| Souls | |
| Author: | Joanna Russ |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | science fiction |
| Published In: | the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction |
| Pub Date: | January 1982 |
"Souls" is a 1982 science fiction novella by Joanna Russ. It was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in January 1982,[1] and subsequently republished in Terry Carr's The Best Science Fiction of the Year 12,[2] in Russ's 1984 collection Extra(ordinary) People,[3] as well as in the first volume of the Isaac Asimov/Martin H. Greenberg-edited anthology The New Hugo Winners,[4] and in 1989 as half of a Tor Double Novel (with "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree, Jr.).[5]
In 12th-century Germany, Radulphus tells the story of Radegunde, abbess of the abbey where he spent his childhood, and of what she did "when the Norsemen came" — and of how he discovered her true nature.[6]
"Souls" won the 1983 Hugo Award for Best Novella[1] and the Locus Award for Best Novella,[3] and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella.[7]
Stephen Burt has described the story as "perfectly wrought".[8]