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)
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