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Hugo Awards - Novellas
Jul. 16th, 2010 09:38 amThoughts on the novellas nominated for the Hugo, presented in stream-of-consciousness order:
The God Engines (John Scalzi): Mr. Scalzi is the master of the first chapter eye-punch, and I'm still walking around with a black eye from the one he delivered in God Engines. Not only was Chapter 1 good, the rest of the book was equally impressive.
Palimpsest (Charles Stross): In most time-travel stories, one reads them to see how the author hand-waves away the paradoxes. Charlie takes the opposite tack, and bases his story on the paradoxes. Oh, and did I say there were aliens as well? (Or maybe not exactly "aliens.")
Act One (Nancy Kress): Entertaining, and an unusual take on genetic engineering.
Shambling Towards Hiroshima (James Morrow): Too experimental for me to get into.
Vishnu at the Cat Circus (Ian McDonald): I guess I'm just not a cat person.
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s (Kage Baker): Definitely the sentimental favorite, considering Baker's recent and sudden death. I did find this novella the most amusing, and it certainly goes with the steampunk theme of Boneshaker.
Overall, I think that the novella category is stronger then the novels this year. I have several tough decisions. Right now, I'm looking at a three-way tie with Scalzi, Stross and Baker, which I guess puts Kress fourth. Breaking the tie is going to be tough.
The God Engines (John Scalzi): Mr. Scalzi is the master of the first chapter eye-punch, and I'm still walking around with a black eye from the one he delivered in God Engines. Not only was Chapter 1 good, the rest of the book was equally impressive.
Palimpsest (Charles Stross): In most time-travel stories, one reads them to see how the author hand-waves away the paradoxes. Charlie takes the opposite tack, and bases his story on the paradoxes. Oh, and did I say there were aliens as well? (Or maybe not exactly "aliens.")
Act One (Nancy Kress): Entertaining, and an unusual take on genetic engineering.
Shambling Towards Hiroshima (James Morrow): Too experimental for me to get into.
Vishnu at the Cat Circus (Ian McDonald): I guess I'm just not a cat person.
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s (Kage Baker): Definitely the sentimental favorite, considering Baker's recent and sudden death. I did find this novella the most amusing, and it certainly goes with the steampunk theme of Boneshaker.
Overall, I think that the novella category is stronger then the novels this year. I have several tough decisions. Right now, I'm looking at a three-way tie with Scalzi, Stross and Baker, which I guess puts Kress fourth. Breaking the tie is going to be tough.
