Hugo Natterings: Short Story
This was a toughie, but I managed to narrow it down to five by picking my favorite of three John Scalzi stories. If there were 7 nomination slots, I would have nominated all three, I think.
Anyway -- here goes:
Four of these five are available electronically for your perusal, in case you're curious.
Anders, Charlie Jane "The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model"
If I had to choose which of these five was most likely to make the final Hugo ballot, this would be my guess.
Haskell, Merrie "Five Rules for Commuting to the Underworld"
dormouse_in_tea brought this to my attention.
Johnson, Kij "Ponies"
Kij Johnson wrote the most-hated Hugo-nominated story last year, the Nebula-winning (what were they thinking?) "Spar." And I was kind of indifferent to this one after I first read it, but it grew on me. Now I recommend it -- but perhaps not if you love horses and peer pressure.
Parks, Richard "The Queen's Reason"
This one's from Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet issue 25, and not available on-line.
Scalzi, John "When the Yogurt Took Over"
I love the story of how this story came to be (part one, part two) almost as much as I like this story. I didn't realize quite how funny this was until I read it out loud to lunargeography, which is probably what propelled it past (the also-funny) "An Election" or the (not particularly funny) "The President's Brain Is Missing."
And that's that.
Anyway -- here goes:
Four of these five are available electronically for your perusal, in case you're curious.
Anders, Charlie Jane "The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model"
If I had to choose which of these five was most likely to make the final Hugo ballot, this would be my guess.
Haskell, Merrie "Five Rules for Commuting to the Underworld"
dormouse_in_tea brought this to my attention.
Johnson, Kij "Ponies"
Kij Johnson wrote the most-hated Hugo-nominated story last year, the Nebula-winning (what were they thinking?) "Spar." And I was kind of indifferent to this one after I first read it, but it grew on me. Now I recommend it -- but perhaps not if you love horses and peer pressure.
Parks, Richard "The Queen's Reason"
This one's from Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet issue 25, and not available on-line.
Scalzi, John "When the Yogurt Took Over"
I love the story of how this story came to be (part one, part two) almost as much as I like this story. I didn't realize quite how funny this was until I read it out loud to lunargeography, which is probably what propelled it past (the also-funny) "An Election" or the (not particularly funny) "The President's Brain Is Missing."
And that's that.