Jason Sanford

A great year for science fiction and fantasy novellas

Last night I finished reading The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang and, as usual with Chiang's work, his novella blew me away. Equally amazing is that 2010 has been an excellent year for novella-length fiction, with a number of novellas which will make my short-list for the major awards.

So far my favorites are:

• The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang, Subterranean Books
  Is it even possible for Ted Chiang to write a less-than-great story? This novella follows the deepening relationships of humans and emergent AIs who were originally created as digital pets. A moving and all-too-possible tale.
   
• "A History of Terraforming" by Robert Reed, Asimov's July 2010
  An epic storytelling feat in which a scientist's life parallels the advances and setbacks of both humanity and terraforming.
   
  
• "Becoming One With the Ghosts" by Kathryn Kristine Rusch, Asimov's Oct./Nov. 2010
  This is the story of the Ivoire, a space-going battleship which lands at its repair base only to learn things have gone tragically wrong. A fascinating examination of how time makes ghosts of us all.
   
• "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance" by Paul Park, F&SF, Jan./Feb. 2010
  This offbeat novella is basically a literary memoir which extends its life-exploration into future years. An amazing treat.
   
• "The Sultan of the Skies" by Geoffrey A. Landis, Asimov's Sept. 2010
  A near-perfect hard science fiction story set among the clouds of Venus, and also a touching portrait of obsession and unrequited love.
   
• "The Union of Soil and Sky" by Gregory Norman Bossert, Asimov's April/May 2010
  This tale of alien archeology is Bossert's first genre publication, and it is a fun and well written debut.

In addition to these novellas, there have also been some excellent novelettes which border on being novella length, including "The Crocodiles" by Steven Popkes from F&SF May/June 2010. And from this list it's obvious Asimov's has been the place to go in 2010 for top-notch novellas.

I'm not sure which of these novellas I'd pick as my top choice for next year's Hugo and Nebula Awards, but it's wonderful to have such an amazing set of choices. And the best thing is 2010's not close to being over.

The online SciFi Strange anthology

Note: A year ago I first noticed a new trend in science fiction which I called SciFi Strange. Since then I've been compiling a list of SciFi Strange stories. Hence this online "anthology." Please enjoy.

Introduction to SciFi Strange

SciFi Strange isn't a label. It isn't a definition.  Instead, it's an attempt to describe the science fiction being created by some of today's most exciting writers. These stories combine the literary standards and cultural understandings of the New Wave movement with the basic strangeness and sensawunda from the golden age of science fiction--all seen through the lens of today's multicultural world, where diversity and difference are the norm even as basic human values and needs still bind us together.

SciFi Strange also flirts with the boundaries of what is scientifically--and therefore realistically--possible, without being bounded by the rigid frames of the world as we know it today. But don't call SciFi Strange fantasy. This is pure science fiction. It's merely an updated version of the literature of ideas. A science fiction for a world where the frontiers of scientific possibility are almost philosophical in nature.

Writers of SciFi Strange are a diverse group. Many are new writers who first came to the genre by experiencing science fiction in film and video games--meaning they don't see the term SciFi as derogatory but instead as celebratory. A few have been writing science fiction for decades. Others mainly write fantasy, but cross over into science fiction from time to time. The more established of these authors publish their stories in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Asimov's. The newer ones frequently find homes in Interzone, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Strange Horizons.

Please understand that this is a dream anthology. Unless a publisher offers to actually publish an book along these lines, this is as far as I go. But the stories below are still well worth the read, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

The SciFi Strange Stories

• "Exhalation" (PDF) by Ted Chiang
  Published in Eclipse Two; winner of the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
• "The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black" by Jay Lake
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi
  Published in Fast Forward 2; finalist for the 2009 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novelette.
• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" (podcast) by Eugie Foster
  Published in Interzone, winner of the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, finalist for the 2009 Hugo Award.
• "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" by Nnedi Okorafor
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky
  Published in Tor.com, finalist for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
• "Longing for Langalana" (PDF) by Mercurio D. Rivera.
  Published in Interzone; winner of the 2006 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• "Elegy for a Young Elk" by Hannu Rajaniemi
  Published in Subterranean Online.
• "Blue Ink" by Yoon Ha Lee
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" (PDF) by Jason Sanford
  I know, its crass of me to include my own story but since it's my dream anthology kiss off if you have a complaint. Published in Interzone, reprinted in Year's Best SF 14.
• "Spinning Out" by Jamie Barras
  Published in Strange Horizons.
• "Ack-Ack Macaque" (podcast) by Gareth L. Powell
  Published in Interzone. Winner of the 2007 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• "The Integrity of the Chain" and "The Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated String" by Lavie Tidhar
  Both published in Fantasy Magazine, but yes, they are science fiction.
• "Jigoku no Mokushiroku" by John G. McDaid
  An older story, but definitely SciFi Strange. Originally published in Asimov's.
• "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline M. Yoachim
  Published in Asimov's. (Note: I originally had this in the list of print-only stories I wished to include. But now that Yoachim has posted the story online, I no longer have to wish.)

Stories I'd love to include in this "anthology" but which aren't online include

• "Third Day Lights" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  Published in Interzone, reprinted in Year's Best SF 11.
• "Skinner's Room" by William Gibson
  An older story, but still one which fits with SciFi Strange. Gibson later revisited this short story in his Bridge trilogy.
• "Làzaro y Antonio" by Marta Randall
  Published in F&SF.
• "Butterfly, Falling at Dawn" by Aliette de Bodard
  Published in Interzone, reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. (See Update Below)

If you know any stories which would make a good addition to this online anthology, please add them in the comments below.

Update: I have reluctantly removed Aliette's story "Butterfly, Falling at Dawn" from this online anthology wish list. While I love Aliette's story, upon further reflection I realize it is more of a traditional alternate history than a SciFi Strange story. While there are several elements of the story which fit in perfectly with SciFi Strange, overall it isn't the best example of this trend. That said, I still urge people to track down this great story and read it--along with the rest of the wonderful fiction Aliette writes.

Our science fiction isn't your father's SF

The February 2010 issue of Asimov's contains an amazing story in "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline M. Yoachim. This story is set in a far future village which exists alongside the ancient remnants of a high-technology wall. When a new ruler takes control of the land, he sends his vanquished foes to this village, where they are cut open and strung to a wall. The wall not only keeps these people alive but reveals to them their inner devils and hells. Once that is done, the person is sewn back together and allowed to live--if people can truly live after having witnessed the darkness within the minds and souls of all humans.

This is one of those rare stories I immediately reread upon finish it. In fact, I felt the same way reading this story as I did last year about Eugie Foster's novelette "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" (which won a well-deserved Nebula Award and is a finalist for the Hugo). Like Foster's novelette, Yoachim's story also struck me as a perfect example of SciFi Strange and will be on my list of the year's best stories. But that said, I also knew many science fiction fans would have the same issue with Yoachim's story as with the other SciFi Strange stories I love. Because every single aspect of the story isn't explained, for many people a story like this simply can't be called science fiction.

Sure enough, when I looked for reviews on the story I found these comments in Tangent Online by Carl Slaughter. While Carl praises the story, he asks "What is the source of the wall's power?  The author doesn't say.  We don't discover the origin and nature of the wall.  Nor the identity of the Ancients who built it, nor the time and place of the story.  Thus the story is a masterpiece, but a masterpiece of fantasy rather than science fiction."

That review drives me crazy with its narrow view on what qualifies as science fiction (although I totally agree with Carl that the story is a masterpiece). The truth is there are many accepted tropes in science fiction which are not technically possible or can't be accurately explained, including faster than light travel, time travel, dimensional travel and so on. However, if an author uses these tropes in their story they're okay and still writing science fiction. But if an author tries to explore a possible future technology but don't explain said technology in mind-numbing detail, they aren't SF.

I have a mouth and I must scream! Which, by the way, refers to another famous science fiction story which doesn't explain how everything works. I mean, a computer the size of a planet which can trap people inside it for all eternity? Provide me a précis on how that is possible under what we currenty know about science and technology. It isn't. But Ellison's classic story is still pure science fiction.

Part of the problem is that the science fiction genre has become too narrow in what it accepts as legitimate SF. We live in a world where our most advanced theoretical sciences like quantum mechanics are almost philosophical in nature. But instead of allowing our science fiction to be as equally free to explore the universe, we box it in. And ironically, we're not even consistent in how we do this. For example, people screamed when the last Star Trek film tripped into the red matter realm, but they didn't say a word about universal translators, transporters, and Spock being the offspring of two totally different alien species. But all these conventions are accepted as SF without a second thought.

This is made even more amusing when you consider that the science in many older SF classics was flat out wrong when the authors originally wrote them. For example, in Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, the book opens with the discovery that Mars is inhabited, and even mentions Martian canals. Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles deals with a similarly occupied Mars. However, when the authors wrote those science fiction classics it was known to science that Mars was a hostile environment which did not contain advanced life. So why were those books accepted as being part of the SF genre?

Likewise, in Gene Wolfe's classic Book of the New Sun series, the science and setting are so far in the future that the science behind everything is more fantasy than real.  Again, the science isn't explained to the Nth degree, but the books are accepted as being science fiction.

What these examples prove is that being part of the science fiction genre is about more than simply writing accurately about science. It is also about exploring ideas and visions and possible futures. So why the different standard when new writers like Yoachim and Foster do that very thing? I have yet to read a convincing explanation for this divide.

I suspect that just as science has expanded into disconcerting places in the last decade, some people are disturbed by where science fiction is going these days. So they simply wave their hand and state that certain stories can't possibly be science fiction.

Which is too bad. Because while our science fiction may not be your father's SF, all these stories belong to the same genre.

My review of Dark Faith, edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon

My review of the Dark Faith anthology, edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, is now up at SF Signal.

While people can read the review for the specifics, overall this is an excellent collection with several stories which rank among the year's best, including "Ghosts of New York" by Jennifer Pelland, "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation" by Douglas F. Warrick, and especially Gary A. Braunbeck's "For My Next Trick I'll Need A Volunteer."

My early picks for the best stories of the year

I've been way lazy on mentioning the stories which have caught my attention this year. Here is a preliminary list of stories I consider among the best of 2010. Obviously I'll be adding to this list as the year goes on.

• "A History of Terraforming" by Robert Reed, Asimov's July 2010. An epic storytelling feat. Will definitely make my Nebula Award short-list as one of the best novellas of the year.
   
  
• "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline Yoachim, Asimov's Feb. 2010. In this far-future tale, a technology people no longer understand allows prisoners to be literally cut open and exposed to the truth of who they are. A beautifully spun tale of politics and life, and a perfect example of SciFi Strange.
   
• "In the Harsh Glow of its Incandescent Beauty" by Mercurio D. Rivera, Interzone 226. A continuation of Rivera's "Longing for Langalana" story about an alien species deeply in love with humanity. A fascinating idea backed up by great storytelling.
   
• "A Passion For Art" by David D. Levine, Interzone 228. A disturbing tale about where an obsessive passion for art leads if your passion shines through selfish eyes.
   
• "The Crocodiles" by Steven Popkes, F&SF May/June 2010. An even more disturbing tale combining the Nazis, the Holocaust, and zombies. The story is repulsive yet refuses to let you go. Do not expect happiness here, but do expect an amazing read.
   
• Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. After winning the Nebula Award for The Windup Girl, Bacigalupi returns with a young adult novel that's among the year's best. As with Bacigalupi's adult fiction, this novel of an not-so-happy future is compelling and full of sympathetic characters the reader quickly falls in love with.

Interzone Readers' Poll Selections

The Interzone Readers' Poll is running now through March 31. Readers can see all the eligible works, and vote for or against the stories and art, over on the Interzone Readers' Poll page.

Last year I was honored to have my story "When Thorns Are the Tips of Trees" win the Readers' Poll. This year I have two stories eligible: My novella "Sublimation Angels" (available at that link as a PDF download) and the short story "Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows."

Obviously I won't be voting for my own stories in the award. My positive votes for stories are:

• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster, which made the BSFA Award shortlist for best short fiction and is doing well in nominations in the Nebula Award's novelette category. (Note to Nebula and BSFA voters: Read this story and vote for it!). This was one of my favorite stories of 2009, for reasons explained in my original review. This is the story I expect to win the Readers' Poll.
• "No Longer You" by Katherine Sparrow and Rachel Swirsky.
• "The Festival of Tethselem" by Chris Butler.
• "The Godfall's Chemsong" by Jeremiah Tolbert.
• "The Killing Streets" by Colin Harvey.
• "Memory Dust" by Gareth L. Powell.
• "By Starlight" by Rebecca J. Payne.

My positive votes for the art are

• Adam Tredowski's amazing cover for Interzone 224.
• Mark Pexton's art for "Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows".
• Paul Drummond's art for "Sublimation Angels". (And yes, I realize I'm voting for both of the artists who illustrated my stories, but that's an easy thing to do when you love their work. If anyone doesn't like this, feel free to write me a nasty email.)

I could have voted for more stories, but decided to limit myself to seven. I also decided not to cast any negative votes this year because none of the Interzone stories really rubbed me wrong. Interzone remains my favorite SF/F magazine, and 2009 will go down as one of their best years ever.

My final nominations for the 2009 Nebula Awards

Back in November, I made a few initial nominations for the Nebula Awards because I wanted to bring early attention to deserving stories and novels. But I still had a few spaces left on my nomination ballot--you can nominate up to five stories or novels in each category--so after additional reading I've added more stories to the mix.

Here are my final nominations:

Short story

• "The Art of the Dragon" by Sean McMullen, F&SF, Aug-Sept. 2009.
• "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" by Nnedi Okorafor, Clarkesworld, May 2009. In case you're curious, this is a great example of SciFi Strange.
• "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar, Strange Horizons, Jan. 2009. See my original review here.
• "Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela" by Saladin Ahmed, Clockwork Phoenix 2, edited by Mike Allen.
• "Before My Last Breath" by Robert Reed, Asimov's, October/November 2009.

Novelette

• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster, Apex Magazine, August 2009. See my original review here. And while this story was originally published in Interzone, it is eligible due to both reprinting in Apex and because Interzone publishes an electronic edition. It's also another great example of SciFi Strange.
• "A Memory of Wind" by Rachel Swirsky, Tor.com, November 2009
• "The Radio Magician" by James Van Pelt, Realms of Fantasy, February 2009. See my original review here.
• "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky, Tor.com, March 2009.
• "The Magician's House" by Meghan McCarron, Strange Horizons, July 2008. Read my original review here.

Novella

• "Arkfall" by Carolyn Ives Gilman, F&SF, September 2008. Read my original review here.
• "The God Engines" by John Scalzi, Subterranean Press, 2009.

Novel

• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. See my review here. If this novel does not make the final ballot, it will be a true shame.
• Green by Jay Lake.
• The Walls of the Universe by Paul Melko.
• Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Bradbury Award

• Moon, film by Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker.
• Avatar, film by James Cameron.
• Coraline, film by Henry Selick.
• Ponyo, film by Hayao Miyazaki.
• Up, film by Bob Peterson and Pete Docter.

Andre Norton Award

• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente.
• Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. Read my original review here. And you should know my son threatened me if I didn't add this book to my list (but I was going to anyway).
• Fire by Kristin Cashore.

The Nebula Award nominating period runs through Feb. 15. I hope people will check out the stories and novels listed here--I can't recommend them enough--and make their own nominations before the deadline.

A Story Worth Reading: Richard McKenna's "The Secret Place"

My local library has a large collection of science fiction anthologies from the 1960s and 70s, and in Nebula Award Stories 2 is an amazing story you maybe haven't read, Richard McKenna's "The Secret Place."

McKenna was a sailor and writer best known for his novel The Sand Pebbles, set on a navy gunboat in 1930's China and made into a 1966 Hollywood film. But McKenna was also a well-respected science fiction author, and "The Secret Place" shows him as a master of the short story form.

The story follows the work of a geology assistant, part of a team searching for uranium in the desert near Barker, Oregon, during World War II. The only reason the team is there is because a local boy was found dead in the desert a decade before holding a sack of gold and a crystal of uranium oxide. But the lead geologist knows this search is a waste of time--the desert here simply doesn't contain either gold or uranium. Still, the team works on because the Army has ordered them to.

Eventually the assistant is left behind to carry on the pretense of a search. At this point he runs head-long into the myths of this desert region. The locals aren't happy with outsiders attempting to find their mythical mine, or to prove it doesn't exist. The dead boy's sister, who played fairy games with him in the desert, knows much more than she is capable of saying. As the assistant geologist flings himself closer to the truth, pursuing his own cruel ideas of what this game means, science and myth spin into worlds he can't possible understand.

"The Secret Place" is amazing, and well deserving of the Nebula Award for Best Short Story it won in 1966. Unfortunately, the story was published posthumously, as McKenna died two years before of a heart attack. This is a shame, as one can't help but wonder what McKenna would have written had he lived. "The Secret Place" could stand with the best literary short stories even if published today, and anticipated by more than 20 years the fusion of psychological myth and literary writing Robert Holdstock used to such great effect in his Mythago Wood series.

My nominations for the 2009 Nebula Awards

At 4:30 am this morning the SFWA sent out the voting instructions for the Nebula Awards. Basically, until February 15th SFWA members can nominated eligible stories online through the SFWA website. Here's a direct link to the ballot, but you'll have to log in to see it. You can also see the running tally here.

Because the nominating rules were recently changed, there is a bit of a holdover in that stories "which received at least five (5) recommendations under the previous Nebula Awards rules and were published after July 1, 2008, but didn't make the 2008 Preliminary Ballot get to have those nominations added to their total for this year." This means "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay now has 6 nominations for best novella (see note below) and "I Remember the Future" by Michael A Burstein has 5 for best short story.

For anyone interested in what other stories and books might be up for the Nebula awards, check out the Nebula Suggested Reading. Many thanks to the unknown people who suggested my short story "When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees" (available at that link as a PDF download; originally published in Interzone, but eligible for the Nebula by being reprinted in Apex Magazine, May 2009).

Since I have several months to make my nominations, I will likely add to the following list. But until then, here are my nominations. And yes, I think everyone should vote for these stories and novels.

Short story

• "The Art of the Dragon" by Sean McMullen, F&SF, Aug-Sept. 2009.
• "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" by Nnedi Okorafor, Clarkesworld, May 2009. In case you're curious, this is a great example of SciFi Strange.
• "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar, Strange Horizons, Jan. 2009. See my original review here.
• "The Radio Magician" by James Van Pelt, Realms of Fantasy, February 2009. See my original review here.

Novelette

• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster, Apex Magazine, August 2009. See my original review here. And note while this story was originally published in Interzone, it is eligible due to reprinting in Apex. It's also another great example of SciFi Strange.
• "A Memory of Wind" by Rachel Swirsky, Tor.com, November 2009

Novella

• "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay, F&SF Aug. 2008. Please note that I nominated this novella last year; under the rules, I can't nominate it again since last year's nomination still counts. But I still urge others to consider it. Update: It turns out this novella was on last year's final ballot, so isn't eligible for this year's. SFWA is correcting this error.

Novel

• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. See my review here.
• Green by Jay Lake.
• The Walls of the Universe by Paul Melko.

As you can see, I made no nominations for the Bradbury or Norton awards. I'll try to fix this in the coming months.

Stories of the week: "Greetings from Kampala" by Angela Ambroz and "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar

My new review of Strange Horizons fiction is now up at The Fix and includes my two new stories of the week: "Greetings from Kampala" by Angela Ambroz and "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar.

To learn why I loved these stories so much, go read the complete review here.