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
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