There are various competitions that attempt to find the best science fiction, fantasy and horror of each year, and I've collated the winners and nominees from what seems to be the major awards in a series of posts (see the very bottom for links to all of them). The requirement for inclusion is that the award ceremony occurs in the current year (as listed in the title), so the post will be updated as they are announced throughout the year.
The awards considered are: Arthur C. Clarke, Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, BSFA, Compton Crook, Dragon, Eugie, Hugo/Lodestar, John W. Campbell Memorial, Lambda, Locus, Nebula/Andre Norton, Otherwise, Philip K. Dick, Prometheus, Shirley Jackson, Sturgeon and World Fantasy.
This is the post for the novelette category.
There's two options for viewing them. The first is my ranking, which is wildly subjective and limited to the ones I've read. The second is based on the "score" of each work, with a nomination giving 1 point, and a win giving 1.5 points. Otherwise it's ordered by title. Click the button to view.
My ranking
1: Weaponized Math by Jonathan P. Brazee falls into the science Fiction equivalent of the magical realism genre, with the SF being relatively light, in this case in the form of the "cool gun". I'm sure there must be a name for that, but I'm not sure what it is. Tell me in the comments. Gracie Medicine Crow is a sniper, over-seeing a small village in a war-torn area, and the action is limited to more or less a single interaction. And even though it's light on the SF, I don't care in the slightest. It's a brilliantly written piece, combining the tense action and vibrant and vicious movements of the characters with a pleasantly deep insight into the mind of a sniper and the mathematics it involves. The best of the lot. Nebula Read online
2: The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer is a Pixar film in waiting about an old model multi-bot (Bot 9) woken by a decrepit ship AI to hunt down a rodent problem. Unfortunately, that ship happens to be mankind's last great hope against an alien invader, carrying the one weapon that might be able to stop them. It's a rather brilliant tale, with sarcastic bots, deadpan AI and humans who really should have a better idea about what's going on. Hugo - Winner Sturgeon Read online
3: A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad is one of those stories that is a bit too close to reality, given we've already started bio-printing food. Here, we follow the troubles of two people in the food faking business, who must carefully construct steaks good enough to convince people that they came out of a real cow. They develop a bit of a problem when someone figures out who they are and sets up a little bit of blackmail in order to get a free job out of them. It's a rather clever little thing, with enjoyable details about fractal marbling and bone construction. One day, it'll probably be a real job. (People fake the lineage of beef already.) Hugo Nebula Sturgeon Read online
4: The Lamentation of their Women by Kai Ashante Wilson is a punchy revenge fantasy by way of Black Lives Matter, with the Devil handing two of his nastiest weapons into Nisha's inheritance from a hoarding aunt. Under the mainline violence runs a lot of things left unsaid, and a few hints of the monstrosity of the guns, all seen through the eyes of Nisha, a character and a half. Locus Read online
5: The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids by Seanan McGuire takes the counting rhyme about crows and gives it an OCD twist, in the form of Brenda and her fascination with patterns. Unfortunately, since this is a dark tale, her regular life gets more than a bit of randomness forced into it, and her mind jumps the tracks a little back. Bit lacking in magic, but a decent look at mental illness. Locus Amazon UK Amazon US
6: Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time by K.M. Szpara is "turned by a vampire" tale which draws a compelling parallel between the human to vampire shift and the transition between gender expression. It's an emotionally deep piece, that does a good job of combining the two stresses, and sets up a scenario that I'd be intrigued to see more of. Hugo Nebula Read online
7: Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee is a James Bond in space, with a vibrant hero who has to rescue a captured team and their diplomat friend. It's a fast-paced affair, with a fair few twists and some impressive silliness, helped along by a comedic hero. Hugo Locus Read online
8: Children of Thorns, Children of Water by Aliette de Bodard is set in a political thriller world, with different Houses each having their own magic, based on them being "Fallen", or having some grasp of Khi, which seems similar to the Feng Shui energy. Two miscreants of a weak house are attempting to infiltrate a stronger one by getting employed during the yearly recruiting day. Unfortunately, the children of thorns have other opinions. I'm honestly not sure what was going on in this. Got a bit confused partway through, but didn't thrill me, regardless. Hugo Locus Read online
9: The Worshipful Society of Glovers by Mary Robinette Kowal is a fairly simple "never make deals with fairies" story, in which the magical element are gloves, each pair of which are enchanted to provide some effect or other (strength, attractiveness, language skills etc). Our glovemaker wants to make some "off the books" gloves of seizure prevention for his sister, and so goes to a lot of trouble to get round the various restrictions on making them. Not particularly novel. Locus Read online
10: Waiting on a Bright Moon by JY Yang like her recent novella again deals with the themes of love and revolution. Here, the love is between a starmage (Chinese mythology-inspired Space Marine) and an ansible, a young woman who can create portals through space back to homeworld by singing, and their revolution opposes the way the Empire treats their colony. Found it a bit shallow, with the most impactful moment being the horrific torture/execution, described in impressive detail. Locus Read online
11: Wind Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker is set on a generational colony ship, as it traverses the stars for hundreds of years, running from a ruined Earth. It's all seen through the eyes of a fiddler, who is part of one of the "memory projects", the crew's attempt to rebuild all of the history they lost in the "blackout", when a virus ravaged the ship's systems. It's mostly a philosophical consideration of the value of history, especially in a society which is static, with each generation having children who will have the exact same lives as their grandparents. Not enough happened in it for my liking, but it is a decent examination of the societal problems that would arise in that sort of environment. Hugo Locus Nebula Read online
12: A Human Stain by Kelly Robson is a fairly traditional "creepy castle on the hill" horor story, with a weird little boy and malicious staff. Helen is brought to the house to look after Peter, an orphan boy with an obsession with a door in his cellar. This probably suffers from my general lack of interest in horror, as I didn't find much in it to really grab me. The text is pleasantly poetic, and the descriptive writing is rather lovely, but I can't say it was one I was desperate to get to the climax of. Nebula - Winner Read online
13: The Hidden Girl by Ken Liu reminded me greatly of Across The Nightingale Floor a book series I really enjoyed as a kid. This has an assassin with special powers, but here they're based on the folding of space, rather than an inherent gift. It's okay, but only okay. The style felt weirdly flat to me, even though it's aiming for poetic. Locus Amazon UK Amazon US
14: Dirty Old Town by Richard Bowes by Richard Bowes is a vague meander through the history of the Irish families of Boston, seen through the eyes of two children, one a victim, one a bully. The two are linked by a little magic and a lot of background, but they don't really have much to say, and don't get up to much terribly exciting. Nebula Amazon UK Amazon US
15: The Hermit of Houston by Samuel R. Delany is set in a future dystopia which takes the current Trump/Pence nonsense and runs with it. All genders are tolerated, but sexes are segregated, with forced/induced homosexuality used as a method of controlling the population. Maybe. It's a horribly distracted piece, without any sense of direction or reason, mixing up Handmaid's Tale, Black Mirror and a political screed, failing to generate a compelling result, and needing a clumsy infodump to make its point. Locus - Winner Amazon UK Amazon US
Tagged: Awards Literature Novelette
2018 Literature Award Database
2018 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel Awards
2018 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novella Awards
2018 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novelette Awards
2018 Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story Awards
2018 Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology/Collection Awards