Hugo Reading Round-Up: Novelettes

I read the works nominated for the novelette category of the Hugo Awards in succession the other day, hoping to get another category down on my ballot! Most of these works weren't long enough that I wanted to give them full reviews, but I thought I'd stick a couple thoughts in here.

Works are ordered alphabetically by author:

Kaiju Agonistes by Scott Lynch (available here). This is about a kaiju attempting to prevent nuclear apocalypse and coming to an unusual conclusion on the best way to do that. I think this is a technically expertly crafted piece with an interesting premise and bucketloads of sharp humour and I... hated it, sorry. This is such a clear example of "this is not for me" that I was reeling trying to justify to myself why I so deeply disliked it. It's a very irreverent piece, at its core, where almost nothing feels all that genuine or human. It's a comedy piece with a style of comedy I just don't like, and someone who does like that kind of humour would probably have more detailed opinions to give on it.

Never Eaten Vegetables by H.H. Pak (available here). This is a split narrative, moving between a colony ship AI experiencing a disaster she cannot solve and a woman dealing with the consequences nearly 27 years later. I adored this and it was far and away my favourite of the set. The different narration styles worked really well, the worldbuilding was fascinating, and it had a really wonderful emotional heart. It's about abortion and the evil of corporations and societal trauma and ughh it was so creative and good. H.H. Pak is an author I'll be watching in the future.

The Millay Illusion by Sarah Pinsker (available here). This is about a mentalist circus performer and the illusionist who she strikes up a brief but life-changing friendship with. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this one - as a plot, there wasn't a ton going on that was interesting to me, and the world itself had next to nothing speculative about it. In essence, the speculative was speculation - was the magic real? (I think the answer is 'probably'.) It's mostly the style that stands out about this, because it has a very distinctive voice and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading it. The ending was super interesting too.

The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For by Cameron Reed (available here). This work follows a soon-to-be-disowned adopted daughter of a CEO who's the companion for her adoptive mother's soon-to-be-adopted daughter (who is pregnant with said mother's clone). If you think that sounds confusing: yes, but it makes a lot more sense in the piece itself. The real skill of this piece is just how much is going on and how effortlessly it ends up on the page. I'll admit I had complicated feelings about this because I didn't really like the piece, even though I was really, really excited to read it (it's trans!! There's some really fascinating stuff along that line that I adored). It's a piece that I would have been fine to see end after its first half, because the second, more action-y half wasn't as interesting to me and its concluding resolutions fell a little flat.

When He Calls Your Name by Catherynne M. Valente (available here). This is fantasy with a distinctly 20th century air, about a woman whose husband becomes the target of a super hot vampire. I will not reveal the fun little reference it has going on for anyone who hasn't read this, but I found the revelation about what this was about really, really fun. The whole thing is equal parts fun and horrifying and sad, and it's just generally a fantastically crafted piece with a whole lot to say and a hell of a narrative voice to say it in. This is another one of my favourites; it's just so good.

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells (available here). This is a Murderbot novelette, about a ship crew escorting some academics through hostile territory with the help of a mostly cooperative ship AI. The work itself didn't super work for me, as the cast was a little too full (I assume dedicated Murderbot readers already know most of these people). There were a handful of good moments that really shone through, though, and Peri was a delight.

As for thoughts on the category as a whole - I was honestly not super bowled over by this one. There were works I really liked and works I didn't, and works that were good but not really for me, but I felt like the overall ratio of works that I thought were impressive was lower than the works I've read for the novels and novellas category. Maybe this isn't a word count range that works for me all that readily, or if my sensibilities for mid-length fiction differ to the average Hugo voter's? I'm unsure. When thinking about this, I've found myself wondering if it's influenced by the fact that my background in this length of fiction is fanfiction, which can theoretically do a lot more with, say, 12k than original fiction purely because there's pre-existing context and characterisation that the reader is already aware of.

The comparison there is particularly pertinent with Rapport specifically because it relies partially on knowledge of Murderbot characters that I don't have because I haven't read those novellas. Once the mere concept of SecUnits was mentioned, I was more engaged purely because I had that familiarity from watching the TV show last year. I think it's entirely possible that once I read more works of original fiction that are novelette-length, I may well enjoy them more just as I get a better feel for the way they're written and what they do with the words they have. An interesting thing to chew on as someone who's new-ish to SFF fiction as a dedicated scene!