by Brad R. Torgersen

Hugo Novelette 2012 Nominee

This, on the other hand, sucked me in from the start, and I read it (admittedly short compared to the others so far) in one sitting.
Lots of interesting ideas here, begging to be explored further.
So far this is hands down my recommendation so far for this category.

by Rachel Swirsky

Hugo Novelette 2012 Nominee

This might as well have been subtitled, ‘people I don’t care about and never will’.
I normally like Swirsky’ work, but this left me cold. I just couldn’t see the point; my loss, I guess!

by Paul Cornell

Hugo Novelette 2012 nominee.

I have bad deja vu with this; I swear I read it years ago. The work initially annoyed me in some of the made up words and terms; of course this happens all the time, but it jarred here for some reason I can’t put my finger on. There are definitely points to recommend, but I’m hoping the other stories speak to me more, as this was too space opera-y even for me.

Hopefully onto the home stretch now; I just need to finish the novelettes to be able to put my votes together; I’ll never be able to read all the submissions but I knew that going in!

by Ken Liu

Hugo Novella 2012 Nominee.

This an excellent example of using science fiction to examine the world, the past, and to ask what if questions.
The ‘what if’ question here is more ‘who should own their past’. Its thought provoking in lots of ways, both in terms of the impact of the science but also in terms of the WWII Japanese atrocity which it uses as its real life subject matter. I wasn’t aware of this particular one, and I was deeply shocked to find out, googling after reading it, that it was based on a real event. Its still a horrifying event to think upon.

I can’t decide however if the horror and the shock of the actual atrocity (and hence the author’s own activism in reminding people of it in this way) overwhelms the story for me; if I voted for it, whether I would be voting, in part, in protest at what had happened. Its certain that it will be sticking with me for a long while.

Its certainly not an easy read, especially for someone as interested in the histories of China and Japan as I am.