"The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" is a 2013

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 ...

/ magic realism short story by American writer

John Chu John Chu () is a Taiwanese American microprocessor architect, science fiction writer and literary translator. Life and career Chu was born in Taiwan, moved to the US and began learning English at age six. He read voraciously as a child and was i ...

. It was first published on

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 ...

,All The Most Exciting Moments From The 2014 Hugo Awards!
by

Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders is an American writer and commentator. She has written several novels, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. In 2005, she received the Lambda Literary Award for work in the transgender category, and in 2009, t ...

, at

Io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

; published August 17, 2014; retrieved October 8, 2014 after being purchased by editor

Ann VanderMeer Ann VanderMeer (née Kennedy) is an American publisher and editor, and the second female editor of the horror magazine ''Weird Tales''. She is the founder of Buzzcity Press. Work from her press and related periodicals has won the British Fantasy ...

,The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere
by

; at

; published February 20, 2013; retrieved October 8, 2014 and subsequently republished in ''Wilde Stories 2014''.‘Wilde Stories 2014: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction’ Edited by Steve Berman
by Keith Glaeske; in ''

Lambda Literary The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBT literature, LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, prese ...

''; published August 11, 2014; retrieved October 8, 2014 As well, Chu has read the story aloud for the '' StarShipSofa'' podcast.StarShipSofa No 343 John Chu
published June 25, 2014; retrieved October 8, 2014

Plot summary

Some weeks prior to the beginning of the story, an unexplained phenomenon begins worldwide: whenever a person lies, water falls on that person from nowhere. Phrasing a potential lie as a question does not cause water to fall, while stating an untruth that one believes to be true does. Conversely, profound or universal truths can actually remove moisture from the air. In the midst of this phenomenon, Matt decides to

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to his traditional Chinese family after his partner, Gus, refuses to marry him until he does.

Reception

"The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" won the 2014

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story 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 short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

.2014 Hugo Awards
by the World Science Fiction Society; at TheHugoAwards.org; published August 17, 2014 ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called it "deeply personal",Ann Leckie's debut novel wins Hugo science fiction award
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen; in ''

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''; published August 18, 2014; retrieved October 8, 2014 while ''

'' said it was a "standout". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' described it as "so beautiful it hurts;"Reading the 2014 Hugo Award Finalists—The Short Stories Ballot
by Ana Grilo, at ''

''; published May 2, 2014; retrieved October 8, 2014 however, the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

'' described it as "(u)ndoubtedly sweet but also rather sappy."In the Wake of the British Boom: The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention
by Martin Petto, in the ''

''; published September 1, 2014; retrieved October 8, 2014

References

2014 short stories American short stories Hugo Award for Best Short Story winning works Science fiction short stories LGBT short stories LGBT literature in the United States LGBT speculative fiction 2010s LGBT literature {{LGBT-fiction-stub