"Shoggoths in Bloom" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novelette by

Elizabeth Bear Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky (born September 22, 1971) 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 A ...

, originally published in the March 2008 issue of the American magazine ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'', and subsequently republished in Bear's 2012 collection ''Shoggoths in Bloom''.

Plot summary

In 1938, Paul Harding is a black college professor who has come to a coastal

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

village to study the wild

shoggoth A shoggoth (occasionally shaggoth) is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings were mentioned in passing in H. P. Lovecraft's sonnet cycle ''Fungi from Yuggoth'' (1929–30) and later described in detail in his novella ''At the Moun ...

s. As news reports of

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

appear in the background, Harding discovers the unexpected truth about shoggoths, and is faced with a difficult decision.

Reception

"Shoggoths" was the winner of the 2009

Hugo Award for Best Novelette The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of ...

.The LOCUS Index to SF Awards

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

called it a "stand-out".The Sharp Edge: Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear
reviewed by Lee Mandelo; published November 30, 2012; retrieved January 21, 2017

References

External links

*
Partial text of the story
at ''

'' {{Elizabeth Bear Fiction set in 1938 2008 short stories Cthulhu Mythos short stories Fantasy short stories Hugo Award for Best Novelette winning works Maine in fiction Science fiction short stories Works by Elizabeth Bear Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction