When Carmen Maria Machado‘s debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was shortlisted for the National Book Award it went to the top of everybody’s “to read” piles. A smart, sensitive and thoughtful look at issues to do with sex, gender, violence and horror, it proved to be one of the very best books of 2017, and one that’s sure to hold everyone’s attention through 2018.
This week Carmen was kind enough to join Gary and Jonathan on the podcast to discuss her work, her reading and writing life, and much more. Our thanks to Carmen for making the time to talk to us. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode.
Every year Gary and Jonathan sit down and start talking about “awards season”, a short period in the science fiction year that runs from February to November where we take time out to recognise all of the excellent work published in the preceding year.  This year they’re getting to the job late, having already missed the announcement of the Crawford, the BSFA, and the Stoker ballots. Still, just in the nick of time, they take a moment to discuss possible 2018 Hugo Awards nominees, or at least possible fiction nominees, along with some encouragement for listeners to read, watch, and listen widely, and then nominate what they loved.
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The announcement that nominations have opened for the Hugo Awards kicks off awards season in earnest. There is a lot of wonderful fiction out there and, having been fairly busy during 2017, I’ve been lucky enough to help what I think are some really excellent works of fiction that I think are worthy of your consideration.
It was a year when I edited two new anthologies, three novellas for Tor.com Publishing, half a dozen stories for Tor.com, appeared on and produced 26 episodes of The Coode Street Podcast episodes, and acted as reviews editor for Locus for the 15th consecutive year.
Fiction edited in 2017
Anthologies
As a guide, fiction in Infinity Wars is science fiction, and probably most relevant for the Hugo and Nebualas.  The novellas range from hard science fiction to weird fantasy.
Novellas
- Passing Strange, Ellen Klages, Tor.com, January 2017, tp/eb.
- Agents of Dreamland, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tor.com, February 2017, tp/eb.
- Proof of Concept, Gwyneth Jones, Tor.com, April 2017, tp/eb.
Novelette
- The Martian in the Wood, Stephen Baxter (Tor.com)
- The Moon is Not a Battlefield, Indrapramit Das (Infinity Wars)
- Uncanny Valley, Greg Egan (Tor.com)
- Extracurricular Activities, Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com)
- The Future of Hunger in the Age of Programmable Matter, Sam J. Miller Jr. (Tor.com)
- The Last Broadcasts, An Owomoyela (Infinity Wars)
- Weather Girl, E.J. Swift (Infinity Wars)
- Zeros, Peter Watts (Infinity Wars)
- Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship, Caroline M Yoachim (Infinity Wars)
Short story
- Mines, Eleanor Arnason (Infinity Wars)
- Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear (Infinity Wars)
- In Everlasting Wisdom, Aliette deBodard (Infinity Wars)
- Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress (Infinity Wars)
- Heavies, Rich Larson (Infinity Wars)
- Command and Control, David Levine (Infinity Wars)
- Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix (Infinity Wars)
- Oracle, Dominica Phettaplace (Infinity Wars)
- Sanctuary, Allen Steele (Tor.com)
- The Old Dispensation, Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com)
- Overburden, Genevieve Valentine (Infinity Wars)
- Evening of the Span of Their Days, Carrie Vaughn (Infinity Wars)
Editor, Short-Form (Hugos)/Professional Achievement (WFA)
- Jonathan Strahan (Infinity Wars, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eleven, Passing Strange, Proof of Concept, Agents of Dreamland, Tor.com stories, Locus [reviews editor]
Best Fancast/Podcast
I hope you’ll consider supporting the talented people that I’ve worked with during the year.
…unavoidable stuff from jonathan strahan…
When Carmen Maria Machado‘s debut short story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, was shortlisted for the National Book Award it went to the top of everybody’s “to read” piles. A smart, sensitive and thoughtful look at issues to do with sex, gender, violence and horror, it proved to be one of the very best books of 2017, and one that’s sure to hold everyone’s attention through 2018.