The Hugo nominees were announced last Saturday, and Totaled by Kary English was among the nominees for Best Short Story. I try to read and review as many of the nominees as possible, and since a quick Google search led me to English’s short story on Wattpad, Totaled became my first post-nominee announcement read (I’ve already read Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword, but I’ll review that at a later date).
In recent years, I’ve gained a taste for a well written short story. Done right, a good story gets in fast, cuts to the meat of a problem, and gets out even faster. What a short story might lack in character development and world building, it can more than make up in poignancy, punch, and speed.
Also, it’s much easier to turn off the light and go to bed after a short story than it is after a chapter in a good novel.
That’s a long way of saying that I liked what I found in Totaled, and I can’t wait to look up what else Kary English has written.
A bit about the story, though not so much as to spoil it: Totaled opens with the main character dead. Told from a first person perspective, English makes good use of next generation technology, looping in just enough science fiction (but emphasizing the “fiction”) to give the story a “day after tomorrow” feel, but never losing touch of the human side that makes for the emotional ride in a story. Cutting edge tech may be interesting, but it might as well be a clever piece of speculation in scientific digest without addressing its human impact. Totaled makes use of some interesting ideas about technology, but leans heavily on the emotional waves the technology causes on its characters. The tug on your heart-strings will come right up until the last pages.
While I haven’t yet read the other nominees in the Short Story category, I enjoyed Totaled
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Totaled
Science Fiction
Galaxy’s Edge Magazine
July 2014
Neuroscientist Margaret Hauri has two children to raise, and she's on the cusp of a scientific breakthrough.
There's just one problem.
She's dead.
About Daniel
[…] 2015 Hugo nominees prior to the final vote later this year. I’ve previously reviewed “Totaled” by Kary English, and I’ll post link other reviews as I write […]