2021 Hugo winners

[psocoptera]

Cut for long and for my opinions.

Best Novel

Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse
The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin
Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal

I made the bold claim earlier this evening that I didn't think Murderbot has ever lost anything it's ever been nominated for. This is not true - Artificial Condition lost the Novella Nebula in 2019 to Aliette de Bodard's Tea Master and the Detective, All Systems Red lost the Philip K Dick award to Carrie Vaughn's Bannerless in 2017, and there were a couple of other minor losses (BSFA, Romantic Times Reviewers Choice). However I believe it is true that Murderbot has won every *Hugo* award it's ever been nominated for. This was my second-place vote; I voted for Piranesi, but I didn't think it had any chance of winning.

Best Novella

Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tor.com)
Finna, Nino Cipri (Tor.com)
Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor.com)
Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)

And the winner is Tor.com! I was surprised by this outcome - I thought Ring Shout had it sewn up - but this was my second-place vote, so hey.

Best Novelette

“Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
“Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
“The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
“Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
“The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

I like Pinsker but I didn't like this story. Ah well.

Best Short Story

“Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
“A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris))
Little Free Library, Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
“The Mermaid Astronaut”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
“Metal Like Blood in the Dark”, T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
“Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots – 2020, ed. David Steffen)

I thought Carson or Wiswell was going to win this, but the people of the Hugo do love Vernon.

Best Series

The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty
The Interdependency, John Scalzi
The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal
The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
October Daye, Seanan McGuire
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang

My first place vote. There's some other cool stuff here but nothing I can say I enjoyed nearly as much as Murderbot.

Best Related Work

Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley
CoNZealand Fringe
FIYAHCON
“George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)”
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, Lynell George
The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy, Jenny Nicholson

My second-place vote. My theory was the foreword was a legit related work; I'm not convinced translations are. I mean, they're cool and important! But a different kind of thing.

Best Graphic Story or Comic

DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party
Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over
Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything
Monstress, vol. 5: Warchild
Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings

Meh, great book, weak adaptation.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)
Palm Springs
Soul
Tenet

Wooo!

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Doctor Who: Fugitive of the Judoon
The Expanse: Gaugamela
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Heart (parts 1 and 2)
The Mandalorian: Chapter 13: The Jedi
The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue
The Good Place: Whenever You’re Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)

I am not surprised by this outcome.

Best Editor, Short Form

Neil Clarke
Ellen Datlow
C.C. Finlay
Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams

My second-place vote. Tor.com had some good stuff last year!

Best Editor, Long Form

Nivia Evans
Sheila E. Gilbert
Sarah Guan
Brit Hvide
Diana M. Pho
Navah Wolfe

My first-place vote!

Best Professional Artist

Tommy Arnold
Rovina Cai
Galen Dara
Maurizio Manzieri
John Picacio
Alyssa Winans

Nice!

Best Semiprozine

Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Escape Pod
FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L. Wiggins, executive editor DaVaun Sanders, managing editor Eboni Dunbar, poetry editor Brandon O’Brien, reviews and social media Brent Lambert, art director L. D. Lewis, and the FIYAH Team.
PodCastle
Uncanny Magazine
Strange Horizons

Good for them!

Best Fanzine

The Full Lid
Journey Planet
Lady Business
nerds of a feather, flock together, ed. Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, The G, and Vance Kotrla
Quick Sip Reviews
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog

I didn't vote in this one.

Best Fancast

Be The Serpent
Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel
The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, producer
Kalanadi
The Skiffy and Fanty show
Worldbuilding for Masochists

I never vote in this one.

Best Fan Writer

Cora Buhlert
Charles Payseur
Jason Sanford
Elsa Sjunneson
Alasdair Stuart
Paul Weimer

My first-place vote!

Best Fan Artist

Iain J. Clark
Cyan Daly
Sara Felix
Grace P. Fong
Maya Hahto
Laya Rose

Sure!

Best Video Game

Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Blaseball
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Hades (Publisher and Developer: Supergiant Games)
The Last of Us: Part II
Spiritfarer

I continue to know nothing about any of this.

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas
A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik
Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger
Legendborn, Tracy Deonn
Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher

This was my prediction but not my preference. Fun book, but there was a lot of great stuff on this ballot!

Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines)

Lindsay Ellis (1st year of eligibility)
Simon Jimenez (1st year of eligibility)
Micaiah Johnson (1st year of eligibility)
A.K. Larkwood (1st year of eligibility)
Jenn Lyons (2nd year of eligibility)
Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility)

My first-place vote!

I thought I had written some stuff last year about the ceremony, but I can't find it now. Specifically I thought I had done an estimation of how long an efficiently-run ceremony would take, and I sort of think I came up with 2 hours 30, and they brought this thing in just about two hours, and I am *impressed*. No nonsense, excellent presenting, bonus drumline. Just really nice work.

Comments

[psocoptera]

Link to the voting stats, for future reference: here.