For my second short fiction review of the month, I usually take some time to dig into a couple of magazines outside the two that I read every month. But with the announcement of an Asimov’s Readers’ Award shortlist that included half stories I’d read last year, I decided to take that time and read the other half to do a full evaluation of the shortlist. There is no second stage of voting here, so the winners are known by the Asimov’s editors, but they’ve unlocked the top five in each category so that non-subscribers can have a chance to check out some of last year’s favorites.
Novella
My favorite novella of 2024–in any publication–is Death Benefits by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and after reading through the two new-to-me stories in that category, I haven’t moved off that opinion an inch. It’s a war story that focuses not on the fighting but on those who lose loved ones in the conflict, with a series of vignettes that tell a handful of different stories in a remarkably affecting way. Were these individual short stories, they’d be good. But the investigation plot that pulls the novella together elevates the pieces into one of the best things I read all year. If you’re going to read one thing from the Asimov’s shortlist, make it this one.
My second favorite on the list, Proof of Concept, is also a Kristine Kathryn Rusch story, one I reviewed way back in January 2024 when I was experimenting with reading Asimov’s cover-to-cover. There’s another investigation plot here, but this time it’s the star of the show, with a gripping, well-paced plot and a victim backstory that quickly ups the emotional stakes. This was overshadowed by a true stunner from the same author, but it’s a high-quality read.
Also in the January/February 2024 issue is Death and the Gorgon by Greg Egan. It’s the third from this set with an investigation plot, and while it doesn’t hit the level of either Rusch entry, it’s an engaging read with a lot to say about both fanaticism and reliance on AI.
Une Time Machine S’il Vous Plait by Peter Wood is a fun, relatively lightweight story about a small group of people who get thrown back to their past selves—but with all their future knowledge intact—and use their second chances to try to reverse wrongs (real or perceived) suffered at each other’s hands. It’s pretty clear which characters are supposed to draw the reader’s sympathies, and watching the good schemes thrive and the bad schemes crash and burn is entertaining enough to maintain engagement for the length of the novella. If I had to rank the choices, this would be running fairly even with “Death and the Gorgon” for third on my list.
But my fifth story is by no means a bad one. On the contrary, I also enjoyed Wildest Skies by Sean Monaghan. It prominently features the sort of first contact plot that I love so much, in which the lone survivor of a space expedition happens across a totally alien species and has to try to learn to communicate with them. There are times that the communication difficulties feel a hair too easy to solve, and the ending is a bit neater than I’d like, but this is a solid novella that I enjoyed my time with. It being at the bottom is a commentary mostly on the remainder of a very strong list.
Novelette
Novelette is the category where I had the most reading to do, with only two in the books when the finalists were announced. I was particularly excited about Charon’s Final Passenger because I’ve enjoyed Ray Nayler immensely in the past, and after reading all five, it’s my favorite of the bunch. The lead’s ability to delve into the memories of the dead yields just the kind of messiness I so often love in weird memory stories, and the exploration of conflict in which no side has their hands clean hits hard, with more than one tremendous passage, like:
You tell yourself there is a line your country will cross one day. A line across which you will not follow. That there are things you will not do, people you will not work for. But the worst is that you tell yourself the line is in front of you. The truth is, once you start thinking of the line you will never cross, it is already behind you. You have already made your choices.
If I could redo my Hugo Award nominating ballot, Charon’s Final Passenger would be in it. But probably not at the expense of another story that in fact was on my nominating ballot: The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea by Naomi Kritzer, a fantasy tale in which a former academic tries to dig back into some of her old research in a strange and slightly uncanny town by the sea. As always, Kritzer does a great job bringing the little, mundane moments to life, and the resonance between myth and the contemporary plot is really wonderful. This is the first paywalled novelette to break onto the Hugo ballot in a long time, and I was very glad to see it. It may just miss being my favorite of the Asimov’s shortlist, but it’s still an excellent story.
The Rattler by Leonid Kaganov, translated by Alex Shvartsman, feels like a thought experiment about collective action as much as it is a story. It’s a pleasant enough read, in which humanity struggles to find a way to deal with a murderous alien who singles out anyone who resists, but this one is noteworthy mostly for the themes and for the linguistic play that the translator has helpfully maintained and highlighted in the English-language version.
This Good Lesson Keep by James Van Pelt stars a teacher on the verge of retirement who is trying desperately to get students to engage with complete works of literature instead of living off excerpts, sound bytes, and AI summaries. One of her final attempts comes off differently than she could’ve ever imagined, with a classroom drama echoing through every act of the students’ reading of Hamlet. This is a cut below the first two, but like “The Rattler,” it’s a good read, and I can certainly see why it’s here.
Like “The Rattler,” After the Winter Solstice by Sean McMullin is fascinating as a thought experiment, featuring a world in which humanity hibernates through the cold winter months, leaving little way to know just what happens when everyone is asleep–when reading, I couldn’t help but think of Sydney Shoemaker’s philosophical essay “Time Without Change.” But this one didn’t hit quite as well in the execution, with some political backstabbing that came off a bit rushed and never fully drew me in.
Short Story
Short Story was definitely my least favorite of the prose shortlists and was the only category in which my favorite of the year—”Eternity is Moments” by R.P. Sand—did not make the list. I had read three of the finalists before the shortlist was announced, and after reading the last two, my favorite is unchanged. A Gray Magic by Ray Nayler is a quiet, introspective story written from the perspective of a lead who knows she’s soon to die. Her reflections on the way in which her society and her interpersonal relationships had let her down can be discouraging—though it’s hard to argue the themes aren’t relevant to the failures of our own society—but the tale nevertheless finds room for a glimmer of hope. It’s my favorite of the five by some margin.
But while the shortlist may not have many that stuck with me all year, that doesn’t mean it didn’t have quite a few pleasant reads. An Unplanned Hold by Zohar Jacobs is a strong character exploration is a short space, featuring a ghost spending his afterlife hanging around the space program to which he had dedicated so much of his natural life. It’s a short but quality read that comes together for a heartwarming finish, and it’s a pretty clear #2 for me on this list.
Mere Flesh by James Maxey is a bit of a lighthearted take on what can go wrong with an experimental technology designed to treat dementia. It’s a pleasant read but not one that stuck with me.
On the same tier as “Mere Flesh” is Sunsets by Lavie Tidhar, set in his Central Station universe. It’s a story about grief and moving forward after loss, featuring a Martian visiting Earth after her lover’s death in search of a true sunset—something he had dreamed of seeing but she never had. Again, it’s a solid story, but of those I’ve read in the Central Station universe, my favorite is still the short novel Neom.
Finally, The Adherence by Jeffrey Ford features a man whose wife had disintegrated years before in a freak accident related to the cheap household goods relied upon by all but the rich. He’s given the chance to revisit her disappearance–a chance that may or may not be a con–and what he finds may not be quite what he expects. It’s a competent tale but not one that lingers after reading.
Readers’ Award Favorites
Since I don’t submit a ballot for the individual categories, let’s rank my top five prose stories overall, category agnostic:
- Death Benefits by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (novella)
- Charon’s Final Passenger by Ray Nayler (novelette)
- The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea by Naomi Kritzer (novelette)
- A Gray Magic by Ray Nayler (short story)
- Proof of Concept by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (novella)