It’s that time of year again, as you’ve seen in my previous posts of novels and novellas. This post is dedicated to the six nominees for Short Story. It’s a tight race, and even though there is a difference between the ratings (4 stars versus 5), I liked them all very much. They are all pretty dark and they comment on problems in our culture. The stories listed below have a brief plot summary with my reaction and are ordered by how I rank them.
“Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg – 5 stars – This was awesome! The Main Character is a wheelchair-bound superabled woman named RazorBeam. She’s a paraplegic with laser vision. She joins the Super-Abled 501 Union and finds it’s not ADA compliant. She tries to get them to add a ramp and change intersections to make them safer. The Union members don’t listen to her ideas or needs, nor have they been able to stop the rampaging Doctor Croc. RazorBeam confronts Doc Croc herself when the 501 doesn’t show up during an attack. Their conversation is a revealing look into the state of superabled affairs. This book was smart and effective in conveying a message about how the system fails the disabled community. Hits all the right buttons.
“Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim – 5 stars – Cassie hates that 2/3 of the human population is digital, including her mother. In fact, most humans have virtual partners and use professional companions/hired humans with a digital overlay for tactile needs. Not being able to convince her father of her issues with her mother, she finds friendship with another human about her age at the community center, a computer whiz with a penchant for cruelty.
“Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson – 4 stars – A queer woman has been in therapy forever, dealing with interpersonal issues as well as gender identity. There’s a new procedure called Revision which will change her, though it doesn’t exactly say how. To do it, she needs statements from six people about what they would change in her. The process of obtaining them is intense, but not as much as bringing it up with her wife. A powerful story of self-awareness and self-care.
“In My Country” by Thomas Ha – 4 stars – An intense tale of living in a controlled society. Main character’s son becomes a subversive writer, threatening the stability that the MC has lived with all these years. His daughter and son see through the BS of the regime in power and try to make their father see the truth in the stories’ ambiguities. Powerful novel. A difficult read because of the frustration you develop listening to the father lie to himself about what’s happening around him and to his family.
“Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro – 4 stars – Well written story about a woman whose husband leaves her for her clone. So she attempts to meet her to explain that she sold her cloning rights away because she needed the money when she ran away from home as a teen. She doesn’t know what to expect, but hopes to ease the pain of the divorce. The kicker in this book is that it’s told in second person and the wife is the “you” in the story. The ending had WOW factor.
“10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills – 4 stars – A woman has an Amazon-bought crystal ball in which she sees many different futures, all of them apocalyptic. In each one, she and her husband find little moments of joy amidst the end times. It really made me smile, with little jokes and with her final conclusion.
