A very different bunch of nominees compared to the last few years. No extremely experimental allegorical stories at all, as practically all told a real story in an entertaining way. Some of them were slightly too short, and there might be even more interesting things happening after the story ends. None of them was bad, but none of them was clearly above others either, and putting them in any sensible order of “goodness” was not easy. All stories were “good enough” for the award, but I don’t believe any of them will be a classic that will be fondly remembered twenty years from now.
“Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse” by Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
The zombie apocalypse has been going on for some time. For some reason, zombies smell women giving birth from miles away and swarm in the area. A woman is having a child. So it is entirely logical that she and her partner leave their sturdy and secure compound for a flimsily built shipping container with partly rotten boards. (If they HAVE to leave the compound for some very strange reason, I suggest giving birth in a boat). It is a moving story about heroism that doesn’t make any actual sense at all. Entertaining, though.
“A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
A new robot/android exchanges tips with its mentor, which turns out to be a ”battle droid” of some kind. But maybe both can learn something from the friendship they build. Or at least they can watch funny dog videos together. A short story told by the messages exchanged between the two main characters. (And, apparently, a city called The New Koirapolis has the cutest dogs in the world :-))
“Little Free Library” by Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
A young woman puts up a ”free library” in her yard. People are supposed to take a book and leave a book. Books start to disappear and some strange things are left behind. It seems that there is a portal somewhere which enables changing things. A well-written, entertaining and fun story.
“The Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
The tale of Little Mermaid retold. Essarala is a mermaid who dreams of stars. When a spaceship lands with a multispecies crew she gets a chance. But she must give up her tail, her family, and her world. She sees wonders but is destined to return. A pretty good retelling of the story, but it is “just” a retelling of a familiar tale.
“Metal Like Blood in the Dark” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
An inventor has created two sentient robots on a planet, one who is able to burrow into the ground and seek metals and another who can fly. As the elderly inventor gets sick he must call for help and leave his inventions behind. The planet they are living on is an old one and almost all metals have been dug out (I wonder what happened to them; if everything is mined out, there should be plenty of deposits of abandoned tech and metal lying around - it is hard to imagine that all metal found on the planet was sent out to space.) The robots eventually go to space and encounter another robot, who isn’t as benevolent (and naive) as they are. It is a fairly good story with some implausibilities whose author apparently doesn’t really understand the rules of thermodynamics.
“Open House on Haunted Hill” by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots, 2020)
A haunted house that has been uninhabited for some time really wants some company. It is being sold and there is an open showing. It is almost over-eager to please and get a small family consisting of an agnostic/skeptic widower and a little girl to move in. A fun little “ghost story” featuring a ghost house with some puppy-like characteristics.
My voting order will be:
1. “Little Free Library” by Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
2. “Metal Like Blood in the Dark” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
3. “Open House on Haunted Hill” by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots, 2020)
4. “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse” by Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
5. “A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
6. “The Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
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