2021 SFF - Novelettes
Mar. 1st, 2022 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraI am still reading (I have half of Lightspeed left, plus a bunch of stuff in tabs) but I will probably be reading up until the last minute, so I wanted to go ahead and put some likely nomination picks out there now. (And will edit this post later to add things.)
Novelettes!
My favorite so far:
Preserved in Amber, Samantha Murray, Clarkesworld. Alien contact, and aphantasia, and life and death and having children. Really really good. Powerful and perfectly constructed.
Pretty sure I'm also nominating:
Quintessence, Andrew Dykstal, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. This is a good old-fashioned Problem Story - miners, in a harsh environment, facing A Problem. Really well-done, tense and non-obvious the whole way.
Sarcophagus, Ray Nayler, Clarkesworld. An explorer on a distant planet, an encounter. Tense and vivid.
I will probably fill remaining slots with however many of these:
The Badger's Digestion; or The First First-Hand Description of Deneskan Beastcraft by an Aouwan Researcher, Malka Older. A scholar studying an interesting practice. This is lovely and charming, with a Le Guin feel.
The Language Birds Speak, Rebecca Campbell, Clarkesworld. A mom and her language-delayed child and a promising study.
You Are Born Exploding, Rich Larson, Clarkesworld. A mom and a child and a virus. Heartbreaking.
(emet), Lauren Ring. F&SF. A programmer working on facial recognition experiments with golems.
L'Espirit de L'Escalier, Catherynne M Valente, Tor.com. Orpheus and Eurydice; Orpheus succeeds. (This one smells like ballot, to me - I strongly suspect we'll see this up for at least one of a Hugo or a Nebula.)
Behind the cut, all the other 2021 novelettes I read and recommended:
The Demon Sage's Daughter, Varsha Dinesh, Strange Horizons. Based on a story from Hindu mythology.
The God Skrae Eats Death, Stephen Case, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Mostly reccing this for the final zombie, tbh.
Letters from a Travelling Man, W.J. Tattersdill, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A quiet story about islands and ferries. Made me wish I'd had time to go further into the Orkneys than I did.
55 Plaque, Isabel Lee, Clarkesworld. Alien contact, cults, difficult family relationships.
Vanishing Point, Robert V.S. Redick, Clarkesworld. Displacement and dissent and defection and return. Arty and moving.
Bots of the Lost Ark, Suzanne Palmer, Clarkesworld. Secret Life of Bots sequel!! Yay! I think it's better if you remember the details of that one, which you can read/reread here.
Colors of the Immortal Palette, Caroline M. Yoachim, Uncanny. Immortal artists doing art.
Mulberry and Owl, Aliette de Bodard, Uncanny. Justice and grappling with the past.
The Equations of the Dead, An Owomoyela, Lightpeed. AI and organized crime on the moon. A lot of fun with created slang.
Novelettes!
My favorite so far:
Preserved in Amber, Samantha Murray, Clarkesworld. Alien contact, and aphantasia, and life and death and having children. Really really good. Powerful and perfectly constructed.
Pretty sure I'm also nominating:
Quintessence, Andrew Dykstal, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. This is a good old-fashioned Problem Story - miners, in a harsh environment, facing A Problem. Really well-done, tense and non-obvious the whole way.
Sarcophagus, Ray Nayler, Clarkesworld. An explorer on a distant planet, an encounter. Tense and vivid.
I will probably fill remaining slots with however many of these:
The Badger's Digestion; or The First First-Hand Description of Deneskan Beastcraft by an Aouwan Researcher, Malka Older. A scholar studying an interesting practice. This is lovely and charming, with a Le Guin feel.
The Language Birds Speak, Rebecca Campbell, Clarkesworld. A mom and her language-delayed child and a promising study.
You Are Born Exploding, Rich Larson, Clarkesworld. A mom and a child and a virus. Heartbreaking.
(emet), Lauren Ring. F&SF. A programmer working on facial recognition experiments with golems.
L'Espirit de L'Escalier, Catherynne M Valente, Tor.com. Orpheus and Eurydice; Orpheus succeeds. (This one smells like ballot, to me - I strongly suspect we'll see this up for at least one of a Hugo or a Nebula.)
Behind the cut, all the other 2021 novelettes I read and recommended:
The Demon Sage's Daughter, Varsha Dinesh, Strange Horizons. Based on a story from Hindu mythology.
The God Skrae Eats Death, Stephen Case, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Mostly reccing this for the final zombie, tbh.
Letters from a Travelling Man, W.J. Tattersdill, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A quiet story about islands and ferries. Made me wish I'd had time to go further into the Orkneys than I did.
55 Plaque, Isabel Lee, Clarkesworld. Alien contact, cults, difficult family relationships.
Vanishing Point, Robert V.S. Redick, Clarkesworld. Displacement and dissent and defection and return. Arty and moving.
Bots of the Lost Ark, Suzanne Palmer, Clarkesworld. Secret Life of Bots sequel!! Yay! I think it's better if you remember the details of that one, which you can read/reread here.
Colors of the Immortal Palette, Caroline M. Yoachim, Uncanny. Immortal artists doing art.
Mulberry and Owl, Aliette de Bodard, Uncanny. Justice and grappling with the past.
The Equations of the Dead, An Owomoyela, Lightpeed. AI and organized crime on the moon. A lot of fun with created slang.
