soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2020-06-08 09:20 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2020-06-08 09:20 pm
Entry tags:
- author: caroline m yoachim,
- author: nk jemisin,
- author: sarah gailey,
- author: sarah pinsker,
- author: siobhan carroll,
- author: ted chiang,
- book theme: alternate earth,
- book theme: fantasy,
- book theme: future,
- book theme: history,
- book theme: modern earth,
- book theme: mystery,
- book theme: religion,
- book theme: science fiction,
- book theme: secondary world,
- book theme: short stories,
- fandom: the hugos
2020 Hugo Award: Best Novelettes
Time for the Hugo nominated novelettes! As a whole, I ended up liking the options in this category much more than what was in the short stories this year.
Here's my thoughts on each of the 6 novelettes. I'm listing them in the order for which I will vote for them, top to bottom choices.
Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin
It took me a little bit to orient myself into what the heck the pov was and what was going on, but once I figured things out this story was so much fun! I'm fascinated by the way that the narrative style means we get to hear literally nothing of what the protagonist thinks and says and does (as a mirror to the way the protagonist's society devalues the voices of people like the protagonist), but you can figure it all out from the shape left behind by the reactions of the Founders-controlled AI dictating to the protagonist, and from the speech of the people on Earth. A really interesting way to get a perspective on a version of Earth where people learn to do better by each other.
I do think it's a little simplistic, that just getting rid of the small subsection of bad people on Earth allowed the rest of the humans to immediately build a better society, because isn't part of the problem with prejudice and oppression that so many of us are complicit in some way or another? But it was still a really enjoyable read, the narrative conceit was beautifully executed, and I loved the ending.
Omphalos, by Ted Chiang
Certainly a very interesting story but I am left really not sure how I feel about it????
The Archronology of Love, by Caroline M. Yoachim
I don't feel I really understand the Chronology, which is a bit of a drawback, but I liked the story being told and I liked the main character and I liked how you could see bits around the edges of what all the other characters are thinking which the main character fails to quite pick up on. Overall a solidly decent novelette, but I didn't have any strong feelings about it.
Away With the Wolves, by Sarah Gailey
I have questions about Suss's experience of being a wolf, because for much of the story it seemed like her experiences as wolf vs human were pretty far divorced for her--I mean, she could hardly even remember what she did as a wolf when she went back to being human, and when she was a wolf she wasn't able to stop herself from doing things that as a human she regretted. But then she's able to happily decide to be a wolf as much as she wants and to successfully integrate her wolf self into village life with no problems. Please just give me a sentence or two of plausible explanation here so that I can reconcile this, that's all I need!! As it is, although I'm sure this isn't what was intended, it feels to me like the werewolf rules were just changed suddenly in order to facilitate the happy ending. And like, overall it's a good story and I had feelings about the friendship it depicted, but....it feels to me like it's glossing over how its own premise works which makes what would otherwise be a satisfying ending less satisfying.
Also it is a story that is very much About Disability as opposed to a story about a person with a disability, which as an approach feels so didactic to me, like the story's entire point is to explain the thing to an audience who doesn't understand, instead of really being a story. I feel the same way about stories about things I experience - like stories about trans people vs stories About Transness, or stories about neurodivergent people vs stories About Neurodiversity, or whatever. (Ftr I'm not trying to say that being trans or disabled or whatever are like, inherently similar things or something, but there's parallels in how these things are sometimes used in narratives.) And plenty of people clearly get something out of reading or writing stories that are About The Thing, whatever the thing may be--there is definitely a place for these kinds of stories and I have no problem with that! But I'd personally rather read stories where people are still affected by these things in real and important ways but it's not the sole theme of the narrative arc, if that makes sense.
The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye, by Sarah Pinsker
I read the opening couple paragraphs, went OH NO IT'S THIS ONE, and decided that I could not handle giving the whole thing a reread. This story is very good and also I really don't like it. It's too much on the horror side of the line for me and it's very effective at it. Noooo thank you, this one is not for me.
For He Can Creep, by Siobhan Carroll
When this story first came out I looked at the little opening blurb, figured that there was nothing about it that seemed like something I would enjoy, and didn't even bother reading the story itself. But now I felt obligated to give it a fair shake in order to rank it for voting. Well...I was right and I don't care for it. I think it's perfectly fine at being the kind of thing it is, but you know, I am not personally charmed by cats being cats, which is the main thing the story is about.
Here's my thoughts on each of the 6 novelettes. I'm listing them in the order for which I will vote for them, top to bottom choices.
Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin
It took me a little bit to orient myself into what the heck the pov was and what was going on, but once I figured things out this story was so much fun! I'm fascinated by the way that the narrative style means we get to hear literally nothing of what the protagonist thinks and says and does (as a mirror to the way the protagonist's society devalues the voices of people like the protagonist), but you can figure it all out from the shape left behind by the reactions of the Founders-controlled AI dictating to the protagonist, and from the speech of the people on Earth. A really interesting way to get a perspective on a version of Earth where people learn to do better by each other.
I do think it's a little simplistic, that just getting rid of the small subsection of bad people on Earth allowed the rest of the humans to immediately build a better society, because isn't part of the problem with prejudice and oppression that so many of us are complicit in some way or another? But it was still a really enjoyable read, the narrative conceit was beautifully executed, and I loved the ending.
Omphalos, by Ted Chiang
Certainly a very interesting story but I am left really not sure how I feel about it????
The Archronology of Love, by Caroline M. Yoachim
I don't feel I really understand the Chronology, which is a bit of a drawback, but I liked the story being told and I liked the main character and I liked how you could see bits around the edges of what all the other characters are thinking which the main character fails to quite pick up on. Overall a solidly decent novelette, but I didn't have any strong feelings about it.
Away With the Wolves, by Sarah Gailey
I have questions about Suss's experience of being a wolf, because for much of the story it seemed like her experiences as wolf vs human were pretty far divorced for her--I mean, she could hardly even remember what she did as a wolf when she went back to being human, and when she was a wolf she wasn't able to stop herself from doing things that as a human she regretted. But then she's able to happily decide to be a wolf as much as she wants and to successfully integrate her wolf self into village life with no problems. Please just give me a sentence or two of plausible explanation here so that I can reconcile this, that's all I need!! As it is, although I'm sure this isn't what was intended, it feels to me like the werewolf rules were just changed suddenly in order to facilitate the happy ending. And like, overall it's a good story and I had feelings about the friendship it depicted, but....it feels to me like it's glossing over how its own premise works which makes what would otherwise be a satisfying ending less satisfying.
Also it is a story that is very much About Disability as opposed to a story about a person with a disability, which as an approach feels so didactic to me, like the story's entire point is to explain the thing to an audience who doesn't understand, instead of really being a story. I feel the same way about stories about things I experience - like stories about trans people vs stories About Transness, or stories about neurodivergent people vs stories About Neurodiversity, or whatever. (Ftr I'm not trying to say that being trans or disabled or whatever are like, inherently similar things or something, but there's parallels in how these things are sometimes used in narratives.) And plenty of people clearly get something out of reading or writing stories that are About The Thing, whatever the thing may be--there is definitely a place for these kinds of stories and I have no problem with that! But I'd personally rather read stories where people are still affected by these things in real and important ways but it's not the sole theme of the narrative arc, if that makes sense.
The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye, by Sarah Pinsker
I read the opening couple paragraphs, went OH NO IT'S THIS ONE, and decided that I could not handle giving the whole thing a reread. This story is very good and also I really don't like it. It's too much on the horror side of the line for me and it's very effective at it. Noooo thank you, this one is not for me.
For He Can Creep, by Siobhan Carroll
When this story first came out I looked at the little opening blurb, figured that there was nothing about it that seemed like something I would enjoy, and didn't even bother reading the story itself. But now I felt obligated to give it a fair shake in order to rank it for voting. Well...I was right and I don't care for it. I think it's perfectly fine at being the kind of thing it is, but you know, I am not personally charmed by cats being cats, which is the main thing the story is about.
no subject
Yeah! This is why when I was reccing it to you I had it hedged with all sorts of things like "well, you might not like this?" and "I'm not entirely sure if I really liked this??" Because I think it's a really well-written and really well-crafted story, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it either!
no subject