Reviewing the 2024 Hugo Award Finalists: Best Short Story

THE 2024 HUGO AWARD FINALISTS: SHORT STORY

RATED 80%* POSITIVE. STORY SCORE = 3.6 OUT OF 5

6* STORIES: 0 GREAT / 4 GOOD / 0 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF

The Hugo Finalists for short story were a fast read this year. Very little made an impression. Naomi Kritizer’s cozy story about a kindly algorthm app should likely win the category for its feel good vibes, but is unlikely to make an impact on the genre’s history. Nothing else was more impressive than a solid workmanlike piece of fiction and one was actively bad.

Four of the stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction - especially Ray Nayler’s “Berb by Berb” - would rank higher for me than anything on this list. Hopefully the Baoshu story will be in the Hugo Voters’ Packet and will be incredible.

In Science Fiction short fiction, the most prestigious awards are the Hugo Awards. Voted on by the fans who buy a voting membership and are given out at The World Science Fiction Convention. The 2023 WorldCon will be taking place Glasgow, Scotland - August 8-12, 2024 . The list of finalists just dropped.

This is the fourth year that I am trying to review and rank all of the short fiction finalists.

• Novella. Stories of between 17,500 and 40,000 words. (Reviewed: 2023 & 2022)

• Novelettes. Stories of between 7,500 and 17,500 words (Reviewed: 2023, 2022 & 2021)

• Short Stories. Stories of less than 7,500 words. (Reviewed: 2022 & 2021)

Best Short Story

1. “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023)

   Good. A charming cozy story about a new phone app that actually makes your life better. A fluffy piece that may refocus our minds on what really matters.

2. “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023)

   Good. It an alternate past when the British Empire has been fighting the Mermen, one ambitious jerk buying a kraken egg from a magazine and tries to raise it in his bathtub. Of course, things go horribly wrong.

3. “Answerless Journey”, Han Song / 没有答案的航程, 韩松, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)

   Good. Confusion, questioning, and paranoia on a spaceship. Two being (probably human) wake up on a spaceship without their memories. Unable to fly the ship, they try to find a third being that they both believe was probably with them.

4. “The Mausoleum’s Children” by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, May-June 2023)

   Good. Thuận Lộc, returns to the Mausoleum to retrieve those she left behind, while she grapples with traumatic memories and injuries after escaping a harpoon attack during her last escape from the Mausoleum.

5. “The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare Magazine, October 2023)

   Poor. Exploitative and stupid, while also being boring. In the middle of a school shooting children escape to a world run by evil mice. A great title wasted.

   • At the current time, 美食三品 (“Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times”), 宝树 / Baoshu (银河边缘013：黑域密室 / Galaxy’s Edge Vol. 13: Secret Room in the Black Domain) is not available to read in English anywhere that I can find. If that changes I will revise this review.

Hugo, Nebula, & Asimov’s Reader’s Choice Awards

• Hugo Awards

  • Anthologies

    • “Hugo and Nebula Award Winners from Asimov's Science Fiction.” edited by Sheila Williams. 97%

    • “The Hugo Winners, Volume One” edited by Isaac Asimov. - 94%

    • “The Hugo Winners, Volume Two” edited by Isaac Asimov. - 82%

  • Story Bundles

    • 2023 Hugo Finalists

      • Best Novellas - 83%

      • Best Novelettes - 90%

    • 2022 Hugo Award Finalists:

      • Best Novellas - 83%

      • Best Novelettes - 83%

      • Best Short Stories - 75%

    • 2021 Hugo Award Finalists:

      • Best Novelettes - 92%

      • Best Short Stories - 83%

• Nebula Awards

  • “Nebula Awards 32” edited by Jack Dann. [1998] - 89%

  • “Nebula Awards Showcase 2001.” edited by Robert Silverberg. - 75%

  • “Nebula Awards Showcase 2010.” edited by Bill Fawcett

  • “Nebula Awards Showcase 2015.” edited by Greg Bear. - 80%

  • “Nebula Awards Showcase 2016.” edited by Mercedes Lackey. - 75%

• Asimov’s Reader’s Choice Awards

  • Reviewing the 35th Annual Reader's Award Finalists from Asimov's Science Fiction. 2021. - 88%

  • Reviewing the 36th Annual Readers’ Award Finalists from Asimov’s Science Fiction. 2022 - 91%

  • Reviewing the 37th Annual Readers’ Award Finalists from Asimov’s Science Fiction 2023 - 90%

  • Reviewing the 38th Annual Readers’ Award Finalists from Asimov’s Science Fiction 2024 - 88%