![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I've read all of these, and plan to vote thus:
1) “Fandom for Robots,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad [my favourite by some margin]
2) “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon
3) “The Martian Obelisk,” by Linda Nagata
4) “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse
5) “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand,” by Fran Wilde
6) “Carnival Nine,” by Caroline M. Yoachim
Picking my number 1 for these was easy - I really enjoyed Fandom for Robots; it's funny (I laughed out loud, which I almost never do), sweet, and a knowing but not unkind take on fandom.
Beyond that, I found it harder to rank the others. I liked Sun, Moon, Dust's take on the inherit-a-magic-sword trope, and the acceptance that not everyone actually wants to be a sword-wielding hero. And a sweet ending.
The Martian Obelisk could easily have been a bit trite, but managed not to be, and I liked the way the time delay between Earth and Mars was used to add suspense.
Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™ talks about cultural appropriation and erasure in the US; I think I missed a lot of the subtleties of this.
Clearly Lettered [...] is a creepy little story with great atmosphere, but still somehow didn't chime for me; I think the ending didn't really work.
Finally, I have no complaints about Carnival Nine so feel a bit bad putting it at the bottom of the list; it's a nicely-written reflection on how we prioritise our energies and how not everyone has so much energy to go round, and on what we sacrifice for whom.
1) “Fandom for Robots,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad [my favourite by some margin]
2) “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon
3) “The Martian Obelisk,” by Linda Nagata
4) “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse
5) “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand,” by Fran Wilde
6) “Carnival Nine,” by Caroline M. Yoachim
Picking my number 1 for these was easy - I really enjoyed Fandom for Robots; it's funny (I laughed out loud, which I almost never do), sweet, and a knowing but not unkind take on fandom.
Beyond that, I found it harder to rank the others. I liked Sun, Moon, Dust's take on the inherit-a-magic-sword trope, and the acceptance that not everyone actually wants to be a sword-wielding hero. And a sweet ending.
The Martian Obelisk could easily have been a bit trite, but managed not to be, and I liked the way the time delay between Earth and Mars was used to add suspense.
Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™ talks about cultural appropriation and erasure in the US; I think I missed a lot of the subtleties of this.
Clearly Lettered [...] is a creepy little story with great atmosphere, but still somehow didn't chime for me; I think the ending didn't really work.
Finally, I have no complaints about Carnival Nine so feel a bit bad putting it at the bottom of the list; it's a nicely-written reflection on how we prioritise our energies and how not everyone has so much energy to go round, and on what we sacrifice for whom.