Matthew's Journal

A little before the voting deadline, I've managed to read all the Novelettes, so I'll be voting in this category, too. I found this category hard to rank - lots of good stories here, but no stand-out winner for me.

1. "The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections," by Tina Connolly. A baker discovers how to trigger memories with particular confectionery. I liked the structure of this, the resolution, and the political notes. Well-written, too.


2. "The Only Harmless Great Thing," by Brooke Bolander. An alt-history combining the injustices of the Radium girls with the mistreatment of Topsy the Elephant. A pacy, angry story.


3. "If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again," by Zen Cho. An Imugi is trying to become a proper dragon and ascend to Heaven. This is a sweet story, but not cloying.


4. "When We Were Starless," by Simone Heller. In a post-apocalyptic world, a nomadic people is trying to find enough materials from a fallen culture to survive. I like how this story leaves a lot unsaid and undescribed, and its reflection on the importance of learning and hope.


5. "The Thing About Ghost Stories," by Naomi Kritzer. A scholar of ghost stories finds themself in one. Enjoyable, although perhaps a bit predictable.


6. "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth," by Daryl Gregory. A slow invasion of earth is underway. There's some clever reflection on the timescales of different processes and life forms here, but it didn't really hold me as a story.