4 thoughts on “2016 Best Editor (Short Form)”

  1. Neil Clarke was one of my nominees because Clarkesworld consistently has really good stories. I also nominated Ellen Datlow because the stories she edited at Tor.com were among my favorites.

    I definitely considered nominating John Joseph Adams too. I like Lightspeed, and I enjoyed a couple of the anthologies he put together last year.

    Having only read a few of Asimov’s 2015 stories, I’m not as familiar with Sheila Williams’ work, but I liked most of what I did read.

    Jerry Pournelle is the only unknown for me. I imagine that the Voters Packet will at least have the 3 short fiction finalists from There Will Be War Volume X, if not the whole thing.

    Like

    Reply

  2. So far John Joseph Adams is at the top of my list. I’m limiting myself to 3 stories per magazine (or 2 if they’re novellas) due to lack of time.

    John Joseph Adams – I’ve read and loved Things You Can Buy For a Penny by Will Kaufman, Madeleine by Amal El-Mohtar and And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander. The Kaufman and El-Mohtar are top-notch IMO; Bolander’s story has great style but falls a bit at the end.

    Neil Clarke – Today I am Paul by Martin Shoemaker, Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer and When Your Child Strays From God by Sam J Miller are the ones I’ve read. Shoemaker’s story is my favorite; it stays excellent from start to end. The other two are very good but like Bolander’s story the endings are weak.

    Ellen Datlow – I liked what I read of Waters of Versailles by Kelly Robson; need to finish it. The other one on my TBR list is The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn by Usman Malik. (They’re both novellas).

    Jerry Pournelle – I haven’t read any of these yet. 3 of them are finalists, so that decides my choices.

    Sheila Williams – The New Mother by Eugene Fischer (novella) is on my TBR. I don’t know which others to choose though. Any suggestions?

    Like

    Reply

    1. I thought The Pauper Prince was excellent; it was one of my novella nominees. I enjoyed Waters of Versailles too, and nominated Kelly Robson for the Campbell.

      The New Mother also was one of my nominees. It takes a premise and thoroughly examines the consequences. The ending is slightly ambiguous (maybe?) which I liked.

      For other Asimov’s stories, I’d recommend the Nebula novelette winner “Our Lady of the Open Road” by Sarah Pinsker. And another Nebula novelette nominee “The Ladies’ Aquatic Gardening Society” by Henry Lien. Also, the short story “Two-Year Man” by Kelly Robson which will be reprinted in Neil Clarke’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 1. (All three are available on the authors’ websites.)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. This is a really difficult category, because of the sheer quality on display. Personally I nominated Clarke and Adams, but Datlow or Williams are equally valid choices. I’ve yet to read Pournelle’s editorial work so I can;t comment on him.

    I think I have to rank the three magazine editors above Datlow simply on volume of work that I’ve read – Datlow’s anthologies tend toward horror work which I’m less fond of.
    I suspect I enjoy Lightspeed a little more consistently than Clarkesworld or Asimovs, but there’s not much in it. I’m currently thinking that the anthologies that JJA edited tip him into first place for me – I’ve read and enjoyed The End Has Come and Operation Arcana, and he also produced Press Start to Play and Loosed Upon the World.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment