science-fiction

Windycon 2026: Sanctuary Among the Stars

/ Sue Burke / Leave a comment

Windycon is Chicagoland’s longest-running science fiction convention. It’s now in its 52nd year and will be held October 9 to 11 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel conference center in Rosemont, Illinois.

The convention is relatively small, no more than 1000 people, and literary based — that is, focusing more on written works than movies and TV, although those won’t be forgotten, and astrophysics will get consideration, too.

Windycon 52’s chair, Austin “Alchemist” Regan says, “This year’s theme, Sanctuary Among the Stars, was inspired by the countless alien worlds, distant civilizations, and unlikely alliances that fill the science fiction we love, and by the people who gather here to celebrate them.

“Across books, movies, and series, we are shown again and again that the universe is vast, strange, and beautifully varied. We meet beings from worlds unlike our own, speaking unfamiliar languages, carrying different histories, values, and ways of seeing reality itself. Yet the stories that stay with us are the ones where those differences do not divide, they connect.”

Here are the panels I’ll be on. There will also be games, cosplay, crafts, theater, an art show, workshops, a vendor’s hall, readings, music, and parties.

If you want to come for a day or for the weekend, you can register at the door.

Slower than Light Interstellar Societies, 6 p.m Friday, October 9, Mirabel Room. How can a unified society exist when communication can take years and travel can take decades? If every journey is a one-way trip, how can planets stay connected? Sue Burke, moderator; Clif Flynt, Geoff Strayer, and Jim Plaxco.

What’s the Right FTL Method for Your Story? 8 p.m. Friday, October 9, Narita A Room. Science fiction has given us multiple ways of reaching other stars quickly — warp drives, jump gates, long-distance teleportation. Each one comes with pluses and minuses. Which one fits best for your story? Sue Burke, moderator; Mark Roth and Mimi Aruguete.

Speculative Literature Foundation Deep Dish Reading, noon Saturday, October 10, Paris Room. Join the Speculative Literature Foundation for the next installment of its Deep Dish Reading Series, which celebrates the work of local Chicago science fiction and fantasy writers. I plan to read Meditate Like the Stars. Alex Kingsley, moderator; Gregory Stark, G.E. Moore, Richard Chwedyk, Brendan Detzner, Alex Jennings, Llewella Forgie, Sue Burke, and Fannie Price.

Worldbuilding: Creating a Universe from a Blank Page, 9 p.m. Saturday, October 10, Tegel Room. It’s time to create your epic book or game series, and you want to set it in a rich and vibrant universe. How do you approach such a daunting task? How do you keep it familiar enough to be relatable, but also unique enough to carry the reader away to a brave new world? Do you start by creating an exhaustive bible outlining the characters, politics, and environment before writing the first word of the narrative, or do you jump into the story and then keep track of the details as you go? We’ll talk about all of this and much more as we guide you through this formidable challenge. Sue Burke, moderator; Malda Marlys, Victor Ladis Schultz, and Andrew Gaska.

To Live Forever: The Longest Human Dream with Larry Niven, 12 noon Sunday, October 11, Charles De Gaulle Room. Humanity has been trying to cheat death for as long as we’ve been telling stories. From ancient legends of magical fountains and miraculous potions to modern medicine and the latest promises of longevity, the desire to live longer has inspired everything from profound discoveries to bizarre schemes and dangerous extremes. Join legendary science fiction author Larry Niven for a wide-ranging discussion of our fascination with immortality and the many paths humanity has taken in pursuit of it. We’ll explore the history, science, speculation, and fiction surrounding longevity, including the ethical questions that arise when extending human life becomes possible. How far would humanity go to defeat death? And what might happen if we actually succeeded? Larry Niven, moderator; Paul Hah and Sue Burke.

The Theory Behind Utopia, 1 p.m. Sunday, October 11, Mirabel Room. What does a perfect society look like, and what can imagining one teach us about the world we live in? Utopian science fiction has a long and fascinating history, using imagined societies to explore ideas about politics, technology, culture, equality, freedom, and human possibility. Join us as we explore where utopian science fiction comes from, the theories and ideas that have shaped it, and the many forms utopian thinking has taken across science fiction and fantasy. From visions of ideal societies to stories that challenge the very idea of perfection, we’ll examine how these imagined worlds reflect the hopes, fears, and aspirations of their creators. Most importantly, we’ll consider why utopian fiction still matters and how imagining different ways of living can influence the way we think about our own society and the future. Sue Burke, moderator; Terry O’Brien and Alex Kingsley.

My ranking of the Hugo Award for Best Short Story

/ Sue Burke / Leave a comment

This year’s Hugo Awards will be presented at the World Science Fiction Convention, LAcon V in Anaheim, California, USA, on August 30, 2026

I’ve read all the short fiction finalists, which has some overlap with the Nebula finalists. This is my ranking of the short stories — but there are other opinions, too. I wouldn’t mind if any of my top four stories won the award. Overall, I thought this year’s finalists represent a good overview of the current field with its strengths and faults.

6. “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025) — A woman who uses a wheelchair discovers that superpowers will not overcome indifference to accessibility needs. Although the story won this year’s Nebula Award, I think it’s almost a rant and adds no nuance to ongoing concerns about accessibility.

5. “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226) — Slim SFnal thread but deep characterization. A woman and her clone meet in adversarial circumstances, although I wonder how the narrator knew all those things.

4. “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223) — In a strange country, people are permitted by law to speak plainly or not at all. This story is sort of a parable, and its telling is not plain, and it holds a lot of unspoken but deeply felt feelings.

3. “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63) — In the end, this is a very short love story, or rather a story about how love can endure along with survival. Grim and yet humane.

2. “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229) — A teenage girl is blamed because she cannot love AI “people.” She can sense the harm they’re doing to her world, but she has little means besides her own fury to fight back. A close second.

1. “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62) — Liza is sure she needs to change to find peace because a corporation is persuasively selling its services for change to vulnerable, anxious people. But what to change and why? This was also my choice for the Nebula Short Story Award. The story may be a hard to understand at first because Liza is self-deluded, a truly unreliable narrator who reflects our times where ads and influencers try to convince people they are sick when they are not.

My votes for the Hugo Short Story Award

/ Sue Burke / 3 Comments

This year’s Hugo Awards will be presented at the Seattle Worldcon on Saturday evening, August 16. The short story category, as usual, has some overlap with this year’s Nebula Awards, and if you read no other short fiction, I recommend reading the nominated stories. You’ll come away with an excellent panorama of where the field is today.

Here are my votes, and I based them on the storytelling risks and successes. You may very reasonably have different criteria and choices.

6. “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56) — The story is based on drawings of knights fighting snails in medieval manuscript margins, which is a charming inspiration: What if knights really fought snails? A struggling family joins with their lord in a fight to the death. The story wraps up too neatly for me, so it comes in sixth, but other Hugo voters loved it.

5. “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Magazine, January 2024: Issue 164) — This is flash fiction about the horrors faced by those found guilty of treason, with an ennobling, subversive twist. I especially like that very short fiction has found its way onto the ballot.

4. “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 57) — The magic contained in clothing leads a sister to her brother, then gives her power. Carefully and competently told, and Nghi Vo’s love of old (vintage?) clothes and their histories shines through.

3. “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58) — A convoluted story about complicity in a genocide told through multiple points of view in a multi-player RPG and mass storytelling. I admire the experimental style, even if it was confusing.

2. “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, May 2024: Issue 168) — A message is sent apparently to humans from a very different, brief-lived species: a simple message that holds entire lives. This is another experimental format, and it left me with a lot to think about.

1. “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, February 2024) — I nominated this for the strength of the storytelling voice, and after reading all the finalists I still like it best: “… tell me there is a better solution than putting one single kid in the hole, and letting that one single kid have a miserable life, in return for the good lives of all of our children?” The story has already won the Nebula, Locus, and BSFA awards, and I think it’s a strong contender for the Hugo. It’s an update on the classic Ursula K. Le Guin story, which also won awards when it was published in 1974. A half-century later, even though our exact circumstances have changed, we still have to make tough moral choices.

My vote for the Nebula Award for Novelette

/ Sue Burke / 1 Comment

As a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, I get to vote for the Nebula Awards. Here is my vote in the category of novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words). The award will be presented at the Nebula Conference on June 7 in Kansas City.

Overall, the stories amounted to a satisfying little anthology. I based my vote on the strength of the storytelling, not an easy metric to apply since they’re all good, but I thought one in particular was slightly better. Of course, your opinion may differ.

“Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being” by A.W. Prihandita (Clarkesworld 11/24) — A doctor finds herself limited by bureaucracy when an unusual alien comes seeking her care. Your heartstrings will be tugged.

“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 5-6/24) — Friends try to meet, but they can’t find each other even though they’re in the same place. Then things get more eerie (no spoilers). Not quite horror but very unsettling.

“Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka” by Christine Hanolsy (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 4/18/24) — Romantasy, sweet and fulfilling. All fairy tales (or rather, tales about vengeful river spirits) should be like this.

“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 5/24) — The accidental discovery of a book printed on paper triggers an existential crisis in an electronic world with constant volatility. The understated storytelling style effectively delivers growing horror.

“What Any Dead Thing Wants” by Aimee Ogden (Psychopomp 2/24) — Terraforming by magic leaves behind ghosts that want something. The cool, deadpan narration makes the fantastic feel real, but the magic system seems inconsistent to me.

“Joanna’s Bodies” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Psychopomp 7/1/24) — A teenage girl finds a supernatural means to bring a dead friend back. Although this is an obviously bad idea, it’s made worse by resentment, manipulation, immaturity, and guilt. Told with a gripping voice.

My vote: “Another Girl Under the Iron Bell” by Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/24) — A demon will do anything to get freedom from an evil master. Which one, the demon or the master, is the most evil? Which one is in love? Every word is measured and every detail impeccable.

My vote for the Nebula Award for Short Story

/ Sue Burke / Leave a comment

Each year, the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association choose the winners of the Nebula Awards in seven categories, including short story (fewer than 7500 words). As a member, I can vote for the one I consider most deserving. Voting is closed, and the awards will be presented on June 7.

All these short stories are high quality and worthy of nomination, so your choice may very reasonably differ from mine:

“The Witch Trap” by Jennifer Hudak (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 9/24) — An old charm against witches inspires a reconsideration of the way that the fear of witches creates witches. Reconsideration, the story makes clear, might not be a bad thing.

“Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed 1/24) — Flash fiction about horrors faced by those found guilty of treason, with an ennobling, subversive twist.

“Evan: A Remainder” by Jordan Kurella (Reactor 1/31/24) — A man who recently transitioned slowly comes to terms with his new identity. This involves coughing up a new skeleton (this is not a spoiler). Although it is tender, beautiful, and heartfelt, I think it’s literary fiction because the “magic” is wholly symbolic, not science fiction or fantasy — you may reasonably disagree, of course. While the lines between genres are always permeable and debatable, I think the Nebulas ought to stick to actual SFF. Literary writing has its own awards.

“The V*mpire” by PH Lee (Reactor 10/23/24) — A vulnerable adolescent on Tumbler gets bullied into letting monsters into his home. This story may be more metaphor than actual fantasy, but it’s brilliantly written, and the toxic manipulation involved is heartbreaking to witness.

“We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 5/24) — A message is sent apparently to humans from a very different, brief-lived species: a simple message that holds entire lives. The story is told in a successfully experimental format, and it left me with a lot to think about.

My vote: “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld 2/24) — I nominated this for the strength of the storytelling voice, and after reading all the finalists I still like it best: “… tell me there is a better solution than putting one single kid in the hole, and letting that one single kid have a miserable life, in return for the good lives of all of our children?” Moral certainty is so messy, but at least the kid in the hole can be ethically sourced.