Today’s happy news is that “The New Mother” has made the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2015! I’m thrilled to be included with so many other wonderful writers.
It also occurs to me that I never officially said it on this site, but “The New Mother” is also eligible to be nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards, in the novella category. If you’re a person who does those things, do please consider it.
Two of my all-time favorite reviewers of science fiction have chimed in about “The New Mother,” and they had good things to say!
I’ve been reading Nicholas Whyte since my early twenties, when I discovered his historical reviews of works that won both the Hugo and Nebula. His taste nearly always matches up with mine, and his critical articulation often clarifies my own. (The structure of his negative review of Asimov’s The Gods Themselves is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of that book.) Over on his LiveJournal he’s been doing a roundup of Hugo-eligible short fiction, and writes:
There are only two issues of Asimov’s to consider here, April/May being a double, but I found it by far the best hunting ground. Again, the very first story, “The New Mother”, by Eugene Fischer really impressed me, and I’m a bit surprised not to see it more widely recommended (other than by Amal El-Mohtar).
I’ve written of my enthusiasm for Jo Walton’s reviews before, and never tire of reading and rereading her thoughts about genre fiction. So I was agog when I saw she’d tweeted this:
The New Mother https://t.co/ikBrnlzeGG excellent novelette about reproduction by Eugene Fischer.
— Jo Walton (@BluejoWalton) November 2, 2015
Over at io9, K. Tempest Bradford and several other reviewers have put together a list of the best short stories of the year so far. Somehow my twenty thousand word novella managed to sneak itself a spot, where it’s in company with the work of so many other great writers that I’m dazzled just looking at the page. Much thanks to Tempest and Amal, to whom my own inclusion is due.
If you haven’t read “The New Mother” yet, but find ongoing critical enthusiasm persuasive, the story is right here for your enjoyment.
Did you miss your chance to grab a copy of the April/May 2015 issue of Asimov’s? Well now you have another way to read my novella “The New Mother.” The full text is available online.
A reminder of some things people have said about it:
Give it a read, see what you think.
The next issue of Asimov’s is out now, so I don’t expect many more reviews of the April/May issue to appear. There were a couple of things that popped up right at the end of my issue’s shelf life, though.
At io9, K. Tempest Bradford named it one of the best stories of the week, writing that the story avoids preachiness while exploring what it means to be human.
At Black Gate magazine, a Gabe Dybing left a comment on the post about the issues to say of “The New Mother,”
It blew me away! It follows a scifi precept (was it Asimov’s?) that only one thing about the natural world shall be altered. In this case it was that women start spontaneously fertilizing their own eggs. Fischer’s exploration of these ramifications was amazing! I expect to see that on some awards lists.
Thanks for talking about my story, you two!
Dre was kind enough to have me on the inaugural episode of his relaunched NerdCast podcast to discuss “The New Mother.” It was a long conversation that Dre has extensively annotated. Here’s the video:
The reading a week ago was fantastic. We had an audience of about 45 people, a table of Asimov’s issues and other books featuring Jessica Reisman’s fiction, and snacks provided by the bookstore. The room was full of strangers, friends, and strangers who I hope will become friends. By the time the reading started it was standing room only.
Jessica read first, with two pieces: an excerpt from her story “The Chambered Eye” in Rayguns Over Texas and all of “Boneshadow” from Phantom Drift. Then Janalyn Guo read a slipstream short story “Soft Breast Mechanism” from Birkensnake that had the crowd cackling with hilarious discomfort. She was tough to follow. I went up last, and read the first three sections of “The New Mother.” To my delight, the audience laughed in all the right places. After, it was all signing and selling and shaking hands, and then a contingent of us made the trip to Spider House cafe down the street for some triumphal drinks. My thanks to Malvern for hosting us, and to everyone who came to the event.
Reviews for my novella are starting to appear, so who’s ready for some aggregation?
I think the very first person whom I didn’t already know to talk about the story online was Joseph Tomaras, who quoted several lines on twitter and ended by saying:
Strongly recommended: "The New Mother," novella by Eugene Fischer, in the current issue of Asimov's.
— Joseph Tomaras (@epateur) March 15, 2015
Other Twitter commenters included Bill Tyrell:
Recommended: "The New Mother" by @glorioushubris in this month's Asimov's. Intense.
— Bill Tyrell (@billytyrell) March 19, 2015
and this from user @shigeruhiko, who responded to me directly:
@glorioushubris I just read your story in Asimov's this week! Amazing! I loved it a lot. Thank you for an awesome story!
— SailorStar Aphrodite (@shigeruhiko) March 20, 2015
An overwhelmingly positive reception was Amal El-Mohtar’s review for her column Rich and Strange, where she writes
I’m astounded by this story, by its elegant, thoughtful thoroughness: every character Tess encounters is fully formed, complex, no one of them limited to their narrative function. In a way reading this story is a master class in observing the manipulation of rhetoric: who, in this story, considers women with GDS to be human and who does not beautifully inflects their arguments to varying degrees—and seeing that rhetoric clash with arguments about fetus-personhood is completely fascinating.
But perhaps even more complimentary is the link from her personal site, where she says “I literally cannot think of a single way to improve this story.”
Jeanne Griggs, whom I met when we were seat neighbors at the ICFA banquet, later wrote about it at her site, saying “I never got the chance to embarrass myself in person with Eugene Fischer, although if I’d read his novella, The New Mother, I totally would have.”
Bob Blough, about whom I know nothing, had very nice things to say in his review at Tangent Online:
This is a particularly effective story with a SFnal idea embedded right in its beating heart. Each character is excellently rendered – some in but a few strokes – but all seem real and alive. I was – and still am – impressed.
Finally, I got a brief write up at sfrevu.com by Sam Tomaino–another stranger to me–which concludes that my novella is an “Interesting idea with possible implications well-handled.”
Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to read and talk about “The New Mother.” I really appreciate it.
To support our upcoming reading at Malvern Books, Janalyn’s friend Joe Duncan has made us this eye-catching poster. For more of Joe’s illustration work, check out his website. And if you’re in the Austin area, check out the reading this coming Saturday. It is guaranteed to put happy faces on all of your cells.
If you’ll be in Austin on the fourth of April, consider coming to A Speculative Evening at Malvern Books to hear me, Janalyn Guo, and Jessica Reisman read our fiction. Malvern is a lovely little bookstore that specializes in small press books, both fiction and poetry. I’ll be reading from “The New Mother,” and have copies of Asimov’s for sale. Reading starts at 7:00pm. Hope to see you there.