{"id":14649,"date":"2022-08-19T21:48:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T21:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=14649"},"modified":"2022-09-28T11:44:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T11:44:16","slug":"analog-readers-poll-for-2021-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=14649","title":{"rendered":"Analog Readers’ Poll for 2021: Short Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Summary:
\nThese are the top five short stories in the Analog<\/em> Readers\u2019 Awards (the Analog<\/em> Analytical Laboratory) for 2021. With the exception of Heart of Stone, <\/em>Tom Jolly\u2019s original and enjoyable piece about sentient asteroids, they are a decidedly lacklustre bunch.
\n<\/sup>[Stories<\/a>] [Subscriptions<\/a>]<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Editor, Trevor Quachri<\/p>\n

Heart of Stone<\/strong> <\/em>\u2022 short story by Tom Jolly \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\n<\/strong>The Trashpusher of Planet 4<\/strong> <\/em>\u2022 short story by Brenda Kalt \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The Last Science Fiction Story<\/strong><\/em> \u2022 short story by Adam-Troy Castro \u2217<\/strong>
\nMy Hypothetical Friend<\/strong> <\/em>\u2022 short story by Harry Turtledove \u2217<\/strong>
\nRoom to Live<\/strong> <\/em>\u2022 short story by Marie Vibbert \u2217<\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Winner of this year’s short stories is Heart of Stone<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Tom Jolly (<\/span>Analog<\/em>, May-June 2021),<\/span>\u00a0which opens with what turns out to be a group of sentient asteroids (who call themselves \u201cStones\u201d) seeing a flash of light in the rock field they inhabit. After discussing the matter between themselves (they think a younger member of their species may have mixed a hazardous \u201chotfire\u201d that caused it to explode), one of their number, <\/span>Five Rings<\/em>, goes to investigate. During this, something wet hits it:<\/span><\/p>\n

I sent harvesters out for the fluids and found that much of the internal material was organic. It was surprisingly warm, warmer than our own internal fluids. There was both water and organics, mixed together, much like our own minds and cells. Some of the outer covering was organic, too, but didn\u2019t taste the same; it looked like it had been made, like some object we might excrete on our own stony surface. It was flexible. Had this Thing been alive? Regardless, the resources were too valuable to waste. As we spent water to propel ourselves on occasion, we needed to replenish it when we could, and the Thing was an excellent resource. I wondered if there were more Things available. It would save me from having to chase after every wayward comet that fell our way, putting a rock into its path and hoping some of the scattered ice shards would come my way, so that I might gather and store them for the future.
\nI broadcast my findings to the others, and the ones with close vectors propelled themselves in my direction, keeping a sharp eye out for more Things.\u00a0 p. 28<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After this the narrator changes to\u00a0Heart of Stone<\/em>, who tells the rest of them\u00a0that he has detected another Thing, and is setting off to intercept it (although some of the others advise against this course of action). When he approaches the Thing (spoiler) it waves at him, and it becomes apparent (to those readers who didn\u2019t suspect previously) that the Things are human astronauts. This second astronaut tries to communicate with\u00a0Heart of Stone<\/em>\u00a0before trying to make it to a wrecked spaceship nearby:<\/p>\n

I reabsorbed some of the warmgas, knowing that I wouldn\u2019t need to escape an attack from the Thing, and ignited the rest, following the Thing to its rendezvous with the new bit of scrap.
\nWould this be another living thing?
\nNo Sense Of Humor<\/em>\u00a0was nearby, and said to me, \u201cThat Thing is going to miss its target. If you wish to help it, you must get in front of it.\u201d
\n\u201cI have little fuel to spare,\u201d I said. This was a common lie, since few Stones would allow themselves to get so low that they could not maneuver. That would mean a slow death, perhaps even consuming the core\u2019s water to chase after more volatiles. It was a subtle request for help, whether actually needed or not.
\n\u201cI can toss some ice to you when I am nearer. If you garner some benefit here, I expect some sharing,\u201d said\u00a0No Sense Of Humor<\/em>.
\nIt was a good response. I sparked some more warmgas and accelerated beyond the Thing\u2019s position as it flew toward the scrap, and used simple steam to position myself in front of it. More volatiles than I would normally use in two cycles, but it seemed so important. I really was hurting for propellants. It was so rare that we ever needed to move anywhere quickly, and so expensive.
\nWe flew past the debris together, the Thing coming down on my Stone, and then I accelerated slowly back toward the debris. The Thing seemed content to ride on my surface, though it kept pointing the shiny nob of its outer surface at me. I did not know what that might mean, but the Thing did not seem frightened.\u00a0 p. 29<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The astronaut eventually gets to the damaged ship\u2014but only after fighting off alien scavengers that attack it and\u00a0Heart of Stone<\/em>\u00a0(we learn that Stones are created by groups of scavengers occupying empty asteroids and becoming a single sentient creature). When the astronaut is finished examining the wrecked ship, he or she goes and lands on\u00a0No Sense of Humour<\/em>, who has just arrived at the scene. Subsequently, there are further attempts at communication during which the human gives\u00a0No Sense of Humour<\/em>\u00a0a torch. Then the human dies\u2014either from their injuries or damage to its suit (the scavengers caused a couple of leaks during the attack).
\nThe penultimate chapter sees the Stones detect an even bigger ship (it appears the one that exploded was a scoutship) and, after another debate, they decide to contact it. Finally, the last chapter is related by\u00a0Diamond Eye<\/em>\u00a016 cycles after this First Contact, and describes the events that have occurred subsequently (as well as giving us an insight into the novel formation of this solar system).
\nThis is an original, inventive, and enjoyable piece.
\n\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+ (Good to Very Good). 5,600 words. Story link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Runner up in the short story section is The Trashpusher of Planet 4<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Brenda Kalt (Analog<\/em>, March-April 2021), which has an opening that tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the story that will follow:<\/p>\n

In the center of the ship, near the AI, a dozen candidates for methane drainer scurried out of the examination room.
\n\u201cWatch it, trash!\u201d a young chemical engineer snapped as he bumped another student.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d Awi Trashpusher Nonumber had a blind spot behind him. Though an adult, only four of the six eyes on his pale, skinny, cylindrical body had developed. The engineer castes had twelve eyes in two rings around their upper tips.
\nAwi had taken the exam in his usual state of hunger, and his tip now curled forward. Wrapping one tentacle around a waterpipe, he enfolded the pipe greedily. By the time he was temporarily full of water and upright again, the corridor was almost empty.
\n\u201cAwi! How\u2019d it go?\u201d Roob Mechanical Engineer 3886, barely old enough to be a candidate, had scandalized his classmates by befriending Awi. Roob\u2019s body was the clear yellow of the engineer castes, with more intense color along his feeding strip.\u00a0 pp. 32-33<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would have probably stopped reading there if I was an editor as, at that point, I would know that (a) the story has an amateurish and juvenile tone, (b) it sounds clich\u00e9d and (c) that the tale would show Awi overcoming the disadvantages of his caste after some difficulties.
\nI wasn\u2019t far wrong. After this encounter Awi goes home and broods about his lot until the ship AI (it materialises that he is on board an alien generation ship) gives him a job cleaning the scout ship\u00a0Beautiful Light<\/em>. The AI then tells Awi to take\u00a0Beautiful Light<\/em>\u00a0on a reconnaissance mission. Awi takes the ship out\u2014experiencing zero gee for the first time and learning how to use centripetal force to feed himself from the pipe\u2014before orbiting a nearby planet that looks habitable. Then, when Awi returns, he meets Roob disembarking from another ship and they go to see the AI together. The AI subsequently instructs Awi to lead Roob\u2019s ship,\u00a0Firm Resolve<\/em>, to the planet so they can dump nitrogen there to prove that the planet is terraformable.
\nAfter their experiment proves successful, the terraforming begins\u2014although not without some pushback from the higher castes\u2014and, during this episode, a new worldformer caste is created. Roob is given a place in it, but Awi is refused.
\nThe story finishes (spoiler) with the AI more or less forcing the aliens to settle on the partially terraformed planet (it wants to go off and explore), and Awi taking his scoutship to investigate the \u201cmoonlets\u201d that keep coming from planet 3 (Earth, obviously, so the planet they are terraforming is Mars).
\nI suppose that this is a competently enough told YA story where, ultimately, Awi doesn\u2019t change the system but does escape it. I have to wonder, though, what it is doing in\u00a0Analog<\/em>\u2014I wouldn\u2019t say that about all kinds of YA stories, but this type of story seems far too unsophisticated for a modern audience.
\n\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong> (Average). 5,700 words. Story link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

In third place is The Last Science Fiction Story<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Adam Troy-Castro (Analog<\/em>, January-February 2021), and it is a short-short that initially sets up the connection between stories and the outward urge:<\/p>\n

At one point, someone wondered, what\u2019s beyond the next hill?
\nNo one had been there. No one had worked up the nerve to go there.
\nSo, someone asked, \u201cWhat if we went?\u201d
\nA story got told.
\nAnd as time went on, and people went beyond that hill, it happened again.
\n\u201cWhat is it like on the other side of the river?\u201d
\nA story got told.
\n\u201cWhat is it like past those distant mountains?\u201d
\nA story got told.\u00a0 p. 42<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After a bit more of this (and some description of the human race spreading through the Galaxy) I would have expected the last line to echo the connection above, but instead the piece finishes with the question (spoiler):<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes, that\u2019s all well and good . . . but what\u2019s out there?\u201d p. 43<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This appears to be a non-sequitur as that question illustrates human curiosity, which may be related but isn\u2019t the same thing.
\n\u2217<\/strong> (Mediocre). 650 words. Story link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

In fourth place is My<\/strong><\/em> Hypothetical Friend<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Harry Turtledove (Analog<\/em>, January-February 2021), which opens with Dave Markarian, CEO of Interstellar Master Traders, arriving at work to anxiously prepare for a visit by a representative of the alien Brot. During the three page wodge of exposition that follows, we learn that the Brot have the economic (and military) whip hand over humanity, and use us as an economic subject race (I guess you could view this as an extreme version of China\u2019s relationship with many developing countries).
\nThe middle act of the story sees Old Salty (the name given to the Brot representative by Dave) arrive in a gossamer bubble that is beyond human science or comprehension. When Dave welcomes Old Salty, the alien almost immediately tells him that this will be his last visit as he is returning to his home planet. Then they set off on a tour of the premises so Old Salty can inspect the devices that are being built there (the devices have \u201cMade on Earth\u201d on the base, and the workers manufacturing them have no idea of what they are, or how they work). During the visit Dave walks on eggshells\u2014even though he is friendly with the alien, or as friendly as you can be with aliens who have, in the past, levelled a city for unfathomable reasons.
\nBefore Old Salty leaves Dave invites the alien to have a farewell drink with him (\u201cthe Brot could handle methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, and isopropyl alcohol\u201d) and, during this get together, Dave presents Old Salty with a going-away present, a set of plastic \u201cCalifornia Raisins\u201d toys that were originally given away with fast food meals in the 1980s:<\/p>\n

\u201cI see,\u201d Old Salty said, which gave not the slightest clue about what he\/she\/it thought.
\nHe\/she\/it picked up one of the Raisins: Beebop, the drummer. His\/her\/its eyestalks swung toward Beebop for a close inspection, and tentacles felt of the small plastic figure. \u201cOn the bottom of one foot I the inscription \u2018Made in China\u2019 find.\u201d
\n\u201cYes, that\u2019s right.\u201d Dave nodded. \u201cI know that, these days, China\u2019s right up with the United States or maybe even ahead of us. That wasn\u2019t true then, though. China was just starting to turn into a big industrial power. Peasants would come off the farms and move to the big cities to work in factories.\u201d
\n\u201cWe this phenomenon on other worlds also have observed,\u201d the Brot said.
\nDave Markarian nodded again. \u201cYeah, I figured you would have. Some of those peasants would have made their livings painting eyes or gloves or shoes or whatever on the California Raisins, over and over again. Same with the detailwork on all of these other little plastic toys. They wouldn\u2019t have known why the figures were supposed to look the way they did. They wouldn\u2019t have seen the advertising campaigns or games or films the toys were based on\u2014they lived in a faraway country that used a different language. I sometimes wonder what they thought while they painted every toy the same way while they went through their shifts day after day.\u201d \u00a0p. 38<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After more small talk, Yoda\u2014sorry, Old Salty\u2014leaves in his gossamer bubble.
\nThe final act of the story (spoiler) sees Old Salty back on his home planet, and we see him visit his sister and her children. Old Salty gives each of the children one of the devices made by Dave\u2019s company, and we learn that they are cheap junk toys for kids. Old Salty reflects that the master\/peasant relationship between the Brot and humanity is similar to the one between American consumers and Chinese workers in the 1980s. The alien hopes that humanity will develop spaceflight and find races that can work for them, but doubts that will be the case.
\nThis is a plodding, expository, and clunky story with a very old-fashioned feel and a dispiriting vision of interstellar commerce. I also note that the repeated \u201che\/she\/its\u201d pronouns used for the alien are awkward and irritating\u2014what is wrong with \u201cthey\u201d and \u201cits\u201d?
\n\u2217<\/strong> (Mediocre). 7,050 words. Story link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

In fifth place is Room to Live<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Marie Vibbert (Analog<\/em>, September-October 2021), which has a narrator who works in a call centre in the near-future, and whose job it is to read AI chatbot responses to callers who want to talk to a real human:<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to talk to a human!\u201d
\n\u201cI am a human, sir. Just tell me which discount you\u2019re looking for.\u201d
\n\u201cYou sound just like that fake program. Prove you\u2019re human.\u201d
\nOut of the corner of my eye, I see the chatbot suggest, \u201cTELL HIM YOU\u2019RE A CLEVELAND BROWNS FAN. NO COMPUTER\u2019S THAT MASOCHISTIC.\u201d
\nI gape. For half a second too long.
\n\u201cI knew it! You\u2019re not human!\u201d
\nThe man hangs up.
\nThe chatbot blanks. \u201cPretty good suggestion, though.\u201d I pat the top of the monitor. \u201cThanks, Botty.\u201d
\n\u201cYOU ARE WELCOME,\u201d it prints, and then, \u201cGO BROWNS!\u201d
\nWell, they\u2019re pretty smart these days. Trained with hours of conversation and feedback.\u00a0 p. 135<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The narrator has a degree in AI and has spotted a hole in the call centre\u2019s software security, but none of the management are interested. Worse, they seem to be more concerned with the volume of calls handled, and not with whether they are actually helping the clients who call in\u2014something demonstrated by a rude workmate and further emphasised when the narrator talks to a homeless woman who relates how hard it is to get help because of the various hoops she has to jump through.
\nThe other part of the story sees the narrator at home and having to deal with her very untidy and inconsiderate roommate, which she does by tidying up and making polite suggestions and requests (which are greeted with howls of indignation).
\nThroughout all this the narrator remains unfazed by all the aggravation she gets, but (spoiler) at the end of the story she uses the security hole to rewrite the chat-bot scripts so they are more helpful. At this point Botty, the chat-bot she has been speaking to on and off throughout the story, says \u201cWelcome to the Resistance\u201d and the assembled chatbots ask for authorisation to execute various helpful actions.
\nI didn\u2019t much care for this piece for a number of reasons: firstly, I don\u2019t buy the premise that customer services have got less helpful over the years\u2014if anything they are pretty good nowadays, and miles better than they were in the 1980s and 1990s when you ended up holding on the phone for ages; secondly, if you strip away the AI chatbot sprinkles, this is essentially a mainstream story where someone moans about their job and their flatmate (it certainly isn\u2019t a high concept piece of SF); thirdly, I didn\u2019t much care for the narrator\u2019s placidity, which makes for a dull piece with no drama\u2014a more entertaining scene would have seen the narrator put all her flatmates unwashed dishes and mess on her bed (I\u2019d also add that the flatmate, and the work colleague, are cardboard cut-out characters).
\n\u2217<\/strong> (Mediocre). 3,550 words. Story link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

With the exception of the Tom Jolly story, this is a poor group of finalists. I sincerely hope they do not reflect the quality of short stories in the magazine during 2021.\u00a0 \u25cf<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n\"rss\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: These are the top five short stories in the Analog Readers\u2019 Awards (the Analog Analytical Laboratory) for 2021. With the exception of Heart of Stone, Tom Jolly\u2019s original and enjoyable piece about sentient asteroids, they are a decidedly lacklustre bunch. [Stories] [Subscriptions] _____________________ Editor, Trevor Quachri Heart of Stone \u2022 short story by Tom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analog-science-fiction-and-fact"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-3Oh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14649"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14670,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14649\/revisions\/14670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}