I just learned about “Unknown Number”, a short story by Blue Neustifter that was just named as a finalist for this year’s Hugo Awards for Best Short Story. The story is told as a chat history, and was published on Twitter last summer as a series of screen shots (if you use Twitter’s default web UI don’t forget to hit “more replies” at the bottom to get the rest of the story). She’s also posted a copy on Facebook if that’s easier to read. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say I really like how Neustifter uses a fairly standard science fiction trope to tell a really poignant story.