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)
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