Discussion of the Hugo Nominees for Novella
Richard Horton
>"Breathmoss", Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov's May 2002)
From my review in the May Locus:
Ian R. MacLeod is probably my current favorite writer of short SF, and
it is a treat to see his huge novella in the May Asimov's,
"Breathmoss". This is in the same milieu as his fine novelette,
"Isabel of the Fall", the Ten Thousand and One Worlds, a future
dominated by a much altered Islam, and in which there are very few
men.
"Breathmoss" is a coming of age story about Jalila, a young woman on a
planet with a rather long year. We meet her in spring as she moves
with her three mothers from the mountains, where the air is so thin
that breathing is assisted by "breathmoss" growing in the lungs, to a
small seaside town. Her growing up takes us to winter. Jalila makes
three significant friends. One, inevitably, is Kalal, the only boy in
the town, perhaps on the whole planet. Another is a beautiful girl
named Nayra with whom she falls in love. The third is an ancient
"tariqua", a starship pilot, who lives alone near the town. As she
comes to adulthood, she is forced almost willy-nilly to choose between
conventional life with Nayra, an unconventional relationship with
Kalal, and a completely different life as a tariqua - but her choice
seems inevitable, and precipitates a violent act, which leads Jalila
towards even more self-discovery.
This story is lovely and fascinating, not least for such offhand
details as the curious semi-mechanical hayawans. The thematic heart of
the story, issues of identity, and time, and the "Pain of Distance"
experienced by people who leave home for a nomadic life, is
compelling. Still, I was a bit less satisfied than I might have been.
The climactic violence seemed forced and almost a cliché. And the
final revelation, if philosophically interesting, also seemed a bit
old hat. Nonetheless, this is a fine novella.
>"Bronte's Egg", Richard Chwedyk (F&SF Aug 2002)
From my review in the August Locus:
I was also very taken by Richard Chwedyk's "Bronte's Egg", a sequel to
his 2001 story "The Measure of All Things". Both stories are about
"saurs", small dinosaur-like biological constructs that were made to
be toys, but turned out to be smarter than expected. Making them
became illegal, and the abuse they suffered at the hands of their
owners something of a scandal. The story concerns how to properly
incubate the unexpected saur egg of the title, and how to keep it a
secret from the authorities. But the childlike saur Axel is more
concerned with his message to the stars, and with the "Robomotoman" he
wishes to make. The characters of the various saurs are a delight,
and the story is sweet and moving, though a side plot involving
possible alien visitors seemed a misstep to me.
>Coraline, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
From my SFF-Net "booklog":
Coraline is a very fine novella length children's fantasy, very much
enjoyable by adults (and as Greg Feeley (I think it was he) has
pointed out, there is a good book there for children to read, and also
a good book for adults, and they aren't necessarily the same book).
I don't have much interesting to say about the book (Greg's review, at
the Washington Post (probably no longer online, alas), and John
Clute's review, at Sci Fi Weekly, are both very good). Briefly,
Coraline is a young girl who has moved into a new flat with her
parents. The residents of the other flats are an eccentric bunch. Her
parents tend to neglect her a bit, though they do seem to be a fairly
loving family. One day Coraline encounters a strange blocked door in a
room of the new flat. She eventually finds a key and goes exploring,
finding a sort of distorted mirror version of the house on the other
side, controlled by a frightening woman called The Other Mother. The
Other Mother wants Coraline to stay with her, and begins by trying to
be extra nice to her -- feed her wonderful meals, etc. Eventually,
though, she kidnaps Coraline's real parents, and Coraline must find a
way to rescue them, along with a couple of lost children from long
ago. It's an original take on a somewhat familiar general idea,
genuinely creepy, well-written. A good book.
>"In Spirit", Pat Forde (Analog Sep 2002)
From my review in the August Locus:
The cover novella [of the September 2002 Analog], obviously rushed
into print to match the cover date, is Pat Forde's "In Spirit", a
criminal rehabilitation/time-travel story which follows the case of a
co-conspirator with the 9/11 hijackers. The central idea
(rehabilitation by forcing the criminal to directly experience the
effect of his crime) is a bit hackneyed, and the topical subject
matter didn't work for me, particularly as it seems to instantly make
the story out of date.
>"The Political Officer", Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF Apr 2002)
From my review in the April Locus:
More serious in tone is the cover story [of the April 2002 F&SF], a
long novella by Charles Coleman Finlay, who attracted attention last
year with his first publication, a very cleverly structured short
story called "Footnotes". "The Political Officer" is rather more
traditional - a convoluted story about a spaceship from the planet
Jesusalem on an ambiguous mission to an enemy system. Max Nikomedes is
the title officer, locked in a tripartite rivalry with the ship's
captain and the ship's intelligence officer. He is forced to take
dangerous and possibly treasonous action when an encounter with
neutral ships threatens the mission. The motives and allegiances of
the ship's crew are a bit difficult to decipher, and in many ways no
one comes through "clean", though the story also features some very
heroic action. It's a promising effort, but some of the
characterization seemed rather hackneyed, and the moral problems
advanced are interesting but perhaps overly hidden by the plot
gyrations. I'll be glad to see more from Finlay - but this story,
though not bad, isn't a top shelf outing.
>A Year in the Linear City, Paul Di Filippo (PS Publishing)
Paul Di Filippo is on a roll lately, though really he's been doing
excellent stuff for a long time. His entry in the justly celebrated PS
Publishing series of novella-length chapbooks, A Year in the Linear
City, is one of the best novellas of this year. Di Filippo follows
several episodes in the life of Diego Patchen, an up and coming writer
of Cosmogonic Fiction, or CF, the Linear City's analog to SF. The plot
turns on Diego's worries about his dying father, and his friend's
obsession with a drug-addicted woman; as well as a trip down the
city's border river to a distant borough. It's not really much of a
plot, just a series of episodes. The fun is in di Filippo's
description of the title City, which is very narrow but of
unimaginable length, bordered by train tracks on one side and a river
on the other side, and mounted, apparently, on some huge scaly beast.
Di Filippo invents an engaging and convincing slang, sketches an
interesting social/political/economic backgroun, and portrays any
number of genially colorful characters, such as Diego's glorious
fire-fighting girlfriend Volusia Bittern, or his editor at his main
magazine market, an obvious John W. Campbell pastiche. The story is by
turns pleasantly rambling, funny, sad, and full of sense of wonder. In
general feel it recalls several of di Filippo's "alternate economy"
novellas, such as "Karuna, Inc." and "Spondulix". Paul di Filippo is
clearly one of the most original, and one of the best, SF writers now
working, and while he is certainly not ignored, he does not seem to me
to get quite the credit he is due. Perhaps that will soon change.
My ballot: A Year in the Linear City, Breathmoss, Coraline, Bronte's
Egg, The Political Officer, No Award
--
Rich Horton | Stable Email: mailto://richard...@sff.net
Home Page: http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton
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Mark Watson
<rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>My ballot: A Year in the Linear City, Breathmoss, Coraline, Bronte's
>Egg, The Political Officer, No Award
I didn't read Coraline, but would put A Year in the Linear City and
Breathmoss some way ahead of Bronte's Egg and the Political Officer.
My slight disappointment with Breathmoss was that it was a level below
Isabel of the Fall, which probably got a lot less profile through
being published in Interzone.
One other novella I would put forward would be Ian Watson's 'Speaker
for the Wooden Sea', which I would place ahead of Breathmoss in having
a bit more originality.
Mark Watson
Mark Watson
Best SF - www.bestsf.net
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Richard Horton
<mark....@bestsf.net> wrote:
>On Tue, 22 Apr 2003 03:49:46 GMT, Richard Horton
><rrho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>
>>My ballot: A Year in the Linear City, Breathmoss, Coraline, Bronte's
>>Egg, The Political Officer, No Award
>
>
>I didn't read Coraline, but would put A Year in the Linear City and
>Breathmoss some way ahead of Bronte's Egg and the Political Officer.
Oh quite. There is a significant gulf in quality between the first
three books on my ballot and the next two, then yet another gulf
between those two and "In Spirit".
>My slight disappointment with Breathmoss was that it was a level below
>Isabel of the Fall, which probably got a lot less profile through
>being published in Interzone.
>
>One other novella I would put forward would be Ian Watson's 'Speaker
>for the Wooden Sea', which I would place ahead of Breathmoss in having
>a bit more originality.
I didn't really like this one very much.