Summer 2019 (Hugo Award Nominee 2019 - Best Short Story);

I wish I could say I loved this one, but I didn't. I'm not even sure that I truly liked it enough for a 3, but it's not bad enough for a 2.5 even. It was well done, but it simply wasn't my cup of tea. It's a lovely fantasy jaunt and it's well-executed, from the narration of the story being told to hatchlings, to the inclusion of dinosaurs in a fantasy-laden medieval setting.

I do appreciate that this round of Hugo Nominee stories is having a lot of inverted/reclaimed female roles and myths and ownerships. ( )

Any magazine is going to have things that grab me and things that don't, but I want to read more from two of these authors, and the article by Tobias Buckell (who I've read) was interesting.

"Bones in the Rock" by R. K. Kalaw just sucked me in. Only part of that was the great opening sentence, "I am hunting for my lover’s bones in the desert."

https://uncannymagazine.com/article/bones-in-the-rock/

"Everything Under Heaven" by Anya Ow makes me want this to be a novella so I can read the rest. Now.

https://uncannymagazine.com/article/everything-under-heaven/ ( )

Now, the King’s subjects knew all about this particular forest, and avoided it like the plague, and if the Prince had thought to ask them they could have easily told him why this was so. If you know a blessed thing about royalty, however, you’ll have already guessed that he had bothered doing no such thing.

What an absolute delight this was! Three raptors and a princess against an awful prince. ( )

I like the fairy-taley voice of this story, and imagining myself as a tiny little nestling just popped out of my shell listening to the wise old grandraptor's stories. It's definitely got [b:The Paper Bag Princess|240130|The Paper Bag Princess|Robert Munsch|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386912856s/240130.jpg|844184] vibes but with more focus on the dragon (raptor sisters) which is a great change-up, I think. ( )

Nommed for '19 Hugo, this short has everything a meme-starved young girl could ever dream for. The heroines are, of course, Raptors, and the idiot Ape-King is a temporary fancy. :) Quite funny and timely for those of us still watching Jurassic World and similar. :)

Talking points? Nothing much except the focus on female-gender heroes and monsters being the protagonists. Again, humorous, but not much else. Tickled my ragged funnybone. :) ( )