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Book log July 2013 Part 2 - Hugo novellas
May. 31st, 2014 04:30 pmI read four of the novellas on the 2013 Hugo ballot. Two of them in particular I think are worth explicitly recommending: Aliette de Bodard''s "On a Red Station, Drifting", and Brandon Sanderson's "The Emperor's Soul".
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book log July 2013 - part 1
May. 25th, 2014 11:01 amBack to the ever more neglected book log. I'm going to do July 2013 in several parts, because there are a lot of titles, some of which I did or can say something sensible about, and some of which I left too late.
July was Hugo Voting Packet month. I chugged my way through an awful lot of words that were up for a Hugo, and logged the short stories at the time.
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July was Hugo Voting Packet month. I chugged my way through an awful lot of words that were up for a Hugo, and logged the short stories at the time.
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Hugo Awards 2013 -- short story
Jul. 4th, 2013 08:54 amOnly 3 entries in the Hugo short story category this year, because of the 5% rule. I think this is actually a good thing, because it's a reflection of there being so much good stuff to choose from that it was difficult for any one story to muster the minimum 5% of nominations.
Ken Liu -- Mono no Aware
A young Japanese man is sitting in the control room of a generation ship, minding the solar sail. As the story cuts between his present and his memories, the story gradually reveals how and why he came to be there, and why the choice he makes at the end of the story matters so very much. Beautifully written study of loss and survival, and made me want to read the rest of the anthology it appeared in.
Aliette de Bodard -- Immersion
A lot of things are stuffed into this short story. Imperialism, whether economic, cultural, or in the recent past nakedly military. Class and money. Identity, and how it ties into the imperialism. The use and abuse of technology. Common themes, but handled deftly, and with a genuine sf slant to them. There's some superb world-building done in a short story word count, and characters whose fate I care about. This one's my pick for the Hugo, although it was a hard choice between this and Ken Lui's story.
Kij Johnson -- Mantis Wives
Take praying mantises, give them human intelligence and emotions so that we can identify with them -- and leave them their insect behaviour patterns, described in beautiful language that heightens rather than hides the horror of what's going on.
I can see why this made the Hugo ballot. But it really doesn't work for me. Not voting for this one.
Ken Liu -- Mono no Aware
A young Japanese man is sitting in the control room of a generation ship, minding the solar sail. As the story cuts between his present and his memories, the story gradually reveals how and why he came to be there, and why the choice he makes at the end of the story matters so very much. Beautifully written study of loss and survival, and made me want to read the rest of the anthology it appeared in.
Aliette de Bodard -- Immersion
A lot of things are stuffed into this short story. Imperialism, whether economic, cultural, or in the recent past nakedly military. Class and money. Identity, and how it ties into the imperialism. The use and abuse of technology. Common themes, but handled deftly, and with a genuine sf slant to them. There's some superb world-building done in a short story word count, and characters whose fate I care about. This one's my pick for the Hugo, although it was a hard choice between this and Ken Lui's story.
Kij Johnson -- Mantis Wives
Take praying mantises, give them human intelligence and emotions so that we can identify with them -- and leave them their insect behaviour patterns, described in beautiful language that heightens rather than hides the horror of what's going on.
I can see why this made the Hugo ballot. But it really doesn't work for me. Not voting for this one.
