Overview
Each year, members of the World Science Fiction Convention vote for the science fiction and fantasy works they love the most: the Hugo Awards. Now, for the first time in more than a decade, you can find these treasured gems within a single volume. The Hugo Award Showcase collects the stories-by rising stars like Kij Johnson, beloved taleslingers like Michael Swanwick, and literary legends like Nancy Kress-that have captured the hearts and imaginations of some of the genre's most dedicated readers.Synopsis
Each year, members of the World Science Fiction Convention vote for the science fiction and fantasy works they love the most: the Hugo Awards. Now, for the first time in more than a decade, you can find these treasured gems within a single volume. The Hugo Award Showcase collects the stories-by rising stars like Kij Johnson, beloved taleslingers like Michael Swanwick, and literary legends like Nancy Kress-that have captured the hearts and imaginations of some of the genre's most dedicated readers.
Publishers Weekly
A few key elements are missing from this anthology of select nominees and winners of the 2009 Hugo Award short fiction categories. Notably absent is the winner for best short story, and Kowal's brief introductions don't always do their respective stories justice. Still, the volume includes several standouts, such as Nancy Kress's "The Erdmann Nexus," about strange happenings affecting the patients in a nursing home, and Kij Johnson's quietly whimsical "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss," about a show of magically disappearing monkeys. Robert Reed's heart-racing "Truth" deals with the consequences of government paranoia, and for mashup fans there is John Kessel's "Pride and Prometheus," a winning combination of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein. Hugo administrators provided voters with free digital copies of all the nominees, making this incomplete volume of interest only to those less familiar with the awards. (Nov.)