Because you can't start campaigning for next year's Hugos too early
1. The Killing Moon, by N. K. Jemisin. This is the first in a duology; I haven't read The Shadowed Sun yet, but I want to. I think the thing I love best about The Killing Moon is the romance - or lack thereof, rather. There's some very adult analysis of the kind of May/December luuuuuuuuuuurve situations that fantasy often brings to the table - you know the ones, where the master and the apprentice are all over each other and that's fine. This is like that, except not, because here the grown-up in the relationship actually behaves like a grown-up.
Also, it just rocks.
2. Immersion, by Aliette de Bodard. (Audio here.) It's a short story about the damage caused by the existence of a dominant culture sticking its tendrils into everything. Author's notes about the story here.
(De Bodard quotes a Locus review that is mostly good, but it also says: "The space station, in particular, seems unnecessary..." which strikes me as a bit of wtf'ery. I'm trying to think where else you would set this story. On Earth, I guess? But that would imply that the Vietnamese culture that is the focus of this story didn't have the chops to make it off the planet like the Galactics did. That seems extremely counter to the point of the story, to me. I may be taking this out of context; I can't find the entire review online. But I boggle. There is more wrong with "no space station" than there is with "SPACE STATION, YO".)
3. Armless Maidens of the American West, by Genevieve Valentine; a short story about the damage caused by talking around a topic, or not talking about it at all, not offering help to someone who might have needed it. The story could probably be a metaphor for many things, but to me it's one for clinical depression and suicide. I feel like I have something to say about this shit, too, but I haven't really decided how obnoxious I would want to be about it. [I would like to be polite, but I think my position on the issue is too politically incorrect. I am going to hurt feelings with that one.] The short form is that I think perfectly-sane people's ignorance of what exactly the problem is - or even that the problem exists - exacerbates the problem.
Anyway, there's three things from this-year-so-far. I recommend them!
Also, it just rocks.
2. Immersion, by Aliette de Bodard. (Audio here.) It's a short story about the damage caused by the existence of a dominant culture sticking its tendrils into everything. Author's notes about the story here.
(De Bodard quotes a Locus review that is mostly good, but it also says: "The space station, in particular, seems unnecessary..." which strikes me as a bit of wtf'ery. I'm trying to think where else you would set this story. On Earth, I guess? But that would imply that the Vietnamese culture that is the focus of this story didn't have the chops to make it off the planet like the Galactics did. That seems extremely counter to the point of the story, to me. I may be taking this out of context; I can't find the entire review online. But I boggle. There is more wrong with "no space station" than there is with "SPACE STATION, YO".)
3. Armless Maidens of the American West, by Genevieve Valentine; a short story about the damage caused by talking around a topic, or not talking about it at all, not offering help to someone who might have needed it. The story could probably be a metaphor for many things, but to me it's one for clinical depression and suicide. I feel like I have something to say about this shit, too, but I haven't really decided how obnoxious I would want to be about it. [I would like to be polite, but I think my position on the issue is too politically incorrect. I am going to hurt feelings with that one.] The short form is that I think perfectly-sane people's ignorance of what exactly the problem is - or even that the problem exists - exacerbates the problem.
Anyway, there's three things from this-year-so-far. I recommend them!