It’s almost that time again: time to nominate stuff for the Hugos. I usually miss a lot of stuff throughout the year, so I like to reach out to readers to see what they’d recommend so I can create a reading list for myself. Last time, you folks recommended so much that I ended up with a 1,200-page ebook! I want to give myself a little more time for the next nominating season.
So…which short stories, novelettes, and novellas should I be reading? Let me know in the comments below!
I highly recommend 'The End of the World in Five Dates' by (full disclosure) my friend Claire Humphrey, published at Apex: http://www.apex-magazine.com/the-end-of-the-world-in-five-dates/
I have LOTS OF FEELS about the novelette category already (I'll be getting back to ya on the others, but I'm still working through a lot of shorts and a few novellas). There are two for which no force of gods or nature can come between me and my Hugo ballot:
Veronica Schanoes' "Among the Thorns" (Tor.com) is a retelling of an anti-Semitic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm from the perspective of the Jewish "villain's" daughter. It's a revenge tale wrapped in a coming-of-age story and the fantasy elements are derived from Jewish mysticism.
Alex Dally MacFarlane's "Written on the Hides of Foxes" (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) is a story about reclaiming women's stories and the tools to tell them. It's probably the most straightforward of MacFarlane's I've ever read; she's been really on this year and may claim several spots on my ballot.
Coming in a very close third — I can't really see not nominating this one, though it's theoretically possible — is Yoon Ha Lee's "The Bonedrake's Penance" (Beneath Ceaseless Skies), mythic fiction in a far future. Lovely space fantasy and so imaginative.
All three of these stories drove me to actual tears. (Shut up. :P)
Rocket Stack Rank is a free site that ranks short science fiction based on the opinions of different reviewers. It also has links to the stories and information on buying magazine back issues.
http://www.rocketstackrank.com/p/2016-hugo.html