Following on from Liz’s post, I’m not attending Eastercon this year. I’ll no doubt be tracking some of the online shennanigans over the weekend, including virtual panel discussions that should be happening at Maureen’s place, but I’m going to be spending most of my time (a) watching TV, (b) catching up on reading, (c) catching up on editing, and (d) catching up on my own review-writing. And as part of (b), I’ll be reading the first of the Hugo-nominated novelettes, with the intent of posting about it on Sunday. I’m going to be following the alphabetical-by-title order on the Anticipation website, which means first up is …
“Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s Jan 2008)
And for those who want to play along at home, the subsequent schedule — one discussion a week, on Sunday afternoon — should look like this:
19 April: “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
26 April: “Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel (F&SF Jan 2008)
3 May: “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s Feb 2008)
10 May: “Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)
vector-bsfa.com 
first up is “Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders” by Mike Resnick
SPOILER: it is a pile of shit.
Aw, now you’ve gone and ruined it for me …
I was less than impressed, and wrote on my blog:
Sigh. Another Resnick. He’s one of those authors who regularly appears on the Hugo and Nebula shortlists, but I can’t for the life of me understand why. Clearly he’s popular, but when an award is given for the “best” of a category that’s what I expect it to be. This is a tired old Crumbly Fantasy – two old codgers reminisce about a magic shop they used to frequent as kids. They go looking for it and – big surprise – they find it and…. I think people have been writing variations on this deal-with-the-devil / youth-regained story since Poe. Its appearance on this shortlist is, well, baffling….