Anyone read the short stories nominated for the Hugo?

[dancingsinging]

I'm totally dying for someone to talk to about these stories, in particular, "The Things." Because it's everything I don't like in my fiction any more--super duper male-perspective-on-everything, the use of rape as a metaphor where I really don't think the author gets it (but then maybe he does?). But the thing is, of the five stories, it's the one that really presents an alien that's alien. It reminds me of why I fell in love with sf as a child. And I haven't read any spec fic that evokes that in a long, long time. Anyone out there read that story?

Comments

[amberdine]

"The Things" is actually the only one of the lot I've read. I don't read a lot of short fiction, but I happened to spot it when it was up, and it was really compelling. I do love an alien perspective done well.

[dancingsinging]

(***SPOILERS***)






The thing that bugged me about it was how I as all sympathizing with the POV character, and then it concludes that it has to "rape" people into happiness and harmony. For their own good. And it really didn't read to me like some satiric argument against rape. How did it read to you?

[amberdine]

Yeah, I don't think it was satiric, but I'm pretty sure the verb wasn't used in the way we'd use it -- like there was some essential understanding lost in translation from "thingish." It seemed to me that the thing understood that it was was doing something that ought to be a cooperative, creative act, but as the action was an unwanted and violent, "rape" was the best word it could figure out to describe its taking-over process. I'm sure Watts intended it to be shocking.

It has been a long time since I read the story; I could be remembering this all wrong!