And Then There Were (N-One) {novella}

It was easy to tell who had just arrived. We were the ones planted in the lobby, bags in hand, eyes wide and mouth open. My body and face, even my expression, reflected back at me in two
hundred funhouse mirrors. Stranger even than that, an energy in the air that I couldn’t quite explain, a feeling that every single Sarah had stepped through to the exact same thought, to the same curious-amazement-horror-wonder, to the same rug-yanking confirmation that the invitation had been real and we were no longer alone, or maybe we were more alone than we had ever been.

I actually listened to Sarah Pinsker’s novella “And Then There Were (N-One)” on the Escape Pod podcast, but the novella isn’t listed on Goodreads so I’ve added the show more magazine it appeared in to my shelf.

A quantologist named Sarah Pinsker has recently proved the existence of the multiverse and this novella is set at SarahCon, a convention held in an alternate-reality resort hotel for hundreds of Sarah Pinskers from different worlds.

It was a fun idea for the author to populate her story with copies of herself, and one of the attendees at SarahCon is a Nebula award winning science fiction author, but the protagonist is an insurance investigator, who is asked to investigate when another attendee is found dead, as she is the only version of Sarah Pinsker with a job that is in any way related to a detective.
The corpse, the person who found the body, the hotel manager who asks the insurance investigator for help, the convention committee and all the convention attendees are versions of Sarah Pinsker, only the rest of the hotel staff are not. As a result, the investigator has the same sort of problems as in “The Barbie Murders” by John Varley (another story that I really enjoyed), although it also gives her insight into the murderers motives and behaviour. I guessed right about some of the whodunnit and why, but not the whole thing. Very enjoyable. show less

I really liked this fantastical mystery story. The central conceit, weird as it is, was handled thoughtfully and didn't feel gimmicky. The resolution made sense.

An interesting conceit of a novella - a murder mystery where the victim and all the suspects are alternate versions of the same person: the author. Well thought out, and definitely unique. I enjoyed it.

Great concept, of a conference filled with hundreds of versions of the same person from alternate realities spawned from different decisions that person had taken during her life. Execution a bit lacking though.

A multiverse scifi story! A convention of variations of the protagonist meet up – they discover divergence points, similarities, identities, and a body (of course, you *did* catch the Agatha Christie reference?).

Thoroughly enjoyable, and rightfully among the Locust Recommended Reading 2017.

You can find it online here: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/and-then-there-were-n-one/

This novella was short-listed for Nebula Award in 2018 (but not won it)
The story, the title of which alludes to [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391120695s/16299.jpg|3038872] by [a:Agatha Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1321738793p2/123715.jpg] and tells the story of the author, [a:Sarah Pinsker|6683690|Sarah Pinsker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1391970984p2/6683690.jpg] invited to the inter-dimensional conference on a remote island (sic!), where alternate versions of her mingle together, gathered by her alternative, who found the way to connect dimensions. All is fine and good unlit one of her is found dead, show more possibly killed but another her. The fiction part is great and while this has been done before (e.g. [b:All You Zombies|13030110|All You Zombies|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338513108s/13030110.jpg|18193411] by [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg]) it is great as a psychology (if she is me, I in her place would do so and so, and SHE IS ME) but the mystery part is not perfect, thus only 4*. Nevertheless, recommended show less

2018 Hugo Awards Best Novella Nominee

I suspect I've read this story at least five times since it was first published. I absolutely adore it.