Hellooo!

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be giving some thoughts on the British Fantasy Society awards being announced in a couple of weeks. I’ll be focusing on Novella, best horror and Best Novel which tend to align most to my reading. I love an interesting shortlist as I’ve discussed recently  with The Joy(s) of A Shortlist.

Let’s look at the best novella nominees!

When I look at novellas it’s a bit of seeking a Goldilocks experience - not being too short or too long. Not making you wish it was a short story or a novel. It’s the extended album track you can’t release as a single and runs from beginning to the end perfectly. Great novellas have a subtlety of craft and can allow a sharp focus on a theme or story that bigger tale would lose.

Starting with a tale that really didn’t work for me The Darkness In The Pines by David Green gives me no pleasure to say I found very disappointing and flawed. It is a novella spin-off from an urban fantasy series, and I feel may speak more to that series’ fans than new readers.

Now with Thornhedge by T Kingfisher I’m going to state I enjoyed reading it but for me it is doing exactly what you expect. Another example of a classic fairytale being revised. Its entertaining, well written and that’s really about it – you can guess where it is going pretty quickly. It is a bit too familiar a style of tale to say it is doing anything really unique this time..

The good news is I really like the next four and this makes it really hard to look at what they’re doing.

I’ve recently read Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee  as well as bringing back Rocs to fantasy the worldbuilding here is beautifully subtle with one character focused tale against the wider world changing and influencing the main story. It is really impressive and lingers in the mind.

Also a recent read was The Last Day And the First by Tim Lebbon and here is a tale that has some gorgeous use of perspectives. It’s the last chapter of the end of the world of humanity. It tells us just enough to explain the apocalypse, but the focus is actually on what is to come. A meditation on life, death and letting go that really worked for me.

For another gorgeous read The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das is a love letter to reading and loving fantasy as a child and why we all love to seek magic in our lives. Its set in Calcutta of the 1980s and 90s and talks to being an immigrant and the feeling of being an outsider I know many fantasy readers have shared over the years. A beautiful story.

We also have a bewitching tale of body horror and yet is remarkably positive as we reach the end with They Shut Me Up by Tracy Fahey. A middle-aged woman very much written off by work colleagues and family is shocked to discover a second mouth on her throat. This tale explores Irish history and the long-term suppression of women as well as handling the issues of experiencing the menopause and how women are dismissed on how they are feeling.

That is a very interesting collection of four books and if you threatened me with losing my book collection today then I’d say Last Dragoners or They Shut Me Up would be my winners.

Next time – Horror!