Hugo Awards 2010 - short stories: Nominees & my rankings

Official announcement at AussieCon4. Covers fiction originally published anywhere in English during 2009.

Nothing particularly noteworthy in this list, though first 3 are ok reads. I don't really have a preference between Resnick's & McIntosh's - first rewrites a classic, later is original.

Schoen's story defies logic. There is no reason I should have liked it - it's utter nonsense. And yet, somehow, very readable!

Nominees (5 stories, best first)

If I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there. For read stories, my rating is in brackets. Links on author, editor, or publisher fetch more fiction from source. Download links are included where I'm aware of an online copy.

1. Mike Resnick's "The Bride of Frankenstein" (B); download; Asimov's, December 2009; fanfic: A funny & more-positive-than-original retelling of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".
2. Will McIntosh's "Bridesicle" (B); download text/audio; Asimov's, January 2009; zombie: A woman is given a choice - die, or entice a rich man enough to make him agree to marry you! How do you expect her to behave?
3. Lawrence M Schoen's "The Moment" (B); download; Jay Lake & Eric T Reynolds (eds)' "Footprints" (anthology?), Hadley Rille Books: Very readable nonsense!
   
   Over eons, long after humanity is gone, all sorts of alien beings have been paying homage to a location on moon that has a human footprint on the surface. Each is trying to discover the significance of the place or imprint! Until we're eventually enlightened by "the tutor" of "proto-godlings": "When one takes a step, it is possible to step back. In fact, it is a common occurrence. That's not what happened here." "This is where they jumped off."
4. N K Jemisin's "Non-Zero Probabilities" (C); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, September 2009; non-genre: A girl in New York city is worried over improbable accidents that happen in the city with regularity, like a train coach derailing or she being hit by debris accidentally sent flying in a park, ...
5. Kij Johnson's "Spar" (C); download text/audio; Clarkesworld, October 2009: A woman is stuck with an alien aboard an alien lifeboat - after their ships collided head on, an event that killed her male partner! Now she's constantly having sex with the alien, & nightmares.

Related.

1. Other fiction categories in this year's Hugo awards: [novelettes], [novellas], novels.
2. Last year's Hugo awards: short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels.
   
3. Competing awards that recognize "best" fiction originally published in 2009: Nebula (US) - short stories, novelettes, novellas; Aurialis (Australian authors); BSFA (fiction published in UK); Prix/Aurora (Canada); Million Writers (global, online short fiction).
   
   Note the scope of Nebulas is 1.5 years - later half of 2008 & all of 2009. All other awards only care about 2009.
4. Anthologies that collect "best fiction originally published during 2009": Dozois', Hartwell/Cramer's, Horton's, Strahan's.
5. My "best fiction originally published during 2009, 2010" lists (also link others' best of relevant year lists at bottom).
6. "Best of" lists.
7. Fiction originally published in 2009, during 2000-2009.
   

Note: I normally update list posts like this when I read a story, find new links, etc. This post was last updated 24 April 2010.