Short Story Round-up, Week 1

Eric Flint wrote very eloquently about one of the real issues with the Hugo on his blog. The whole thing is interesting, but I think he has a very valid point about how science fiction/fantasy gets consumed. Casual-to-moderately-serious fans don't read nearly as much short fiction as we did, say, back when the Hugos were first developed/conceived. (Hence, those awards get voted on and decided by a fairly small number of fans... and why they were 'easy pickings' for a block vote.)

He suggests some solutions (some of which I agree with, others I'm not as sure about), but, either way, the Hugos by-laws aren't going to get changed overnight.

Thus, in the meantime, to fairly nominate in the short fiction categories, I'm going to have to read more short fiction!

I've been thinking about how to do this. I thought that maybe, in addition to my nominee book challenge, I'd challenge myself to try to read two or three short pieces of fiction a week. Thing is, there are several magazines that now offer podcasts, so I can listen to the stories as I do other things (like boring housework.) Normally, this is where I watch my anime, but I can set aside one or two episodes a week for this project, I figure.

On the weekends, I'm going to have to track down stories to read. Because otherwise, I would be only nominating from magazines that have podcast versions of their stories.

Then, I thought, I'd make a list of what I'm reading here for you to check out, if you're so inclined. If you're doing something similar this year, drop me a link, and I'll follow your recommendations/reviews/lists, too.

I'll be honest (or, if you prefer, 'transparent'): I totally plan to keep a running list of the short stories my friends write and publish. I think it's pretty clear people have always done this and that there's nothing wrong with it, so long as I don't compel several dozens of cohorts armed with the exact same list to vote as I do.

Instead, I intend to post them here for your consideration along with everything else I read. I will clearly indicate who is my friend and who isn't. (I can tell you right now, it'll probably be Eleanor Arnason and Naomi Kritzer and any other Wyrdsmith who sells a story this year.)


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So, this week, I listened to/read:

“We’ll Be Together Forever” by Joseph Allen Hill (Lightspeed, April 2015, #59).

“Let Baser Things Divide,” by Berrien C. Henderson (Clarkesworld, April 2015, #103)

The first one is a story of a love potion gone wrong and is kind of a foodie horror story. The second is about an "elevated" chimpanzee and a revived space program. It's also very sad, but it has some interesting things to say about humanity and primates and the echoes of each in the other.

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This year, so far, Naomi Kritzer has had a number of short stories published. If you’re so inclined check them out:

“Wind” in Apex Magazine (April 2015)
“Cat Pictures” in Clarkesworld Magazine (January 2015)
“Jubilee” in Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Jan/Feb 2015)--which, sadly, has no online version.

Of these, my personal favorite is "Cat Pictures," because it's one of those ideas that just feels like it would be True, i.e. that if the internet became sentient it would totally want more cat pictures. :-)

"Jubilee" is another Seastead story, if you've been following Beck's adventures in the previous F&SF issues. If not, it can totally be read independently. Beck lives on a Libertarian seastead in the future and her world is fascinating, and each story she ends up having to use her resources to solve some major problem/mystery. They're almost like amateur detective stories in a Libertarian future world, and I enjoy them very much any time they come through critique.

"Wind" is a fascinating story about magical promises going wrong.

in the same issue of F&SF, Eleanor Arnason had a great story:

“Telling Stories to the Sky,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Jan/Feb 2015)--also without link, alas, but well worth tracking down if you can. This is one of Eleanor's many stories that deal with an aspect of writing in one way or another.