6) Harrow The Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Second paragraph of third chapter:Her birth had been expensive. Eighteen years ago, in order to wrench a final bud from this terminal axil, her mother and father had slaughtered all the children of their House in order to secure a necromantic heir. Harrow had been created in that hour of pallor mortis, while the ( Read more... )

A fantasy take on the worlds of Jane Austen and the Brontes, which I have to admit has faded in my memory since I read it several weeks back. I remember finding the period language a bit off-key in places. It's a better idea than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, anyway.

This year's Hugo shortlist for the Best Short Story category is rather easy to digest - there are only four nominees (presumably there was a multiple tie for fifth place among the nominations), all of them are already available online, and one of them is very short indeed; to further simplify matters I had already read one which had been nominated ( Read more... )

This being the quickest category to read, there are already a number of summaries of the entire ballot out there - Matt Hilliard, Ian Sales, Abigail Nussbaum, Steven Klotz, Rich Horton and Coderyder. There is considerable consensus about which is the best story on the list; there is universal consensus about the worst. My preferences, in reverse ( Read more... )