Shiver me Timbers! The 2020 Nebula Finalists – Part Two – Best Short Story

Ahoy there me mateys!  A short while back, I wrote a post discussing me initial thoughts on the 2020 Nebula award nominees.  At that time, I had read none of the works in the best short story category.  I have since remedied the situation and so here be mini-reviews of the short stories and me pick for the 2020 winner.

The short stories are from the list as published on Tor.com.  Click on the story title to read the short stories themselves.

Best Short Story

• “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse,” Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20)

Thoughts: This was the story of a couple giving birth after the zombie apocalypse.  I don’t tend to like babies or birth stories but this won me over in the end.  Though, I still never want babies.

• “Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math,” Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20)

Thoughts:  Though this was a quick story, I cannot say that I got much out of it.  The main character wants out of her life and so she looks for portals to another world.  The writing style of this story didn’t appeal to me.  And I didn’t get the math references.

• “A Guide for Working Breeds,” Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)

Thoughts:  This combines dogs and robots.  It was cute but didn’t knock my socks off.

• “The Eight-Thousanders,” Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20)

Thoughts:  This one is me favorite so far.  It takes place on Everest where death is coming to many.  But how they die is the interesting part.  I found this story to be suspenseful and it had the perfect ending.

• “My Country Is a Ghost,” Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20)

Thoughts: This follows a woman who has emigrated to a new country and leaves the literal ghost of her mother behind.  I did not love the ending but the imagery in this story is compelling and this is the first story of the bunch where I can see why it was nominated.  I like the idea of how the ghosts represented home and history and lineage.

• “Open House on Haunted Hill,” John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)

Thoughts:  I loved this one.  This is a non-typical haunted house story that has the perfect ending.  It is short so I won’t spoil it.

Now listen up me hearties, the decision has been made:

Hoped for Winner:  While I think that “My Country is a Ghost” seems like it should be the Nebula winner because of its literary style and exploration of themes, I have to admit that I want “Open House on Haunted Hill” to win.  It warmed me heart and was certainly different.  Plus the author has a cute story about why he wrote it.  Click on the link above to read the story and the story-behind-the-story.

So there ye have it.  Me Nebula thoughts and wishes for short stories.  I really enjoyed three of them and liked two more.  The last was not entirely to me taste.  I will keep y’all posted as I continue readin’ through the Nebula nominees before the winners be revealed on 5/30/2021.  In the meantime:

Always remember:

Q: Why do pirates avoid driving on mountain roads?

A: ‘Scurvy

Hardy har har!

x The Captain