Discussing the Hugo Nominees for Novelette
Richard Horton
>NOVELETTE
>"Halo", Charles Stross (Asimov's Jun 2002)
From my review in the June 2002 Locus:
The latest of Charles Stross' Manfred Macx stories is "Halo", stepping
forward a generation to focus on Manfred's daughter, Amber. Amber has
sold herself into slavery to herself, in order to escape the clutches
of her mother, Manfred's villainous ex-wife, the IRS agent Pamela. But
Mom finds a way to get at Amber even in the Jupiter system. How can
Amber deal with this latest threat? As with earlier Macx stories, the
real meat is in the tossed-off details of life as we approach a
Vingean singularity, and in the clever touch Stross displays in
describing his high-tech future and its economics - such as an
asteroid taking on the personality of Barney ("I love you, you love
me, it's the law of gravity …"). Beyond the jokes and tech Stross has
a bigger story to tell in this series, and "Halo" advances the overall
arc an intriguing bit.
>"Madonna of the Maquiladora", Gregory Frost (Asimov's May 2002)
From my review in the May 2002 Locus:
"Madonna of the Maquiladora", by Gregory Frost, is an intense story
about a reporter investigating stories about a man working at a
maquiladora in Juarez who sees the Virgin Mary. He learns a surprising
and bitterly clever secret. That was well done - though I could have
done without the tired cliché whereby the innocent white guy meets
exotic local girl and before you can say "boo!" they are having hot
and heavy doomed sex.
>"Presence", Maureen F. McHugh (F&SF Mar 2002)
From my review in the March 2002 Locus:
But the best story is Maureen F. McHugh's "Presence". This is
comparable to Shane Tourtellotte's story from the November 2001
Analog, "The Return of Spring". [And also Alexander Glass's "Lucid",
from the January 2002 Interzone.] Tourtellotte looked at the effect
of a cure for Alzheimer's Disease on the person being cured. McHugh's
story is about the wife of an Alzheimer's patient. We first see
Mila's life with her husband Gus as he descends deeply into the abyss
of the disease - hence her decision to pay for an experimental cure,
even though she knows that the person Gus will be will not, in some
sense, be her husband - so much of his brain and memories having
already been destroyed. The story plays out quietly, in McHugh's
usual measured fashion, small details building a sensitive picture of
these two people and their marriage, before and after, as it were.
There are no overwhelming epiphanies here - just a realistic and
believable look at how real people can be affected by medical changes.
>"Slow Life", Michael Swanwick (Analog Dec 2002)
From my December 2002 Locus review:
Michael Swanwick's work is always worth a look, though I don't think
"Slow Life", Analog's December cover story, is among his best. It is
interesting: about finding life on Titan, and the way such life might
think differently from us. (Unfortunately for my tastes, not quite
differently enough - the communications barrier is far too easily
surmounted.)
>"The Wild Girls", Ursula K. Le Guin (Asimov's Mar 2002)
From my March 2002 Locus review:
The pick story this month is a novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin, "The
Wild Girls" (March). It's one of her trademark "anthropological" SF
stories, set on an unspecified planet, with three interrelated groups
of humans: City people, Dirt people, and Root people. Very roughly,
the City people are aristocrats, the Dirt people peasants, and the
Root people merchants. The story opens with a young band of City men
raiding a Dirt village, apparently to steal Dirt children to become
slaves or, in the case of beautiful girls, concubines or wives. Le
Guin slowly develops a picture of a rather cruel culture, with a
number of interesting facets, all viewed deadpan, from an inside
perspective. More importantly, she intertwines this with the
involving story of the destiny of two of the Dirt captives, sisters,
as they grow up and attract the attention of the City men. Le Guin
remains one of our very best writers, and this is one of her finer
recent stories.
My ballot: Presence, Halo, The Wild Girls, Madonna of the Maquiladora,
Slow Life.
--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
Also visit SF Site (http://www.sfsite.com) and Tangent Online (http://www.tangentonline.com)
Peter D. Tillman
Richard Horton <rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>
> >NOVELETTE [snipped Rich's fine reviews]
> >"Halo", Charles Stross (Asimov's Jun 2002)
>
> >"Madonna of the Maquiladora", Gregory Frost (Asimov's May 2002)
>
> >"Presence", Maureen F. McHugh (F&SF Mar 2002)
>
> >"Slow Life", Michael Swanwick (Analog Dec 2002)
>
> >"The Wild Girls", Ursula K. Le Guin (Asimov's Mar 2002)
>
>
> My ballot: Presence, Halo, The Wild Girls, Madonna of the Maquiladora,
> Slow Life.
I've read all of these but "Presence", and certainly look forward to
reading that one, based on Rich's comments.
Stross's "Halo" was a pure delight, and I really liked "Slow Life",
especially the VoiceWeb (Illiteranet) stuff. I didn't much care for
"Madonna" -- in-your-face 'socially-conscious' fiction isn't for me. I
read "Wild Girls", but can't remember a thing about it, not a good sign.
So, Halo is #1, Slow Life #2 pending my reading the McHugh.
And thanks, Rich, for posting these reviews!
Cheers -- Pete Tillman
Book Reviews: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A3GHSD9VY8XS4Q/
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/iplus/nonfiction/index.htm#reviews
http://www.sfsite.com/revwho.htm
Richard Horton
<til...@aztec.asu.edu> wrote:
>
>Stross's "Halo" was a pure delight, and I really liked "Slow Life",
>especially the VoiceWeb (Illiteranet) stuff.
It might deserve a reread from me. I agree that much of the mechanics
of the story were nice -- I just wasn't convinced by the aliens, and
as I said especially by the too easy communication with them.
>I didn't much care for
>"Madonna" -- in-your-face 'socially-conscious' fiction isn't for me.
Yes, it is one of those stories that screams at you "Look how virtuous
and holy I am", which always gets my back up. The central idea was
clever, though.