Little Blue Marble 2020 Awards-Eligible Work

For your consideration, since nominations for things like the Hugo, Nebula, Aurora, and Julius Vogel awards might be open already. Our eligible authors of original fiction and poetry this year hail from the US, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

In Fiction:

GAC ATG ATT ACA

Erika liked to think of herself as a gene artist. That was how she kept the despair at bay in ...
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In the Teeth of the Gale

I pressed the last hydrocorn shoot into its eyelet and secured the completed tray to the floating platform. Standing up, ...
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At Climate Court

Two crisply uniformed young guards pushed Jill’s grandfather into the courtroom in a wheelchair. It hurt her to see him ...
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From Advanced Human Biology, 2^nd Edition

When the changes first manifested, humanity called it a disease. The first change affected blood. While the pH of human ...
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Dilemma, with Omnivore

Trust me, you do not want to go shopping with my mother. Mom has this passion for curiosities. Every shopping ...
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The Colours of Europa, The Colours of Home

In the sea beneath Europa’s thick and jagged layer of ice, all colours faded to a blue that was almost ...
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Invasive Alien Species

In the diverse crowd all skin colours and sexes squeezed around one another to fill every inch of the seminar ...
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Buried Phoenix. And Leaves

I am the renewing flame, and you are the one I must burn. I was taught this from the beginning, ...
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Under This Rock

Jacob crouched in the cattails, working on his patience. It was hot as hell, even as the sun went down ...
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Seedless

Seedless Watermelon and Imaginary Spices Cut and cube seedless watermelon. Add a dash of seedless peppercorns. Sprinkle with seedless sesame ...
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Intervention

I’m staring at my mother. “What do you mean you’re not leaving?” We had just spent three exhausting days emptying ...
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Dark Moon

“Do you see it?” hissed Gramps, bony fingers digging into my shoulder. “See what?” I said, trying to shrug him ...
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Arkushanangarushashutu

One hundred and thirty-one light years away from her body, Susan watched neon-yellow waves rush up a beach of blue ...
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The Soft Eyes Open

The first hint of change was my son’s eye colour. At breakfast one morning a shaft of sunlight struck Kai’s ...
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In Poetry:

Advice for Girls Who Worry about Climate Change

  You must hold the earth gently like you hold this monarch, newly emerged from its chrysalis, as it pauses ...
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Rabble-Rousing

  Call a strike against this world for a bluer one, a purpler one; one where­­­­ arms will never fail ...
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I Would Let You Know

(Golden Shovel1, after W. H. Auden)   It’s serious, you know, but there’s still time. Caution’s no crime. You’ll act ...
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1. About the form:
   A “Golden Shovel” is a word-level telestich: the last words of each line form a quotation from another poem. Terrance Hayes, the inventor of the form, named it after the Gwendolyn Brooks poem that he quoted. Here, Dawson has used a line from W. H. Auden’s “If I Could Tell You.”