A novelette is, by the rules for the Nebula Awards, a story of at least 7,500 words but fewer than 17,500 words. As a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, I’ve read all six finalists and ranked them from my least favorite to the one that got my vote for the 2019 Nebula Award.

Although every novelette was competently written and received enough votes to become a finalist, I’m a little disappointed with this year’s selection. Good, yes, but great? I don’t think so. Some of the stories seemed formulaic: the characters worked themselves into a situation with a problem, which they solved, and the story ended without further ado. No wisdom was wrested at great price, no storytelling technique pushed the genre or displayed exceptional skill, big ideas and wrenching changes weren’t explored, and the plot moved along well enough but without gripping urgency — the story did not become greater than the sum of its words.

Of course, your opinions may vary.

“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 7-8/19)
A mystery writer finds a man dead, apparently in an accident, and learns the truth. The story never develops much tension, and it’s resolved too easily.

“His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light” by Mimi Mondal (Tor.com 1/23/19)
A kind-hearted circus performer rescues a slave and angers a goddess. This turns out to be a simple, straightforward, sentimental story of loyalty, responsibility, and love, but nothing more.

“For He Can Creep” by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com 7/10/19)
A cat battles Satan for the soul of a poet. Light and humorous, this is the most stylish of the stories on the ballot, and perfect for cat lovers.

“The Archronology of Love” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 4/19)
Everyone in a colony on a distant planet died while investigating strange alien technology, and researchers have come to find out why. Some of the dead were loved ones. In a way, the story is one long, slow goodbye — or rather, the search for a way to say goodbye.

“A Strange Uncertain Light” by G.V. Anderson (F&SF 7-8/19)
This classic ghost story is set in rural England in 1938 and a century earlier. To say more might be a spoiler. Every trope seems to be touched, but with subtle twists, and a strong sense of characters and place with plenty of suspense. It’s a close second to the story that won my vote.

MY VOTE: Carpe Glitter by Cat Rambo (Meerkat)
A young woman inherits her grandmother’s homes, knowing that her grandmother was both a magician and a hoarder. She hopes to find treasure in the rooms packed with old stuff, and she finds the unexpected. The first half explores the fractured family relationships without haste, and the second half speeds to a climax as the pieces fit together.

Usually the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America presents its annual Nebula Awards at a gala ceremony during its annual Nebula Conference. This year, for obvious reasons, the award presentation will be live-streamed at 8 p.m. EDT on May 30 without a ballroom full of people. The awards honor the best novel, novella, novelette, short story, young adult book, game writing, and dramatic presentation of the previous year.

As a SFWA member, I get to vote on the nominees, and I’ve read all six of the finalist short stories. Overall, I think they’re all worth reading. Unlike the Hugo Awards, there’s no ranked voting; I only get to vote for one, but I’ve ranked them here anyway from my least favorite (as I said, they’re all good) to the one I’ll vote for. Of course, my ranking is subjective and even a bit arbitrary, and your opinions may vary.

“Give the Family My Love” by A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld 2/19)
In a series of letters to her family back home, an explorer searches in an alien library for information that would help Earth. The voice is compelling, but the overall story reveals no big surprises, and the tale ends on a defeatist and depressing note.

“A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny 1-2/19)
As storms become sentient, a small town’s children fight back. The writing evokes a timeless dreamlike quality and creates sharp characters: pathos abounds. The point of view character is a child, however, which traps us in a limited horizon that is both claustrophobic and kind of a cheat, since the larger picture can go unexplained. In the end, nothing in the story transcends narrow personal interests.

“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing” by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9/9/19)
This classic-style horror story involves a dollmaker in India during the British Raj — so classic that the ending can be guessed less than halfway through the story. Cultural anger animates the story, but the conventional plot weakens it.

“How the Trick Is Done” by A.C. Wise (Uncanny 7-8/19)
Jilted lovers get revenge through magic. The narration and characters show self-awareness and self-reflection, which gives the story a sober, solemn, literary strength. No one winds up happy, but they do wind up wiser.

“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power” by Karen Osborne (Uncanny 3-4/19)
Mutiny, death, and blood on a generation ship. The savage story manages to find a happy ending. For me, it had the intensity and velocity of a television show, and since we live in a golden age of television, that’s a good thing indeed.

MY VOTE: “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare 5/19)
In 1891, something tragic happened, and we’re still living with the consequences. This very short story smacks the reader upside the head with nuance, ambiguity, and pitiless social criticism. Its densely packed details make it hard to read and irresistible to re-read: very much a story of our moment, and I mean that as high praise. I also value the unconventional storytelling style: I think the Nebula should reward attempts to expand the genre in one way or another.

Jasmin Gelinck, an author currently living in the Netherlands, has begun a project, PenPower Myth Debunk. She’s asked a dozen authors (including me) questions about editing and publication.

She also commissioned artist Oscar Celestini to depict us all as superheroes. My super-me portrait vaguely resembles the current Doctor Who, and I am flying!

Here are her posts so far:

#PenPower Project 1.1: Introduction to the Heroes!

#PenPower Project: 1.2 The Villain

#PenPower Myth Debunk #1: Write Every Day

#PenPower Myth Debunk #2: I have to write FAST!

#PenPower Myth Debunk #3: Rules and Fear (How to beat your writerly worries)

#PenPower Myth Debunk #4: I MUST outline

I’ve been working from home for decades, and it’s not as easy as it looks. Let me suggest five simple-sounding practices that might help if you’re having trouble with a new job requirement:

1. Maintain a regular routine for weekdays. This includes getting up at the same time every morning.

2. Develop a different routine for weekends. Otherwise your days take on a ghastly sameness.

3. Set goals for each day. Be sure to include self-care goals: take a socially-distant walk, make a nice meal or banana bread, or plan a play date with your cat.

4. Designate a specific place for work so that when your work is done, you can go “home” — that is, to a place that is not work, even if it’s just a different chair.

5. Remember that you’ve become your own boss. Try to be a good boss.

The view from my window.

I live in a high-rise apartment/condominium building here in Chicago called Park Tower, and it’s so big that it has a newsletter for its residents. For the most recent issue of TowerTalk, I contributed an article about Lake Shore Drive.

LSD has been called America’s most beautiful urban road. I can see its northernmost end from my window (see photos: morning, above; sunrise, below), built over what used to be water and sand. The story of how it got there involves the man who invented the skyscraper, Chicago’s unbridled ambition at the start of the 20th century, and the city’s long love affair with the lakefront.

Here’s a PDF of the article.

Although I don’t mention it, the road was immortalized in song: Lake Shore Drive by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah in 1971. The song was featured in the 2017 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. See the video remix here.