Hugo Roundup: Best Novella

Perhaps the most interesting work in this category is Rivers Solomon's "The Deep." I don't know of any other occasion when a song has been nominated for Best Related Work and then somebody wrote a novella inspired by it.

If you read it, dig out the song too. It has interesting things to say about collaborative storytelling.

So, my thoughts:

"The Deep" by Rivers Solomon is already mentioned. It's a beautifully-written piece that plays with concepts of humanity, gender and memory. I'm not sure I buy all of their worldbuilding, but these are mermaids I am down with.

"To Be Taught, If Fortunate" by Becky Chambers. Abandoned and forgotten astronauts on other worlds, and an exploration of the future. It's very much a Chambers work; she has an approach to space fiction that's quite distinctive.

"Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" by Ted Chiang. Well written, but...as already mentioned I have issues with pop culture quantum mechanics as the basis of a story.

"The Haunting of Tram Car 015" by P. Djeli Clark. Fun steampunk ghost/possession story. Quite enjoyable.

"This Is How You Lose The Time War" by Ama El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Won the Nebula and deserved it. Epistolary fiction is hard.

"In An Absent Dream" by Seanan McGuire. It's my firm opinion that McGuire is the current master of fairy tales, with Naomi Novik not far behind. This story demonstrates that.

As has often been the case recently, the novella category is amazingly, ridiculously strong.

My pick: In An Absent Dream

My prediction: Who the heck knows. I'm going to say probably This Is How You Lose The Time War but everything here deserves to win.