The Millay Illusion
Sarah Pinsker
A magical story with no actual magic
The finalists for the 2026 Best Novelette Hugo Award are:
★★★★☆ Kaiju Agonistes by Scott Lynch
★★★☆☆ Never Eaten Vegetables by H.H. Pak
★★★★☆ Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy, by Martha Wells
★★★☆☆ The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For by Cameron Reed
★★★★★ The Millay Illusion by Sarah Pinsker
★★★★☆ When He Calls Your Name by Catherynne M. Valente
Sarah Pinsker's The Millay Illusion easily tops my ranking for best novelette. It appeared in Uncanny 67 -- Here is a direct link. Some people have pointed out, and I agree 100%, that it is puzzling The Millay Illusion is even eligible for a Hugo at all, for this reason -- it is not Fantasy or Science Fiction or any other type of speculative fiction.
To be sure, the story is all about magic. But it is about the kind of pulling-rabbits-out-of-hats, sawing-ladies-in-two magic that we all know is not true magic, but merely skilled consensual deception. In fact, our first-person narrator, Lottie, who goes by the stage name Johnny Chess, is herself an adept. She makes it clear that Susanna Miller/Millay's tricks are exactly that type of deception. Susanna is merely exceptionally good at it.
But genre policing is dumb and never gets you anywhere useful. If the Hugo Award Committee fell for Pinsker's sleight-of-hand, even while totally aware that they were reading a story about sleight-of-hand, I'm not gonna second guess them. And even less because it's a really good story.
It is set in a time where women could not be stage magicians. They could be props that proper male magicians used in their tricks, but they could not, themselves, openly do magic on stage. Thus Lottie's "Johnny Chess" pseudonym. There's definitely a "backwards and in heels" element to the story. [spoiler1]
So, that's it for the novelettes. Here are my rankings:
1. ★★★★★ The Millay Illusion by Sarah Pinsker
2. ★★★★☆ Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy, by Martha Wells
3. ★★★★☆ Kaiju Agonistes by Scott Lynch
4. ★★★★☆ When He Calls Your Name by Catherynne M. Valente
5. ★★★☆☆ Never Eaten Vegetables by H.H. Pak
6. ★★★☆☆ The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For by Cameron Reed
On to the Short Stories!
The Millay Illusion in Uncanny Issue Sixty-seven
And it’s a feel-good story. There’s a sense of triumph is seeing Susanna Miller/Millay put all the male magicians who tried to hold her back in their place, just by being so much better than anyone else.
Excellent review! 💯
And I agree that the whole genre policing thing is silly, and one thing that I like about posting my writing on Substack is that I don’t have to state a story’s genre.
And this sounds like a very excellent story, and I can tell just by reading your review how satisfying Susanna Miller/Millay’s triumphs are. :)
Thank you for sharing this excellent review with us readers! 🙏