Sign in with Facebook
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees
by
E. Lily Yu (Goodreads Author)
2011 Nebula Award Nominee. Wasps, Bees and Maps.
ebook, 11 pages
Published
April 2011
by Clarkesworld
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
108)
Read as part of the 2012 Hugo voter packet.
A very “heavy” (for lack of a better word) tale about the last hive of a special type of wasps (cartographers), who enslave a nearby bee hive and in exchange for servitude and tribute teach, the bees their knowledge. Such slavery combined with education leads to a not entirely unexpected outcome. Reading this, I had images of the British Empire at its peak, followed by its inevitable decline, and I’d be curious if American readers had similar colonialis...more
A very “heavy” (for lack of a better word) tale about the last hive of a special type of wasps (cartographers), who enslave a nearby bee hive and in exchange for servitude and tribute teach, the bees their knowledge. Such slavery combined with education leads to a not entirely unexpected outcome. Reading this, I had images of the British Empire at its peak, followed by its inevitable decline, and I’d be curious if American readers had similar colonialis...more
Apr 17, 2012
Jeff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
every one
Recommended to Jeff by:
found it on the internet
Shelves:
fantasy
Borges and Calvino, and Macchiavelli.
Charming, melancholy, detailed, vague, realistic, magical. The ending is very much up to your own personal take on the story. This short story will leave you pondering for days.
One of four finalist for the 2012 Hugo Award: short story category.
I classify this tale as a fantasy, but the author makes a compelling counterpoint. She states that the study of bees and wasps is a function of biology which is a science. Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees is a wor...more
Charming, melancholy, detailed, vague, realistic, magical. The ending is very much up to your own personal take on the story. This short story will leave you pondering for days.
One of four finalist for the 2012 Hugo Award: short story category.
I classify this tale as a fantasy, but the author makes a compelling counterpoint. She states that the study of bees and wasps is a function of biology which is a science. Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees is a wor...more
Bizarrely brilliant. The relationship between wasps, bees, and humans in this story represents relationships that different countries and groups of people have had with one another over the course of the past several hundred years of history, i.e. colonization, imperialism, Orientalism, first-world exploitation of third-world countries, etc. The ending is a bit strange or obtuse, so you can read into it what you will; I think I was just left scratching my head.
view 2 comments
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" is an interesting and thought-provoking take on colonialism and rebellion, and it's a story that I've gone back and reread several times because I adore both the storyline and the lyrical quality of the writing. One of four Hugo Award nominees, and one of my favourite stories of the group.
You can read this story here.
You can read this story here.
Short story read online.
Interesting use of hive insects to tell a story of colonization, oppression, and culture. I'm also interested that the author apparently considers it hard SF (see her comments at Clarkesworld). I don't know much about entomology, so I can't comment on the behavior of the insects, but there's a lot packed into the story. Well written, but didn't really stand out to me.
Interesting use of hive insects to tell a story of colonization, oppression, and culture. I'm also interested that the author apparently considers it hard SF (see her comments at Clarkesworld). I don't know much about entomology, so I can't comment on the behavior of the insects, but there's a lot packed into the story. Well written, but didn't really stand out to me.
Currently reading through the hugo-nominated short stories for 2012. This is one of the two stories this year that doesn't deal with parent-child relationships and is set in a more visibly alien place. It lacks the obvious resolution found in other short stories but instead fills my thoughts with many strange and intricate images of wasps and bees at work.
This year’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer went to Yu, very deserving based on this story. Yu uses the metaphor of a wasp colony enslaving a bee hive in a thought-provoking, original way to discuss colonialism and rebellion.
Reviewed as part of the 2012 Hugo Voter Packet. Another short story that surprised me. This is a really original topic, and the story telling was really charming.
In nine short pages, E. Lily Yu takes a really bizarre concept and gives it a surprising amount of weight. I am thoroughly impressed.
Brilliant. A worthy Hugo nominee: original, intelligent, funny, and written with clarity and style.
read here: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/yu_04...
Not bad at all. I enjoyed it for the most part but found the ending weak,
Not bad at all. I enjoyed it for the most part but found the ending weak,
In my top two of the Hugo-nominated short stories.
Beautifully written and very different.
May 23, 2013
Lalalarissa
marked it as to-read
May 22, 2013
Nicole Brennan
marked it as to-read
May 20, 2013
Rebecca Tolley-Stokes
marked it as to-read
May 20, 2013
Andrew
marked it as to-read
May 19, 2013
Michael Musto
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Carey
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Gita Adler
marked it as to-read
May 16, 2013
Muhammad Rahman
marked it as to-read
May 09, 2013
Holly Martin
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Iris Velazquez
marked it as to-read
Apr 07, 2013
Liz
marked it as to-read
Apr 04, 2013
Rick
marked it as read-2012
Mar 23, 2013
Lisa
added it
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sword and Laser: 2011 Nebula Award Nomonee Short Story Discussion - "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" | 6 | 36 | Apr 29, 2012 09:33am |
