"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." – George R. R. Martin
“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (2,832 words or 12 minutes to read), published in Lightspeed magazine issue #168, May 2024.
A unique side-by-side storytelling format.
“Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (4,139 words or 18 minutes to read), published in Uncanny magazine issue #58, May/June 2024.
Discusses the tool of storytelling and how it affects how we understand history.
“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (4,517 words or 18 minutes to read), published in Uncanny magazine issue #57, March/April 2024.
A Chinese expert seamstress searches for her brother after she stops receiving letters from him. A story of love, dedication, and family.
“Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (7,488 words or 30 minutes to read), published in Uncanny magazine issue #56, January/February 2024.
The daughter of a former baron’s maid saves his life by killing a giant snail with salt. A tale of class and the vast chasm between different classes.
Today I start with the Hugo nominees for Best Short Story.
“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachel K. Jones (549 words or 3 minutes to read), published in Lightspeed magazine issue #164, January 2024.
Eerie and incredibly creepy. Amazingly effective for such a short story.
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (8,370 words or 34 minutes to read), published in Clarkesworld magazine issue 212, May 2024.
Explores the value of remembering the good and the bad and preserving them both.
If I had a vote for Best Novelette, my choice would be “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou. It is so timely, using the “what if” of speculative fiction to examine the effects of social media in such a visceral and tangible way. Read it!
As a review, here are all the nominees for Best Novelette:
Starting tomorrow, I will share a link each weekday to a nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (8,468 words or 34 minutes to read), published in Strange Horizons magazine, Fund Drive 2024 issue.
An exploration of how it feels to be a wizard who had lost her ability to perform magic.
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (13,673 words or 55 minutes to read), published in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, September/October 2024.
A satisfying emotional tale of overcoming casual misogyny and regaining a career.
Our next Hugo nominee come from a collection by Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice.
“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (12,135 words or about 49 minutes to read), published by Orbit in the book Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie
This story has a feel of a fairy tale with themes of cross species care and simple kindness in the face of danger.
Continuing my highlighting of short fiction nominees for the Hugo Awards being presented at the Seattle Worldcon 2025 on Saturday, 16 August.
“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (8,173 words or about 33 minutes to read), published in Uncanny magazine issue #58, May/June 2024
An amazing metaphor for the loneliness so many feel when they go down the rabbit hole of their digital worlds instead of being with people IRL. Like so many of the stories in Uncanny, this one really gets at what it feels like to have the experience of the protagonist.