2024 Hugo Nominated Short Stories and Novelettes
Every year our book club reads the Hugo nominated short stories and novelettes. Or at least the ones that are available free online. For that purpose, I collect links to them here. Except where noted, every story contains an audio version at the link as well.
Best Short Story Nominees
“Answerless Journey”, Han Song / 没有答案的航程, 韩松, translated by Alex Woodend - Not available
“Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer
“How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark
“The Mausoleum’s Children” by Aliette de Bodard
“The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones
美食三品 (“Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times”), 宝树 / Baoshu - Not available
Best Novelette Nominees
I AM AI by Ai Jiang - Not available free, but $3 on Amazon if you want it (no audio)
“Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition”, Gu Shi /〈2181序曲〉再版导言, 顾适 translated by Emily Jin
“Ivy, Angelica, Bay” by C.L. Polk (no audio)
“On the Fox Roads” by Nghi Vo (no audio)
The Big 4 Hugos, by which I mean the ones that have existed longest, that people care most about, and that make someone's career, are novel, novella, novelette, & short story. White males have been banned from all 4. In the past 10 years, out of 40 such awards, only one went to a white male–and that was in 2014, a Sad Puppies year.
Given that most science fiction and fantasy submitted to magazines is written by white males (there have been studies), the odds of that happening by chance, without any discrimination against white males, are about one in 27 billion. (Odds of less than one in twenty suffice to call a claim "proven" in scientific publications.)
For comparison, in the 1960s, a decade when racism and sexism were allegedly endemic in SF, black males won 6 times as many of the Big 4 Hugos as white males have in the past 10 years.
I see that this wave is still cresting: this year, none of the 12 /nominees/ for short story and novelette are white males. The odds of that happening without discrimination against white males are about 1 in 4096.
It looks like "Answerless Journey" can be found in a collection here: https://a.co/d/02BZfpCP
As far as I can tell, the only place the English translation of "Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times” exists is in the Hugo packet.