2004 Hugo Review - Novelette
This was a really tough category for me to choose my vote. There were four stories that were neck-and-neck for my choice as favorite, and overall I felt this was a very strong category. How I voted, from favorite to least favorite:
1. Into the Gardens of Sweet Night, Jay Lake
2. Hexagons, Robert Reed
3. Legions in Time, Michael Swanick
4. The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford
5. Bernardo's House, James Patrick Kelly
6. Nightfall, Charles Stross
My comments in reverse order:
6. Nightfall, Charles Stross. I know that Stross is just about the hottest writer right now, and he is obviously very talented, but he just doesn't do it for me. I think that there is so much being put into the stories, in terms of economic theory and social theory and computer concepts and futurism, that basic things like character development and comprehensibility are being shortchanged. Many times, dating back to "Lobsters" (the first story in the series), I find myself reading passages and asking "Just what in the world is going on here?". I will say that I have been handling the recent stories better, so perhaps it takes time, and perhaps when they are all collected and published in a book they will make a good read, but we'll just have to wait and see.
5. Bernardo's House, James Patrick Kelly
A self-aware house, whose master has not been around in a while, takes in a young punk girl and the story covers the growth of their relationship and the revealing of secrets. I didn't really find anything special in this story, I felt it pretty straightforward.
4. The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford
This is the beginning of the four stories I had trouble deciding between. I really enjoyed the literary aspects of this story - the writing style and leisurely pace reminded me more of something from The New Yorker than a science-fiction story. The parallel-universe construction and the use of synaethesia to bridge the universes was quite interesting, and the ending more of a twist than I expected. I think that, in the end, the story wasn't quite science-fictiony enough for me, so I ended up liking the next three stories slightly more. But I still liked this one.
3. Legions in Time, Michael Swanick
This one was a blast to read, and felt very much like a 60s era Ellison-esque story, with its movement from a simple, slightly strange office environment to a world of Aftermen and Rationality and multiple universes and Tarblecks. The main character, Eleanor, was well-constructed and grew during the course of the story. The only flaw I would see would be that it seemed almost too derivative of stories of the past, but this isn't a major issue with me. This won the Hugo, and I'm content with it being awarded, as for me it was very close to Empire and to the next two stories.
2. Hexagons, by Robert Reed
In a modern Earth based upon a still-strong Roman Empire, a young boy tries to understand the complex relationship between duty, honor, politics and hatred. I really liked this story, because it was primarily based on the young boy, his growth, and his relationships with his friends and the older man. If anything, the one problem I could see would be the use of the war simulation to "explain" the current world (the classic "if things had been different, if X had not happened, the world would be like Y" and Y is our current world), but I didn't mind it that much. Another story I really liked, and placing it as my second favorite was a tough choice.
1. Into the Gardens of Sweet Night, by Jay Lake.
Another story I really liked reading. It was a well-constructed world, a journey with barriers and with an ending, a main character who changed and grew during the course of the story, and it had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the end (and the end was not the end I expected, either). While this story had a little bit of a "sentient animals and humans on a big adventure" style to it (see "And The Dog Cried Bow-Wow" for reference), I still think the story held together well and did great. It didn't win the Hugo, but Lake won one quarter of Writers of the Future and won the Campbell award for new writer, so I can't feel too bad for him.
2. Hexagons, Robert Reed
1. Into the Gardens of Sweet Night, Jay Lake
1. Into the Gardens of Sweet Night, Jay Lake
2. Hexagons, Robert Reed
3. Legions in Time, Michael Swanick
4. The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford
5. Bernardo's House, James Patrick Kelly
6. Nightfall, Charles Stross
My comments in reverse order:
6. Nightfall, Charles Stross. I know that Stross is just about the hottest writer right now, and he is obviously very talented, but he just doesn't do it for me. I think that there is so much being put into the stories, in terms of economic theory and social theory and computer concepts and futurism, that basic things like character development and comprehensibility are being shortchanged. Many times, dating back to "Lobsters" (the first story in the series), I find myself reading passages and asking "Just what in the world is going on here?". I will say that I have been handling the recent stories better, so perhaps it takes time, and perhaps when they are all collected and published in a book they will make a good read, but we'll just have to wait and see.
5. Bernardo's House, James Patrick Kelly
A self-aware house, whose master has not been around in a while, takes in a young punk girl and the story covers the growth of their relationship and the revealing of secrets. I didn't really find anything special in this story, I felt it pretty straightforward.
4. The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford
This is the beginning of the four stories I had trouble deciding between. I really enjoyed the literary aspects of this story - the writing style and leisurely pace reminded me more of something from The New Yorker than a science-fiction story. The parallel-universe construction and the use of synaethesia to bridge the universes was quite interesting, and the ending more of a twist than I expected. I think that, in the end, the story wasn't quite science-fictiony enough for me, so I ended up liking the next three stories slightly more. But I still liked this one.
3. Legions in Time, Michael Swanick
This one was a blast to read, and felt very much like a 60s era Ellison-esque story, with its movement from a simple, slightly strange office environment to a world of Aftermen and Rationality and multiple universes and Tarblecks. The main character, Eleanor, was well-constructed and grew during the course of the story. The only flaw I would see would be that it seemed almost too derivative of stories of the past, but this isn't a major issue with me. This won the Hugo, and I'm content with it being awarded, as for me it was very close to Empire and to the next two stories.
2. Hexagons, by Robert Reed
In a modern Earth based upon a still-strong Roman Empire, a young boy tries to understand the complex relationship between duty, honor, politics and hatred. I really liked this story, because it was primarily based on the young boy, his growth, and his relationships with his friends and the older man. If anything, the one problem I could see would be the use of the war simulation to "explain" the current world (the classic "if things had been different, if X had not happened, the world would be like Y" and Y is our current world), but I didn't mind it that much. Another story I really liked, and placing it as my second favorite was a tough choice.
1. Into the Gardens of Sweet Night, by Jay Lake.
Another story I really liked reading. It was a well-constructed world, a journey with barriers and with an ending, a main character who changed and grew during the course of the story, and it had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the end (and the end was not the end I expected, either). While this story had a little bit of a "sentient animals and humans on a big adventure" style to it (see "And The Dog Cried Bow-Wow" for reference), I still think the story held together well and did great. It didn't win the Hugo, but Lake won one quarter of Writers of the Future and won the Campbell award for new writer, so I can't feel too bad for him.
2. Hexagons, Robert Reed
1. Into the Gardens of Sweet Night, Jay Lake
posted by yeff at 10:25 PM
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