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by Sarah Pinsker � Hugo and Nebula nominee for best novelette:

Zanna chooses to start writing her next mystery book in a remote (and creepy) mountain cabin, far away from any distractions. Except that the next morning she comes across a dead body, which one can argue is the ultimate distraction. And something about that death seems odd to the seasoned mystery writer. Not to mention that something is off about a comment her assistant Shar makes about the whole situation.

This story then goes to really weird places. And things are weird and abrupt and I honestly thought that maybe I was wrong and there was a link to the second page where the story continues. But nope, that was it. Zanna just... well... calmly accepts what’s happening. (view spoiler)[Maybe making hosts stupid is the creature’s survival adaptation? (hide spoiler)]

This would be a strange and creepy *first* part of the story. But it needs to be continued! I think I would have liked it a lot had it not ended in such an unsatisfying way that destroys any semblance of logic. Maybe this was a draft for the larger story, the first chapter of the novel - like the first chapter that Zanna managed to write?

Ultimately unsatisfying because of that ending. But the writing was good - at least it had that going for it.

3 stars.

Read it here:
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by A.C. Wise � Nebula nominee for best short story:

“How many people can say they were there the night the trick went wrong and the Magician died on stage?�

Have you ever watched a magic trick onstage and wished that the answer to how the trick was done could be simply: real magic? I certainly have. It’s the case here. The Magician habitually dies on stage as a part of his Bullet-Catch-Death-Cheat trick. He is habitually brought back to life (behind the scenes, of course) by his Resurrectionist girlfriend Angie, the one who quietly does the real work.

“He never once allowed himself to think about the thousand huge and tiny things had to go right for the trick to work, or that only one had to go wrong. After all, the Resurrectionist pulled it off night after night—how hard could it be?�

But one day he dies for real. This is the opening scene, and the rest of the story is why and how we got there, while we already know the ending (or the beginning in this case).

The Magician is good at one thing - making others love him and then carelessly and casually moving on. But one day the charm just might not prove to be irresistible. One day the callous self-absorbed user’s gambit may backfire.

“The Magician had already moved on, his head too full of plans for his own death and return, overfull with confidence not in her abilities, but that he was too important to properly die.�

Comeuppance is usually nice, sure. But the punishment needs to fit the crime. To me it seems like quite a bit of an overkill, like a bunch of unlikeable resentful whiners taking revenge on an unlikeable callous asshole. Or they could have moved on, you know, instead of basically a homicide, and none of them can even take the responsibility of pulling the trigger, just casually making an unsuspecting innocent person a murderer. The fuck? The story obviously wants us to root for Angie, Meg and Rory, but being an asshole is not enough to justify a murder.

The happy ending is unearned. And because of that it left me cold and irritated.

I only felt bad for the rabbit. Rest In Peace, not-really-Gus. You will be missed. You get a star.

1.5 stars.

Read it here:

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My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: /review/show...