Hugo nominees for short fiction

[naath]

(I'm not very good at reviewing things)

BEST NOVELLA

The Butcher of Khardov by Dan Wells (Privateer Press)
I started reading this but couldn't really get into it. I feel stupid for giving up on a novella though. (6)

“The Chaplain's Legacy” by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jul-Aug 2013)
Meh. Interesting take on inter-species wossname I guess? (3)

“Equoid” by Charles Stross (Tor.com, 09-2013)
Stross channels HPL quite well, and the prose isn't as awful... moderately enjoyable My Little Eldritch Horror (2)

Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Press)
A nice take on a very old story, but then I'm a fan of reworkings of fairy tales. (1)

“Wakulla Springs” by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages (Tor.com, 10-2013)
I like this a lot. A whole lot. But, well, I'm not really sure that adding "oh and there is a monster in this lake" right at the end makes the whole thing SFF. (4? or 5, can't decide)

BEST NOVELETTE (728 ballots)

“The Exchange Officers” by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jan-Feb 2013)
Enjoyable enough. (4)
“The Lady Astronaut of Mars” by Mary Robinette Kowal (maryrobinettekowal.com / Tor.com, 09-2013)
This is a lovely story, not very SFnal for all it is set on Mars (3)
“Opera Vita Aeterna” by Vox Day (The Last Witchking, Marcher Lord Hinterlands)
Mostly tedious. Surprisingly not actually offensively awful... (6)
“The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” by Ted Chiang (Subterranean, Fall 2013)
Nice reflections on technology shaping humans (1)
“The Waiting Stars” by Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky, Candlemark & Gleam)
I really liked this (2)

BEST SHORT STORY (865 ballots)

“If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky (Apex Magazine, Mar-2013)
Is this even SFF? Sweet and sad and lovely though. (3)
“The Ink Readers of Doi Saket” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com, 04-2013)
Meh. (4)
“Selkie Stories Are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons, Jan-2013)
I'm a sucker for genre aware protagonists (1)
“The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” by John Chu (Tor.com, 02-2013)
An interesting idea, but the SFF aspects not very explored. (2)


Apparently this is a good year for "I have a nice story to tell, lets spray some SFF paint on it". I'm not sure if I like this trend or not, I do like the stories though.

Comments

[tigerfort]

I've decided to try and enforce being much more forgiving with myself about giving up on things - even short things - when I'm neither enjoying them or feeling that I'm learning something. I've wasted too many hours struggling through the last 450 pages of a 500 page novel that I hated from page one. My new rule is that if I'm not enjoying it* after 40 mins or 1/4 of the total (whichever is shorter), I'm allowedobliged to stop and do something else. I still feel bad about not finishing things, but I think it's improving. And I've already abandoned more books this year than in the previous five put together.

* or feeling I benefit in some other way