Hugo Nominees 2011 - Short Story

And the last of my 2011 Hugo Nominee’s, the Short Story category. 

The Hugo Awards has something like 20 categories, ranging from the Novels, Novelas, Novelettes, Short Stories, to Graphic books, Fanzines, Dramatic presentations long and short forms, Editors long and short form, Professional Artists, Fan Writer, Fan Artist, Campbell Nominees, and a couple of others that I don't recall.  I don't read or watch them all; I don't have cable TV and I generally don't watch TV,  I don't care about the Fan related stuff, and I usually catch the movies well after they've gone to Netflix.  Usually about 5 years after they've been released.  Personally, I think so many categories are a bit much.  But, not my call, so I just keep my votes to what I feel are the relevant works. 

Short explanations yes, but these are short stories after all.  Anything more would just ruin them.  Interestingly, I also felt these were better than the Novelettes.  If you have the motive and opportunity, I recommend all of them.

“Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed, June 2010)
What I call a sweet read. Nicely executed for such a short story; to pull the reader in so quickly and seamlessly in the story. Well done.

“For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010)
Dementia in man and AI; who’s would be worse? Or perhaps better put, don’t rely on just one backup? Makes one think about the ramifications of recording everything digitally. 

“Ponies” by Kij Johnson (Tor.com, November 17, 2010)
Ah. Creepy in a rather disconcerting way. I always knew there was something wrong with My Pretty Pony…
“The Things” by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010)
Humans from a very alien point of view.


Stay tuned - I hope to post the 2011 Hugo Award winners by Monday!