Her Husband's Hands, by Adam-Troy Castro

This is the first of the short stories I'll read for the Nebula 2011 awards, and it's a darn clever one.  Her Husband's Hands takes the returning war veteran to an illustrative extreme.  It's an outlandish setup to think that a piece of a person kept alive could contain them somehow, but that's the driver here.  Our protagonist's husband has been reduced to a pair of hands.  It really brings home the sense of adjusting to loss that one would have while shaking you out of the pity zone that paraplegics or the brain damaged would put you in.  Gives a new way to think about the cost soldiers pay.  Three strong stars, and it's a contender.

Arvies, by Adam-Troy Castro

Adam-Troy Castro likes a big dollop of political relevancy in his work.  Arvies takes on the abortion debate, or so most of us assume, along with questions about what makes people human.  If you can experience everything in a fully virtual way, what would be the advantage in coming out of the womb?  All you're good for at that point is hosting a fetus.  A chicken is an egg's way of making another egg.  And it's not subtle at all, pretty much a slap upside the head.  Castro is fun, though, he has a unique way of telling a story that can make you laugh at it enough to forgive the heavy hand.  I give it 3 stars for fun.