As much as I love Ben Lehman's work, The Tragedy is the exact literary equivalent of the frat boy occupation of holding a corn hole gesture by your side, waiting for someone to glance down, and then loudly proclaiming "you lost the game!"

It just takes a lot more words to get there.

I'm perfectly willing to accept that this is a piece of art, but I would be willing to accept that the childish occupation of trying to get someone to glance at your fingers in a specific combination is also a piece of art – performance art. That doesn't make it good art, and it doesn't really make it meaningful art.

Is this a story? Part of it's a story. Does it deserve to be nominated for an Nebula?

If that's the best sort of thing they have to be nominated for a Nebula, it's been a rough year.

Maybe my expectations are unreasonably high. I'm willing to accept that.

If I were feeling particularly high-handed, I might point out that the mechanics as described in the document violate every rule of consent. After all, they assume that everyone in the world is party to the game. Any of them who enter the room end the game. The side effect of the Mobius flip so executed is to essentially force everyone into the context of gameplay, no matter whether they consent to it or not. It also means that the only people who cannot reasonably play are those who consent to it, because the action of playing is to not play.

I think the best thing that I can say about this is, "it's cute." That's also the worst thing I can say.