Oh, my. Thank you for sharing

Great story, but damn....

/off to call my parents

Glad to learn I am not as jaded as some of the commentators on io9. I'll be back, my allergies are kicking in.

Brb got to call my mother.

Old Man Winter: Glad to learn I am not as jaded as some of the commentators on io9. I'll be back, my allergies are kicking in.

Being that it's on IO9, their just upset that the mom didn't wind up on Firefly spaceship.

This story hit me like a kick in the gut, My dumbass older brother sent the link to this story to me while I was at work and I made the mistake of reading it then. I hope my office mate thought I was laughing at XKCD or something.

My own mother died of cancer when I was about 18 and still an asshole teenager - I had a job and was going to college at the time. The last day I saw her alive was Easter Sunday, a few days after brain surgery. I stayed by her bed for a few minutes, then went to go hang out with my same-aged cousin. The next day while at work, my brother called me to say she'd died.

The other, milder, kick in the gut is that I'm married to a Chinese woman (not a bought bride, she imported herself) and have two mixed race kids, one who's becoming an asshole - ahem - I mean teenager. He doesn't look a bit like a 1/2 Chinese mutt. The younger one, she looks just like her Mom, only totally different. I think the mix is just beautiful in both of them. I may be biased, but here's three cheers for genetic diversity!!!

And for Moms. Let's hope we can all learn to appreciate ours before they're gone.

Neuromancer won the Hugo, Nebula, and Phillip K. Dick awards--the first to win the true sci-fi triple crown.

Right in the feels.

Counter_Intelligent: I am sorry, but I really didn't feel anything.

You must be dead inside.

Oh, and if you want an even bigger kick in the feels by the same author, The Man Who Ended History (PDF). It was nominated for a Hugo for "Best Novella" but ultimately lost to The Man Who Bridged The Mist by Kij Johnson, which isn't nearly so depressing.

I'm sure this is a poignant and special story, too bad I can't get past the first few paragraphs. Why does he write like he's retarded?

wiredroach: Neuromancer won the Hugo, Nebula, and Phillip K. Dick awards--the first to win the true sci-fi triple crown.

Not to mention the fact that it was actually science fiction.

This wasn't a bad short story, but I don't get the science fiction/fantasy accolades. It's clearly not science fiction or fantasy. The paper animals being 'alive' is obviously just a psychological thing in the story. When the paper tiger broke the Obi-Wan doll it was because the kid, being a kid, was playing with the toys, as kids do, and he himself broke the Obi-Wan doll... as kids do. Kids pretend toys are real, breathe life into them... and break shiat. That's what they do.

I got zero sense, while reading, that there was a real sci-fi/fantasy angle at work.

Seriously? They gave awards to an author who has no clue how humans operate? A child well-treated and loved by his mother turns against her for being Chinese? Uh, no. Unless the child is a psychopath, that makes no sense.

jvl: Seriously? They gave awards to an author who has no clue how humans operate? A child well-treated and loved by his mother turns against her for being Chinese? Uh, no. Unless the child is a psychopath, that makes no sense.

You don't have any children do you?

That was drek.

It was like the author read a book on how to tug at heartstrings, and then shoved as many examples as possible into his story.
And as pointed out previously, how the flying fark did that win a science fiction award?

Cubicle Jockey: It was like the author read a book on how to tug at heartstrings, and then shoved as many examples as possible into his story.

Did you know that is a perfect description of the first 3 minutes of The Lion King?

/people always talk about the death scene, but the presentation of the cub uses every trick in the book to hook you into the derivative, predictable, dull two hours that follow

I knew I should have stopped reading that. Knew it...

Anyone read the Sextet Wool?

Schmaltz.

Tickle Mittens: I knew I should have stopped reading that. Knew it...

If you need something to lighten the mood after reading that, here's an epic spoof of popular fantasy literature: The Shadow War of The Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City: Prologue by John Scalzi

Well, I really liked it.

And I think less of the people who didn't (sorry, it's true).

Perhaps one does need a bit of an immigrant history to appreciate what it's about, though.

brigid_fitch: It's a cute CHILDREN'S story, albeit a little cliched (the origami animals were wonderful but "boy hates parent, parent dies, then, years later, he finds letter from dead parent that points out what a selfish prick he was") and incredibly manipulative ("No, not enough SORROW! Make her loneliness completely his fault to maximize the guilt!") But the winner of 3 distinguished sci-fi/fantasy awards? How does that work?

With VERY rare exceptions, I have found Hugo Award-winning books to be incredible bores. Someone above mentioned The Windup Girl. FFS, I dragged myself through about half that book and haven't gone back to it. The last one I tried was Blackout/All Clear. WTF? How are those books even a decent story?

I don't get it. I read a LOT of sci-fi and fantasy but, overwhelmingly, the "award winners" seem to be picked by a bunch of basement-dwelling fanboys than anyone with real literary credentials.

The Hugo awards are, in fact, chosen by the fans, and the barrier to entry for voting isn't that high. If you register for the World Science Fiction Convention for a particular year, you automatically get the rights to vote on both the Hugo and Campbell awards for that year, and on the nominations for the following year. Registration can cost as little as $50 for a supporting (i.e. non-attending) membership, and as of about two years ago, it includes an e-book packet with that year's nominees as an extra incentive to vote (which is actually an incredible deal, given how much reading material is in that packet).

Personally, I've sometimes thought that the runners-up were better than the actual winners. I haven't read many of the Hugo-winning novels (it's hard for me to find time to read anything long), but In the case of Blackout/All Clear, I remember that a lot of people thought Cryoburn should have won instead.

half asians with asian moms arent asian, theyre white.

she sucky rong time??

TS;DR

My Mom died in March. We had a rather rocky relationship, and just a few hours before I found her dead in bed I was joking with my husband that at least if she was dead (I hadn't heard from her in 4 days, and she was the kind of person who would call me every twelve hours because she was bored) I wouldn't have to deal with her anymore.

Nothing, NOTHING, prepares you for the reality. This had me bawling.

I find that it is difficult to relate to a lot of fiction that deals with family dynamics if you, yourself, lack any kind of family dynamics. I don't really know what the point of this observation is, but I feel very much like someone looking in on a foreign culture whenever I encounter a bit of family drama.

Also, you know what sci-fi story gets me bawling every damn time? "The Only Neat Thing to Do" by James Tiptree, Jr. God damn. Just God damn.

Let us know when that comes back into style.

target="_blank">AgentPothead: I'm sure this is a poignant and special story, too bad I can't get past the first few paragraphs. Why does he write like he's retarded?

Your callsign could explain it...

ModernLuddite: I find that it is difficult to relate to a lot of fiction that deals with family dynamics if you, yourself, lack any kind of family dynamics

Yup.

I didn't hate it, but it really did nothing for me. I'd imagine if I had a rougher relationship with my parents or an immigrant background, it might have resonated.

I was impressed.

thisiszombocom: half asians with asian moms arent asian, theyre white.

So half-Asians are White, but half-Blacks are Black.

Hold on, lemme jot these down....

ArcadianRefugee: thisiszombocom: half asians with asian moms arent asian, theyre white.

So half-Asians are White, but half-Blacks are Black.

Hold on, lemme jot these down....

Remember you can have white hispanics as well. It`s all in the manual, didn`t you read it? You would have seen that people descended from a black and a white person are black to white people and white to black people. On the page after they say that russians aren`t asian...

It's a good story, but this is what passes for Sci-Fi these days?

/sticks nose back into Asimov anthology

brigid_fitch: I don't get it. I read a LOT of sci-fi and fantasy but, overwhelmingly, the "award winners" seem to be picked by a bunch of basement-dwelling fanboys than anyone with real literary credentials.

Other way around, actually... It's people with real literary credentials but who lack the sci-fi or fantasy background of basement-dwelling fanboys who pick the winners. Hence this story's presence of calculated heart string-tugging prose and overwhelming absence of robots.

jvl: Seriously? They gave awards to an author who has no clue how humans operate? A child well-treated and loved by his mother turns against her for being Chinese? Uh, no. Unless the child is a psychopath, that makes no sense.

Yea, I mean a kid would never rebel against a part of themselves that is mocked by their peer group and makes them feel like an outsider.

Never raised a kid have you?

Wait, that came out WAY haughtier than I intended. I'm not a literary critic. At best, I'm a former English teacher but I in no way claim to be the next Margaret Atwood--far from it. And I think more of the issue of the "winners" are from recent years. Certainly Hyperion, Canticle for Liebowitz, Ringworld, and a host of others are excellent books. But the past decade or so? Not so much.

If only those evil writers unions didn't have it so you have to be a licensed and bonded professional writer before you could write something, you could show us how it should be done.

/yeah, it came across pretty damn haughty

This room just got really dusty.