The Hugo Shortlist, 2006: Short Stories
Rich Horton
Again I find this an excellent list, Of these stories only "The House
Beyond Your Sky" made it into my Best of the Year books, but all the
others were serious candidats. "Eight Episodes" was left out only
because I also wanted another Reed story, "A Billion Eves", which is
also a Hugo nominee. "Kin" and "Impossible Dreams" were among the last
I considered, and might have been included had I not (as mentioned in
previous posts) been very concerned about including too many Asimov's
stories. And I actually didn't see "How to Talk to Girls at Parties"
until after my contents list was finalized (in the January F&SF -- I
didn't get a copy of Fragile Things). I surely would have strongly
considered it.
Another strong showing for Asimov's. Indeed, 10 of the 15 nominees are
from that magazine. I confess it was my feeling that F&SF had the
better year last year, but Asimov's really did have a very strong
year. (I note however that none of my personal choices for the winners
of these categories are the Asimov's stories.)
Here's my voting order. Again, it is tentative. Certainly I could
switch places 2 and 3 easily, and 4 and 5 are not far back. But I do
think that Ben Rosenbaum's story is the clear best of the year. (And I
would really have liked to see Christopher Rowe's "Another Word for
Map is Faith" on this ballot.)
1. "The House Beyond Your Sky", by Benjamin Rosenbaum (Strange
Horizons Sept 2006)
"The House Beyond Your Sky" is purely lovely. It is set in the very
far future, when posthumans inhabit a universe increasingly empty as
it continues to expand. But this future is complicated by bubble
universes and virtual spaces and strange wars -- and by a little girl
who may be waiting in the house beyond our sky. This story suggests
much beauty and much pain -- partly by evoking wild SFnal ideas and
partly simply with excellent prose. I think it deserves to win for the
awesome SFnal scope of it -- and the way it makes that scope human --
but above all I think it should win because by damn it is fabulously
well-written.
2. "Eight Episodes", by Robert Reed (Asimov's June 2006)
"Eight Episodes" is about a cult TV show that tells a rather dry
scientific story, of the discovery of a tiny spaceship in a Permian
era rock sample. The spaceship has a sort of message for humanity, a
message which concerns, it turns out, the Fermi Paradox. And the story
manages some of the same power as Ian R. MacLeod’s classic "New Light
on the Drake Equation" in its evocation of lost SFnal dreams, and its
reminder that there are still dreams to dream. t think this story both
cleverly done, and quite moving -- and it has only grown in my memory.
3. "How to Talk to Girls at Parties", by Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things;
F&SF, January 2007)
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties" is very fine work, about a couple of
boys in London who end up at a curious party with a number of very
unusual girls. There is a redolence of Faery and La Belle Dame Sans
Merci about these girls, but, very nicely, the story really seems to
be science fiction. With a hint of a dark yet moving and poetic twist.
Again, a mixture of cleverness with something deeper and more moving.
4. "Kin", by Bruce McAllister (Asimov's February 2006)
"Kin" is an affecting, but also somewhat chilling, story of a boy who
tries to hire an alien assassin to kill the man who wants to kill his
sister (that is, abort his mother’s unborn child). The alien and the
boy strike up a relationship, and we learn a lot about the assassin in
particular -- and we get hints about where the boy’s life may lead
him. A quiet story, rather dark in implication, very thoughtful.
5. "Impossible Dreams", by Tim Pratt (Asimov's July 2006)
The is a "mysterious shop" story. This time the shop is a video store,
with treasures such as the director’s cut of Orson Welles’s The
Magnificent Ambersons, and the George Raft version of Casablanca.
That’s the hook, and Pratt sets it with a sweet romance between two
movie nuts: the geeky young man who discovers the shop, and the girl
at the counter. I really enjoyed it, but it must be said that set next
to the other stories on this shortlist, this one looks just that bit
slight.
Peter D. Tillman
Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> The Hugo Shortlist, 2006: Short Stories
Thanks, Rich. A reminder of how little new short SF I've read this year
-- so far, I've read only the Gaiman (and agree with your comments).
Are the nominees available online yet?
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
David Goldfarb
They've been available online for months and months.
<http://www.nippon2007.us/hugo_nominees.php> has links to all of
the short fiction nominees and the full text of three of the novel
nominees. There are even audio versions of many of them.
--
David Goldfarb | "It's not called 'The Net of a Million Lies'
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | for nothing."
gold...@csua.berkeley.edu | -- Vernor Vinge, _A Fire Upon the Deep_
tkma...@yahoo.co.uk
> In article <Tillman-002D26...@sn-radius.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>,
> Peter D. Tillman <Til...@toast.net_DIESPAMMERSDIE> wrote:
>> In article <rf98a3lef1tdj67nu...@4ax.com>,
>> Rich Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>>
>>> The Hugo Shortlist, 2006: Short Stories
>> Thanks, Rich. A reminder of how little new short SF I've read this year
>> -- so far, I've read only the Gaiman (and agree with your comments).
>>
>> Are the nominees available online yet?
>
> They've been available online for months and months.
>
> <http://www.nippon2007.us/hugo_nominees.php> has links to all of
> the short fiction nominees and the full text of three of the novel
> nominees. There are even audio versions of many of them.
This is a good link, David. Thanks.
Peter D. Tillman
AOL. Thanx-2!
Cheers -- Pete Tillman
--
"Microsoft purchases evil from Satan for $US 2.7 billion."
http://bbspot.com/News/2000/4/MS_Buys_Evil.html
tkma...@yahoo.co.uk
I've now read all these except "Impossible Dreams". And I would agree
with your order, except for your #1 - "The House Beyond Your Sky". In my
book, that would be the last - am not too much into religion, & that is
what this story is about. And I won't swap remaining places.
Incidentally, I find a lot of similarity between #2 & #3, & Arthur
Clarke's stories:
a. "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" is a variant of "The Possessed":
<http://arthur-clarke-fansite.blogspot.com/2007/04/possessed-intellect-in-abstract.html>
b. "Eight Episodes" is a variant of the alien sentinel story in "2001 A
Space Odyssey" - though very well written, & probably more realistic.
<http://arthur-clarke-fansite.blogspot.com/2007/03/book-arthur-clarkes-2001-space-odyssy-4.html>
Each of the 4 stories I have read involve aliens, even if they are gods
in "The House Beyond Your Sky". Looks like aliens are the flavor of the
season.
Also, I didn't quite find "Kin" chilling! It could have been very
moving, though - which it is not. I see it simply as a story where a
loner gets emotional when the kid touches his heart.
Robert Hutchinson
> 2. "Eight Episodes", by Robert Reed (Asimov's June 2006)
>
> "Eight Episodes" is about a cult TV show that tells a rather dry
> scientific story, of the discovery of a tiny spaceship in a Permian
> era rock sample. The spaceship has a sort of message for humanity, a
> message which concerns, it turns out, the Fermi Paradox. And the story
> manages some of the same power as Ian R. MacLeod’s classic "New Light
> on the Drake Equation" in its evocation of lost SFnal dreams, and its
> reminder that there are still dreams to dream. t think this story both
> cleverly done, and quite moving -- and it has only grown in my memory.
I found it creepy as hell--in a very good way. This story did for me what a good
horror story is supposed to do for most other readers, I think. There's a
particular tipping point, where what I was first interpreting as nonsense was
suddenly shown to very possibly be hiding deep meaning ... brrrr.
--
Robert Hutchinson
"The cake is ticking loudly: tock tock, tock tock. Puzzled, the cat holds it
up to one ear. He listens closely. A terrible knowledge dawns in his eyes."
<http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/04/19/040419fi_fiction?printable=true>