This sets Stella on a quest to find the truth about the TV series that she believed she had made up – and find out where Denny fitted into the story. In turn, Stella finds herself dredging up vague memories of Uncle Bob, and between them the pair remember that the deceased Denny appeared on the show as a child. To her surprise, Marco replies that he does indeed recall seeing the show as a child and being afraid of its creepy host. While inspecting Denny’s old television set Stella makes up another lie, asking Marco if he remembers a non-existent television series called The Uncle Bob Show. When Marco asks how her life has shaped up since the last time they met, she replies with a made-up job, a made-up marital status and even a made-up son. As the two set to work, Stella exhibits a personal quirk of hers: a tendency to tell outright lies simply because they make better conversation than the truth. So many possessions were amassed by Denny that it takes two people – Denny’s brother Marco and Marco’s friend Stella – to even start the job of clearing out his old house.

The kind they made documentaries about, the kind people staged interventions for, the kind people made excuses not to visit, and who stopped going out, and who were spoken of in sighs and silences. In his last years, Marco’s older brother Denny had become one of those people whose possessions swallowed them entirely. This story takes place following the death of Denny, a hoarder: WWAC concludes its look at the finalists for the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novelette with reviews of “Two Truths and a Lie” by Sarah Pinsker and “The Inaccessibility of Heaven” by Aliette de Bodard.

Two truths and a lie sarah pinsker