You’ll see the love: a lot of love in all directions. My vote: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom) – Monk and Robot - that is, Dex and Mosscap - travel together and slowly tackle more and more complex (or simple, depending on your viewpoint) philosophical questions. Can she protect her beloved? Demons, warlocks, and angels keep the plot twisting and turning.

Polk (Tordotcom) – In Chicago in the 1930s, the “White City Vampire” seems to be an ordinary serial killer, but a private detective knows that a lot more is at stake - more than she thinks, in fact. Expect shenanigans, not a treatise on governance.Įven Though I Knew the End by C.L. Genuinely funny, light-hearted, and light-weight, in a good way. High Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson (Tordotcom) – A scribe gets sent to record tense and desperate debates that, if not resolved, will result in disaster. While they can’t avoid tragedy, Hades, the king of the dead, has godlike wisdom and compassion, which might rescue the afterlife. Emo music students at a college reiterate the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. I Never Liked You Anyway by Jordan Kurella (Vernacular) – Love at its most foolish. Innocence could be a successful gambit, along with forgiveness. Garcia (Clarkesworld 1/22) – The crew of a space ship, a romantic triad, gets dragged into a planet’s deadly political games. None of them are romances per se, but love has a place in the plots. I’m a member of SFWA, and I’ve read all the works in the novella category, 17,500 to 40,000 words.

Sue burke books