Matthew's Journal

I've read all of these (including the one you can't really read on a Kindle); there are some real gems here. I was clear which my favourite was, but beyond that found ranking quite hard.

1. "A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies" by Alix E. Harrow. This is lovely and powerful (it made me cry), and tells of how you can escape in a good book, and I loved it.


2. "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark. As the title suggests, this is about some of George Washington's false teeth, where they came from, and what impact wearing them had. Nine pleasing vignettes that make an interesting whole.


3. "The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society" by T. Kingfisher. A fun take on the fae seducing humans trope.


4. "The Court Magician" by Sarah Pinsker. Magic has a cost, and you'll want to find out what it is...


5. "STET" by Sarah Gailey. You need to read this on a biggish screen, which is a shame. I like the form of this work, of the author-editor-author relationships both personal and professional, and that this is about AI ethics, which is a neglected field.


6. "The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat" by Brooke Bolander. This was good fun, but I've ended up putting it last. I think that speaks to the quality of the field.

I think this is probably it for me and the Hugos this year (but remember to vote AO3 for Best Related Work :-) ), although there's a small chance I'll get through the Novelettes in time.