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Hugo Novellas
Jul. 15th, 2017 09:08 pmIn the order that I would vote for them:
- Penric and the Shaman (Lois McMaster Bujold) -- it probably helps that I already know the world in which this is set, and I loved it both in the previous stories, and this one. The complexity of the plot, the development of the story, the world building, the solution to the issue -- I loved everything about it. And I love the way that 'author's requirements for coincidence' is hand-waved as 'interference by the gods'.
- The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe (Kij Johnson) -- I went in to this one unsure. The title felt off (although it was obvious later where it had come from) and the early sections felt like the aspects of Dorothy Sayers 'Gaudy Night' that I had disliked. The idea of reading a story about how hard women have to fight not to end up further behind felt like more than I had the energy for. And then I realised where it was going. This is a transformative work, and is a fabulous reimaging of the source work (very spoilery). The understated horrors slowly collect together to be quite the horror story, without ever being gruesome.
- Every Heart a Doorway (Seanan McGuire) -- Beautiful creepy mix of horror and fantasy. I loved the way that the idea of going through a door into a different world was codified, that those doors lead different places. The story itself was an interesting exploration of the way that people cope with coming back from those worlds where they fit, and how it can go so wrong. There are aspects of the plot that I was spoiled for, and I'm not sure whether I think that made it easier to deal with -- had I not gone in expecting it to be horror, I might have struggled more.
- A Taste of Homey (Kai Ashante Wilson) -- I read this one a while ago, and failed to make notes on it that I can find. Enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, what I liked most was the male/male romance plot line, and the interesting playing with time that was done.
- The Ballad of Black Tom (Victor LaVelle) -- I wanted to like this one more than I did. Gritty and gruesome and gory. And plain nasty, in the way that so much Cthulu mythos is. I get that the racism was so necessary to the story, and that it was probably understated in many ways, but it was heart breaking to read. Towards the middle, I struggled a bit to keep going — I was a bit on the bored side, but in the end it was worth it.
- The census taker (China Mievelle) -- As a general rule, I don't like Mievelle's work, so it was no real surprise that I didn't like this one either. I had no idea what is going on here and in the end, I don’t really care. There is too much elided by literary wankery, and not real story or idea of what is going on. I’m not interesting in deducing whether the unnamed woman was murdered or ran away.
