Saturdays in Books

This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so.

All of these are available online, so I've included links.

• “Carnival Nine,” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, May 2017) - A well written story with a different take on the spoons metaphor, I liked this quite a bit. It's both cute and sharp.

• “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand,” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny, September 2017) - I forgot this as soon as I finished it, which is not a great sign.

• “Fandom for Robots,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny, September/October 2017) - Adorable tale about robots and fan fiction. So cute! Probably my favorite on this list.

• “The Martian Obelisk,” by Linda Nagata (Tor.com, July 19, 2017) - Well written, but feels out of date. Like it was written in the early 90's or something.

• “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon, (Uncanny, May/June 2017) - Good, but not even in Vernon's top 10.

• “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex, August 2017) - The most obviously relevant work to today's world, this was interesting and uncomfortable and has already won a Nebula.

For me, Fandom for Robots is top of the ballot. The story just fires on all cylinders. Roanhorse's story is second, followed closely by Yoachim and Vernon. I'm not sure I'll list the remaining 2 on my ballot. I just didn't feel strongly about either one.