Jackalope Wives

Last updated

"Jackalope Wives" is a 2014 fantasy short story by Ursula Vernon, combining the legends of the swan maiden and the jackalope. It was first published in Apex Magazine and has been reprinted in the collection Jackalope Wives and Other Stories. One of the characters, Grandma Harken, is the protagonist of another award-winning story by Vernon, "The Tomato Thief."

Contents

Synopsis

When a young man accidentally mutilates a jackalope wife, his Grandma Harken takes charge of her.

Reception

"Jackalope Wives" won the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, [1] and the 2015 WSFA Small Press Award, [2] and was nominated for the 2015 World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction. [3] As well, an analysis at Io9 indicated that, if not for the Sad Puppies ballot-manipulation campaign, "Jackalope Wives" would have been a finalist for the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. [4]

Tor.com called it "soulful" and "extraordinary", praising Grandma Harken as a "captivating protagonist". [5] At Locus , Lois Tilton commended Vernon's "(f)ine prose imagery and dialogue, strong characters, (and) neat invented folklore". [6] Strange Horizons noted that, by basing the story on "a piece of inauthentic kitsch", Vernon avoided issues of cultural appropriation. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian McDonald (British author)</span> British science fiction novelist

Ian McDonald is a British science fiction novelist, living in Belfast. His themes include nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Watts (author)</span> Canadian science fiction author (born 1958)

Peter Watts is a Canadian science fiction author. He specializes in hard science fiction. He earned a Ph.D from the University of British Columbia in 1991 from the Department of Zoology and Resource Ecology. He went on to hold several academic research and teaching positions, and worked as a marine-mammal biologist. He began publishing fiction around the time he finished graduate school.

Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field, founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. It also publishes comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genres. The magazine also presents the annual Locus Awards. Locus Online was launched in April 1997, as a semi-autonomous web version of Locus Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Wells</span> American speculative fiction writer (born 1964)

Martha Wells is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has published a number of fantasy novels, young adult novels, media tie-ins, short stories, and nonfiction essays on fantasy and science fiction subjects. Her novels have been translated into twelve languages. Wells has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and three Locus Awards for her science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries. She is also known for her fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura. Wells is praised for the complex, realistically detailed societies she creates; this is often credited to her academic background in anthropology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Bear</span> American author (born 1971)

Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky is an American author who works primarily in speculative fiction genres, writing under the name Elizabeth Bear. She won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Tideline", and the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "Shoggoths in Bloom". She is one of a small number of writers who have gone on to win multiple Hugo Awards for fiction after winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ursula Vernon</span> American comic creator and writer

Ursula Vernon is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She has won numerous awards for her work in various mediums, including Hugo Awards for her graphic novel Digger and fantasy novel Nettle & Bone, the Nebula Award for her short story "Jackalope Wives", and Mythopoeic Awards for adult and children's literature. Vernon's books for children include Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath. Under the name T. Kingfisher, she is also the author of books for older audiences. She writes short fiction under both names.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavie Tidhar</span> Israeli writer

Lavie Tidhar is an Israeli-born writer, working across multiple genres. He has lived in the United Kingdom and South Africa for long periods of time, as well as Laos and Vanuatu. As of 2013, Tidhar has lived in London. His novel Osama won the 2012 World Fantasy Award—Novel, beating Stephen King's 11/22/63 and George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons. His novel A Man Lies Dreaming won the £5000 Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, for Best British Fiction, in 2015. He won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2017, for Central Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Jane Anders</span> American science fiction author and commentator

Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer. She has written several novels as well as shorter fiction, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, the Emperor Norton Award. Her 2011 novelette Six Months, Three Days won the 2012 Hugo and was a finalist for the Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards. Her 2016 novel All the Birds in the Sky was listed No. 5 on Time magazine's "Top 10 Novels" of 2016, won the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2017 Crawford Award, and the 2017 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; it was also a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">70th World Science Fiction Convention</span> 70th Worldcon (2012)

The 70th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Chicon 7, was held on 30 August–3 September 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Robinette Kowal</span> American author and puppeteer (born 1969)

Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author and puppeteer. Originally a puppeteer by primary trade after receiving a bachelor's degree in art education, she became art director for science fiction magazines and by 2010 was also authoring her first full-length published novels. The majority of her work is characterized by science fiction themes, such as interplanetary travel; a common element present in many of her novels is historical or alternate history fantasy, such as in her Glamourist Histories and Lady Astronaut books.

The WSFA Small Press Award was inaugurated by the Washington Science Fiction Association in 2007. The award is open to works of imaginative literature published in English for the first time in the previous calendar year. Furthermore, the Small Press Award is limited to short fiction—works under 20,000 words in length—that was published by a small press. The nominees are narrowed down by a panel elected by the WSFA membership, and these finalists are then judged by the entire WSFA membership to select a winner. Throughout the process, the author and publisher of each story are kept anonymous.

"Ponies" is a 2010 fantasy story by American writer Kij Johnson. It was first published on Tor.com.

<i>The Goblin Emperor</i> 2014 novel by Katherine Addison

The Goblin Emperor is a 2014 fantasy novel written by the American author Sarah Monette under the pseudonym Katherine Addison. The novel received the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was nominated for the Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. It was well-received by critics, who noted the strength of the protagonist's characterization and, unusual for fantasy, the work's warm and understated tone.

"Cat Pictures Please" is a 2015 science fiction short story by American writer Naomi Kritzer. It was first published in Clarkesworld.

Alyssa Wong is an American writer of speculative fiction, comics, poetry, and games. They are a recipient of the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and Locus Award.

Naomi Kritzer is an American speculative fiction writer and blogger. Her 2015 short story "Cat Pictures Please" was a Locus Award and Hugo Award winner and was nominated for a Nebula Award. Her novel, Catfishing on CatNet won the 2020 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam J. Miller</span> English science fiction, fantasy and horror short fiction author

Sam J. Miller is an American science fiction, fantasy and horror short fiction author. His stories have appeared in publications such as Clarkesworld, Asimov's Science Fiction, and Lightspeed, along with over 15 "year's best" story collections. He was finalist for multiple Nebula Awards along with the World Fantasy and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards. He won the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award for his short story "57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides." His debut novel, The Art of Starving, was published in 2017 and his novel Blackfish City won the 2019 John W. Campbell Memorial Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooke Bolander</span> American writer

Brooke Bolander is an American author of speculative fiction.

"The Tomato Thief" is a 2016 fantasy novelette by Ursula Vernon. It was first published in Apex Magazine and has been reprinted in the collection Jackalope Wives and Other Stories.

<i>The Litany of Earth</i> 2014 fantasy novella by Ruthanna Emrys

The Litany of Earth is a 2014 fantasy/horror fiction novella by Ruthanna Emrys that is the beginning of The Innsmouth Legacy series by Emrys. The novella revisits the H. P. Lovecraft story "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and was first published on Tor.com.

References

  1. “Jackalope Wives”, at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved May 16, 2018
  2. WSFA Small Press Award Winner, at Locus Online ; published October 2, 2015; retrieved May 16, 2018
  3. 2015 World Fantasy Convention, at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved May 16, 2018
  4. This Is What The 2015 Hugo Ballot Should Have Been, by Andrew Liptak, at Io9; published August 23, 2015; retrieved May 16, 2018
  5. Short Fiction Spotlight: The Second Life of the Jackalope Wife, by Niall Alexander, at Tor.com; published February 11, 2014; retrieved May 16, 2018
  6. Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, early January , by Lois Tilton, at Locus ; published January 10, 2014; retrieved May 16, 2018
  7. The New Voices of Fantasy edited by Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman, reviewed by Matt Hilliard, in Strange Horizons ; published March 19, 2018; retrieved May 16, 2018