Battle of the Books, Bracket Six, Championship Round :: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress vs. Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey

We have arrived at the championship of Bracket Six of the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books. In one corner we have After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress. In the other corner we have Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall: Tachyon trade paperback, April 2012, 183 pages, cover design by Elizabeth Story. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall won this year's Nebula and Locus Awards for best novella and was nominated for the Hugo. It reached the Battle of the Books championship round by knocking off The Skybound Sea by Sam Sykes, Pazuzu's Girl by Rachel Coles, and Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is a pre-/post-apocalyptic novel, with scenes alternating between the present day, the very near future as ecocatastrophe strikes, and in a ruined future a generation from now. In the present day, mathematician and new single mother Julie Kahn attempts to determine the pattern behind a series of strange child abductions, while simultaneously becoming alarmed by environmental research she has come across. In the year 2035, the last few surviving humans scratch out a life in an enclosed habitat, using a time machine provided to them by unseen aliens to obtain supplies and reinforcements from the past. In their cramped home, interpersonal tensions are reaching a boiling point, and our main character Pete desperately seeks some avenue of escape.

Caliban's War: Orbit trade paperback, July 2012, 595 pages, cover art by Daniel Dociu. James S.A. Corey is the joint pseudonym of Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck. Caliban's War is the second volume of their Expanse series; the first book, Leviathan Wakes, was a Hugo nominee. Caliban's War got here by defeating Blood of the City by Robin D. Laws, London Eye by Tim Lebbon, and Be My Enemy by Ian McDonald.

In Caliban's War, a bizarre creature has attacked Ganymede. Everyone suspects the creature is related somehow to the alien intelligence that wreaked havoc in Leviathan's Wake before settling on Venus. Jim Holden, a spaceship captain who was a main character of Leviathan's Wake, is sent to Ganymede to investigate, where he joins forces with Prax, a researcher on Ganymede desperate to find his daughter, who was abducted the day of the attack. Meanwhile, Bobbie Draper, a spunky soldier who survived the Ganymede attack, meets up with Chrisjen Avasarala, assistant to the undersecretary of executive administration on Earth, who pretty much runs the whole Earth governmentan from that position.

The Battle: Usually I judge the championship round by reading both books to page 200, and deciding which book I most want to read to the end. We have to modify that for this battle, since After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is only 183 pages long. Exercising my judge's discretion, I decided to read to page 150 of that one, while still reading to page 200 of Caliban's War. That means I've read more pages of Caliban's War, but a greater percentage of the story of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, so hopefully that evens out and makes for a fair contest.

The first thing to be clear about is these are both very strong, wonderfully written stories. They are entertaining and thought-provoking, and I recommend both books. But I have to choose one as our Bracket Six champion. So I'm going to manage to find fault with one of them, but it doesn't change the fact that they are both very fine works.

The Battle of the Books makes for an awfully demanding format. To win a bracket, not only does a book need to be very well written, but it has to succeed in building the reader's interest through multiple sections. You need a good opening 25 pages to win in the first round, then to follow the opening scene up with something interesting through the first 50 pages to win in the second round, and then keep building tension through 100 pages to make it through the semifinals. Finally, to win the championship, the section after page 100 has to continue to develop the story, so that the reader can sense interesting turns and a strong climax to the story on the way.

As much as I'm enjoying After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, for me the section after page 100 has not done much to build my interest. In the present day, Julie has gone into hiding, believing herself in danger from some conspiracy to conceal the coming ecological catastrophe. She may be right, but I don't much care. We already know the world is going to end in a matter of months, so whatever short-lived conspiracy may exist seems irrelevant to me. In the future, the story has settled into Pete and a former rival foolishly obsessing about finding and killing the alien beings who provided the habitat and time machine that keep them alive. They're obviously in no position to do any real damage, so this also feels a bit pointless. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is still a wonderfully done story overall, but the Battle of the Books is about more than whether the story succeeds "overall."

In contrast, between pages 100 and 200, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck have managed to continue to build interest in the story. For one thing, they paired up their viewpoint characters in a way that really works, at least for me. I wasn't especially interested in Prax's search for his daughter, but it intrigued me when Prax and Holden met up, and now I want to see where their joint investigation will lead them. Similarly, Bobbie is a great character but I wasn't sure what role she would play in the main narrative. But now that she has gotten together with Avasarala, we can see that she will continue to be in the middle of the action, which makes me want to keep reading.

The authors include plenty of action, but vary it nicely. For instance, Holden and Prax get into a gun battle in one scene, but in another scene they avoid a gun battle by a clever impromptu negotiation. And the characters continue to develop in interesting ways, particularly some of the side characters. For example, Holden's crew member Amos had previously come across as easy-going, but between pages 100 and 200 of Caliban's War we get more glimpses of his complete personality, notably some bottled-up rage that comes to the surface unexpectedly.

Even though I really like After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, after 150 pages it wouldn't be quite so difficult to put down as it would have been after 25 pages or 50 or 100. Whereas after 200 pages, I want to keep reading Caliban's War more than ever.

THE WINNER: Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey

Caliban's War wins Bracket Six of the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books. Congratulations to Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who join Elizabeth Bear, James Renner, Paolo Bacigalupi, Ian Tregillis, and Keith Brooke as Battle of the Books champions.

I'll now hand the Battle of the Books over to Amy to judge Bracket Number Seven. Stay tuned for a whole new set of battles to come!

Battle of the Books, Bracket Six, First Semifinal :: Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston vs. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

The Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books returns with the long-anticipated first semifinal in Bracket Six, featuring Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston going against After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress. The book I (Aaron) most want to continue reading after 100 pages will reach the championship round.

Earth Unaware: Tor hardcover, July 2012, 364 pages, cover art by John Harris. Earth Unaware is the first volume in the First Formic War, a prequel series to the classic novel Ender's Game. Earth Unaware reached the Final Four by defeating The Snow by Ross S. Simon in the first round and False Covenant by Ari Marmell in the second round.

The first 50 pages of Earth Unaware introduced us to three key characters: Victor Delgado, a young engineer mining comets with his clan beyond the orbit of Pluto, who learns of an object decelerating toward the solar system, which he believes to be an alien spacecraft; ambitious businessman Lem Jukes, who determines to steal the comet currently being mined by Victor's clan, in order to test a new "gravity laser"; and Mazer Rackham, a Maori soldier being tested for a very elite fighting force. In the next 50 pages, Victor's clan debates how to respond to the approaching object, Mazer's tests take an alarming turn to torture, and Jukes begins his attack.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall: Tachyon trade paperback, April 2012, 183 pages, cover design by Elizabeth Story. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall won this year's Nebula and Locus Awards and was nominated for the Hugo. It reached the Final Four by defeating The Skybound Sea by Sam Sykes in the first round and Pazuzu's Girl by Rachel Coles in the second round.

The first 50 pages of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall introduced three parallel timelines: today, mathematician and single mother-to-be Julie Kahn analyzes the pattern behind a series of peculiar child abductions; in the near future, ominous new strains of bacteria are mutating; in the year 2035, the last few surviving humans cling to life in a strange habitat, using a time machine to obtain supplies and reinforcements from the past. In the next 50 pages, the bacteria in the near future become a threat to Earth's plant life, Julie goes into labor, and our viewpoint character in the far-future, Pete, begins to break from the strain of their enclosed lifestyle. He becomes violent and despondent with jealousy and foolishly attempts to run away.

The Battle: Generally, by the time we get to the semifinals, we're choosing between some darn good books. This battle is no exception. Through 100 pages, both these books are entertaining and engaging.

I might have expected Earth Unaware to begin with bass drums and cymbals as the seemingly belligerent "Formics" (come on, we all know they're the Buggers) arrive in our solar system. Instead, the novel starts earlier, introducing us to three interesting viewpoint characters, who have no idea yet that they've arrived at a crucial moment in history (although Victor suspects). All three storylines are well-constructed, with some nice interpersonal conflicts already established. I don't know how much of this is actually written by Orson Scott Card, but it all feels like his style——Aaron Johnston has taken well to Card's tutelage.

Similarly, After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is an apocalyptic tale, but Nancy Kress is much more concerned with the emotional strain on individual human beings than on explosions and special effects. The present-day and 2035 timelines are very nicely written, with solid characterization. The near-future timeline, which lacks any characters, feels a bit repetitive, but it does build an ominous mood as Julie's timeline begins to converge with it.

Through 100 pages, both these books have proven well worth the reader's time. Both feature interesting storylines and good characters. But there is only one character in either book who is compelling to me. In the year 2035, Pete is fighting hard to survive in a bizarre future, but his thoughts are consumed by feelings of love and jealousy and betrayal that any of us can relate to. He is in love with an older member of their band, but he doesn't get to have her because he is not fertile. His internal struggle leads him outside the survivors' enclosure.

While I'd be happy to continue with either of these semifinalists, Pete is the character I most care about, and so his story is the one I don't want to stop reading.

THE WINNER: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall advances to the championship round, where it will face either Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey or Be My Enemy by Ian McDonald.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Bracket Six :: Final Four

After some delays, we're finally down to the Final Four in Bracket Six of the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books:

Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston vs. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey vs. Be My Enemy by Ian McDonald

We hope you've enjoyed this tournament so far. This sixteen-book bracket, our sixth, contained books from across the genre. There were science fiction, high fantasy, urban fantasy and horror books. Hopefully some sparked your interest. Good books can and do get knocked out of the competition in the first and second rounds due to strong competitors. I know there are books that I (Amy) would like to read.

Stopping reading good books after only 25 or 50 pages can be difficult, and so can judging between two completely different books. The Battle of the Books format allows us to sample and spread the word about many more new books and authors than we otherwise could.

Now only four books remain. All four "seeded" books made it to the Final Four. This is the first time this has happened.

Thanks again to all the authors and publicists sending us great books to consider. If you're an author or publicist, click here for the rules and an address to send your book if you'd like to be included in a future bracket.

We have had a great response to the Battle of the Books format. More brackets are to come!

Battle of the Books, Bracket Six, Second Round :: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress vs. Pazuzu's Girl by Rachel Coles

Apologies for neglecting the Battle of the Books recently; I've been distracted by some turmoil in my private life. (No, I'm not saying what -- this ain't that kind of a blog, eh?) I'll try to pick it up through the end of this bracket, and then Fantastic Reviewers Patty and Amy will be coming to my rescue, judging two of the next three brackets.

With that, we now continue the second round of Bracket Six of the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books with the matchup of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress versus Pazuzu's Girl by Rachel Coles. The winner will be the book I (Aaron) most want to continue reading after the first 50 pages.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall: Tachyon trade paperback, April 2012, 183 pages, cover design by Elizabeth Story. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is a current nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Novella, and it recently won the Nebula and Locus Awards. It reached the second round by defeating The Skybound Sea by Sam Sykes.

The opening of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall introduced three parallel timelines. In the present day, mathematician and single mother-to-be Julie Kahn analyzes the pattern behind a series of strange child abductions. In the very near future, new strains of bacteria are mutating. A generation into the future, the last few surviving humans cling to life with a time machine, which they use to obtain supplies and reinforcements from the past. They believe aliens they call the Tesslies have destroyed the world and preserved the survivors for unknown reasons. The second 25 pages focus primarily on the future survivors, including the dynamics between the last survivors of the old days, the few people born in captivity (so to speak) who lived, and the children snatched from the past.

Pazuzu's Girl: JournalStone trade paperback, February 2012, 266 pages, cover art by Philip Renne. Pazuzu's Girl is the first novel by Rachel Coles. It advanced to the second round with a win over Technomancer by B.V. Larson.

The title character of Pazuzu's Girl is Morpho Wilson, living in modern-day suburbia with her father, the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu. Pazuzu alternates between human form and existing as a plague of locusts, but Morpho has no such supernatural talent. Through 50 pages, we have had multiple hints that Morpho is in danger from her father's former demon lover, who killed Morpho's mother just as Morpho was born. Morpho also faces a more mundane threat from some nasty schoolmates.

The Battle: This was a much closer battle than expected. The Nancy Kress book is currently cleaning up in the awards season, while Pazuzu's Girl is the first novel by an unheralded author, but Rachel Coles held her own nicely.

Pazuzu's Girl features a solid story with some nice touches of humor. I feel that the narrative voice falters at time, and there is a scene of an attempted rape that could have been handled better——for one thing, it's the protagonist being attacked, yet Coles slips into the point of view of a minor character for that scene, which feels like a cop-out. But when Coles hits her stride, the writing is impressive, as in this scene shortly after Morpho's attack, when she uses the bathroom in her prospective boyfriend's house:

The light was burnt out, so she cracked the door and maneuvered by the sliver of hall light. As she was rinsing her hands, she surveyed her pale face and leaped back with a start. Ghostly silver moths fluttered in the mirror in front of her. But there were no moths visible outside the mirror, in the air.

She waved her hand before her reflected image and the moths in the mirror moved aside for the picture of her hand. Then they alighted on the image of her arm and shoulder. She felt a slight tingle where the moths landed. She quickly brushed her sholders and arms in a panic, though there was nothing there. As her trembling hand reached the door, a faint female voice whispered her name, pleading.

"Morpho, you know me."

"How do you know my name?"

"I named you. I am your mother."

The words dropped into a well of silence around Morpho.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is also very nicely written, and Kress varies the narrative voice for her different timelines perfectly. So far I'm particularly enjoying the "after the fall" scenes, which present some interesting group dynamics among the survivors, while simultaneously conveying in simple language a heavy sense of loss. Here, for example, the de facto leader of the survivors, McAllister, tells our viewpoint character Pete that she has named an infant he snatched "Petra" in his honor:

Petra. Despite himself, Pete rolled the name on his tongue, savoring it as once——only once——he'd savored "candy" that Paolo had Grabbed when he'd found himself sent to a store. They'd all had a piece. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, McAllister had called them. Feeling the astounding sweetness dissolve on his tongue, Pete had hated the Tesslies all over again. This, this, this——he might have had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup every day of his life! A whole Peanut Butter Cup, every day!

He might even have had a woman like McAllister.

I am enjoying both these books through 50 pages, but forced to choose only one to continue, I have to stick with Nancy Kress.

THE WINNER: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall advances to the semifinals, where it will take on Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Bracket Six, First Round :: The Skybound Sea by Sam Sykes vs After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

In the third battle of the first round of Bracket Six of the Battle of the Books we have The Skybound Sea (The Aeons' Gate, Book 3) by Sam Sykes versus After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress. The winner will be the book I (Aaron) most want to continue reading after 25 pages.

The Skybound Sea: Pyr trade paperback, September 2012, 494 pages, cover art by Paul Young. The Skybound Sea is the final volume of the Aeons' Gate trilogy of high fantasy, following Tome of the Undergates (I always read that title as Tomb of the Undergraduates, which sounds like a slasher film set in a sorority house, but alas, it ain't) and Black Halo. I've never met Sam Sykes and I can find no evidence that he existed before 2009, when he published his first piece of short fiction, cowritten with Diana Gabaldon; still, I've decided I like him, because he took the time to explain to the world once and for all that cats cannot solve mysteries. Incidentally, The Skybound Sea wins the damning-with-faint-praise award for the most understated cover blurb ever published, courtesy of John Scalzi: "I do not wish Sam Sykes dead."

As the third in a trilogy, The Skybound Sea starts with the action already in full swing. The book begins with a short summary of the story so far, followed by a scene in which a troubled fellow named Hanth scrambles to prevent a dangerous god called Daga-Mer from being released into the world. Then we check in with Lenk, a warrior I suspect is the main protagonist, who dreams of betraying and being betrayed. Next a man named Dreadaeleon, who is suffering from an unnatural degenerative condition called "the Decay," participates in an autopsy of a "netherling," carried out by companions who dislike and distrust one another.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall: Tachyon trade paperback, April 2012, 183 pages, cover design by Elizabeth Story. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is a current nominee for the Hugo Award foe Best Novella (although if it's under 40,000 words, it can't be by much). Kress has already won two Hugo Awards, four Nebulas, and a host of other honors.

As the title suggests, After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall follows three parallel timelines. In 2013, mathematician Julie Kahn is helping Agent Gordon of the FBI——with whom she has obvious sexual tension——to analyze the pattern behind a string of bizarre child abductions. In 2014, new strains of bacteria are forming. In 2035, the last few surviving humans cling to life with a time machine, which they use to obtain supplies and reinforcements from the past. They believe the world was destroyed by aliens they call the Tesslies, and that these aliens later provided the time machine for their own ineffable reasons. But none of the survivors has seen one of these creatures, so we don't know if that's right.

The Battle: The Skybound Sea has a brash, bold style——if it's ever filmed, the FX and make-up people will have a ball with the monsters while the score will be very heavy on bass drums. It takes a certain flair to pull this off, and Sykes demonstrates that, right from the book's opening lines:

No matter what god he believes in, a man is not entitled to much in life.

The Gods gave him breath. Then they gave him needs. Then they stopped giving.

I like that line, and the whole prologue, in which Lenk bitterly contemplates vengeance against everyone who has betrayed him. But after a few pages, Sykes' melodramatic style, filling the narrative with "viscous gossamer ooze" and "flaming urine," gets to be a bit much to my tastes. The idea of 470 more pages feels as much daunting as appealing.

Meanwhile, Kress masterfully eases us into the narrative of After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall. We start with an action sequence, one of the child abductions, from the point of view of the desperate abductor. There is an implicit moral issue about what the future remnants of humanity are doing, but Kress doesn't press the issue yet, giving the reader time to digest what's happening. Kress effectively interweaves the different timelines, building interest simultaneously in all three threads, while at the same time suggesting a lesson in how our future is at the mercy of the past and present. The characterization in the opening passage is also strong; I particularly like Pete, the doomed young man of the future, and I very much would like to read more about him. And that desire to keep reading is what the Battle of the Books is all about.

THE WINNER: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall moves into the second round, to take on either Technomancer by B.V. Larson or Pazuzu's Girl by Rachel Coles.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Aaron's Take on the 2010 Hugo Nominees :: NOVELLAS

Best novella is a strong category this year. Even though this is certainly the fiction category with the fewest eligible works published, the voters managed to find six worthy nominees. All of the nominees will have their supporters——several of the nominated authors are popular with the Hugo voters, plus Kage Baker will have a sympathy vote due to her untimely death——but my guess is John Scalzi will win a Hugo for the third straight year, his first in a fiction category.

Kage Baker's "The Women of Nell Gwynne's," a steampunk mystery with a group of prostitute/spies as lead characters, is mostly light entertainment but does have an appropriately dark edge when showing us why some of our heroines would choose this life. The tale features some wonderful dialogue and is great fun to read, but the whodunit does not satisfy and the story feels less complete than the other nominees. My guess is "The Women of Nell Gwynne's" was meant as the first in a series of stories about these remarkable ladies——see for instance my recommendation for The Bohemian Astrobleme——which sadly will now never be completed.

"Palimpsest" by Charles Stross is a time travel story on a very large scale. While it begins with the cliché of a time traveler killing his own grandfather, the tale quickly moves on to grander and more original issues about the fate of humanity over the next billions, even trillions, of years. The folks directing human destiny control time travel technology, although oddly their grand plans mostly involve moving planets around, not time travel. Stross throws plenty of interesting ideas at us, but fails to include strong enough characters to provide the emotional hook to carry us through this type of Stapledonian epic. The main character has very little personality, and his two girlfriends have none at all.

"Act One" by Nancy Kress, a former story recommendation of the week, explores the morality of an attempt to impose genetic modifications on humanity to give everyone a greater sense of empathy. This is a near-future story on a much smaller scale than "Palimpsest," but the superior characterization makes "Act One" more successful overall.

James Morrow is the best satirist in our field, and one of the two best ever along with John Sladek. "Shambling Towards Hiroshima" exemplifies his trademark dry humor. The protagonist is a Boris Karloff-style creature-feature actor, called on during World War II to give the Japanese a demonstation of the damage that will be inflicted, if they don't surrender, by a fearsome weapon the United States has developed: monstrous fire-breathing lizards. Morrow has great fun writing of the B-movie culture of 1940's Hollywood, but he doesn't quite manage to combine this with his serious point as seamlessly as in his best work. The goofy monster movie material takes over the story, while the endnote as to the morality of weapons of mass destruction feels tacked on.

Ian McDonald's "Vishnu at the Cat Circus" is the fascinating life story of a genetically engineered slow-aging super-genius who was instrumental, along with his unmodified brother, in the radical transformation of India. In contrast to "The Women of Nell Gwynne's," which suffered because it felt like the opening chapter of a larger unfinished work, "Vishnu at the Cat Circus" is impressive because it stands alone very well yet also is a terrific capstone to Ian McDonald's series of stories (as well as the novel River of Gods) set in a future India.

While all the nominees in this category are very good, my favorite is John Scalzi's "The God Engines," the thought-provoking story of Ean Tephe, captain of a starship powered by an enslaved god, captured and harnessed by the god Tephe worships. Not surprisingly, Tephe comes to doubt his faith in his own god, but from there matters do not play out as you might expect. The tale is an interesting blend of science fiction, fantasy, and horror elements.

John Scalzi has emerged in the past five years as one of the field's most capable authors, but at times he relies too heavily on snappy dialogue, rather than attempting something with more depth and emotional impact. "The God Engines" is thus a breakthrough work for him. Scalzi sets aside his usual sardonic humor in favor of original, intricate world-building and a compelling protagonist caught in the teeth of a dilemma from which there may be no way out. All of Scalzi's fiction is entertaining, but "The God Engines" is his best yet.

Aaron's Ballot for Best Novella
1. John Scalzi - The God Engines
2. Ian McDonald - Vishnu at the Cat Circus
3. James Morrow - Shambling Towards Hiroshima
4. Nancy Kress - Act One
5. Charles Stross - Palimpsest
6. Kage Baker - The Women of Nell Gwynne's

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations :: Novella

I didn't get to read that many novellas from 2009, but the small number I read included some outstanding stories. I plan to nominate these five for the Hugo Award:

Nancy Kress, Act One (Asimov's, March '09)
John Langan, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky (By Blood We Live)
Ian McDonald, Vishnu at the Cat Circus (Cyberabad Days)
James Morrow, Shambling Towards Hiroshima (Tachyon)
Jason Sanford, Sublimation Angels (Interzone, Sept-Oct '09)

With the exception of "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky," which is more likly to appeal to horror readers than SF fans, all of these have a reasonable chance of joining John Scalzi's The God Engines on the Hugo ballot. (I haven't yet read The God Engines, but given Scalzi's popularity with the Hugo voters, I am confident he doesn't need my help.)

Good luck to all of these deserving authors!

Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Asimov's Science Fiction October/November 2008

The Magazine of the Week is the October/November 2008 issues of Asimov's Science Fiction, which contains this year's Hugo Award winner for Best Novella, "The Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress. (The cover is retro, classic pulp art by Virgil Finlay.)

"The Erdmann Nexus" follows Henry Erdmann, an aging physicist in a nursing home, who is suffering strokelike incidents. He learns that others in the home are having similar episodes, and gradually comes to realize that they are all undergoing a remarkable transformation. Nancy Kress has been a regular fixture on the Hugo ballot, with eleven nominations since 1990, and "The Erdmann Nexus" is her second win (after the novella "Beggars in Spain," later expanded into a Hugo-nominated novel, about a new technology that allows folks wealthy enough to afford it to forgo sleep). She has also won four Nebulas and a host of other awards. She will be a guest of honor at MileHiCon here in Denver in October.

We'll get to the Hugo-winning novelette next, but first a science fiction novel that recently hit the big screen.

Aaron's Story Recommendation of the Week :: Act One by Nancy Kress

The story recommendation for this week goes to "Act One" by Nancy Kress, a novella from the March 2009 issue of Asimov's.

Late in "Act One," the narrator asks, "Is it wrong to genetically modify human beings?" This is an important question, one about which our society is currently in collective denial, apparently believing we can keep that genie in the bottle. "Act One" is set in the near future, as the technology is becoming available to genetically modify people, either by gene therapy in utero or by delivery of a gene-altering retrovirus. This technology will be developed not far in the future and it will be used, despite any laws we pass against it. "Act One" delves into some of the implications of tinkering with the blueprint for a human.

What's more, these implications are addressed in the context of an absorbing story, involving engaging and complex characters. Particularly compelling is the main protagonist, Barry Tenler, perhaps the best-drawn dwarf character I have seen in science fiction (depending on whether you think Miles Vorkosigan qualifies). He is resentful of his stature and the pain he endures daily but he soldiers on admirably; yet at the same time he is definitely a flawed human being who has made some regrettable decisions in his life -- far more interesting than the traditional plucky little person, a Hollywood stereoptype Barry himself mocks in the story.

As "Act One" begins, Barry is the manager of a beautiful actress whose career is in a tailspin. To prepare her for a role in a film about children who have been genetically altered for increased empathy, they visit a covert group bent on modifyinging mankind for greater compassion, a group prepared to act as ruthlessly as necessary to achieve this end. Is this justifiable? Nancy Kress gives no pat answers, but she asks the question in a fascinating way.

Aaron's Take on the 2008 Hugo Nominees :: NOVELLAS

My two least favorite of the novella nominees are both by writers for whom I have great respect, so I readily concede that I may have missed something. Memorare by Gene Wolfe started with an interesting premise, exploring asteroids carved into elaborate memorials, some of which are booby-trapped, but went off in a direction – the protagonist unexpectedly bumps into his ex-wife in space and they enter a surreal hollow asteroid together – that I found uninteresting and contrived. Recovering Apollo 8 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a little piece of nostalgia, centering on a rich man’s obsession with recovering the corpses of the Apollo 8 astronauts from space. This is alternate history, as in real life Apollo 8 returned safely to Earth. I somehow missed the point of the exercise, and found the whole story rather tedious.

The other three nominated novellas are all very good, although I have to put Lucius Shepard’s Stars Seen Through Stone third out of the three, because the science fictional element seems disconnected from the rest of the tale. It feels as if Shepard wanted to tell a humorous story about a music producer working with a talented but personally unappealing artist, but had to throw in some space aliens so he could sell the story to F&SF.

All Seated on the Ground, in which choir music is the key to communicating with aliens, does not rank with my favorite Connie Willis pieces, as I found the first two-thirds of the story overlong and repetitive. Still, it has Connie Willis’s trademark wit, and things come together so nicely by the end that the tale well rewards the patience required at the beginning.

My favorite of the nominees for best novella is The Fountain of Age by Nancy Kress. Kress is for me an inconsistent writer, producing some stories I enjoy very much and others that leave me cold, but she was on when she wrote The Fountain of Age, in which a wealthy old man searches for his lost love, whose blood was the key to creating a futuristic Hobson’s Choice: stop aging for twenty years, but with certain death waiting at the end of that period. I found this to be very much an award-caliber story, effective on both an emotional and intellectual level.

Aaron's Ballot:
1. Nancy Kress – The Fountain of Age
2. Connie Willis – All Seated on the Ground
3. Lucius Shepard – Stars Seen Through Stone
4. Kristine Kathryn Rusch – Recovering Apollo 8
5. Gene Wolfe – Memorare