markbernstein (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} markbernstein) wrote,@ 2009-05-31 20:05:00 |
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Hugo Sundays: Novellas
Sixth in my series of postings on how I'm voting for the Hugos. This is probably the toughest category, and I may change my mind and rearrange the list before I vote.
Once again, I'll count down my votes:
5. “The Political Prisoner” by Charles Coleman Finlay. A good story, but one that didn't really need to be science fiction. There's some interesting stuff on terraforming, but it's peripheral to a "life in a prison camp" plot. This one will stay in last place.
4. “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow. The work Rosenbaum and Doctorow have done in creating a galaxy populated by far-future AIs is fascinating. The plot and characters, less so. It's extremely clever, and engaging for that, but I didn't connect as strongly as I did with other stories.
3. “The Tear” by Ian McDonald. I wish this had been a novel. There are so many ideas, so many characters and races and situations, that I wanted there to be a few slower passages, a few places where there was more development of the characters (and yes, that includes development of the individual personalities within the protagonist), and more fleshing-out of the political dynamics. What's there is great, though.
2. “Truth” by Robert Reed. Halfway through, I thought I knew where the story was going. It turned out I was only half right, and the protagonist was smarter than I gave her credit for. So, points for that. A very nicely developed idea, though perhaps just a little too on the nose in what it has to say about how terrorism succeeds.
1. “The Erdmann Nexus” by Nancy Kress. A story that works perfectly at the novella length. The ideas are far less complex than those in "True Names" or "The Tear", but it won me over with characterization. I cared about these people more than I did those in any of the other stories. That counts for a lot with me.
Hmm. I just realized that my top choices in each of the three short fiction categories was published in Asimov's. Interesting.
The seventh and final installment, Novels, may not be ready by next week. I've read four out of the five nominees, but I just started Anathem, and I may not have the spare time to finish a thousand-pager in one week.
Sixth in my series of postings on how I'm voting for the Hugos. This is probably the toughest category, and I may change my mind and rearrange the list before I vote.
Once again, I'll count down my votes:
5. “The Political Prisoner” by Charles Coleman Finlay. A good story, but one that didn't really need to be science fiction. There's some interesting stuff on terraforming, but it's peripheral to a "life in a prison camp" plot. This one will stay in last place.
4. “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow. The work Rosenbaum and Doctorow have done in creating a galaxy populated by far-future AIs is fascinating. The plot and characters, less so. It's extremely clever, and engaging for that, but I didn't connect as strongly as I did with other stories.
3. “The Tear” by Ian McDonald. I wish this had been a novel. There are so many ideas, so many characters and races and situations, that I wanted there to be a few slower passages, a few places where there was more development of the characters (and yes, that includes development of the individual personalities within the protagonist), and more fleshing-out of the political dynamics. What's there is great, though.
2. “Truth” by Robert Reed. Halfway through, I thought I knew where the story was going. It turned out I was only half right, and the protagonist was smarter than I gave her credit for. So, points for that. A very nicely developed idea, though perhaps just a little too on the nose in what it has to say about how terrorism succeeds.
1. “The Erdmann Nexus” by Nancy Kress. A story that works perfectly at the novella length. The ideas are far less complex than those in "True Names" or "The Tear", but it won me over with characterization. I cared about these people more than I did those in any of the other stories. That counts for a lot with me.
Hmm. I just realized that my top choices in each of the three short fiction categories was published in Asimov's. Interesting.
The seventh and final installment, Novels, may not be ready by next week. I've read four out of the five nominees, but I just started Anathem, and I may not have the spare time to finish a thousand-pager in one week.
