This thread is for posts about 2024-published works, which people have read and recommend to other Filers.
There will be no tallying of recommendations done in this thread; its purpose is to provide a source of recommendations for people who want to find something to read which will be eligible for the Hugos or other awards (Nebula, Locus, Asimov’s, etc.) next year.
If you’re recommending for an award other than / in addition to the Hugo Awards which has different categories than the Hugos (such as Locus Awards’ First Novel), then be sure to specify the award and category.
You don’t have to stop recommending works in Pixel Scrolls, please don’t! But it would be nice if you also post here, to capture the information for other readers.
The Suggested Format for posts is:
- Title, Author, Published by / Published in (Anthology, Collection, Website, or Magazine + Issue)
- Hugo or other Award Category: (Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Related Work, Graphic Novel, Lodestar, Astounding, etc)
- link (if available to read/view online)
- optional “Brief, spoiler-free description of story premise:”
- “What I liked / didn’t like about it:”
- (Please rot-13 any spoilers.)
There is a permalink to this thread in the blog header.
[Based on a post by JJ.]
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Novella
When Among Crows, Veronica Roth
Dymitr hunts through Chicago’s magical underworld to gain Baba Jaga’s help in dealing with a monster-killing warrior. Which is both an accurate description of the plot and not true to the story’s motivations. Enjoyable use of Slavic folklore and Chicago the location.
Novelette
The Angel Azrael and the Dead Man’s Hand, Peter Darbyshire, Beneath Ceaseless Skies 399
A good installment in this weird Western series, a cursed poker game in a ghost town, with some nice twists.
Short story
The Last Lucid Day, Dominique Dickey, Lightspeed Magazine 170
A man spends that day and its complicated emotions with his abusive father. The author interview on the story is also a good read.
Novelette
The Heist for the Soul of Humanity, Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko, Lightspeed Magazine 170
An ordinary thief attempts a heist spearheaded by a legendary thief. The author interview on this one is fascinating for how the story came together.
Novel
The Wings Upon Her Back, Samantha Mills
I know the author disavowed her Hugo for “Rabbit Test,” but there’s a reason I voted for that story, and that reason is on full display here. This is a stunning, multilayered, mature work of science fiction, exploring themes of fascism, control, worship, and what happens when we realize the gods we have put so much of our faith and love into don’t recognize our devotion or even more than occasionally acknowledge our existence. Just fantastic.
Novel
Calypso, Oliver K. Langmead
A novel in verse about a generation ship that has reached its destination, centered on one of the only cold-sleep engineers to survive the journey.
For me, the poetic form worked really well for the epic character of the story. There are different poetic voices for multiple narrators, which also worked well. The writing is quite accessible, so don’t be put off if you’re interested but don’t usually read poetry.
This appeared as an ebook from my library while I was considering whether to order a physical copy – some poetry is hard to format for ebook, this was fine, including some “form” poetry.
Novella
A Magical Girl Retires, Park Seolyeon, translated by Anton Hur
The titular girl learns she has powers, learns what they are, and moves on over the space of the novella. An enjoyable read that engages with the implications of the trope.
Novel; possibly eligible for the Astounding Award for this debut novel, but I’ll let others shake out the genre content of earlier short work.
The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley
As advertised, a hard work to classify, with time travel SF, thriller, romance, and historical fiction some of the elements. The author and main character are both British-Cambodian, and the interplay of that identity with empire and POC experience is not straightforward for the narrator. Great and endearing characters. Abigail Nussbaum has a review here, if you’d like to hear from someone who’s better at writing about “this stuff.”
The Many Faces of Ista Flit
Novel (Middle-Grade)
In misty Shelwich, magic rises and falls with the tides, everyone is born with a magical gift, and people have started to disappear. Rumor has it they are snatched by monsters, but Ista Flit doesn’t want to believe it. Not when her own father is missing.
An engaging book with a solid, twisty plot and a lot of memorable characters. Loved the magic, too.
Kindling, by Traci Chee
Novel (YA)
Once, the war was fought with kindlings—elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives. Now, the war is over, and kindlings have been cast adrift. But violence still plagues the countryside, and memories haunt those who remain. When a village comes under threat of siege, it offers an opportunity for seven kindlings to fight one last time.
With a story as well-known as Seven Samurai, it’s important that a retelling has a unique take. This one definitely does — not just with the gender changes, although that’s a welcome thing, but in its examination of the effects of war on child soldiers. The narrative is sometimes bleak, but always compelling.
The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio
Novel
When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s never seen this man before in her life. As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges…
This is a fun, fanciful look at marriage, relationships, and the other paths that life might have taken. I liked it.
Novella
The Brides of High Hill, Nghi Vo
Cleric Chih accompanies a young bride and her family on a wedding trip to a much-married, much-older lord. They find mysteries and a mad heir.
This installment contains an element I can’t discuss without spoilers, though I suspect most readers of the series will also be watching for it early on. I felt like that element could have used a bit more space for its treatment – not to novel length, but a few more pages’ worth so it didn’t stick out quite so much. But overall an enjoyable story with a lot of old-school ghost story or Gothic in its DNA.
Novella
What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher
Kingfisher’s narrator reluctantly returns to kan homeland. For me, this was quieter and then eerier than the first tale. It’s dark fantasy rather than horror for me – I still say the creepiest bits of T. Kingfisher I’ve encountered came in the Clocktaur duology. There’s some effective use of connections among characters.
Novelette
Signs of Life, Sarah Pinsker, Uncanny Magazine 59
A woman visits her long-estranged sister and revisits their complicated past. Great sense of time and place – roughly the 1980s, though I may have missed an anchor or two.
Wonderland Is a Parking Lot in Revere, John Chu, Uncanny Magazine 59
A grad student meets an old friend during a karaoke party at a conference, and his world becomes much, much bigger.
Short story
A Lullaby of Anguish, Marie Croke, Apex Magazine 145
A very dark fantasy about two sisters’ different ways of dealing with their childhood actions toward others. About four paragraphs in you might have a sense of whether this is not your thing. Good interview with the author also.
Loss Prevention, Pamela Rentz, Apex Magazine 145
A woman who monitors surveillance at a tribal casino juggles her job and her mission when an audit happens.
Game
Dunno the gaming demographics on here, but Tactical Breach Wizards just came out, and it feels like a title I can see a lot of Filers gravitating towards. Plus it’s on PC only!
Short story
Catching up on a few weeks’ worth from Escape Artists:
Thank You for Doing Business with the Xyb’lor Principality, Rachel Meresman, Escape Pod 948
Greatly enjoyed the twist in this heist story.
The Scientist Does Not Look Back, Kristen Koopman, Escape Pod 951
A Frankenstein story that packs a lot of characterization into its short length.
Publish or Perish, Julia LaFond, PodCastle 850
A woman’s attempts to manage her relationship with her abusive academic adviser develop unexpectedly.
The Invention of a Cat, Carolina Valentine, CatsCast 25
If you’re a cat person or you craft, you should read or listen to this story, which is not primarily humor, but which had a couple of perfect “that walker is laughing at nothing again” moments.
I believe that link goes to a public Patreon feed, but here’s the main CatsCast site, and this is one of their public podcast stories.
Novella
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, P. Djèlí Clark
Eveen the undead assassin gets an assignment that makes her break her unbreakable rules. Clark mentions the Forgotten Realms D&D setting in his acknowledgements. For me this did have some of the feel of a great RPG campaign, where the GM is firing on all cylinders and you’re along for a wild ride and shrieking in delight over the best reveals.
The Deep Dark, by Molly Knox Ostertag
Graphic Novel
Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there’s her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out — like it did once before.
I’ve often thought that storytelling is at its best when it externalizes the internal, so a graphic novel about an inner demon taking physical form is always going to be a compelling one for me. Throw in a solid YA romance and Molly Knox Ostertag’s beautiful artwork, and this one is a definite winner.