Also, ALSO, WorldCon is in Seattle this summer, so I'll theoretically get to be there in person when they announce the winners!
As per usual, texts marked as blue were consumed before the nominations. Green texts were consumed after the nominations. Purple texts were acquired before the nominations, but hadn't been consumed yet.
I've listed the works in the order I've voted for them. (It's ranked voting, rather than one vote per category.) Example tidbits have been provided, in case you're interested.
Best Novel
- Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
The Schrödinger’s cat that was Master’s requirement or non-requirement for travelling clothes had finally been irreversibly determined. The box had been opened and upended and only a dead cat had slid stiffly out.
Uncharles remained a very capable robot, albeit with something of an awkward ellipsis in his resume. He was, he considered, very employable. He was used to providing very high levels of service coupled with a very low, albeit nonzero, level of murder.
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK)
“Have I done something wrong, ma’am?” I asked again. “No. But you’ve done something interesting. And to be honest, of all the things I’d expected to find interesting here, Din, I had not thought you’d be among them.”
“It feels wrong because it is wrong, Din,” she said. “Civilization is often a task that is only barely managed. But harden your heart and slow your blood. The towers of justice are built one brick at a time. We have more to build yet.”
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)
Set your narrative as canon and in a tiny way you have pried your death out of time, as long as the narrative is recalled by someone else. I certainly understood better why people became writers, and why jealous lovers force so many false confessions, and why the British history curriculum looks the way that it does.
Despite being out of uniform, he looked oddly formal, as if he was the sole person in serif font.
- Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)
Now he gives my shoulder a push. Not an assault, not bullying, more like a man testing the structural stability of a wall and finding it wanting.
A last dog-end of outdated thought and the reason so many subcommittees-past foundered and fell. The idea that you can only fight the Mandate on its own terms, struggling for control of the structures that it has created. Become monsters in order to fight with monsters. Instead of which, here on Kiln, we can gaze into the abyss until the abyss turns its much-sought gaze back on us.
- A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)
“You’re so kind,” she whispered. “Everyone here … you’ve all been so kind…” And they were being kind to a viper and her offspring, she knew, and did not dare say to anyone.
“I was not expecting this house party to involve quite so much premeditated murder,” he muttered.
- Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)
No matter whether she survived this one night or a thousand more years, she would never suffer another handsy rich man to live.
Homily strode into the center of camp, in front of Shesheshen, like a shield on legs. Her posture dared the world to volley arrows at Shesheshen. She’d catch them with her gritted teeth.
- The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)
And now that the awful moment had passed, or rather, was still going on, now that she was living inside the moment she had considered intolerable, she saw that she was tolerating it, lying against the wall in this fussy apartment that smelled of hand lotion and desiccated flowers.
What the boy saw was the prophet squatting carefully by the wall, not touching the child, his face broken by a tender smile. The child stared, then slowly reached to touch the old man’s cheek. And the boy realized that he had found the River that was a Sea.
- What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)
If this was a fairy tale, it was the kind where everyone gets eaten as a cautionary tale about straying into the woods, not the sentimental kind that ends with a wedding and the words, “And if they have not since died, they are living there still.”
“Don’t mind us,” I said. “Just dealing with ghosts.”
She digested this for a moment, then glanced up at the sky. “Nice weather for it,” she observed.
- The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)
"Extinction has only one cause, and that cause is older, even, than the wheel. That cause is human greed."
In the times when her identity was still a cloud of possibilities that could begin to coalesce around any clump of dust introduced into it. When a single action--an elephant toy given as a gift--could create such gravity that the shape of her personality would begin to wrap itself around it, until it was dense enough to ignite. To become a star. To light a lifetime.
- The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
“The world starts with a story. So do dynasties and eras and wars. So does love, and so does revenge. Everything starts with a story.”
They did not always know where they were, but they always knew how they had gotten there, and now they realized with a mounting sense of horror that they had no idea how they had come to be on the road to Doi Cao.
- The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)
The first thing she noted about him was that he was drinking out of a cup made of a skull, and she caught her self just in time to forestall a bray of what she knew would be frankly unwise laughter.
Like the creature Veris had shared her food with, its voice was strange—inhuman, but also not animal. Composed of lake-hiss, rock-click, tree-breath. Almost a song.
- Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
She wanted to ask what happened, who she should stab. She held herself still, and asked, instead, slowly and softly, “What do you need?”
“I don’t have an answer,” Hac Cúc said. “But this isn’t about preventing everything. This is about this one thing that we can affect.”
- “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
I know this is a very weird mass email, but please hear me out first. For some of you (all of you?) it might seem like I've fallen off the face of the Earth. But guess what? I literally fell off the face of the earth (ha ha). I don't think you and I are in the same place anymore.
- “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)
"I want credit," I said. "I want coauthor credit on everything I wrote for you that hasn't gone to press yet. Everything."
"Will that make you happy?" he asked.
"No," I said. "But it will make me published."
- “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)
"A traveler on the road can look at mountains, forests, other landmarks, and he understands the difference in his positions the farther along he goes. Just like when I listen to a song, look at a work of art, read a book. And then later, return to that same piece. Something will be different, will have moved, in me. That's the benefit of the work we do in preserving things in particular forms, I like to think. We remember who we were then, so that we know who we are now.".
- “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie in Lake of Souls (Orbit)
"Some little spawn are devoured by animals, some are killed and injured in accidents. These are things that happen. Some little eggs hatch without souls. This is a thing that happens. There is nothing we can do."
- “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)
We were both silent for a stretch of road. I got the impression she was chewing on the word "survived," the same as I was.
- “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)
Razor-sharp, her intelligence, they called it. Forgetting that razors are next to useless in most contexts and useful in a very few.
- “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, February 2024)
The kid was the drop of blood in the bowl of milk whose slight bitterness would make the sweetness of the rest of Omelas richer. WIthout the kid in the hole, Omelas was just paradise. With the load-bearing, suffering child, Omelas meant something.
- “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 57)
Fabric's like skin, and darns and repaired seams are not so different from scars. You can learn many things where someone's been allowed to heal and also where they never did.
- “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, May 2024 (Issue 168))
- “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56)
"I was going to give you a horse. Do you ride?"
"I do not, sir."
He snorted and looked up at the stablemaster ont he dun gelding. "You did try to tell me." A rueful half smile formed on his face.
- “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Magazine, Jan 2024 (Issue 164))
The last injection severs their voluntary motor pathways so nothing moves but their eyes. Before the final step, the prisoners feel young again, for a moment.
- “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
You do not go into the shop. You do not buy the deck. (You wish you had, but you wish a lot of things, and not being seen so clearly by machine learning is one of them.)
- Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press)
From Beneath Earth and Sky:
There was a moment of resistance--bone that did not want to concede. Serapio persisted.
“I didn’t say she had magic, I said she is magic.”
“The Teek are such skilled sailors that their talent at sea is often confused with magic.”
“You’re not listening to me, Balam. She didn’t calm the fucking waters or speed the tide, she set a kraken upon my ship.”
- The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)
From City of Last Chances:
To speak her heart had become a crime, and one she entered into willingly.
“It’s never like that. Those stories are balls, frankly. Made up so people can pretend their grandfathers weren’t bastards. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do it.”
From House of Open Wounds:That was the person Masty had discovered inside himself, when all the silks and graces had been stripped away. Someone who loved doing his duty and hated having power over others. There are worse people to be king, maybe.
- Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Aside from the most recent one!
From Absolution::
All the reverie of the dead beneath him, around him, in the molecules of the air, the water, all this great fecundity of life--and what was his life in comparison? Nothing but signal, nothing but openness, lying there wounded.
“How do we kill them? How do we kill them? How do we kill them?” Fussell screamed, on a loop that had been helpful only the first two times.
- InCryptid by Seanan McGuire (DAW)
Aside from the last couple!
From Spelunking Through Hell:
My name is Alice Enid Price-Healy, and despite what my family will try to tell you, I am not a widow.
From Backpacking Through Bedlam:
Thomas, meanwhile, had an expression of almost orgasmic relief on his face as he sipped his first cup of coffee in fifty years. It was probably a good thing it was crappy fast-food coffee; if we’d managed to get him the quality stuff, he might have expired on the spot. I hadn’t spent half a century hunting for him to lose him to a pot of Kona.
- The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri (Orbit)
From The Jasmine Throne:
“Will you hurt me?” Malini demanded. “You should, to save yourself.”
Priya shook her head. “No.”
“Priya.”
“No. I’m sorry, but no. Because I’m strong enough not to need to.”
From The Oleander Sword:
Power was a pleasure with many forms. To see a powerful man—a man who had betrayed her—brought low was one of its headiest.
From The Lotus Empire:
“We are yours,” said a watcher. “Your kin, temple born and temple drowned, tangled forever in the weeds of magic, carrying the knowledge you cannot carry. We are your oldest grief, forgotten.”
- The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books)
From The Way of Kings:
You were not shocked when a child knew how to breathe. You were not shocked when a skyeel took flight for the first time. You should not be shocked when you hand Kaladin Stormblessed a spear and he knows how to use it.
Most books dictated by men had an undertext, notes added by the woman or ardent who scribed the book. By unspoken agreement, the undertext was never shared out loud. Here, a wife would sometimes clarify—or even contradict—the account of her husband. The only way to preserve such honesty for future scholars was to maintain the sanctity and secrecy of the writing.
- The Hunger and the Dusk: Vol. 1 written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Chris Wildgoose (IDW Publishing)
- My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book 2 by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way written by Ryan North, art by Chris Fenoglio (IDW Publishing)
- The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag (Graphix)
- Monstress, Vol. 9: The Possessed written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
- We Called Them Giants written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles (Image)
- “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford (Genre Grapevine and File770, February 14, 2024)
- “Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones (File 770, February 22, 2024)
- “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)
- Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll (University of Minnesota Press)
- r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge (r/Fantasy on Reddit), presented by the r/Fantasy Bingo team: Alexandra Forrest (happy_book_bee), Lisa Richardson, Amanda E. (Lyrrael), Arka (RuinEleint), Ashley Rollins (oboist73), Christine Sandquist (eriophora), David H. (FarragutCircle), Diana Hufnagl, Pia Matei (Dianthaa), Dylan H. (RAAAImmaSunGod), Dylan Kilby (an_altar_of_plagues), Elsa (ullsi), Emma Surridge (PlantLady32), Gillian Gray (thequeensownfool), Kahlia (cubansombrero), Kevin James, Kopratic, Kristina (Cassandra_sanguine), Lauren Mulcahy (Valkhyrie), Megan, Megan Creemers (Megan_Dawn), Melissa S. (wishforagiraffe), Mike De Palatis (MikeOfThePalace), Para (improperly_paranoid), Sham, The_Real_JS, Abdellah L. (messi1045), AnnTickwittee, Chad Z. (shift_shaper), Emma Smiley (Merle), Rebecca (toughschmidt22), smartflutist661
- Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum (Briardene Books)
- Dune: Part Two, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Legendary Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures)
- The Wild Robot, screenplay by Chris Sanders and Peter Brown, directed by Chris Sanders (DreamWorks Animation)
- I Saw the TV Glow, screenplay by Jane Schoenbrun, directed by Jane Schoenbrun (Fruit Tree / Smudge Films / A24)
- Flow, screenplay by Gints Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža, directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio)
- Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, screenplay by George Miller and Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Wicked, screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, directed by Jon M. Chu (Universal Pictures)
- Agatha All Along: “Death’s Hand in Mine” written by Gia King & Cameron Squires, directed by Jac Schaeffer (Marvel, Disney+)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Fissure Quest” created by Mike McMahan and written by Lauren McGuire based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Brandon Williams (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)
- Fallout: “The Beginning” written by Gursimran Sandhu, directed by Wayne Che Yip (Amazon Prime Video)
- Doctor Who: “Dot and Bubble” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: “The New Next Generation” created and written by Mike McMahan, based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Megan Lloyd (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)
- Doctor Who: “73 Yards” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)
I did not play any of the games, so I based this on the information from their packets, as well as their trailers, in order to assess whether I'd enjoy playing the game.
- Lorelei and the Laser Eyes produced by Simogo
- 1000xRESIST developed by sunset visitor 斜陽過客, published by Fellow Traveller
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard produced by BioWare
- Caves of Qud, co-creators Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinblat; contributors Nick DeCapua, Corey Frang, Craig Hamilton, Autumn McDonell, Bastia Rosen, Caelyn Sandel, Samuel Wilson (Freehold Games); sound design A Shell in the Pit; publisher Kitfox Games
- Tactical Breach Wizards developed by Suspicious Developments
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom produced by Nintendo
While I'm not a FICTION editor, I've been a journal co-editor and co-editor of one edited collection, so I actually kind of felt qualified to judge these? WEIRD.
- Neil Clarke
- Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
- Scott H. Andrews
- Sheila Williams
- Jennifer Brozek
- Jonathan Strahan
- David Thomas Moore
- Lee Harris
- Diana M. Pho
- Carl Engle-Laird
- Stephanie Stein
- Ali Fisher
- Tran Nguyen
- Maurizio Manzieri
- Micaela Alcaino
- Alyssa Winans
- Rovina Cai
- Audrey Benjaminsen
- Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective
- Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing editor Monte Lin; poetry editor Betsy Aoki, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
- khōréō, produced by Zhui Ning Chang, Aleksandra Hill, Danai Christopoulou, Isabella Kestermann, Kanika Agrawal, Sachiko Ragosta, Lian Xia Rose, Jenelle DeCosta, Melissa Ren, Elaine Ho, Ambi Sun, Cyrus Chin, Nivair H. Gabriel, Jeané Ridges, Lilivette Domínguez, Isaree Thatchaichawalit, Jei D. Marcade, M. L. Krishnan, Ysabella Maglanque, Aaron Voigt, Adialyz Del Valle Berríos, Adil Mian, Akilah White, Alexandra Millatmal, Anselma Widha Prihandita, E. Broderick, K. S. Walker, Katarzyna Nowacka, Katie McIvor, Kelsea Yu, Lynn D. Jung, Madeleine Vigneron, Marie Croke, Merulai Femi, Phoebe Low, S. R. Westvik, Sanjna Bhartiya, Sara Messenger, Sophia Uy, Tina Zhu, Yuvashri Harish, Zohar Jacobs
- FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher and executive editor DaVaun Sanders, poetry editor B. Sharise Moore, art director Christian Ivey, acquiring editors Rebecca McGee, Kerine Wint, Egbiameje Omole, Emmalia Harrington, Genine Tyson, Tonya R. Moore, sponsor coordinator Nelson Rolon
- Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and Valerie Valdes, assistant editors Premee Mohamed and Kevin Wabaunsee, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht; and the entire Escape Pod team
- The Deadlands, publisher Sean Markey; editors E. Catherine Tobler, Nicasio Andres Reed, David Gilmore, Laura Blackwell, Annika Barranti Klein; proofreader Josephine Stewart; columnist Amanda Downum; art and design Cory Skerry, Christine M. Scott; social media Felicia Martínez; assistant Shana Du Bois.
- Journey Planet, edited by Allison Hartman Adams, Amanda Wakaruk, Ann Gry, Jean Martin, Sara Felix, Sarah Gulde, Chuck Serface, David Ferguson, Olav Rokne, Paul Weimer, Steven H Silver, Christopher J. Garcia and James Bacon
- Black Nerd Problems, editors William Evans and Omar Holmon
- Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, editors Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk
- The Full Lid, written by Alasdair Stuart and edited by Marguerite Kenner
- Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice L. Newman, associate writers Cora Buhlert, Jessica Holmes, Kerrie Dougherty, Kris Vyas-Myall, and Natalie Devitt, and the rest of the Journey team
- Ancillary Review of Books, editors Jake Casella Brookins, Zachary Gillan, Lane Gillespie, Misha Grifka Wander, Gareth A. Reeves, Bianca Skrinyár, Cynthia Zhang
- Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Marshall Ryan Maresca, Cass Morris and Natania Barron
- Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, presented by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow
- Hugo, Girl!, presented by Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson
- Hugos There, presented by Seth Heasley
- The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, producer Jonathan Strahan
- A Meal of Thorns, presented by Jake Casella Brookins
- Örjan Westin
- Jason Sanford
- Roseanna Pendlebury
- Camestros Felapton
- Abigail Nussbaum
- Alasdair Stuart
- Michelle Morrell
- Sara Felix
- Iain J. Clark
- España Sheriff
- Alison Scott
- Meg Frank
- “Ever Noir” by Mari Ness (Haven Spec Magazine, Issue 16, July 2024)
- Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead (Titan)
- “there are no taxis for the dead” by Angela Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
- “Your Visiting Dragon” by Devan Barlow (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)
- “We Drink Lava” by Ai Jiang (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56)
- “A War of Words” by Marie Brennan (Strange Horizons, September 2024)
- The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)
When a god stalked me on my seventeenth birthday, the day I aged out of the orphan house, I did not see him. Not at first.
"You were given a second chance at living. You could have studied a trade. Learned to fry an egg, even. Instead, you holed yourself up in a mansion, hoarding relics of your glory days, and puppeting me into living them for you. Because for all your praise of commoners, oga . . . you would rather be dead and a hero than alive and nobody.”
- So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
War didn’t prove one country was stronger than another. It just snuffed out lives from each nation until only mourners were left to make sense of it all.
She released the glass and calmly strode toward the wreckage that had once been the manor wall. Elara tried not to laugh as she followed.
- Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Tundra Books)
It shouldn’t be possible to drift off to sleep in the arms of someone who represents so much of what I hate, but the throne room is very cold and he is very warm.
Those like us were not meant to be kind. We were born to rage and burn and destroy all that must be destroyed, so that maybe, one day, much better people than us can live in a world where they’re rewarded for their kindness instead of having it twisted to bind them.
- Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
So Shane closed her eyes and reached deep, to the endless skies Below, where the dead flew together: birds and dinosaurs, bats and prehistoric dragonflies, great flocks of weightless, exuberant ghosts.
Anyone who claimed that trigonometry classes were useless clearly hadn’t needed to calculate the movement of a juniper tree’s shadow.
- The Feast Makers by H.A. Clarke (Erewhon)
"They're not going to make the right move, they're going to make the move that works best with whatever story they're telling to make themselves feel better. If I'm not a villain, that means nuance might exist, heaven forbid."
"The tables have turned."
Shiloh made a wounded animal sound.
"Being a witch is very cool. Do you feel cool?"
"I am having a crisis."
"All cool people are in crisis."
- Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee (Delacorte Press)
- Hannah Kaner(2nd year of eligibility)
From Godkiller:
“King Arren does what he must.”
“What he must . . .” repeated Elo. “Well then, so will I.” He raised his blade. “Ser Benjen, I have picked up my sword, and now you should all be afraid.”
From Faithbreaker:
Elo shook his head. ‘You chose to lose me, Sunbringer,’ he said, flinging the name like the insult he intended and turning for the door. ‘You cannot wish me back.’
- Moniquill Blackgoose (2nd year of eligibility)
From To Shape a Dragon's Breath:
"I didn't ask to be precedent. I never wanted to leave Masquapaug. If we had anyone there who could teach me, I'd still be there. But our dragons died two hundred years ago, and their dragoneers with them, and the knowledge was lost. I'm here to help my people, Frau Kuiper. I'm not here to make them more like yours."
- Angela Liu (2nd year of eligibility)
From "Another Girl Under the Iron Bell":
“Come now, you’re being more paranoid than usual,” I said with a smile, imagining how pretty he would look rearranged into smaller, bloody pieces. “Bad day?”
From "Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down the Moon":
Trina always had a habit of doing things too soon or too late. If I was on my way to a serial killer’s house, she’d be calling me during the bus ride there, but be unreachable when I’m desperately messaging her from his bloody basement.
- Bethany Jacobs (2nd year of eligibility)
From These Burning Stars:
But Chono feels guilty because she has loved the monster, and loved the strength she drew from her. So how can she ever know if killing Cleric Paan was righteous, when in the moment it had simply felt good?
Esek went inside, half expecting to be ambushed from behind. Might be fun, at least?
From On Vicious Worlds:
They could let themself be killed, even—and fuck the anonymous messenger in their head, fuck Esek’s whispering voice, fuck Ilius for thinking he could defeat them. Because if Chono lives, nothing can defeat them. She will be like the Godfire and burn through the worlds.
- Jared Pechaček (1st year of eligibility)
From The West Passage:
All around the Lady were bones, broken eggshells, dirty platters with crumbs or rinds still upon them. She was the holiest thing Yarrow had ever seen.
Be still. You are honored. The pain you will feel in my mouth is a sacrament. It is love. None of my true sisters felt that love. Let me punish you. Let me love you. Let me love you for disturbing me.
- Tia Tashiro (2nd year of eligibility)
From "To Carry You Inside You":
Elias’s excitement rises in your chest, a bolus of oxytocin hitting hard, and your own contentment responds. Anticipation, happiness, love; the source becomes irrelevant when he’s in your body, his emotions indistinguishable from your own. You’re awash in what yourselves feel: a(n) (un)borrowed joy.
From "An Intergalactic Smuggler's Guide to Homecoming":
That’s one thing she’s learned in her galactic travels. You can replace a dead starship, tablet, gravity enhancer: it doesn’t matter. Those things don’t gather experience like cobwebs in the corners of minds. It has never ceased to amaze Miko how irreplaceable sentients are. There is no way to perfectly replicate the unique cocktail of experience each sentient brings to the universe.
Such great reading this year (as always). I'm so thrilled to be going to WorldCon! Huzzah!
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