A review by kimtrucks
The Long List Anthology Volume 2: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List by David Steffen

4.0

Damage: a great story about an AI with an ethical quandary.

Pockets: a sweet lil' tale about accepting life as it comes.

Today I am Paul: a medical care robot, who impersonates (with their permission) family members, cares for an ailing woman. Very good.

The women you didn't see: A non-fiction letter to Tiptree Jr./Alice Sheldon. Crushing.

Tuesdays with Molakesh the Desroyer: an ailing demon is sent to die in a small town. Did not care for this one.

Wooden Feathers: about carving something perfect. OK.

Three Cups of Grief, By Starlight: dealing with the loss of a loved one (repeatedly). Excellent.

Madeleine: About a woman having vivid 'flashbacks'. It's fine.

Neat Things: the second letter to Tiptree/Sheldon.

Pocosin: a great lil' story about a witch in a marsh, and a dying possum-god.

Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers: A sin-eater feasts. not my favourite, but still wonderful.

So Much Cooking: Loved this! A pandemic as told through a food blog.

Deepwater Bride: Cthulhu Mythos in which a watching-type witch tries to discover the fell lord's bride.

Heart's Filthy Lesson: A Venusian trek. Did not care for it.

Grandmother-nay-Leylit's Cloth of Winds: about change of every sort. Found it touching.

Another word for world: About the perils of improper translation. Good enough.

Long Goodnight of Violet Wild: I bailed.

Our Lady of the Open Road: a bunch of travelling punks, post-pandemic. Not for me.

The P{auper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn: A grandson investigates his grandfather's stories of the "Mughal princess" who sold tea. I am biased against the kinds of third acts we see here, but it was lovely up until then.

The Sorceror of the Wildeeps: An African diaspora tale, in a world where the diaspora didn't happen, set in a fictional world that honestly reminded me vaguely of The Book of the New Sun. Mostly works well, although sometimes the prose seems to miss its mark.