Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

the GR now limits possibility to add short stories to your reading (arrrrg!) but here will be some eligible works. If anyone read anything from 2018, please discuss

Here is a list of eligible from Analog:

Hobson’s Choice—Mary A. Turzillo
Ten and Ten—Alan Dean Foster
One to Watch—Andrew Barton
Home on the Free Range—Holly Schofield
When the Aliens Stop to Bottle—Ian Watson
Two Point Three Children—Marissa Lingen
Air Gap—Eric Cline
The Dissonant Note—Jeremiah Tolbert
Margin of Error—Paul Carlson
The Streaming Man—Suzanne Palmer
Razzibot—Rich Larson
The Selves We Leave Behind—Gwendolyn Clare
Beek—Tom Ligon
An Incident on Ishtar—Brian Trent
Sicko—Jerry Oltion
Car Talk—Mary A. Turzillo
Frog Happy—Bruce McAllister
Sun Splashed Fields and Far Blue Mountains—Susan Forest
Physics Tomorrow—Gregory Benford
Big Thompson—James Van Pelt
The Camel’s Tail—Tom Jolly
The Being—Bill Pronzini
Finding Their Footing—Marissa Lingen
Being Neighborly—Kate MacLeod
Two Point Oh—Robert Reed
The Willing Body, the Reluctant Heart—Marie Vibbert
While You Sleep, Computer Mice Earn Their Keep—Buzz Dixon
My Base Pair—Sam J. Miller
Prime Development Opportunity: Dirt—Mary Soon Lee
A Barrow For the Living—Alison Wilgus
Shooting Grouse—Ian Creasey
Mission Accomplished—Stephen L. Burns
Vigilance—William Ledbetter
Another View of the Matter Addressed in Shelley’s, Ozymandias—Tim McDaniel
Generations Lost and Found—Evan Dicken
A Simple Question—Kris Dikeman
The People V. Craig Morrison—Alex Shvartsman and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
Eulogy for an Immortal—James Robert Herndon
Welcome to the Arboretum, Little Robot—Mary E. Lowd
Here’s Looking At You, Cud—M. Bennardo
Render Unto Caesar—Eduardo Vaquerizo and translated by Rich Larson
Extracts from the Captain’s Notes—Mary Soon Lee
Priorities—Jacob A. Boyd
Preface to the Handbook of Social Treatments for Conceptual Allergies—Daniel James Peterson
Optimizing the Verified Good—Effie Seiberg
A Surprise Beginning—Gregory Benford
When the Rain Comes—Ron Collins
The Unnecessary Parts of the Story—Adam-Troy Castro
Shepherd Moon—Premee Mohamed
It Came from the Coffee Maker—Martin L. Shoemaker
Nevertheless—Elizabeth Rubio
Off-Road—Harry Lang
Black Shores—Darren Speegle
Impetus—Shane Landry
The Plaything on the Tesseract Wall—Larry Hodges
The Gleaners—Sarina Dorie
Smear Job—Rich Larson
A Measure of Love—C. Stuart Hardwick
Learning the Ropes—Tom Jolly
The Light Fantastic—J.T. Sharrah
The Jagged Bones of Sea-Saw Town—Marissa Lingen
Sandy—Bruce McAllister
Dad’s War—Filip Wiltgren
The 7 Most Massive Historical Mistakes in The Gunmaster of the Carlords—Eric James Stone
The Ascension—Jerry Oltion
Left Turn—Jay Parks
Body Drift—Cynthia Ward

Another list from a great source (follow the link for there you'll find an interactive table with links to stories)
http://www.rocketstackrank.com/p/2018...

Top-30 in alphabetical order
A Cigarette Burn In Your Memory by Bo Balder 
A List of Forty-Nine Lies by Steven Fischer2 
A Measure of Love by C. Stuart Hardwick 
A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds by James Beamon 
A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow
Asphalt, River, Mother, Child by Isabel Yap 
Blessings by Naomi Novik 
Carouseling by Rich Larson 
Conspicuous Plumage by Sam J. Miller 
Cosmic Spring by Ken Liu 
Down Where Sound Comes Blunt by G.V. Anderson 
Field Biology of the Wee Fairies by Naomi Kritzer 
Holdfast by Alastair Reynolds 
In Event of Moon Disaster by Rich Larson 
Love Songs for the Very Awful by Robert Reed 
Meat And Salt And Sparks by Rich Larson 
Mother Tongues by S. Qiouyi Lu 
Obliteration by Robert Reed 
Octo-Heist in Progress by Rich Larson 
Penitents by Rich Larson 
Sour Milk Girls by Erin Roberts 
Strange Waters by Samantha Mills1 
Suicide Watch by Susan Emshwiller2 
Superbright by Ryan Row
Talk to Your Children about Two-Tongued Jeremy by Theodore McCombs2 
The Hydraulic Emperor by Arkady Martine 
The Independence Patch by Bryan Camp1 
The Starship and the Temple Cat by Yoon Ha Lee 
The Streaming Man by Suzanne Palmer 
You Pretend Like You Never Met Me, and I'll Pretend Like I Never Met You by Maria Dahvana Headley 


Is there anyone interested enough to sift through them to find the best 5 to nominate?

I will be glad to read some of the short fic you posted, I will post what stories I am planning to read.

Read three stories from various sources, the only one worth mentioning is "In the Ground, Before the Freeze". It was a weird mix of Earthsea meeting Pet Sematary, An enjoyable read, but I'd rate it three stars.

I just finished A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds by James Beamon and it i fine but not great. It is a story told by Ottoman urchin stationed in the airship during the Crimean war (thus in alt-history steampunk 1850s). Their main weapon is a horde of Capuchin monkeys, trained to follow orders from an organ.

Cold Blue Sky wasn't too bad, a story about pro-android revolutionaries, told from android's perspective. Would give it four stars even though we've all read a story like this before. Still, the execution was great.

I recently finished Field Biology of the Wee Fairies by Naomi Kritzer (the author of “Cat Pictures Please”) and it is a nomination worthy humorous story, weaker than 'cat...' but good, 4 stars.

https://www.apex-magazine.com/field-b...

Hey, Z, remember these stories I found through a TOR books article recommending them? I sent you an email about them last fall, and I think they qualify. Stet and Orange World I really liked a lot, Stet because it reminded me of what used to sometimes happen where I used to work and because it is so unique (I expect a Nebula nomination), and Orange World just because.

Here they are with pub dates included. The only one I am not sure qualifies is Orange World because publication was June, 2018.

Orange World Karen Russell, (appeared in the print edition of the New Yorker June 4 & 11, 2018) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
(semi-heart warming, very well-written, and probably none of us will ever get to read this as a Hugo/Neb choice because it was in the New Yorker!)

Dead Air by NINO CIPR
PUBLISHED IN AUG. 2018 (ISSUE 71) | 10284 WORDS http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
(unique, tho' I'm still confused)

STET by Sarah Gailey October 2018 https://firesidefiction.com/stet#eleven
(very cool concept and reminds me of writing stuff in the past at an old job . . . I expect a Nebula nomination if any of the voting authors see it)

and

The Pamphlet by T Kira Madden https://medium.com/s/nightmare-fuel/t...
(very cool concepts and engaging, though I thought the ending was weird)

Now I am going to go finish Dune and then read
Fredric Brown stories

Kateblue wrote: "probably none of us will ever get to read this as a Hugo/Neb choice because it was in the New Yorker, for god's sake!"

Thanks for the links, Kate! I'll investigate them. As for the quoted piece, When I made lists of H/N with publishers I was surprised with the number of fiction from playboy!

Read a short named Suzie Q and it went right over my head. Hardly anything relating to aci-fi or fantasy.

Art wrote: "Read a short named Suzie Q and it went right over my head. Hardly anything relating to aci-fi or fantasy."

It is 'genred' as a Christian Fantasy

I've just read Meat and Salt and Sparks by Rich Larson.

I think it is a pretty good story. It has some sci fi elements, but those are more of a backdrop for a story centered around its main character.

The main character in this case is an enhanced chimpanzee. But it doesn't change the fact that this story takes an interesting look at human behavior.

Worthy of a nomination, in my opinion.

Dennis wrote: "I've just read Meat and Salt and Sparks by Rich Larson."

Among the shorts I've read so far it is one of my favorites. Other interesting shorts are:
“Field Biology of the Wee Fairies“, Naomi Kritzer
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18) - Nebula nominee, reminded me of Gaiman's feral librarians short
Octo-Heist in Progress by Rich Larson - worse than 'Meat and...' but interesting - less endearing characters
In Event of Moon Disaster by Rich Larson - SF Horror - interested by the fact it is unusual

I hate that Goodreads doesn't allow entries for some of those stories. But I'll still be giving them a try.

Read "A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies" earlier today and must say I enjoyed it, probably even to nominate it, though I must read other stories you've nominated first. Once again there were loads of pop references that take away from the immersion. Still, either a strong 3.5 or a weak 4 star story.

"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" had a few things going for it, but not enough for me to justify the nomination. It probably only got the nomination because of the atmosphere regarding social issues in the US. Incidentally, the story of the teeth is true, Washington's ledger states that he bought teeth from "9 negroes" and presumably given it to his dentist to make the famous denture set from them.

Art wrote: "Read "A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies" earlier today and must say I enjoyed it, probably even to nominate it, though I must read other stories you've nominated..."

I agree, it is interesting. So far this year there were no stories that really captured me. Most are just fun/interesting to read but not wow :)

Here is my take on Nebula nominees, several of which quite likely will be nominated for Hugo. A small preface: I don't know what happened with Nebula this year, but their lists for shorter fiction are strange - quite a few stories from anthologies, while previously all or almost all where from online sources. I'm yet to gwet hold on all nominees.

“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18) based on a true fact that the first president purchased teeth from slaves for his dentures. This is a parallel universe, where magic is working and fantastic creatures live. Each tooth has its own story. I understand social value of the story, but as a literary work it left me cold. 2 stars

“Going Dark”, Richard Fox (Backblast Area Clear) one of strange entries, from mil SF anthology. Actually quite interesting. The is a war with bad aliens and Earth uses cyborgs, who are not very bright (I'd guess 3-year olds), but adoring their human commander. They start to break down and we have to find out why. I plan to try a novel by the author. 3.5 stars

“And Yet”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 3-4/18) a scientist returns to haunted house that contains pocket universes / allows seeing multiple forked futures. A little on the horror side. Interesting. 3.5 stars

“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18) a nice story about librarians, who are actually witches. A nice light yarn. 4 stars

“The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 1/18) a young boy is trained as a mage. He can make troubles disappear for his master, but each time it costs him something he loves. It touched some of my earliest memories, when (aged 3 or so), my father made his thumb disappear, which led me to hysterics - I actually thought that to please me (at this age the whole world exists to please you), he disabled himself. 4 stars but maybe I'm biased

Agree with what your reviews with the exception of Court Magician. I am not a fan of fiction, whatever its length, which have one gimmick that make it stand out and then just build a 2-star story around it. I liked the idea of magic costing something to the user, but that is all there was to the story.
As for the witches, I'd go as far as giving it four stars, even though the style it is written in is very simple.

I had to read Court Magician since it divided your opinions. I can see it both ways, but I think I'm more inclined to agree with Art.

In the end this was a gimmick story, and not even completely original. The Books of Magic, Volume 2: Summonings comic had a plotline where demons taught magic for the price of one good memory per spell. Bit by bit the magician turns into ruthless, callous and deeply unhappy person, since he had no good memories left. But I digress

I also feel like in recent years I've read several of these kinds of shorts: a person comes or is summoned to a court, palace, fairyland or whatever and has to do something unpleasant there, with a distressing/depressing atmosphere in the story. A Guide for Young Ladies Entering the Service of Fairies by Rosamund Hodge, for example.

But the story was well executed, so I guess... three stars?

Antti wrote: ".
But the story was well executed, so I guess... three stars?"

Three stars for me, no doubt. Just not more than 3.3

Antti wrote: "I had to read Court Magician since it divided your opinions."

As I said, it just resonated with some personal memories. I agree that it is not a very original one.

Yesterday I got a hold on the last of Nebula ss nominees - “Interview for the End of the World”, Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the Stars)

it is a 2 star story for me. Near future, giant asteroid is about to destroy Earth, and the protagonist (old Elon Musk with different name), prepares a ship to go to Titan, Saturn's moon. He has only 3000 places on the ship and conducts interviews with potential colonists. No kids allowed, only persons with no significant other and very talented. The plot resolution is similar to the recently discussed The Cold Equations but much weaker in execution. Also hard to believe that they start with one giant ship on Earth instead of making it on the orbit and add people by smaller rockets

all in all this year Nebula ss selection is weak

I've not read many of the Nebula nominees at this point.
Only The Calculating Stars, Artificial Condition and A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies.

While I liked all three, I couldn't, in good conscience, vote for any of them without having read the others. They just weren't strong enough in my opinion.

I might read Going Dark next, since that one isn't available online but can be read with a KU subscription. And mine is running out shortly.

Dennis wrote: "I've not read many of the Nebula nominees at this point."

I meant short stories, not all entries. Ones you've mentioned are all quite solid.

I liked several short stories and novelettes by Rich Larson last year. While they may be better, they are quite interesting to find more by him

Makes sense, since this is the short stories thread after all. Lol. Sorry, somehow missed that part of your comment.

Oleksandr wrote: "Here is my take on Nebula nominees, several of which quite likely will be nominated for Hugo. A small preface: I don't know what happened with Nebula this year, but their lists for shorter fiction ..."

Now that I've read all the short stories I have to say our ratings are not that close to each other as they were last year.

We still agree on most stories. But I think Going Dark by Richard Fox is the weakest of the nominees. And Phenderson Djèlí Clarks's The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington is clearly my favorite story this year. In fact, I think it is the only one that really reads like an award-worthy story.

Overall I'm not that impressed with the nominees, even though I did enjoy reading most of them. But ultimately I think that Clark's story is the only one that is really special.

Hi Dennis, it's been a while.

It is now hard to say what it was that turned me off the Teeth story, I guess it was mostly all the little things put together and not enough substance past predictable plot lines of all the vignettes. I also believe the "magic" and fantasy twist was weakly executed. Still I liked it compared to some other works of the year.

What did you think of And Yet? Besides the librarian story, which I liked "just because", I thought it showed the most promise.

Yeah, I was leaving it late this year. Usually I start with the short stories and then go from there. But they didn't sound all that appealing to me.

It's funny that you ask me about And Yet, of all stories.
I finished the last story yesterday and then was going over my reviews again and trying to figure out which one is most likely to win, personal preferences aside. And And Yet is the one that's giving me the most trouble there.

I think Going Dark and Interview for the End of the World are too conventional to win, even though I enjoyed reading the latter.

I can see why A Witch’s Guide To Escape: A Practical Compendium Of Portal Fantasies or The Court Magician might win, with the former being basically a love letter to books and escapism in general and the latter being all about its message(s).

I think The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington is the most imaginative one. Taking a real life notary out of an account book of George Washington's cousin and the Founding Father's last will and then spinning a tale of how, between the two, he might have come to the conclusion to free the slaves. I also thought that it's a very humane story in the face of oppression and that it blends fantastical elements with historically accurate snippets seamlessly. Though we obviously disagree on that. :)

And Yet did in fact get the second highest rating from me. I enjoyed the story a lot and thought that it is well constructed and pretty absorbing. But I'm having a hard time pinpointing a "special quality" about it. And then I was thinking, is a special quality necessary at all? Or more precisely, is entertaining the reader an underrated quality when it comes to awards? Or maybe I just missed the point.

Anyways, if it goes like last year, then Going Dark is about to win. Lol.