I only managed to read two of the nominated novellas before the awards were given out this past weekend. Rachael Swirsky’s “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window” won in the novella category. In the short story category, Kij Johnson’s “Ponies” and Harlan Ellison’s “How Interesting: A Tiny Man” tied. I never got to the novelettes. Maybe I’ll catch the winner “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” by Eric James Stone in my Hugo reads.
Here are my notes:
“The Sultan of the Clouds”, Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 9/10) – Lots of sci-fi glitz! I appreciate that our POV character is the secondary character, the Dr. Watson, or maybe just the third wheel. Didn’t care for the end. It came fast and was maybe too heroic.
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window”, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine Summer ’10) – Not my favorite of Swirsky’s stories. It got too big, in my opinion. I like her stories when they’re more intimate. The first half worked for me, but not the latter half.
Simple Tricks & Nonsense 
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