Matthew's Journal

What with one thing and another, I've not really been reading much recently. I thought I should at least try and read some of the shortest Hugo categories, though!

I've found it quite hard to rank these; they were all good, but there wasn't an obvious stand-out entry for me. They're all quite bleak, too...

1. "And Now His Lordship Is Laughing", by Shiv Ramdas. Set during the Bengal Famine of 1943; an old woman makes jute dolls. The British Governor wants her to make him one... This is an angry and gripping story.
   
2. "As the Last I May Know", by S.L. Huang. You may have heard of Roger Fisher's suggestion that the nuclear codes be implanted in the body of a volunteer, who the President would have to kill with their own hands; this is a story that takes that idea and runs with it. It's perhaps a bit of a spoiler to say so, but V jbhyq unir cersrerq n yvggyr yrff srapr-fvggvat
   
3. "A Catalog of Storms", by Fran Wilde. A captivating and strange tale of a town that just about survives the weather because of people who turn into "weathermen" to keep it at bay.
   
4. "Do Not Look Back, My Lion", by Alix E. Harrow. Eefa has been a good husband, but now she is running. This is a really sad story, about war and the damage it does, and about love.
   
5. "Blood Is Another Word for Hunger", by Rivers Solomon. A story of slavery and the damage it does.
   
6. "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island", by Nibedita Sen. I'm afraid I didn't really get this one.