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psocopteraSo many short stories! I recced a lot of things that I thought were good and worth reading and now I'm like "but what's actually memorable, what's important, what do I think has actual ballot traction because I do like to get something I liked on there if I possibly can, ack."
My five:
Octo-Heist in Progress, Rich Larson, Clarkesworld. Pico wins character of the year, for me.
The House on the Moon, William Alexander, Uncanny. There's a lot going on here and I'm honestly not sure I think it all holds together. But I thought about this one after reading it much more than I did almost any other story, and it's earning itself a nom for that.
When the Letter Comes, Sara Fox, Book Smugglers. I often end up with a soft spot for things I read when they were published because people were talking about them, instead of just in my big march through the magazines. Not everything I read that way - some of those I don't even end up reccing - but, I don't know, I think there's sort of a warm communal halo sometimes of knowing that a story meant something to other people.
A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies, Alix E. Harrow, Apex. This is another one with that warm communal halo, and I think some actual ballot potential. I don't know, do I want to spend two slots on feelgood fantasy stories? Maybe I do, I mean, god knows 2018 served up plenty of real-world things to *not* feel good about, why not indulge in not feeling shitty about absolutely everything. Actually, you know what, I'm going to ditch "Jump" down to the also-rans and nominate Zen Cho's imugi story, too, why not, let's just roll around in warm fuzzy feelings and fuck all the sadness and the realism and the struggle with what's coming and the bleak reflection of what already is happening. Fuck you, 2018! I mean, let's also see how I feel about this in a few days, but, rraaaagh!
If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again, Zen Cho, the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog.
Runners-up:
Jump, Cadwell Turnbull, Lightspeed. One of my favorite things to write fanfiction-wise is "a strange magically-real problem is happening, how does the ensemble react", and this has the same sort of character-driven simplicity.
The Minnesota Diet, Charlie Jane Anders, Slate/Future Tense Fiction. There's something so chilling about this. Like the gaslighting of a whole city. Of all the stories that are grappling with refugees and atrocities and genocides, I think this one really gets to me for how quiet it is.
My five:
Octo-Heist in Progress, Rich Larson, Clarkesworld. Pico wins character of the year, for me.
The House on the Moon, William Alexander, Uncanny. There's a lot going on here and I'm honestly not sure I think it all holds together. But I thought about this one after reading it much more than I did almost any other story, and it's earning itself a nom for that.
When the Letter Comes, Sara Fox, Book Smugglers. I often end up with a soft spot for things I read when they were published because people were talking about them, instead of just in my big march through the magazines. Not everything I read that way - some of those I don't even end up reccing - but, I don't know, I think there's sort of a warm communal halo sometimes of knowing that a story meant something to other people.
A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies, Alix E. Harrow, Apex. This is another one with that warm communal halo, and I think some actual ballot potential. I don't know, do I want to spend two slots on feelgood fantasy stories? Maybe I do, I mean, god knows 2018 served up plenty of real-world things to *not* feel good about, why not indulge in not feeling shitty about absolutely everything. Actually, you know what, I'm going to ditch "Jump" down to the also-rans and nominate Zen Cho's imugi story, too, why not, let's just roll around in warm fuzzy feelings and fuck all the sadness and the realism and the struggle with what's coming and the bleak reflection of what already is happening. Fuck you, 2018! I mean, let's also see how I feel about this in a few days, but, rraaaagh!
If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again, Zen Cho, the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog.
Runners-up:
Jump, Cadwell Turnbull, Lightspeed. One of my favorite things to write fanfiction-wise is "a strange magically-real problem is happening, how does the ensemble react", and this has the same sort of character-driven simplicity.
The Minnesota Diet, Charlie Jane Anders, Slate/Future Tense Fiction. There's something so chilling about this. Like the gaslighting of a whole city. Of all the stories that are grappling with refugees and atrocities and genocides, I think this one really gets to me for how quiet it is.
