Bishop's Opening

by R.S.A. Garcia

A polyamorous crew looking for good food on a spacestation gets more than they bargained for.

Finalist for the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novella.
Finalist for the 2023 Locus Award for Best Novella.
Finalist for the 2023 Ignyte Award for Best Novella.

Genres: Science Fiction, Novella, LGBT, Fiction, Romance

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

R.S.A. is a Nebula and Sturgeon Award winning writer of speculative fiction. She is also the winner of the Machine Intelligence Foundation for Rights and Ethics' 2023 Media Award, and a Locus, Ignyte and Eugie Foster Award finalist.

Her Amazon Bestselling science fiction mystery, Lex Talionis, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and the Silver Medal for Best Scifi/Fantasy/Horror Ebook from the Independent Publishers Awards (2015).

She has published short fiction in venues such as Clarkesworld Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Escape Pod, Strange Horizons, The Sunday Morning Transport, and Internazionale Magazine. Her stories have been long-listed for the British Science Fiction Awards, translated into several languages, and included in a number of anthologies, including the critically acclaimed The Best of World SF, The Best Science Fiction of the Year, The Year's Best Fantasy, and The Apex Book of World SF. Her scifantasy duology, beginning with The Nightward, is forthcoming from Harper Voyager in October, 2024.

She lives in Trinidad and Tobago with an extended family and too many cats. Learn more at rsagarcia.com.

Reviews

[Banshee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bioengineering, strange planets and chess? The idea was good, maybe even great, but the execution failed on all fronts. It was one big undelivered promise.

There was too much condensed information regarding the world-building, given the limited space. It had so much potential, but just ended up being very, very confusing. Then, several elements of the world-building were weird and some others completely didn't work for me.

There was also something missing in terms of atmosphere and emotional depth. I just didn't feel the story.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started very well but got very tell and not show at the end. A space opera with court intrigue in a novella length but the constant juvenile examination of feelings and ties things up to neatly as to be unbelievable. Still well written and I think more good things could come from this author or world.

[Stella ☆Paper Wings☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun chess concept with polyamory and gender bending!

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of my challenge to read the Short Story, Novelette, Novella and Novel: Adult shortlists for the 2023 Ignyte Awards.

This was a fun little novella and clearly a well-loved one considering it's been nominated for a Locus, Nebula and Ignyte Award, but I don't think it's one that's going to stay with me. To me it felt a little like two different types of sci-fi story that had been sewn together not entirely successfully, with the lighter moments involving Sebastian, Olly and Reece clashing a little too much with the darker scenes following Bishop. Sebastian felt a bit too golden retriever for a story with a scene in which Bishop ordered all the fingers on someone's left hand to be sawn off.

It was a quick read and the world was intriguing, but I've ultimately come out of it not entirely sure what Garcia wanted me to take away from it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this short story! After reading some reviews that said the story suffered from too much info in not enough space, I approached this as if it was a teaser to another story to come. I really hope Garcia writes another few stories in this world. I want to lean more about the Greatwood and the larger universe.

The storyline was nice, nothing incredibly deep or intense, but a good intermixed melange of storylines. And bits of grittiness and sex thrown in there to entice the reader.

I'll say it again, please write more in this world!!

[Isabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much to say, I found it pretty forgettable. I think it was trying to accomplish too much and didn’t manage to pull any of it off in the short length.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella is one of five nominated for this year's Nebula Award. It's a spacefaring far-future science-fiction story that alternates between Sebastian, the junior member in a very closely-knit trio who crew a spaceship, and Bishop, a senior member of a strange and powerful society. I liked the worldbuilding and the themes of family and found-family, but didn't fall into this the way that I fell into two of the other nominated novellas.

Three out of five seedling stars.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

[Ada]

ANNOUNCING THE 2023 IGNYTE AWARDS SHORTLIST

Nominated for: BEST NOVELLA for speculative works ranging from 17,500-39,999 words

It sounds really fun except for the polyamorous part. In general I really don't enjoy them.

side note: Which I still don't get because while I can't see myself being in a polycule I'm fully convinced that a lot more people would be happy with their relationships if they could grow up with some healthy examples of how other relationships can look like beyond monogamy.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because it was nominated for a Nebula and I was pleasantly surprised. I agree with other reviews that say that this story needed more fleshing out, but what was on the page was super compelling to me so I'm giving it a slightly higher rating than I normally would. The world building is alluded to more than anything, but it was so intriguing that I'd happily read another story set in this world. I also found Sebastian and his lovers super charming and would be willing to be read more of them too. A quick, interesting read.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent story. It should be read as a speculative fiction romance piece, the romance being between the title character (the Bishop, part of a very regimented, advanced and competitive wing of humanity) and Sebastian (happy-go-lucky but honorable member of a tightly knit crew of an independent cargo carrier). It's decent filler for a SF magazine but I'm not sure about all the award nominations. Definitely good enough to encourage Garcia to keep going and deepen his craft. We need writers to try and stay ahead of the machines.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

In “Bishop’s Opening,” a poly triad of Sebastian, Olly, and Reece deals with politics and skullduggery on a planet that uses chess terms to define its political hierarchy. The story has gotten a bunch of critical attention, including a Nebula nomination for Best Novella. It leaves me shaking my head at the politics and nodding off during the literary displays of affection.

[Jenny Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think perhaps Garcia picked the wrong protagonist. The emotional core of the story seemed to be a young woman's reunion with her estranged father, but our point-of-view character was a member of her found family, which put the reader at a bit of a distance.

[Zannier Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a great and original concept but it felt very dense for the length of the story. By the time I had a grasp of what was going on, the story was nearly over. I really liked the ending. I might need to reread this at some point. Feel like I would enjoy it more second time around.

[Gil-or (readingbooksinisrael) · Rating 3 out of 5]

If it only had been longer... This novella set up a lot of stuff but because it's novella length did not have time to flesh them out and so everything felt distant and rushed.

[Emmalyn Renato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella was nominated for the Nebula and Locus awards in 2023.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chess stuff made very little sense, but I was hooked by the loving descriptions of food.