* William Shunn's "Not of this Fold" (novelette, science fiction)

A priest on duty aboard a big space habitat to convert locals to his faith becomes a hero when he becomes the main human contact with aliens due to a misunderstanding.

Fact sheet.

First published: An Alternate History of the 21st Century, Spilt Milk Press, September 2007.
Rating: B
Download full text.
Was in preliminary rounds of Nebula Awards 2007 in novelette category.

Note: Why is this post so short?

Nebula Awards 2007 - novelette nominees & winners: Brief summaries & my rankings

List below is based on the results of preliminary ballot, final ballot, & the official winners announcement. Some remarks on peculiar Nebula conventions are in the opening paras of my post of Nebula 2007 short stories.

My rating in brackets (ABC: A = worth your time; C = don't bother). Where I have posted a separate review of the entry, link on story title takes you there.

Story list (14 stories, best first).

An observation: novelette nominees this year seem to be a lot less gamed than short story nominees. Several good stories here, unlike the short story list. While first 3 entries stand in a class of their own, I found each of the first 6 interesting.

I wonder if Resnick's entry is removed from final ballot on technical grounds? There was some talk that stories published in 2008 are not eligible.

1. [winner, final, prelim] Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (A); download as text, as MP3; as a short book by Subterranean Press, July 2007; fantasy: Four time travel folktales - told in the style of (I think) Arabian Nights. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
2. [final, prelim] Kij Johnson's "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change" (A); download; Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Ed)'s "Coyote Road, Trickster Tales", July 2007: What if animals could speak? Very moving accounts of man/dog relations - told from the perspective of dogs. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
3. [prelim] Mike Resnick's "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" (A); download; Asimov's, January 2008; fantasy: An enigma is described. Added to my best of the year 2008 list.
   
4. [final, prelim] Nancy Kress' "Safeguard" (B); download; Asimov's, January 2007; science fiction: An earthquake has forced 4 little children, genetically modified to have a poisonous breath & kept in quarantine, to get out of quarantine. Plot is a variation of classic Indian story of "vish kanya".
5. [final, prelim] Geoff Ryman's "Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter" (B); download; F&SF, November 2006; non-genre: A love story, in the backdrop of a political story - a girl comes to terms with the ghosts of her dictator dad's victims.
6. [prelim] Peg Robinson's "Tonino & the Incubus" (B); download; Helix #2 (Fall 2006); fantasy: A male prostitute takes his job very seriously.
7. [prelim] Beth Bernobich's "A Flight of Numbers Fantastique Strange" (B); download; Asimov's, June 2006; science fiction: A serial killer is on the lose on a university campus. I found the science fictional ending rather incomprehensible
8. [prelim] William Shunn's "Not of this Fold" (B); download; An Alternate History of the 21st Century, Spilt Milk Press, September 2007; science fiction: A priest on duty aboard a big space habitat to convert locals to his faith becomes a hero when he becomes the main human contact with aliens due to a misunderstanding.
9. [final, prelim] Robin Wayne Bailey's "The Children's Crusade"; Martin H Greenberg and Jim C Hines (Ed)'s Heroes in Training, September 2007 : not read.
10. [prelim] Michael A Burstein and Robert Greenberger's "Things That Aren't"; Analog, April 2007: not read.
11. [prelim] Jim C Hines' "Sister of the Hedge"; Realms of Fantasy, June 2006: not read.
12. [prelim] Andrea Kail's "The Sun God at Down, Rising from a Lotus Blossom"; Algis Budrys (Ed)'s Writers of the Future Volume 23, September 2007: not read.
13. [final, prelim] Delia Sherman's "The Fiddler of Bayou Teche"; Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Ed)'s "Coyote Road, Trickster Tales", July 2007: not read.
14. [final] Terry Bramlett's "Child, Maiden, Mother, Crone"; download; Jim Baen's Universe, #7 (June 2007): Not read. This was not on preliminary ballet (is probably a jury nominee).
    

Related.

1. 2007 Nebula Awards short stories, novellas.
2. 2008 Hugo Awards novelettes.
   

William Shunn's "Inclination": An adolescent boy comes of age

Among the may be a half dozen Hugo 2007 nominated stories I have read to date in different categories, this one is simply the best. Something here touched my heart.

And very readable. Single sitting material. Felt like a short story rather than novella - was over too fast.

sf touch is provided by an exotic environment - a space port, a version of Google 500 years down the line ("Geoff"), space travel to far off stars, genetically engineered humans in many designs, ... But they are all incidental. Real story is essentially a human interest one.

Full text of this story is available online.

Story summary.
Jude, a 15 year old boy, lives in a fundamentalist ghetto of Netherview Station - a space station & space port with a population of "two million permanent residents and millions more who pass through every month". The Station orbits a planet called Netherheim; I think its star is called Freya - not sure.

These ghetto people follow a cult derived from Christianity, but much different - and have a lot of taboos. Among them, mixing with the impure Sculpted people that inhabit rest of the Station.

Sculpted refers to bio-engineered. Like turning your skin green - for fun! Or having 4 arms - rather than 2 arms & 2 legs!

He has never been out of ghetto. His dad is now forcing him to take up the job of a coolie at the space port that is part of the station.

Story is of his interactions - forced because of this job - with abominations that are these impure people, their customs, & finally questioning his own customs.

Beautifully told.

Fact sheet.
"Inclination", short story, review
Rating: A
First published: Asimov's April/May 2006
Nominated for Hugo Awards 2007 in novella category

Related: All Hugo Award stories.