That Story Isn’t the Story by John Wiswell
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Creepy, sad, uplifting sometimes, but also not the story you think it’s going to be (see title).
novelette
O2 Arena by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Sad, a really depressing view of the future.
L’Esprit de L’Escalier by Catherynne M. Valente
Started: 8/10/22
Finished: 8/10/22
I think I just don’t like Cat Valente, which is a shame. I feel like I should, but I keep striking out. Hello, another depressing story.
Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Yoachim
Started: 8/6/22
Finished: 8/6/22
A novelette about art and immortality and it didn’t really speak to me.
Bots of the Lost Ark by Suzanne Palmer
Started: 8/2/22
Finished: 8/6/22
I love Suzanne Palmer’s bot stories, and she won a Hugo for this one, too. It’s a sequel to her previous bot short story, The Secret Life of Bots. Links to both!
Secret Life of Bots: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/palmer_09_17/
Bots of the Lost Ark: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/palmer_06_21/
The Pill by Meg Elison
Started: 11/15/21
Finished: 11/16/21
This story knocked me down. It was SO good, about a future where there’s a miracle “cure” for obesity, and it’s dark and real and really good.
Away With The Wolves by Sarah Gailey
Started: 7/20/20
Finished: 7/21/20
Good story, like a YA werewolf story but without the usual trappings, and I’d really like to find out more.
For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll
Started: 7/19/20
Finished: 7/20/20
If you like cats, you will like this story. I do, and I did.
Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin
Started: 7/20/20
Finished: 7/20/20
She’s writing in the second person POV again, and it’s SO effective. I love how this played out.
The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 7/19/20
Finished: 7/19/20
Sarah Pinsker can do no wrong. This story was a roller coaster, speeding downhill, all fun and great, and then BAM we ran into a wall and fell into pieces and then what? And no. No! Oh god no! It’s fantastic and you should read it. Except not you, Mom. Or Margaret.
The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim
Started: 7/19/20
Finished: 7/19/20
I don’t think I fully understood this story. I mean, I get the overall plot and everything, I understand what happened and what the characters learned, but the details of the big tech thing and how (or why) things get erased…I spent too much time (for a novelette I finished in less than an hour) puzzling over it. Don’t dazzle me – just tell the story.
Omphalos by Ted Chiang
Started: 7/19/20
Finished: 7/19/20
I liked the style of this story more than the content, I think. It’s about an archaeologist who reads about an astronomical discovery that upends her views on everything. The setting is an alternate reality where the science really does uphold the beliefs of the young-earth creationists, so that’s the accepted view of the world and physics and everything. The story is told from her perspective as she relates her days and thoughts to God, via prayers that feel like letters or diary entries.
If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho
Started: 7/28/19
Finished: 7/28/19
This was the very last Hugo-eligible story I read, and it took a serious run at the top of my novelette list (I landed on #2 for it, but it was close). It’s a refreshingly NICE story, and I am moving the author’s novels higher up my to-read list.
When We Were Starless by Simone Heller
Started: 7/27/19
Finished: 7/28/19
For a novelette, it took too long to reel me in. I considered not finishing it, and come on, it’s a novelette. I did finish it, and it did get good, but there’s too much left to the imagination after the end. And I’m not sure I care enough to imagine it.
The Thing About Ghost Stories by Naomi Kritzer
Started: 7/27/19
Finished: 7/27/19
LOVED this novelette – the style, the voice, the story. It’s about a woman who has just returned to her academic research after losing her mother (who she took care of for years). It rocketed to the top of my voting list for novelette this year.
Nine Last Days On Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory
Started: 7/26/19
Finished: 7/27/19
In contrast to the previous novelette, I felt like this one needed more. As a family story, I think it had enough (and it was really good). As a science fiction story, it felt a little empty.
The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections by Tina Connolly
Started: 7/26/19
Finished: 7/26/19
Oh, how I liked this novelette. A bad leader, a long-term revenge, pain and suffering. Really good stuff in a very small package. And food! Delicious food!
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
Started: 7/14/19
Finished: 7/18/19
I had heard such wonderful things about this story, but at its start, all I can think of is how SAD it is. Update: at its end, all I can think of how sad it is. It’s an alternate history that combines two true events tragedies: Topsy the Elephant and the Radium Girls. It’s very good, but very hard to read. I suppose it’s a good thing it’s a novelette…
The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer
Started: 7/5/18
Finished: 7/5/18
Cute story (novelette) about robots when people aren’t around.
Wind Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 7/4/18
Finished: 7/4/18
I wanted to like this one more (because I really enjoyed her Hugo-nominated novella), but it was maybe a bit too “these kids today” for me.