The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere

This love story is just so pure and heartwarming, I didn’t want it to get over. Gus is a sweetheart and Matt maybe a bit scared but his heart is true. I liked everyone except Matt’s sister and I don’t care if she loves him, but she is a bully.

I also liked how fascinating this world was, and how everyone had to maneuver the way they spoke, hedging between truth and lies, so that they don’t get drenched in water. It’s a real dilemma and makes us realize how difficult it is to be truthful 100% of the time. I’m just amazed at how much the author was able to convey in such a small story and can totally understand why this won the Hugo.

You know all those times you've heard someone say something along the lines of, "May God strike me dead if I'm lying"? Well, in The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere, there's a variation on that theme. The world has changed so that if you tell a lie, water falls on you, ice cold water. With little lies, it's a small amount of water; with whoppers, a deluge. Certain evasions or stretchings of the truth give you a pass on getting soaked, but it's hard to know what you can get away with and stay dry. In this world of falling water, live Matt and his lover. And it's the holiday time, when Matt's traditional Chinese parents want him to come home, when what Matt is struggling with is if he should "come out."

What really drew me in this show more story was the English language vs Chinese. In Chinese, apparently, some words are genderless, so Matt has been able to tell his parents about his lover without revealing that the lover is male, not female. He feels tremendous pressure to marry and carry on his family line, yet no desire for a woman; he's found the one he wants to marry and live with forever. There were some instances of Chinese in the text, and though rough interpretations were given or alluded to in the story, I wish the author would have footnoted true translations. All those beautiful characters fascinated me.

I liked the relationships in this story, between lovers, parents and son, and even between siblings, though there was tension. It rang true to me. I liked the device of water falling with lies, and contemplate how much wetter our world would be were this to become the case. This is a story about honestly and finding the dry road between truths.

One more bit which may be somewhat of a spoiler, so don't read on if you don't want to know something that could be a key element to this short story. If it doesn't matter to you, then scroll down and read away.

The thing that touched me the most in this story was something that I've long suspected and experienced with friends who are gay men: parents usually know already and are usually supportive of their son. I know there are parents who are awful to their children when they come out, but the people I know either aren't awful, or haven't been treated as pariah by their parents. interestingly, in my limited experience, siblings can be more difficult than parents, as was the case here. Love, honesty, and understanding can help keep that lightening bolt from striking. show less

Amazingly good story taking place in a world where lying causes it to rain on you. It's about love and trust and family, and about the use of language and the little lies we tell everyday. It's about a man coming out to his family as gay and finding out that he had much less to worry over than he thought.

There's an absolutely beautiful moment in this story when the man hears his partner refer to the man's parents in the names they've asked him to use, names that have a very particular connotation in their language.

Just a lovely, soft, wonderful story. My top vote for the Hugo award.

I could talk about the quality of the story, but I'm not going to, and that's because so many others seem intent on not talking about the quality of the story. Let my rating speak for itself and I'll use this space to address some people I feel need addressing.

A lot of people seem really peeved that this won a Hugo when it's not a very traditional scifi/fantasy story. I've actually seen reviews where people have said it's a great story, but two stars because it's not really scifi/fantasy and didn't deserve to win a Hugo. Some have called it "magical realism," as a way to delegitimize the win. Last time I checked, magical realism is a subgenre of fantasy, and the Hugo focuses on fantasy as a whole and not a particular subgenre(s) you show more happen to like.

You're missing the point of scifi and fantasy entirely. Scifi and fantasy are not the tropes that they contain. Having elves and magic makes your story fantasy, but not all fantasy contains elves or magic. Having spaceships and laser guns makes your story scifi, but not all scifi contains spaceships and laser guns. Don't get the genre confused for the tropes, or you're no better than the lit fic snobs that look down on us for reading "lesser" fiction because they think they know exactly what scifi and fantasy is, what it can and can't be.

Here's the real truth. Science fiction and fantasy can do everything that any other genre can do. You will find fantasy and science fiction with the literary styling of the great classic literature. You'll find romance every bit as powerful as the great romantic fiction. You'll find mystery, you'll find adventure, you'll find teen problem novels. These two interrelated genres are not limited by what they can contain, in fact they are the only genres that are not limited by what they can contain.

People involved enough in the genre to pay attention to the Hugo awards should know this, should feel this way, should celebrate this strength and variety. If all you will accept as real scifi/fantasy is a particular subgenre(s) with familiar tropes, you don't belong anywhere near the Hugo awards, because you don't get it. show less

What a beautiful short story - I wish this was a novel, there's so much else there in the background of the text that I'd love to know, about Gus and Matt and about the impact this forced truth-telling has on society! (especially as it's implied it came on suddenly - imagine the political upheaval as 90% of people in office are suddenly caught out on things they'd thought themselves able to hide indefinitely!) It's a really rich premise and set of characters, and I hope the author considers doing more with them someday.

Hugo short story finalist. The water of the title falls on anyone who lies -- the less truthful what is said, the harder and colder the water falls. It's possible to avoid the water by being careful with your phrasing, but that just makes it obvious that you're being economical with the truth. What does it do to relationships, for both good and ill, when it becomes impossible to lie convincingly? Beautifully written character-driven short.

My book club read a selection of short stories this month; this was one of them.

This is a very well-crafted piece; and all the relationships in it ring very true. It's the story of a gay man struggling with coming out to his family during a holiday visit (this is a great story to read for Christmas!)

I like that just about nothing here is idealized or sanitized - people are difficult, hard, irrational - but at the same time, the overall mood is sweet and hopeful.

However, I disagree with this story winning a Hugo award. It's not really a science-fiction story. The 'supernatural' element (water that falls on someone's head whenever they tell a lie [shades of Pinocchio]) is used as a literary device, not in a speculative fashion. If it won show more an award for the gay romance genre, that'd be well-deserved. show less