/
RSS Feed
This is the audio-only version of a Zoom discussion panel about the 2022 Hugo nominees for Best Short Story. It’s slightly shorter than the video, which you can find here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmZaNdsflo
Time Codes:
Mr Death: 6:25
Proof by Induction: 20:31
The Sin of America: 43:22
Tangles: 58:12
Unknown Number: 1:12:33
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather: 1:26:37
Story Links:
- “Mr. Death” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, Feb 2021) https://apex-magazine.com/short-fiction/mr-death/
- “Proof by Induction” by José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/proof-by-induction/
- “The Sin of America” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-sin-of-america/
- “Tangles” by Seanan McGuire (Magicthegathering.com: Magic Story, Sep 2021) https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/tangles-2021-09-03
- “Unknown Number” by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021) https://twitter.com/Azure_Husky/status/1420177932518137862
- “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/where-oaken-hearts-do-gather/
Panelists:
- Ann Spangler (https://twitter.com/NebulaHugo)
- Rob Tomshany (https://twitter.com/RobTomshany)
- Amanda Wakaruk (https://twitter.com/Hugo_Book_Club)
- Lisa McCarty (https://twitter.com/lisa_jm)
- JW Wartick (https://twitter.com/jwwartick)
- Ivor Watkins
- Cora Buhlert https://twitter.com/corabuhlert)
- Lori Anderson & Haley Zapal (https://twitter.com/hugogirlpodcast)
- Sarah Elkins (https://twitter.com/ConFigures)
- Juan Sanmiguel (https://twitter.com/RainbowWar71)
Great discussion as was last year.
I rate the stories:
1. Where Oaken Hearts do Gather- On the basis of this, Two Truths and A Lie, The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye, etc. Sarah Pinsker is the best writer in the field today. I could tell where the story was going with the introduction of the young Museum curator but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. I’ve never read anything like it, even the poem stood on its own. Unlike the panelists I don’t like to re-read but I would make an exception in this case.
2. Mr. Death- great but I didn’t understand how Mr. Death’s son died, was Mr. Death speeding and killed him in a crash, more importantly I agree with the panelist who said why didn’t Mr.Death’s son and other kids get a guardian Angel soto me it was kind of a copout ending. I would have prefered him to take the kid down the river. A minor quibble, I much preferred this to the author’s sappy and creepy Witches Guide to Portal Fantasies.
3. Unknown Number- its great to find a nominated story you can read on Twitter, very good but too slight to be award worthy.
4. Sin of America- award for best prose in service of a not-to-original ideal. Agree its similar to The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas, as well as The Lottery and Stephen King’s Storm of the Century- at least those stories explained the reasons for the townpeople’s twisted beliefs. This is the first story I’ve read by Valente. I will try her again to see if her beautiful prose can match a more original idea.
5. Proof by Induction- Although I really liked the author’s Nebula nominated The Substance of My Lives, The Accidents of Our Births, I found the central idea too ridiculous, I don’t think such a thing is possible and even so it could have been worked out better. Also I didn’t buy how the father and son solved the mathematical equation so quickly after failing to for 20 years. There was no resolution to the differences between them maybe that’s the point but it still should have been discussed.
6. Tangles- like one panelist I had trouble reading this, unlike her I do sometimes enjoy fantasy but this was too weird. Was the author trying to say that the druid and the tree were masculine and feminine sides of the same person? I will listen to your discussion again. Finally I skipped to the end and read the whole things backwards, I just didn’t get it.
I agree that the stories while good overall weren’t as good as last year’s slate. Of course that doesn’t mean it wasn’t as good a year for short stories just that the nominators didn’t do as good a job. I have to check.out the aNebulas and WFA. Still to me, 2 stores were great and 2 were pretty good. And I agree that discussing the stories helps one decide how to vote, I couldn’t decide between Mr. Death and Where Oaken Hearts but after writing this down I have to go with the Pinsker.
After listening to the discussion again, maybe I was too hard on Proof by Induction. The concept is interesting it would be intriguing to talk to a dead relative, although the technology presented in the story would make it frustrating. And as one panelist pointed out the academic setting is interesting. So in reflection I would bump it up to fourth place, but no higher.
Yes I liked the academic setting of that one.
There is a Ted Chiang story Division by Zero that this story kind of reminds me of . In that story a professor disproves an accepted mathematical proof and that has greater implications for society. Chiang often will invent a future technology and work out the positive and negative implications of it, I think if he had written this story he would of spent more time on the societal implications of the coda. But that’s just my opinion.
Also I think I subconsciously had a problem Sin of America because I dislike stories about food, eating, or cooking. I went on a rather long tirade against such stories on a tor blog last year. Until Rich Horton pointed out the exception of Babette’s Feast. Anyways one persons Butterfly is another persons ribeye steak.
So I read the 3 non overlapping Nebula short stories today.
Just Enough Rain by P.H. Lee- The panel mentioned there were 3 horror stories on the Hugo Short stories list this year but they’re all tame compared to this. It wasn’t as original as the Pinsker or Mr. Death but read it at night and you’ll have nightmares, really chilling. I would still vote for Where Oaken Hearts do Gather but this would be runner-up. It reminds me of the best of Charles L. Grant, something like When all the Children Call My Name.
For Lack of a Bed by John Wiswell- similar to the authors nominated story from last year Open House on Haunted Hill in that he takes a familiar horror trope that is usually malevolent i.e. a haunted house or in this case a supernatural
character (trying to avoid spoilers, anyways this story has to be less than 3000 words) and makes it much less so. Its very effective with some very good descriptions of suffering which the author clearly has first-hand knowledge of, it ends abruptly
and has a very obvious if effective metaphor. So really well done, this guy is a writer to watch.
Let the Children Boogie by Sam J. Miller- I didn’t like this one as much, its very intriguing for a while but is a bit too emotional and romantic for me. It doesn’t explain one thing I wanted it to explain and I wasn’t satisfied with the ending. Unlike the above stories, this is science fiction. Its also quite readable and for most of the story I was really intrigued.
So I would recommend All 3 stories and I wouldn’t be adverse to you doing a Nebula panel in the future.