Ken Liu, Writer

Author of The Grace of Kings and The Paper Menagerie

nebulas

Some Concluding Thoughts on the Nebula Nominees

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I’ve read all the short fiction Nebula nominees this year.

The best part of the experience has been seeing how diverse the field is. These stories are widely divergent in style and voice, and they define “science fiction” and “fantasy” in very different ways.

This makes me happy.

You’re not going to like all of the stories nominated, but I think you’ll find something to appreciate in each one.

People are always worried about “trends” and how the kind of stories they like aren’t being written and read. But looking at the nominees this year, I’d say that such worries are misplaced. The field is still developing, growing lusciously in every direction.

The Axiom of Choice

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“The Axiom of Choice,” by David W. Goldman (New Haven Review, Winter 2011).

What a great way to end my Nebula reading.

I have a weakness for second-person narratives. (And I love adventure games).

This story begins as a literary version of a choose-you-own-adventure book, but soon turns into something else. I can’t tell you what. You have to go read it. Have to.

I stood on the train platform to finish this story just so I wouldn’t have to stop. It was that good.

The Man Who Bridged the Mist

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“The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011).

Almost done with all of the short fiction Nebula nominees…

Kij Johnson’s stuff is usually awesome (who can forget “Spar”?), and I like this one as well. The novella is an interesting selection for Asimov’s: it hovers half way between fantasy and science fiction.

The hero of this story is the lead architect for a suspension bridge over a river of “mist” that will connect a divided Empire. In so doing, he (and we) learn that a great engineering project like this knits together not only iron, stone, and rope, but also the people who work on it. In changing the landscape and the flow of trade and goods, the bridge also alters the lives of the people around it irrevocably.

I like the way the precise nature of the mist is never made clear: is it magical or just some kind of physical matter we don’t understand? Such questions are beside the point.

Two More Nebula Nominees

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“What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011): what if the notion of the observer changing the observed applied at the level of all of science? I have a soft spot for works that try to tackle difficult problems about justice and history. This one does not disappoint.

“Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son,” by Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2011): what happens to a boy who is experimented on to think like a quantum computer? I’m impressed by the skillful way in which the premise is introduced. The pacing and the laying out of information is perfectly executed. Not a word is wasted.

The Ice Owl

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“The Ice Owl,” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2011). A meditation on memory, genocide, and the luxury of the young to be judgmental and morally pure.

I love the speculative center piece at the heart of this story: a painting made out of butterfly wings which relies on the optical properties of the nanostructures on the scales to form a second painting. The painting then ties into the iteration of certain mathematical equations to create a metaphor for life.

Moving and beautiful, the tone is held like the sustained Note that marks the passage of time in the novella’s city.

With Unclean Hands

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“With Unclean Hands,” by Adam-Troy Castro (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2011). It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Castro’s work, and I’ve nominated his stories multiple times.

Being an Analog story, this one is very different in tone and style from his nominated short story, “Her Husband’s Hands.” I can’t say much about it because the story relies on the reader discovering the morality play along with the characters. Do read it.