoman—whose background may not be as noble as she claims. The bride-to-be is to marry a wealthy man at a distant manor and live a life of luxury.

But things at the manor seem… off. A servant casually refers to the man’s former wives, implying there have been many. A young man behaves erratically, trying to convey something important. Chih and the bride discover strange things in an abandoned building. Is the marriage dangerous?

The groom starts to appear increasingly unstable and sinister. Should Chih stop the wedding and escape? Well—yes, but not for the reasons they think, and not for the person they believe to be in danger.

By far the best entry in the series so far. The first half of the story is very low fantasy, like earlier installments—but that changes. Dramatically. As does everything else in the story.

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

Set aboard what appears to be a generation ship—or maybe a mining ship?—this story’s worldbuilding is confusing. There’s a rigid caste system. At the bottom are the "chained": literal chains around their ankles, living in filth in the Hold. A level up are people with anklets—electronic chains controlled via a mobile app by those in power.

A young man from the chained caste turns out to be a gifted artist. A social scientist, herself an anklet-wearer and the daughter of a chained man, brings him to the upper levels as part of a social experiment. The boy struggles to adapt and misses his mentor, a prophetic figure from the Hold. The scientist takes him back to visit—but the ship’s rulers are not pleased.

There may be a chance for solidarity and rebellion.

The writing is solid, but the message felt extremely obvious. “Oh wow, slavery and oppression are bad?” Who could have guessed? I also struggled to buy the setting: are they mining ore in space? By hand? Is it a hollowed asteroid? The caste system lacked a clear, believable origin. The background was underdeveloped.

My voting order will be:

1. The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

2. What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher

3. The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

4. The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

5. Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard

6. The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

My Hugo award votes 2024, Part 3: Novellas

The novella category was pretty varied. The best story was very clear, a few others were adequate but not especially good or unforgetable,  and the worst nominee was horrible in both writing and philosophy, almost worse than the worst rabid puppy nominees. So the first and last places were easy to decide, the other places fell also pretty easily into their places.

“Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet,” He Xi / 人生不相见, 何夕, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short Stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)

An expedition from Earth travels to a colony located on a sea world. All contact had been cut off years ago, and they are going to investigate if all the rules have been followed. There are many rules: All scientific information is strictly restricted, and there may not be any significant genetic drift compared to “base” humans. The restrictions haven’t been followed, and the colonists have evolved (some space radiation has caused everyone to develop exactly the same mutations, which are beneficial for survival on that planet - heh), which is a very bad thing. It’s a pretty bad story. It starts with an unnecessary scene at an apparently abandoned American space facility. I didn’t really see the point of that episode; it was pretty superfluous. There is a vast amount of straight lecturing about the backstory (with stupid made-up or badly understood science) and most of the dialogue is “As you know, Bob” style, where the characters discuss things they should be well aware of. The society is apparently an extremely fascist one, to which genetic purity is the most important thing, and it destroys sentient beings with no moral qualms or ethical discussion at all. The story was badly written and had extremely disgusting morality. It will be below “no award.”

“Seeds of Mercury,” Wang Jinkang / 水星播种, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short Stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)

Another Chinese story. When I was reading the first story, I thought the bad writing was partly due to the translation. As this was translated by the same person, the fault was not in the translation - this one was okay writing-wise. In the story, a researcher creates a new kind of life that could live on Mercury. An eccentric billionaire sponsors the research and designs a way to transport life to the planet. They were hoping that, with enough time, life would evolve intelligence. And so it does, eventually. Almost the opposite in philosophy to the other Chinese story, this one was about creating a new intelligent species, not destroying one due to trivial differences. The plot was better, and the writing was vastly better than in that novella. Despite that, as a whole, this story felt fairly average and had significant faults. Apparently, the Chinese style of storytelling includes long “lectures” by a narrative voice that carefully explains science and story details to the reader, which feels extremely old-fashioned and irritating.

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

The story continues a series set in an alternative version of China. A cleric who has been traveling returns to his home monastery only to find that the monastery's leader has passed away. His relatives, who seek his body, have arrived at the monastery gates with war mammoths. The monastery is also home to a colony of intelligent birds, the same species as the one that has been accompanying the cleric. These birds remember everything they hear. The story is filled with names and places and is very dense (making it not an easy read). I have not been a big fan of this series or this particular story. There is a lot of dialogue, but even with mammoths at the gates, there is little action. Despite these aspects, it is the best installment in the series so far. However, it could have been shorter. It is unlikely to be one of my top choices when it comes to the Hugo voting.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older (Tordotcom)

The Earth is uninhabitable, and people are living on strips built around Jupiter. Not all of the strips are inhabited; there are platforms where people live. (I wonder why Jupiter? What was stopping them from building those superstructures around Earth itself, or around the Moon, Venus, or Mars?) There is a plan to repopulate Earth with animals. There are genetic archives, and animals are being raised and studied in certain areas. One scientist disappears. Apparently, all safety features are unheard of, and it is possible to jump or throw someone off a habitable platform. A detective starts to study the case and, in the university area, meets her former flatmate. They were apparently romantically involved but haven’t been in contact for years. Together, they start to study the crime case. It is a fairly slow-moving story that started pretty well but decayed after that. The “romance” part was at times pretty cringe and teen-like. “Oh, I touched her hand.” The ending had some slight shades of gray, but the whole society seemed strange and wasn’t really well described. A solid three-star story.

Rose/House by Arkady Martine (Subterranean)

A famous architect built his dream house before his death. The house is run by an AI and is closed to anyone but Dr. Selene Gisil, who was the architect's pupil until they had a falling out. The house is filled with art and schematics done by the architect, but no one can go inside except Dr. Gisil, for two weeks every year. About two weeks after Dr. Gisil last visited the house, the house AI calls the police and reports a dead body. It doesn’t volunteer any other information and doesn’t allow anyone to enter the premises. As no one is allowed inside, who could the body be? It turns out that several people and groups have an interest in the contents of the house and the AI software itself. After Selene Gisil returns from Europe, she and a member of the local police are able to enter the house - but is it easy to get out of there anymore? It’s a pretty well-written story about a “ghost” house. The beginning was pretty good, but the latter part of the story was fairly confusing and disorganized. I wonder why anyone would want a copy of such an irrational AI to run anything - and why old architectural drawings would have such immense value - aren’t there any other talented architects in the world?

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)

Toadling is a princess who was raised by water fairies. She is a changeling and was replaced by an elf child. As time passes differently in Elfen land, she is asked to be the fairy godmother of the elf child who took her place. She was supposed to give a blessing so that the child would not harm those around her. The spell goes wrong and doesn't work. Toadling stays at the castle and tries to undo her mistake, but eventually isn´t able to do it except by putting the changeling to permanent sleep, after she has killed her nurse without the slightest remorse. That leads to the “Sleeping Beauty” scenario where a beautiful (but deeply evil) princess sleeps at an abandoned castle surrounded by vines and trees, and is guarded by Toadling who can take the form of a toad. Centuries later, a knight who has read tales about an imprisoned princess, arrives to rescue the damsel. He seems nice and understanding; perhaps Toadling could explain what is going on. An interesting take on an old fairytale told in beautifully written and easy-to-read language. The characters were interesting and well-drawn, except for the princess whose absolute evilness was poorly explained and did not seem to have any other character traits. Overall, this is an excellent and enjoyable story. 

My voting order: 

 

1. Thornhedge

2. Rose/House 

3. The Mimicking of Known Successes 

4. Mammoths at the Gates 

5. “Seeds of Mercury”, 

6. No Award: 

7. “Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet”

My Hugo award votes 2024, Part 2: Novelettes

The novelette category was pretty good this year. However, there was no story that would have been the best, on the other hand, none of the stories was the worst. The bleak futures was a theme and most of the stories had some dystopian undertones, but survival and the power of community and cooperation were seen as an answer. I started to create my list backward. Gu Shi’s story was fairly easy to put in last place. It was not bad per se, but too much explaining made it easy to  place it number six. The second to last was fairly easy to find; Nghi Vo’s story didn’t engage me. After that, “I AM AI” was clearly the least good of the remaining novelettes. “The Year Without Sunshine” and “Ivy, Angelica, Bay” had some similarities as, in both, communal cohesion small suburban communities were an important part of the plot.

“Ivy, Angelica, Bay” by C.L. Polk (Tor.com, 8 December 2023)

The local community is threatened by a shady urban development company planning to take over a local park and develop a road which would shatter the village-like neighborhood. Miss l'Abielle has recently lost her mother, a witch who tried to strengthen the community. She has powers, but the representatives of the company have abilities of their own and a clever plan. However, Miss l'Abielle has some help—in many forms. A fine story, well told, with a nice blend of magic in a suburban setting.

“I AM AI” by Ai Jiang (Shortwave)

AI is a human who has had most of her parts replaced by cybernetic ones. She makes her living by writing things she pretends are written by an AI, but with better-than-average individualism. Surviving is hard, and her battery charge tends to be low. To be a more efficient and untiring writer, she wants to replace more of her biological parts, but there will be a cost. The place where she lives has a strong communal feeling, which initially she  doesn’t realize. She also provides power to poor people from her batteries (I didn’t really get how that happened; was there some kind of wireless power transfer?). A well-written story, but the first half was perhaps a bit too long and confusing as little of the background was explained.

“Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition” by Gu Shi /〈2181序曲〉再版导言, 顾适 translated by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld, February 2023)

The history of a world after a safe method of cryosleep was developed. It is safe, but it isn’t possible to more than double someone's combined lifetime—about 90 years of life awake and 90 years of sleep. The story is mostly excerpts from a book which describes the history and consequences of the technology, even if there is a backstory of sorts. People make investments and wait for them to mature, and people abandon their children and parents (the latter is seen as totally immoral, apparently much worse than leaving your children behind, apparently everywhere in the world). There are descriptions of an expedition to “another galaxy,” which will take 900 years (no mention of inventing FTL drive); on the other hand, “interstellar immigration” to Titan is mentioned (apparently, the author’s astronomical knowledge approaches zero). The writing  is okay, but very much in the apparent Chinese tradition of “tell, don’t show.” Not bad, but not an excellent story, either.

“On the Fox Roads” by Nghi Vo (Tor.com, 31 October 2023)

A young person joins Bonnie and Clyde-type outlaws who rob banks and escape via “fox roads”—roads which are impossible to find and seem to be in another dimension, The person wants to find the deed to his/her parents' house, which was stolen by the outlaws from a bank. (I wonder why, if the bank has lost it, would it not be automatically void?) While traveling with the outlaws, he/she really finds out what and who he/she is. A genderfluid story, it was fairly good, but not excellent, with hardly any background of the characters or situation.

“One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023)

Trash collectors have a special day when they collect larger objects abandoned on the streets (apparently there is a special day for that). When magical objects are commonplace, their job gets interesting, as it is hard to know what kind of effects a particular object might have. There have been deaths due to those objects, though sometimes the collectors may also find valuable things. But when the collectors find a statue that appears to be a live man turned to stone, they face a dilemma: what to do? Their managers seem to have strangely little interest in the problem and seem to think the rubbish is rubbish—just throw everything away. A pretty good story that was interesting to the end.

“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)

There has been some kind of disaster (volcanic action?) and the internet has stopped, there is little fuel, and electricity works intermittently. One neighborhood pulls resources together, cooperates, and cares for people, working through the difficulties better than many other areas. A warm and cozy, perhaps even too cozy, story as there is little conflict—everyone is mostly happy and copes despite the situation. (I wonder, though, what happened to houses that were left to freeze during the winter—frozen pipes were not mentioned.)

My voting order: 

1.      “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)

2.      “Ivy, Angelica, Bay” by C.L. Polk (Tor.com, 8 December 2023)

3.      “One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023)

4.      “I AM AI” by Ai Jiang (Shortwave)

5.      “On the Fox Roads” by Nghi Vo (Tor.com, 31 October 2023)

6.      “Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition” by Gu Shi /〈2181序曲〉再版导言, 顾适 translated by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld, February 2023)

My Hugo votes 2024, Part 1: Short stories

Short stories were fairly good this time - better on average than last year. None of the stories was exceptional and clearly the best, at least three first stories were pretty much on the same level.  

“How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023)

A man has just married. He is ambitious and his job doesn’t pay enough for those ambitions - and his house is a gift from the parents of his newlywed wife. That certainly isn’t satisfying!

He sees a small advert about the eggs of Kraken. He decided to get the eggs, raise a Kraken, and sell it to a circus filled with curios. It takes some time for the egg to hatch, but finally it does. A small kraken is born, but it is hungry and grows fast, and eventually escapes. The man hires mermen (who work at odd jobs) to find the Kraken, but there will be some complications. A nice wryly humoristic tale where even Captain Nemo gets a few mentions. The writing was pretty good, also. 

“Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023)

A new wellness app has become very popular. The protagonist has high suspicions about it, but as her boss almost orders her to install it, she does. It turns out to be pretty good and encourages her to start her abandoned art hobby, live a healthier life, and make connections and new friends and her life actually gets better. The app doesn’t have any advertisements - so what is the catch? But even when good things won’t last forever, some effects may last longer. A nice, warm, and optimistic story. 

“The Mausoleum’s Children” by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, May-June 2023)

The protagonist has barely escaped from the place where she apparently spent her childhood. She was working apparently trying to repair an ancient spaceship. She left behind two friends and she returned to get them. That won’t be an easy task and, especially getting away again is next to impossible. But persistence helps.  A well-written story that feels like a second part - but apparently there is none. The writing is good as usually everything written by Bodard, but as there is a backstory it takes some time to get into the story, which turned out to be much better than it at first seemed.    

“The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare Magazine, October 2023)

During a school shooting a teacher takes her pupils to a safety room and things turn surreal. There are mice who want the children to fight in their wars, among other things. The story consists of short scenes that try to create a whole. It didn’t really work for me, it was too disjointed and surreal story for my taste. 

“Answerless Journey”, Han Song / 没有答案的航程, 韩松, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)

Two people wake in an apparent spaceship. They have no memories at all but are able to speak. There are three seats in the ship which leads them to believe there is or has been a third person on board. He/She can not be found which leads to increasing paranoia, especially when food stores start to go low. A pretty good story that doesn’t explain things and works pretty well just for that reason. By far the best of all Chinese nominees. There is one irritating detail - the memory loss could not have been THAT bad, could it? 

美食三品 (“Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times”), 宝树 / Baoshu (银河边缘013：黑域密室 / Galaxy’s Edge Vol. 13: Secret Room in the Black Domain)

The translation was included in the Hugo packet. A groundbreaking invention has emerged: the ability to transfer taste sensations directly to another person's mind. A billionaire gourmand is the first to try it, indulging in a taste that is considered utterly forbidden. Later the invention is used to broadcast the taste sensations of certain supertasters so that the rich can enjoy novel taste experiences. Or that is how it was marketed. It turns out that animals taste things more deeply than humans. And using signals from animal brains may lead to unseen consequences.  The story was fairly good, one of the better Chinese ones, but the translation perhaps was not perfect.  Even in this story, there was a tendency for lecturing and carefully explaining things in detail, not for showing what they are.  

My voting order will be:

1. “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer

2. “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark

3. “Answerless Journey”, Han Song

4. “The Mausoleum’s Children” by Aliette de Bodard

5. “Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times”), 宝树 / Baoshu

6. “The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones 

My Hugo award votes 2023. Part 3 - Novels

 The quality of the novels that were nominated for the Hugo Award was pretty abysmal, the worst year in years (or ever?). Most of the books were very light and not really something to take seriously. I didn’t finish Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir, because I found the earlier part to be unreadable and did not continue, something that happens extremely rarely for me. Only one book was imaginative, really engaging, and well-written all at once. Others were lacking at least one of those qualities. Nettle & Bone was that exception to the rule, and it was very easy to put in the first place. The other books really aren’t award-worthy, in my opinion; I will put “No Award” in the second place. Well, after that, it was a choice between Poe pastiche, Thin Man pastiche, and Japanese monster movie pastiche. Yawn. I chose their order based on how well I consider them to be written. Legends & Lattes was left in the last place as very light, not too well written, and badly timed. It was apparently written as a National Novel Writing Month book, and it really shows––some tightening and rewriting and editing might have been a good idea.  

1. Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books)

2. No Award

3. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

4. The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)

5. The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi (Tor Books)

6. Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree (Tor Books)

My Hugo award votes 2023. Part 2 - Novellas

The quality of the novellas was pretty average – in spite of that this was one of the better categories this year when most of the nominees were fairly mediocre. Three stories could be labeled as derivative works, going from Poe to noirish detective stories and fairy tales, another three (partly overlapping) were parts of a series. None of the stories were really bad, but there were just two novellas that were really tempting to read and were hard to put down. From those two I put A Mirror Mended in first place despite it being part of a series – although apparently, the series will be just these two stories, not more, as the ending had a satisfying conclusion. It was an intriguing story. The Ogres was not far behind but it was a bit more of an “ordinary” tale. After them, third place was also pretty clear even though that story belongs to a long series and is “only” the middle part of it. The last three stories were harder to put in order as they were pretty much on the same level. After some consideration, it was easy to put “Into the Riverlands” into last place. And from the last two I preferred the Chandler pastiche more than the Poe pastiche.  

What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire)

A retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe. A female (or rather someone belonging to the “Military gender”) comes to the mansion of her (or whatever the stupid made-up pronoun was - there was a long chapter of the different pronouns used in the made-up language she spoke - which had NOTHING AT ALL to do with the actual plot) friends - a brother and a sister. The sister had written a letter where she told being very ill, and it turns out she is pale and has episodes, where she is unresponsive for a long time and behaves erratically. The brother is clearly ill but he is in better condition than his sister. The building is a decaying and moldy place - there are hardly any servants anymore and it seems clear they have run out of money. They both absolutely refuse to leave the house (for ill-defined reasons). The lake near the mansion seems to be extremely dark - except at night when there seem to be strange lights beneath its surface. The animals, especially the hares nearby behave strangely, have a strange walk, and have no fear of people. The story’s plot follows very closely - too closely - to the original, except the cause of the ruin isn’t supernatural but a fungal infection (for what there was an allusion on the first pages of the story). The writing was pretty good and the story as such was nice, but it was a bit too close to the original.  

Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)

A supernatural “noir style” story happening in an alternate -30/40s setting where a detective, Helen, works for someone called “Marlow”. This Marlow isn’t the same as her namesake from Raymond Chandler’s works. Marlow wants to find out who is behind the strange murders that have happened. Helen has supernatural powers and is able to contact the souls of dead people after their passing. At the very bloody scene of the crime, she can’t do that - there doesn’t seem to be a soul anywhere. It turns out that the victim had sold her own soul to a demon, and the murderer is chasing people like her. And Helen is also one of them. And her soul’s “collection time”  is coming in just a few days. Why should she even bother with any investigations as she will be in hell in a few days anyway? But Marlow makes an offer too good to refuse: if Helen finds who is behind the murders she will get her soul back. A story that is filled with surprising turns. The writing was very good, but in places, it felt like a Supernatural TV-series fan fiction; the world was very similar with demons, not-so-good angels, deals with demons, and even Enochian language. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Winchester brothers had turned up via a time loop or something.  

Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

A story about a cleric and his intelligent bird who travel to an alternate ancient China. It is a bit unclear why and where they are going, but they encounter a few people and journey with them, among them is a pair of women who are able to “ninja fight” and beat practically anyone. During their journey, they tell stories. Some are just short references to stories most of the company knows, and some are left more or less unfinished. They encounter some bandits and survive the encounter - and that is about everything in the story. I was a bit baffled at what was the point of this fairly fragmentary “story”.  There was one strange anachronism: the characters were joking about mammoths in ancient China. Really? The fantasy content was practically non-existent if you didn’t include the sentient bird.  

Ogres, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)

A young boy lives in a countryside farming village. He is a bit of a rogue and tends to do some mischief and spends a lot of time in the forest with a mixed bunch of “outlaws”  who live there. One day the “ogres” who are in power arrive at the village for their yearly tribute. They will take their share, and leave the rest - if there is something left  - for villagers. They hunt animals, kill egg-laying hens, and behave like they own the place - which they do. The villagers can not eat meat, as they seem to be severely allergic to it, it causes skin to blister and makes them throw up even from the slightest bite. He returns to the village. During the visit, he hits the son of the ogre who owns the village after some disagreement. He runs away to find later that his father is killed and eaten as a feast. This time he kills the son and runs away. Eventually, he is caught and sent to a female ogre for experimentation to find out why he is able to behave so violently. It turns out that the “ogres” are not the alien invaders they at first seemed to be. Eventually, the boy is now a man who leads a rebellion against the ogres. A well-written very good story where the situation was slightly (not much) different than it first seemed. There were some problems with internal logic, though. At least the village from where the main protagonist was from was “taxed” only once a year, that apparently was the standard. Where did the ogres - and humans who lived in towns or were in the ogre’s armies, get their food? And what did the people in the sweatshop factories in towns produce? For whom? There apparently was no middle class anywhere: only humans who were practically slaves and a small number of “ogres”. How did the economy work?

Where the Drowned Girls Go, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)

Another installment in the “Wayward Children” -series. The series has had many recurring characters. I had to use Google to find out who was who and what was each character’s tragic “backstory”, especially who “Cora”, the main character, was and why she felt so miserable at her school. The school,  Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, helps children who have slipped into their Narnia-like fantasy worlds and have returned to Earth, mostly to their chagrin. That school helps them to cope with their memories and accept what happened to them. But there is another school, one which aims to return the children to society and their homes, to make them forget what happened to them, to disbelieve everything they have experienced, and to never, ever go back. Cora wants to change schools, which is possible, at least in one direction. When she actually is at the Whitethorn institution, she finds out that it is more like a prison with a conversion therapy-like approach to weed out any fantastic feelings - like thoughts about being a mermaid - at ANY cost. But there is a friend, who has come to get Cora out of the school - at any cost - but does she even want to escape? A well-written, interesting story like the other parts of the series. The downside is that they feel pretty similar with a wide variety of characters and it is always slightly hard to remember what is the backstory of each of them. The writing was good and the story was enjoyable, but wouldn't it be time to nominate something else?

A Mirror Mended, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

The novella continues last year’s nominee A Spindle Splintered, which was a postmodern take on the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty”. The main protagonist was able to cross boundaries between universes to different tellings of that fairy tale to rescue the princess from her fate. Usually, from getting married to an unknown prince without consent. She has already rescued a fair share of them, but she is suddenly yanked to a new world, by someone who very very much looks like the evil stepmother from Snow White. How has she skipped tales? And how will she survive the threats of the evil queen who has taken her as a prisoner and demands to get away from her tale as her story is approaching the end which isn’t so happy from her point of view. They end up going through several different scenarios of the Snow White fairy tale, which sometimes seem to have intrusions from other fables. The end on an unusual retelling of the story where the “bad guy” isn’t the queen but the Snow White herself. And it seems that there will be no escaping from that version of the tale… A very good story, well written, and it is exciting and surprising while offering some redemption for one of the most famous and evil antagonists in fairy tales. No one is a bad guy in their own mind, there is usually some sensible motivation for actions - which aren’t necessarily as bad as they at first seem to be. And I liked this story even more than the first part. 

My voting orders:

1. A Mirror Mended, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

2. Ogres, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)

3. Where the Drowned Girls Go, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)

4. Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)

5. What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire)

6. Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

My Hugo award votes 2023. Part 1 - Novelettes

This is the first category I was able to finish. Mostly because this is the only category where to nominees were easily available, mostly. One of the nominees in the novelette category was a Chinese story, which (at least at the moment) isn’t available as a translation, so I have left it out of my voting for the present time. The overall quality of the stories was not very good – they felt mostly very average and ordinary, and I am not sure if any of them are really award-worthy. I was toying with the idea of putting “no award for first place”, but I eventually declined to do that. Perhaps this is one of the worst line-ups of stories since the “puppy-era”. Even last year’s stories, which I considered pretty mediocre, were mostly better than this lot.

“We Built This City”, by Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld, June 2022)

A city floating in the atmosphere of Venus needs constant maintenance of its outer surface. The protagonist works for that crew. For some reason that vital work is very undervalued, the work crew is drastically cut and work shifts are doubled. They can’t quit as they would be deported to do forced labor (how much worse could that be?). There is a malfunction, and the crew, threatening to quit, are not at first even allowed to do their work. But they do it anyway and earn respect from the inhabitants. There was nothing really new in the plot. There are unbelievable, cartoon villainy, stupid city leaders, and fairly average writing. Yeah, I get it, the story is about worker’s rights, but most places already have more of them than the “free” US, and I don’t like to hit head-on with the story's politics like a brick. I wonder why EVERY colony in every story anywhere always closely follows US laws and behaviors. Do authors have bad knowledge about what goes on anywhere else?

“Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, by S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld, December 2022)

The story is presented as an article that studies computer artificial intelligence neural networks. A young woman may have designed a program that has driven a man to suicide by sending constant messages about his wrongdoings – and he doesn’t seem to be the only one, but the same AI has helped several other people through personal crises. The story is mostly background, with hyperlinks to actual news stories. The whole was interesting, but is this actually a proper story or an essay that is lightly dressed up as a story?

“If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, by John Chu (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2022)

A man spends a lot of time at the gym. An unbelievably muscular, Tom of Finland-type man asks him to be a spotter on weightlifting. At the same time, a very similar looking man is preventing crimes with apparent full Superman abilities (flight, super strength, impervious skin). The police seem (logically) to really hate him and are apparently actively trying to kill him. At the same time, there is a crime spree against oriental people – especially women. The muscular man turns out to be the superhero and the men make a romantic connection. The beginning especially had far too much weight-lifting with zero interest, and then most of the rest of the story was romantic pining. There was no hint about the origin of the powers and the whole superpower thing was almost just a small background detail to the romance plot. The writing was OK.

“A Dream of Electric Mothers”, by Wole Talabi (Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Tordotcom)

An African state is threatened by a neighboring country that might take over one province. (Apparently, the people living there have nothing against it?). For some reason, the government contemplates war and asks for advice from the memory of the ancestors. It is a computer aggregation of past citizens’ minds. The contact with the mind is taken in a dreamlike state. The protagonist has some other thing to ask from the mind – or at least part of it, her grandmother and mother (who killed herself when her husband died). It is well written, moving, and a good story, and the only irritating thing was the unexplained assholeness of the ancestral mind – it recommends preventive war. WTF? For an area that wants to separate? I would recommend that kind of mind is corrupted and should be deleted – or at least not consulted for anything. Even the protagonists seem to question the advice of the mind.

“The Difference Between Love and Time”, by Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, Solaris)

The space-time continuum seems to be having a love affair with a woman/girl. The story consists of vignettes of their different meetings during different times. They tend to have fairly ordinary short meetings, but often with a certain twist. The life of the protagonist isn’t always perfect. It is a very allegorical story, which perhaps should be read several times to be really understood. I possibly missed most of those things, but it doesn’t interest me enough to read it again. The writing is poetic and excellent.  

My voting order will be:

1. “A Dream of Electric Mothers”, by Wole Talabi (Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Tordotcom)

2. “The Difference Between Love and Time”, by Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, Solaris)

3. “Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, by S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld, December 2022)

4. “We Built This City”, by Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld, June 2022)

5. “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, by John Chu (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2022)

My Hugo award votes 2022. Part 1 - short stories

This year’s short stories were all, at least, pretty good, with only two below-average tales. The average quality seemed better than last year's, with only one clearly political story. The choice of the best one wasn’t very easy as there were two clear contenders. For last place, there were also two contenders. Both choices were pretty easy after some thought.   

“Mr. Death”, by Alix E. Harrow

A reaper (someone who helps dying people at their last moments, calming them and eventually guiding them past the final river) gets a hard and demanding task. His next "client" is a two-year-old boy who will die from an undiagnosed heart problem in his sleep. There are personal reasons why this is especially hard. A well-written, excellent, and moving story—the first I read, and I am almost sure it will be my top choice.

“Proof by Induction”, by José Pablo Iriarte 

The essence of a person can be captured at the moment of death as a "coda". That capture has the memories and personality of the person but can’t change or make any new memories. A mathematician, who is the son of a mathematician, continues his father's work on an important mathematical proof. As coda can’t create memories, the work isn’t easy and takes time. And the son seems to expect something more—something his father, who wasn’t very emotionally open when he was alive and was even less so (and not capable of changing) when dead, can’t give. But perhaps someone else can change. A good, moving, bittersweet story. 

“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker 

A very popular ballad (which has been recorded by practically all artists at least once in different versions) is discussed on some sort of bulletin board in minute detail. The people having the discussion believe that there might be some sort of real events behind the story in the ballad. They make many detailed assumptions about the story. Some of these are plausible, some not. But at least one scholar, who has tried to find where the ballad takes place, has mysteriously disappeared… A story that is made up mostly from postings on a bulletin board. A good and interesting tale even with some horror vibes at the end.  

“The Sin of America”, by Catherynne M. Valente 

A woman sits at a diner, watches bad news on TV, and eats. She is eating away the sins of America—somehow. Nice writing, but nothing happens except her wallowing in the bad news and the injustice of it all. The story goes for mood and allegory but is very, very boring.

“Tangles”, by Seanan McGuire 

The story is Magic the Gathering game fanfiction. A mage helps a dryad who has lost her tree in a wood filled with threats. They cooperate, use their magic, and eventually, the dryad is saved. There is no real background to the world, the characters, or the magic. The story is just a pretty but generic scene and doesn’t really work for someone with no knowledge of the game. I really wonder why this was nominated.

“Unknown Number”, by Blue Neustifter

A series of text messages. A trans woman gets messages from someone from an alternative universe who claims to be her. The two characters have made some very different choices in life. The person who is breaking the laws of physics hasn’t made the gender change and has been more or less unhappy. He wants to know if being "a she" has made life better. It has. The story is in an unusual and interesting format and is pretty good, but by necessity, it is just a glimpse of the greater tale. 

My voting order will be:

1. “Mr. Death”, by Alix E. Harrow

2. “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker

3. “Proof by Induction”, by José Pablo Iriarte

4. “Unknown Number”, by Blue Neustifter

5. “The Sin of America”, by Catherynne M. Valente

6. “Tangles”, by Seanan McGuire

My Hugo award votes 2021 part 4: Novels

 All except one of the nominees belong to a series. Three of them were very good, the fourth was pretty good, one was “meh,” and I wasn’t able to finish the last one. The overall quality was pretty nice, I believe even better than last year. My voting order wasn’t very hard to decide, though. The one book that told its story without being a part of a series was the clear winner. The Network Effect was a very good and extremely entertaining book, but it was lighter and, as already mentioned, it belongs to a long series and doesn’t stand on its own as well as Piranesi. The last place was extremely easy — I don’t remember having abandoned a nominated book midway through (or not even midway through) ever before. Harrow the Ninth was far too impenetrable, hard to follow, and hard to understand, so it was far too much for me. The City We Became was so “woke” that it used a sledgehammer to present its worldview. I am sympathetic to that kind of thinking, but enough is enough; a subtler approach might have made the book more enjoyable. The two remaining books were both pretty good, but my preference between them was very clear.  

My voting order is:

1. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)

2. Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com)

3. Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press / Solaris)

4. The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books / Solaris)

5. The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

6. Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com)

My Hugo-award votes 2021 part two: Novelettes

 The quality of novelettes was mostly pretty good this year, but there was not a clear best story as last year. Almost all stories were good, but one of the nominees was less a story more a pamphlet, so it was easy to put in last place. Finding the story for first place was a lot more difficult. All were good, but none of them were exceptional. All were good, but none of them were unforgettable. All were good, but none of them were deeply moving. When I was thinking which of the stories was the most memorable, the choice for first place was pretty clear after a while. The Pill was a fun story with a serious undertone and was fairly easy to put in second place. The superhero story felt fairly ordinary and was similarly easy to place in second to last position. 

Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

A young woman is cleaning a house with a childhood friend. The house is a place his hoarder brother used to live in and is filled with all sorts of crap, some worthless and some collector’s items. The woman has a habit of making up lies for no real reason and thinks she is lying when she brings up a TV series where they took part as children. To her surprise, the friend remembers the show, and even finds an old videocassette of it from the piles of odd things in the house. They together watch an episode and it is really strange, some kind of mix of a surreal horror show and a children’s play date. She is fascinated by the show and starts to research it. She doesn’t find anything about the show on the internet, but the TV channel still has archival copies. It seems that the near surreal tales the host told might have a secret meaning… It is a pretty good, well-written, and well-told, even thrilling story.   

“The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))

The secret of getting thin which also prevents getting ever fat again is discovered. Just take a pill, and after a very uncomfortable period, you don’t have to worry about being overweight again. The downside is that there is a 10% chance you will die. A young woman has always been fat. Just like her whole family. Her mother has always been into fad diets and takes the new medication when it is still in experimental use. When it is approved her father takes it also - and dies. The mother pushes really hard to get her daughter to take the medication and eventually the whole society starts pushing it - fat people are being ostracized at everything. But it turns out there is a niche for people with large bodies, especially when they are becoming very rare… A pretty good and well-told story with a fairly explicit ending. The very wide acceptance of a weight loss pill with 10% mortality isn’t very believable, though.   

The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)

There are fallen angels and other supernatural beings. The place where things happen is a bit unclear, at first I thought it happens in hell, as there are mentions of the circles of hell, but there are cars, mobile phones, and most people seem to go on with their lives.  The main character is a witch who apparently works as a private detective. The most important angels are being brutally murdered, and they were supposed to be almost immortal. Why and how someone is doing that? It took some time to get into the story, but it was pretty good and well written as always everything by Aliette de Bodard. I haven’t been one of her fans, though, but this is one of the best things I have read by her. And 100% literal deus ex machina endings are always refreshing. 

“Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)

A superhero story. There is severe prejudice against superheroes, who are banding to teams who try to help in catastrophes, fight crime and so to reduce the prejudices. Sam Wells is a superhero of sorts. He can light his head and hands to fire and that is about it. And even for that his control is very bad. He gets selected to a team - to work as an accountant. But dreams about being a hero - but it takes more than dreams. A pretty good but not exceptional story. And I wonder how stupid street goons would be to be rude to real superheroes with real abilities. That might turn out to be very, very unhealthy.

“Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)

A young woman travels to China seeking an old school-time friend of hers. They were both geeks and bonded over that. She was always good at school and got good grades, while he claimed that he already knows everything which is taught and shouldn’t bother with school work, but didn\t get good grades. Later she worked as a researcher specialized in DNA manipulation. He...had other projects - involving dead people, eventually escaping the US to China. As about the only human with any connection with him, she is sent to find out where he is hiding. And the US military has some vested interests in finding him. A very good and well-written story with a saddish ending. 

“Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)

A story which name was changed after it was considered transphobic. The original title was “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter”. That opinion was mostly based on reading the title alone and not knowing the author - who is transgender. As matter of fact, the story is not transphobic, but rather the opposite. It isn’t really a story, rather a sort of pamphlet of what gender identity means. The main character is a woman whose mind has been altered so that she identifies herself as an attack helicopter. She and her gunner are on a bombing run to the southern part of the fragmented US, their mission is to blow up a high school. There is some sort of a war going on against a business located there. While the mission is going on she ponders the question about the role of perceived gender and sexual preferencies.  The writing was ok, but the story portion was lacking. 

My voting order will be. 

1. "Two Truths and a Lie", Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

2. “The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))

3. Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)

4. “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)

 5. “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)

6. “Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)

My Hugo award votes 2020 part 4: Novels

All nominees were pretty good this year and there are many past winners who were (much) worse than any of the nominees. Another nice detail was that there were no second or third parts this time; all novels were stand-alone works, or the first parts of their series, so they were also more eligible than many earlier nominees for that reason. The exact order of the novels was difficult to decide, however, as said, there wasn’t anything really bad. A few of the works were a bit heavy-handed with slightly ponderous writing which, in places, wasn’t easy to go through. I decided to put in the first place the book which was the most entertaining and which was, by far, the most exciting to read. The writing in it perhaps wasn’t so ”artistic” as some of the other nominees, but very competent anyway. The book was supposed to be a stand-alone one, but I can easily see there might be other stories worth telling in that world. The second place goes to the imaginative use of an old trope of a soldier going through the basic training and fighting battles against a strange enemy. The third, fourth, and fifth places were very difficult to decide, I changed their order a few times, but the following was my final voting list. The City in the Middle of the Night was left in the last place, but by no means is it a bad book.


1. The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
2. The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
3. Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
4. A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
5. Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
6. The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)