Mar. 8th, 2015

psocoptera: ink drawing of celtic knot (ha!)
I guess it's time to actually finish these.

Legend of Korra - "Day of the Colossus"
Legend of Korra - "The Last Stand"
Legend of Korra - "Venom of the Red Lotus"
Agents of SHIELD - "Turn, Turn, Turn"
Agents of SHIELD - "What They Become"

I admit I'm not passionately devoted to those particular Agents of SHIELD episodes - it's more that I like the idea of recognizing that SFF fandom likes shows other than Game of Who, and those seem like episodes SHIELD fans might be able to get behind. I mean, I did think the tie-in between the show and CA:TWS was neat and "Turn Turn Turn" seems like the right ep to award for that, but in general, I don't know, it's very hard to pick out an individual chunk of something I enjoy in its ongoingness.

The Legend of Korra finale on the other hand was the best thing to happen to my short-dramatic-presentation-watching eyeballs in 2014, no qualifiers.
psocoptera: ink drawing of celtic knot (ha!)
I really want to nominate Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant for Monstrous Affections. I'm not entirely sure I *can* - they are two people and the award seems to specify A Person. However I believe they have sufficient joint editing credits (they need four anthologies/collections/magazine issues, one of which has to be from the nominating year) to qualify. Nominating them separately seems wrong since that would be like saying they were in contention for an award for work they'd done together. I've written them in and hopefully the Hugo committee will either a) figure out what to do with that or more likely b) get to ignore the problem when they don't get enough nominations to get near the ballot.
psocoptera: ink drawing of celtic knot (ha!)
Yeah, I've been stalling on this one.

What I'm Nominating:

Lockstep, Karl Schroeder. The best alien-planet travel porn I've read in years, coupled with a genuine Nifty Idea. Made the Locus list under YA, which I'm sure is a sign it won't make it anywhere near the ballot, but it definitely belongs on my standouts-of-the-year list.

The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison. I think this might actually have awards traction, which delights me.

Stranger, Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith. I don't even know, possibly I like this in a YA way more than I like it in an SFF way, but the postapocalyptic worldbuilding is just so *competent*. ::fans self:: Didn't make the Locus list, will not have traction, possibly what I would really want would be for it to win the Norton, but I'm not voting for the Norton.

What I'm *Not* Nominating:

The Martian, Andy Weir. Consensus seems to be that this book isn't eligible due to prior self-publication, which gives me a cop-out on deciding whether I would have nominated it. I probably would have; it wasn't quite the book I wished it was in some ways, but it was hella gripping, it was the kind of thing I wanted to tell people they should read, and after I gave it to him for Christmas it's the most excited my dad has been about a novel in years (which is maybe a weird consideration? but I wouldn't even be playing this game if I hadn't started reading his old Year's Bests as a kid, and, like, a super-heartwarming moment of shared fandom with my dad is totally Hugo-relevant for me).

My Real Children, Jo Walton. Iiiii don't know. My favorite thing she's written (definitely liked it more than Among Others) and I wouldn't think it *didn't* belong on the ballot, I'm just... I don't know. Maybe I still harbor resentment for Among Others beating Embassytown (a catalyzing event for me being an actual Hugo voter and not just a Hugo spectator).

Lock In, John Scalzi. A fine book doing some nifty things, but enh. Also my opinion is irrelevant as I will eat my hat if it doesn't end up on the ballot.

The Magician's Land, Lev Grossman. I am SO TORN. On the one hand, I loved so much about it, he's *so good* and the stuff he's working on is so dear to my heart. On the other hand, his problem with seeing women as the sex class ENRAGES me, and I guess I feel like that's a disqualifying flaw for deserving a major award.

Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie. Ancillary Justice was a slam-dunk but this book felt very Book Two, like, there's a lot of neat stuff on the board but I just don't feel like I can judge the payoff yet.

Echopraxia, Peter Watts. Finally finished my Blindsight reread but I'm only like ten pages into this; maybe it'll turn out to be brilliant but I have not determined that in time to do anything about it.

Turn Of The Story, Sarah Rees Brennan. I love this so so so much, but it feels like it's part of a different conversation than the Hugo conversation. (Maybe *it* should win the Norton, in my fantasy universe where I'm the boss of the Norton.)

The Problem

I probably like any of the above more than Parasite 2 or GrimNoir 4 or Pluto's Increasingly Tedious Second Sequel or whatever the fuck ye Voters of Disparate Tastes are likely to put on the ballot. So should I use my fourth and fifth slots for something I don't really want to vote for after all?
psocoptera: ink drawing of celtic knot (ha!)
Snobbery time: I kinda think of the Campbell as an "expert level" category for nominating purposes. It's not *that* hard to decide to read an online mag or two (or the recommendations of someone who does), pick out a couple of stories you like, and nominate those. Coming up with plausible candidates for the Campbell on the other hand - when practically by definition they can't be anyone you've *heard of* before - that just seems much harder. I am still super impressed with myself for nominating Sofia Samatar last time. I really have not managed to do much relevant reading this year - I was hoping to read Monica Byrne's The Girl In The Road, which I know is a first novel, but I just haven't gotten around to it. (In part because I spent most of my fiction time for the past couple weeks writing instead of reading.) I looked up a bunch of authors who showed up more than once in my short fiction recommendations but didn't find anyone eligible.

So, this year I'm nominating Helene Wecker (The Golem And The Jinni) who I should also have nominated last year but didn't think to do. And I don't think I have anyone else.

No, wait! It has just occurred to me that the internet exists. Behold, a list of eligible authors! Hot damn! Cross-checking this list against my 2014 short fiction recs would be much easier if in addition to the internet I also knew how to use a computer, huh. Well, doing it manually and half-assedly, it would seem that JY Yang and Tahmeed Shafiq are also eligible and I really liked stories they wrote, so why not. Go me, I am a nominating rockstar.

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