Tag: Matthew Hughes

Award Recommendations 2018

written by David Steffen

Here are some recommendations for selected Hugo and Nebula categories. (Note that I’ve listed them in alphabetical order, rather than order of preference, and have listed more than the 5 ballot options when possible). I don’t think I’ve read any eligible novels this year, so that category is not represented.

Best Novella

“Umbernight” by Carolyn Ives Gillman, in Clarkesworld Magazine

Best Novelette

“A Love Story Written On Water” by Ashok K. Banker, in Lightspeed Magazine

“A World To Die For” by Tobias S. Buckell, in Clarkesworld Magazine

“The Last To Matter” by Adam-Troy Castro, in Lightspeed Magazine

“Dead Air” by Nino Cipri, in Nightmare Magazine

“Hapthorn’s Last Case” by Matthew Hughes, in Lightspeed Magazine

“The Fortunate Death of Jonathan Sandelson” by Margaret Killjoy, in Strange Horizons

“To Fly Like a Fallen Angel” by Qi Yue, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon, in Clarkesworld Magazine

“House of Small Spiders” by Weston Ochse, in Nightmare Magazine

“Thirty-Three Percent Joe” by Suzanne Palmer, in Clarkesworld Magazine

“Master Zhao: An Ordinary Time Traveler” by Zhang Ran, translated by Andy Dudak

Best Short Story

“After Midnight at the ZapStop” by Matthew Claxton, in Escape Pod

“A Scrimshaw of Smeerps” by Shannon Fay, in Toasted Cake

“Variations on a Theme From Turandot“ by Ada Hoffman, in Strange Horizons

“Secrets and Things We Don’t Say Out Loud” by José Pablo Iriarte, in Cast of Wonders

“Octo-Heist in Progress” by Rich Larson, in Clarkesworld Magazine

“Hosting the Solstice” by Tim Pratt, in PodCastle

“Marshmallows” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires, in Clarkesworld Magazine

“The Death Knight, the Dragon, and the Damsel” by Melion Traverse, in Cast of Wonders

“Some Personal Arguments in Support of the BetterYou (Based on Early Interactions)” by Debbie Urbanski, in Strange Horizons

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form / Ray Bradbury Award

Ant-Man and the Wasp

The Incredibles 2

Kevin (Probably) Saves the World

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, for Nintendo Switch

A Wrinkle In Time

The Best of Lightspeed Magazine Podcast 2018

written by David Steffen

Lightspeed Magazine is the award-nominated science fiction magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, and their podcast is  produced by the excellent Skyboat Media.  They publish about half of the stories they publish in text.  They published about 49stories in 2017.

The stories eligible for the upcoming Hugo award season are marked with an asterisk (*), with novelettes eligible for the season marked with a double asterisk (**).

The List

1.“Under the Sea of Stars” by Seanan McGuire*
The tale of an expedition to find the truth about a family legacy.

2.“The Quiltbag” by Ashok K. Banker*
The sort of story where you’re trying to figure out what’s going on until the end.

3.“The Streets of Babel” by Adam-Troy Castro*
Cities roam the wilderness scooping up outcasts and incorporating them into themselves.

4.“Hapthorn’s Last Case” by Matthew Hughes**
Another in the Kaslo Chronicles series, this one a mystery story.

5.“A Love Story Written on Water” by Ashok K. Banker**
A tale of immortal beings sent to be born into humans bodies in the mortal world.

Honorable Mentions

“From the Root” by Emma Törzs*

“The Last To Matter” by Adam-Troy Castro**

“What is Eve?” by Will McIntosh



The Best of Lightspeed (and Fantasy) Podcast 2014

written by David Steffen

Lightspeed is still one of my favorite magazines, still edited by John Joseph Adams.  This year has been a big one for Lightspeed, in large part because of their “Women Destroy Science Fiction!” movement–for one month the magazine was staffed by women with women writers (edited by Christie Yant), because historically women have gotten the short end of the stick in SF writing.  The Kickstarter for this project blew its goals out of the water and even unlocked stretch goals for Women Destroy Horror and Women Destroy Fantasy movements.  The WDSF issue of Lightspeed was published in 2014, and Fantasy Magazine (which had been subsumed by Lightspeed) revived for a month for the WDF issue (which is why Fantasy Magazine is included again in this page).

The List

1.  “Drones Don’t Kill People” by Annalee Newitz
I found this one of the much more plausible AI gains sentience stories, justifies how it happens.  Great, fun story.

2.  “Miss Carstairs and the Merman” by Delia Sherman
I love the POV character in this story, a woman scientist discovering and classifying a merman.

3.  “Phalloon the Illimitable” by Matthew Hughes
This is part of Matthew’s “Kaslo Chronicles” series which is all quite good, but this is my favorite of the series so far.  Every so often the universe switches from being rationally organized to sympathetically (magically) organized)–this story takes place just before this polarity switch occurs and some have placed themselves to gain a great deal of power with the switchover.

4.  “The Drawstring Detective” by Nik House
Talking toy detective helps a woman in her everyday life.

5.  “The Case of the Passionless Bees” by Rhonda Eikamp
Gearlock Holmes is on the case!

6.  “Love is the Plan the Plan is Death” by James Tiptree, Jr
Great alien point of view by the legendary James Tiptree Jr. (aka Alice Sheldon).

Honorable Mentions

“Harry and Marlowe and the Intrigue at the Aetherian Exhibition” by Carrie Vaughn

“How to Get Back to the Forest” by Sofia Samatar

“We are the Cloud” by Sam J. Miller