I have made a pact with myself this year to read all novels and novellas nominated for the Hugo awards. And Nebulas, if I can manage. With the novellas this wasn’t a huge challenge, as there is a big overlap between the two shortlists: reading the Hugos got me more than half-way with Nebulas.

The main takeaway is that I enjoyed reading this compact format more than I thought I would. I think this is partly because I’m an impatient person and despite my love for the genre, it’s nice when not everything is 500+ pages. It is fun to experience five different worlds in five days. The second reason – at least according to my hypothesis – is that the short novel is going through a renaissance: more and better stuff is being written, creating a positive feedback-loop. This I also suspect to be, partly, a reaction to massive series that demand an equally massive commitment from people – something that not everyone can muster.

But enough of idle musings, on to the books (in no particular order):

1. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (nominated for both). I am a long-time fan of Martha Wells. I adore her early fantasy books and am rather smug about discovering her years before Murderbot fame. Artificial Condition is, of course, the second book in that very same Murderbot Diaries series, about a self-aware, misanthropic, soap opera loving security robot. I was one of the few people in the world who wasn’t entirely won over by the first installment, despite Wells’s customary intelligence and quality of writing. I really liked the second, though, especially for the interactions between Murderbot and ART, another AI. Recommended.

2. The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark (nominated for both). While many of the nominated novellas are parts of a series, this one stands alone and does it well. We all have fantasy flavours we gravitate towards and I personally happen to like magical versions of the US South. The Black God’s Drums takes place in an alternate New Orleans, has a strong African mythology element and a steampunkish adventure story feel. There are also some very enterprising nuns, which I consider a plus. I have mentioned it before, but Clark is great at capturing a female voice and that endears him to me even more. A fun read.

3. Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson (nominated for both). If the mysteries of the South appeal to me, time travel has never really been my thing. Robson’s take on the theme is, however, clever and rather unique. The present of the book is in our future, where very few people still live on the surface of the ruined earth. Time travel has become almost routine, although going back to the Ancient Mesopotamia – as our protagonists will do – is unusual and the real reasons of that project remain murky. Robson is a good writer and the mood here is rather realistic, almost mundane. The abrupt ending is the weakest part of the story, but there’s a sequel on the way.

4. The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard (nominated for both and has already secured the Nebula). I had read de Bodard’s fantasy before and on both occasions, found something to be lacking. I therefore admit to having doubts about this one, her third novella in the Xuya universe inspired by China and Vietnam. And whaddayaknow, I enjoyed it very much. It is a Doyle-inspired murder mystery where Holmes is an abrasive female investigator, Watson is a traumatised human-spaceship hybrid and the unsavoury streets of Victorian London are replaced by the Scattered Pearls Belt and the Deep Spaces. I liked both the universe and the story, the latter wrapping up maybe not in an extremely surprising, but still satisfactory way.

5. Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor (nominated for a Hugo). As this is the concluding volume of the Binti trilogy, I believe it only makes sense to read this if you have read the other two. And if you have, you already know that this is an Afrofuturistic story about a mathematically gifted girl with family issues and unorthodox taste in friends. I very much enjoyed the world building in this series and would recommend it for that alone. Unfortunately, I think book number three is the weakest of the lot and it left me disappointed.

6. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (nominated for a Hugo). Despite her popularity, I had not read anything by McGuire until I embarked on this project. Beneath the Sugar Skye is the third book in her Wayward Children series and everyone online said one needs at least to read the first instalment to make sense of this. So I read Every Heart a Doorway and loved the concept: the overall framework is a portal fantasy one, where doors lead children to other realities (a la Alice in Wonderland). Back in our world, Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children gathers kids who have returned, but are not happy about it. I wasn’t that crazy about the book itself, although I could definitely see why it appeals to, say, bookish goth teenagers and I admit it was very engaging. Beneath the Sugar Sky – which takes the reader through several doors – is weaker in my view, although still enjoyable.

7. Fire Ant by Jonathan P. Brazee (nominated for a Nebula). Of all the Hugo and Nebula novellas, I think this is clearly the weakest. I often enjoy traditional military fantasy, even if spends too much time – as Fire Ant does, in my opinion – on pilots calculating flight trajectories. And I have no regrets about reading this one; I mean, who can really object to a disadvantaged recruit succeeding against the odds in the elitist Navy of Humanity? It’s just that the writing is stiff and the characters cliched and there are so many better things to read these days.

8. Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield (nominated for a Nebula). To end on a high note, this was a fun read. Another time travel story, it’s lighter in tone and much more playful than Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach. Alice Payne is a mixed-race woman from the 18th Century England who gets accidentally involved in the machinations of an organisation busy fighting a war far in the future – and also in the past. It is a scene setter for the upcoming series and not much is revealed of the larger story, but I believe it’s safe to say everyone has gotten more than they bargained for in Alice.

Overall, this was a great, varied bunch. As I mentioned, the Nebulas have already been announced (Hugos will be awarded in August) and The Tea Master and the Detective has got it. I would not be surprised if it gets a Hugo as well, although I expect fierce competition from Artificial Condition. In terms of quality, I think The Black God’s Drums and Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach are up there as well, but I suspect their appeal might be a bit more niche. I can’t really see Okorafor or McGuire winning in this string field; then again, both do have a Hugo for earlier works in the same series, so who knows.

Have you read any of these? Thoughts?