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Lightspeed.
Lightspeed has a 2014 Original Fiction tag that I used for most of my reading - I'm sure I missed a lot of terrific reprints that way, but I am mostly trying to focus on the what-the-heck-am-I-nominating game.
I would like to recommend two reprints I did read, Apotheosis, Rosamund Hodge, 2011. I really loved this. And Deep End, Nisi Shawl, from 2004. I'm a sucker for personality uploads and downloads and how that intersects with power structures.
Otherwise:
Salamander Patterns, Anaea Lay. I am predictable and kind of generic in certain tropes I like - non-neurotypical narrators and hosting or mind-melding with aliens being two of them, featured in this story.
The Thing About Shapes to Come, Adam-Troy Castro. I will also always fall for "alien or mutant babies" stories.
Coma Kings, Jessica Barber. Powerful videogaming story (I know, that never happens).
How to Get Back to the Forest, Sofia Samatar. I expect this to get some year-end attention. (I haven't started reading other people's rec lists yet.) And I will probably nominate it - there is a certain temptation to nominate stories that seem likely to have momentum, to try to get them over the threshold to possibly actually make the nominees list. Which I suppose is why the Oscars are so terrible, but I'm not saying I would nominate anything I didn't think was good just because it was popular. Only that solidarity wins elections.
Codename: Delphi, Linda Nagata. I didn't love this story, but it didn't have the twist I thought it was going for, for which I applaud Nagata and Lightspeed. I really liked the illustration by artist Galen Dara, one of my likely pro artist nominees this year.
A Word Shaped Like Bones, Kris Millering. Very disturbing in a "Cold Equations"/"Spar" sort of way.
#TrainFightTuesday. Cute short "tweeting about superheroes" story.
The New Provisions, Adam-Troy Castro. This is bleak and over the top and I can't decide whether it's sympathetic to people who feel like they're being victimized by modern corporation capitalism or whether it's a rebuke to those people for comparing their modern injustices to the heavier evils of the past.
Undermarket Data, An Owomoyela. I liked that I got a vivid picture of this world (and I'm interested in scifi that deals with class right now).
The Djinn Who Sought To Kill The Sun, Tahmeed Shafiq. Classic-feeling fantasy novelette with some great description.
No Lonely Seafarer, Sarah Pinsker. I really enjoyed this story of intersex kid vs sirens. Almost certainly the story on this list that made me smile the biggest and so I might nominate it for that alone.
Drones Don't Kill People, Annalee Newitz. Very topical, about drones developing sentience and ethics.
Wake-Rider, Vandana Singh. Some interesting touches in this story of rebel vs megacorp.
Lightspeed has a 2014 Original Fiction tag that I used for most of my reading - I'm sure I missed a lot of terrific reprints that way, but I am mostly trying to focus on the what-the-heck-am-I-nominating game.
I would like to recommend two reprints I did read, Apotheosis, Rosamund Hodge, 2011. I really loved this. And Deep End, Nisi Shawl, from 2004. I'm a sucker for personality uploads and downloads and how that intersects with power structures.
Otherwise:
Salamander Patterns, Anaea Lay. I am predictable and kind of generic in certain tropes I like - non-neurotypical narrators and hosting or mind-melding with aliens being two of them, featured in this story.
The Thing About Shapes to Come, Adam-Troy Castro. I will also always fall for "alien or mutant babies" stories.
Coma Kings, Jessica Barber. Powerful videogaming story (I know, that never happens).
How to Get Back to the Forest, Sofia Samatar. I expect this to get some year-end attention. (I haven't started reading other people's rec lists yet.) And I will probably nominate it - there is a certain temptation to nominate stories that seem likely to have momentum, to try to get them over the threshold to possibly actually make the nominees list. Which I suppose is why the Oscars are so terrible, but I'm not saying I would nominate anything I didn't think was good just because it was popular. Only that solidarity wins elections.
Codename: Delphi, Linda Nagata. I didn't love this story, but it didn't have the twist I thought it was going for, for which I applaud Nagata and Lightspeed. I really liked the illustration by artist Galen Dara, one of my likely pro artist nominees this year.
A Word Shaped Like Bones, Kris Millering. Very disturbing in a "Cold Equations"/"Spar" sort of way.
#TrainFightTuesday. Cute short "tweeting about superheroes" story.
The New Provisions, Adam-Troy Castro. This is bleak and over the top and I can't decide whether it's sympathetic to people who feel like they're being victimized by modern corporation capitalism or whether it's a rebuke to those people for comparing their modern injustices to the heavier evils of the past.
Undermarket Data, An Owomoyela. I liked that I got a vivid picture of this world (and I'm interested in scifi that deals with class right now).
The Djinn Who Sought To Kill The Sun, Tahmeed Shafiq. Classic-feeling fantasy novelette with some great description.
No Lonely Seafarer, Sarah Pinsker. I really enjoyed this story of intersex kid vs sirens. Almost certainly the story on this list that made me smile the biggest and so I might nominate it for that alone.
Drones Don't Kill People, Annalee Newitz. Very topical, about drones developing sentience and ethics.
Wake-Rider, Vandana Singh. Some interesting touches in this story of rebel vs megacorp.
