It’s wonderful seeing the increased appreciation for novella-length fiction over the past several years, with more and more publishers taking on works that sit perfectly between short short stories and novels. This year was another fantastic year for novellas, and even as I continue frantically trying to catch up on my reading, I want to shout out a few 2024 titles that particularly stuck with me.
Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine is full of lovely, dark writing and striking imagery, exploring what it means to see and be seen. It also offers up a very effective exploration of isolation and the need for connection in a world where meeting another person’s eyes can have deadly consequences. Moraine offers a fresh take on a post-apocalyptic/mysterious plague trope as a sudden rash of inexplicable violence sparked by eye-contact sweeps the world. The novella does a wonderful job of threading tension throughout, looking at what happens when the social contract breaks down and you can’t rely on anyone, or even trust yourself.
Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker posits a mash-up between home renovation and ghost hunting, as Mara takes a job working on her cousin’s reality TV show that fakes hauntings for the camera while fixing up people’s homes. One could make a case for the novella as cozy horror. There are some genuinely eerie moments, but at the end of the day, Pinsker offers up a kinder sort of haunting, and the heart of the story is about a character finding her place in the world. The grounding details throughout, one of Pinsker’s specialties as an author, make the world feel lived in and the characters real, and the way the story plays with doubt and how we define “reality” is highly effective.
A Voice Calling by Christopher Barzak is the first novella published by Psychopomp, the same fine folks who publish The Deadlands, and they did an incredible job with it and all the other novellas they published this year. Button House has always been haunted, with layers of ghost stories interwoven with and informing each other. Barzak explores recurring trauma and tragedy that creates a cycle of hauntings, telling the story of a house that is a character in its own right, developing unhealthy relationships with a series of inhabitants across the years.
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo is an excellent work of historical horror. Leslie is a frontier nurse, carrying trauma from the war, and dealing with a world that largely refuses to see and accept him as a man. His latest assignment sends him to a small backwoods town where the people are intensely suspicious of outsiders. There’s clearly something wrong, but no one is willing to talk to him. One of the few people who seems like he could be a kindred spirit is Stevie, an angry young man determined to court danger and push Leslie away at every turn. The novella is full of the slow-burning tension that Mandelo excels at and does a wonderful job exploring the concept of monstrousness.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed is rife with gorgeous worldbuilding that feels like it extends beyond the page. Veris is recruited to retrieve two children who strayed into the woods, being the only person to have previously entered and survived. She’s threatened with death if she doesn’t succeed, left with no choice but to return to Elmever with all its terrible wrongness and face the ghosts of her past. Mohamed, as always, does a wonderful job of drawing readers into a world that feels lived in and familiar while also being beautifully dark and strange.
The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui is a sweeping space opera that feels epic even at novella length. Nez is a former pilot, forcibly recruited by the Third Daughter to help her win the war, bringing Nez face-to-face with her former lover and former best friend, both of whom abandoned and betrayed her. Sui perfectly captures the complicated and messy relationships between the characters, showing how passionate hate can slip over the line into desire. The novella also does a wonderful job looking at obsession, the cost of war, and how far the characters are willing to go to achieve their goals.
Lovely Creatures by KT Bryski unfolds its story gradually over the course of the novella, told from multiple viewpoints woven together to make a whole. Byrony is on a mission to get her sister back, finally tracking her down as the star attraction of a traveling carnival housed in the belly of a wooden whale. Doomsday Dot, as her sister is now known, sleeps in a glass coffin, and the stories say that when she wakes, the world will end. Bryski’s prose is, as always, lyrical and immersive. The story evokes fairy tales and the works of Ray Bradbury, but with a wholly distinct voice and feel of its own.
Countess by Suzan Palumbo is a queer, anti-colonial reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo, touching on many of the same themes as the Dragonfly Gambit. Virika Sameroo is betrayed by the Empire she’s served loyally her entire life, accused of murder and exiled. After years in prison, she sets out to clear her name and exact her revenge. Like Sui’s novella, there’s a sweeping, space opera feel to this one as well. The worldbuilding is meticulous, and Palumbo does a wonderful job looking at the ongoing violence of colonialism, showing both the large-scale impact and the personal impact on one particular character.
The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann LeBlanc sends Millions Wayland, a cheesemaker, on a desperate quest to save her life’s work as she discovers her asteroid cheese cave is about to be hurtled into the sun. She transfers a version of herself into another body to confront Miller, another instance of her who thinks of himself as the original, who appears to have deliberately sabotaged her for profit. Wayland reluctantly teams up with another instance, Hattie, and together they plan a heist to save her cheese. While the concept seems to lend itself to a light and maybe even comedic buddy romp, LeBlanc adopts a more serious tone, exploring anxiety, dysphoria, guilt, and the sense of self. It’s all excellently done, offering a fresh take on a multi-body story that balances wonderful characters with weighty themes.
The Indomitable Captain Holli by Rich Larson, published in Clarkesworld Magazine, is a fast-paced novella with an excellent voice. Holli is given a mission by Puck, the goretoon puppet who has been communicating with her through her VR goggles, unbeknownst to her family. She needs to get to the very top of the very tippy-top of tower block she lives in, where she’ll be celebrated with a pirate party. When Holli’s older sister returns to find her missing from their apartment, she and her boyfriend Lemar set off on a mission of their own – rescue Holli. Larson captures the perfect voice, and does an excellent job with Puck’s manipulation of Holli, giving it a nicely creepy undertone and keeping his true motives hidden for much of the story. The element of doubt works well, and along with the worldbuilding and characters, the novella provides a nice look at the power of storytelling itself.
Une Time Machine, S’il Vous Plait by Peter Wood appears in the March/April issue of Asimov’s. Coffee mogul/billionaire Adeline Deveraux builds an experimental space craft, inviting two actors – Ruth Mulu and Matt Wallace – who appeared on a Star Trek-like Canadian sci-fi show in the 70s, and her brother Pascal, along for its maiden flight. During the trip, Ruth and Pascal are accidentally thrown back in time. Realizing when they are, they set out to change the course of their own histories – Pascal trying to shake his mother’s confidence in Adeline so he will inherit the company, and Ruth using her knowledge of the future to become a millionaire on a sports bet, buy out the production company for FTL, and make it a better, less sexist show. Eventually, Matt and Adeline end up in the past as well, launching their own quests to undo what Pascal and Ruth have done. Overall, it’s a very satisfying time travel story with a great voice that nicely balances touches of humor with more serious subject matter.
