Sunday, April 28, 2013

Hugo Awards 2013 - novelettes: nominees, my ranking, & winner

Five nominees, of which 3 are online. I finished 2 - ok reads, but I get a feeling there are better ways of spending my time. I left another one unfinished, & didn't bother to look up the remaining 2.

Caution: Both stories I finished involve homosexual love. Was that the flavor of the season?

List below is in order of my preference, best first, unread last. Where I have a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.
  1. Thomas Olde Heuvelt's "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" (B); download: This is actually a several years old Dutch story, probably translated to English last year - hence eligible.

    Two teenage boys, bullied by their peers because they're "different", try coming to terms with their differences...
  2. Seanan McGuire's "In Sea-Salt Tears" (B); download; fantasy: One of the many clans of Faeries living (among humans?) on US west coast is living a life of punishment for past hunting sins. This is a coming of age story of a girl from this clan.
  3. Catherynne M Valente's "Fade To White": download text/audio; Clarkesworld, August 2012: It comprises of many vignette sized & independent sections. I gave up after may be 3 or 4 of them; just could not get into the story. Apparently describing a media-driven society.
  4. Seanan McGuire's "Rat-Catcher"; Yanni Kuznia (ed)'s "A Fantasy Medley 2": Not read.
  5. [winner] Pat Cadigan's "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Edge of Infinity": Not read.

Related.

  1. Official announcement of 2013 nominees @The Hugo Awards.
  2. My reading of Hugo awards 2013 nominees: short stories.
  3. Other Hugo nominees & winners.
  4. "best of" lists.

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