2022 Hugo nominees!

[psocoptera]

Whole list here without my comments, or behind the cut with them.

There were 1368 valid nominating ballots (1366 electronic and 2 paper) received and counted from the members of the 2021 and 2022 World Science Fiction Conventions for the 2022 Hugo Awards.

Best Novel

1151 ballots for 443 nominees; finalist range 111-242

A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine (Tor)
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)
Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki (Tor / St Martin’s Press)
A Master of Djinn, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom / Orbit UK)
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)
She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor / Mantle)

I'm excited to see She Who Became the Sun on here; disappointed not to see my other nominees The Unraveling, Black Water Sister, or The Hidden Palace, or The Actual Star, which I did not nominate but would have if I had read it in time. I did really like all three of the Martine, Clark, and Chambers books though, and I had the Aoki on my to-read list, and I guess I'm hoping the Weir is more like The Martian (which I did really enjoy) than Artemis. This definitely feels like a more "what's actually popular" list than my nominees, which is how this award works, so, that seems reasonable. Only 2 out of 6 overlap with the Nebula ballot, interesting... I feel like that's sometimes/often higher? No prediction at this time (definitely not before reading the Weir).

Best Novella

807 ballots for 138 nominees; finalist range 90-235

Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
The Past Is Red, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

I didn't have a lot of novella nominees this year (I nominated the Chambers, and "Mercy and the Mollusc" from Clarkesworld), but I'm pleased from a reading-load perspective to have already read half of them anyways. I look forward to the Harrow and the Tchaikovsky (although that is not any of the three Tchaikovsky novellas already on my list, why so prolific sir). Again, 2/6 are on the Nebula ballot. I probably shouldn't predict with only half the reading done but I think Chambers is going to take it.

Best Novelette

463 ballots for 171 nominees; finalist range 44-74

“Bots of the Lost Ark”, by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, Jun 2021)
“Colors of the Immortal Palette”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
L’Esprit de L’Escalier, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
“O2 Arena”, by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge, Nov 2021)
“That Story Isn’t the Story”, by John Wiswell (Uncanny Magazine, Nov/Dec 2021)
“Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021)

Ha, I knew we were going to see that Valente turn up somewhere. I have in fact read all of these, and the Valente was my favorite of them; I also recced the Palmer and Yoachim stories, and did consider reccing the Wiswell and Wilde stories before deciding not to (the Wiswell story was well-written and gripping but felt a little too very-special-episode to me; the Wilde may be my favorite thing that Wilde has ever written, an author with whom I often do not get on). Do I think my nominees were better, yes obviously, but like the novels these feel very much like what I would expect this ballot to look like. 3/6 on the Nebulas. Prediction: either Palmer or Wiswell.

Best Short Story

632 ballots for 589 nominees; finalist range 44-96

“Mr. Death”, by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, Feb 2021)
“Proof by Induction”, by José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021)
“The Sin of America”, by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
“Tangles”, by Seanan McGuire (Magicthegathering.com: Magic Story, Sep 2021)
“Unknown Number”, by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021)
“Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)

3/6 on the Nebulas, and, okay, stop the presses, "Unknown Number" making this ballot is almost certainly the most interesting thing to happen with the Hugos this year!! The rise and recognition of the Twitter thread as an entirely different medium and format for storytelling, legitimated by at least 44 people (sadly not me, who was not groundbreaking enough to consider doing it, although I did rec it, and I'm definitely going to vote for it)! (I suppose the McGuire story is also interesting for coming from outside traditional publishing/the pro/semiprozine world but the McGuire people are relentless and we know that, so that seems less groundbreaking.) None of these were from my shortlist but I did rec the Pinsker. [ETA: I forgot to predict because I was excited but unfortunately my prediction is that it goes to Mr. Death aka Chicken Soup for the Hugo Soul.]

Best Series

707 ballots for 194 nominees; finalist range 66-242

The Green Bone Saga, by Fonda Lee (Orbit)
The Kingston Cycle, by C. L. Polk (Tordotcom)
Merchant Princes, by Charles Stross (Macmillan)
Terra Ignota, by Ada Palmer (Tor Books)
Wayward Children, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
The World of the White Rat, by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) (Argyll Productions)

Oh god, and here my so-far-manageable reading load (two novels, three novellas, one short story) gets slammed in the face. All three Green Bone (I mean, I could stop with one if I don't like them, but given how much I liked Exo that seems unlikely), two more Kingston (again, I didn't love the first but I've definitely been meaning to get to the other two because women), enough Merchant Princes for due diligence, and then possibly the last two Terra Ignotas that I had decided to blow off after not loving the second one but maybe now that they're on the ballot I should suck it up? Oh gosh. (Or I could just figure that Vernon is going to walk with it since everyone loves Vernon, but that seems unsporting.)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

340 ballots for 239 nominees; finalist range 19-66

DIE, vol. 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles (Image)
Far Sector, written by N.K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell (DC)
Lore Olympus, vol. 1, by Rachel Smythe (Del Rey)
Monstress, vol. 6: The Vow, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
Once & Future, vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies, written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain (BOOM!)
Strange Adventures, written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner (DC)

BAH. Ok, I suppose I don't know enough about some of these to bah at them. It just feels so... tiredly familiar. A Monstress, a couple of Gillen shows, a Marvel-or-DC written by someone we like from prose fic (Far Sector is a Green Lantern thing), Strange Adventures is also a DC thing. Lore Olympus is the only thing here that seems like it has much chance of actually being something new and exciting.

Best Related Work

453 ballots for 303 nominees; finalist range 27-65

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, by Elsa Sjunneson (Tiller Press)
The Complete Debarkle: Saga of a Culture War, by Camestros Felapton (Camestros Felapton)
Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985, edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre (PM Press)
“How Twitter can ruin a life”, by Emily St. James (Vox, Jun 2021)
Never Say You Can’t Survive, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tordotcom)
True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, by Abraham Riesman (Crown)

Hm, sure.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

597 ballots for 192 nominees; finalist range 67-261

Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth; directed by Denis Villeneuve; based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert (Warner Bros / Legendary Entertainment)
Encanto, screenplay by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush; directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
The Green Knight, written and directed by David Lowery (BRON Studios/A24)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, screenplay by Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham; directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Space Sweepers, written and directed by Jo Sung-hee (Bidangil Pictures)
WandaVision, screenplay by Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer (created by and head writer), Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, Chuck Hayward; directed by Matt Shakman (Disney+)

Hey, I've seen three of these! And two I would like to see, and only one TV series I have to decide whether to try to do anything about! That's not bad!

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

386 ballots for 337 nominees; finalist range 25-44

The Wheel of Time: “The Flame of Tar Valon,” written by Justine Juel Gillmer, directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield, based on The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (Amazon Studios)
For All Mankind: “The Grey,” written by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi; directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Tall Ship Productions/Sony Pictures Television)
Arcane: “The Monster You Created,” written by Christian Linke and Alex Yee; story by Christian Linke, Alex Yee, Conor Sheehy, and Ash Brannon; directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord (Netflix)
The Expanse: “Nemesis Games,” written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar; directed by Breck Eisner (Amazon Studios)
Loki: “The Nexus Event,” written by Eric Martin, directed by Kate Herron, created for television by Michael Waldron (Disney+)
Star Trek: Lower Decks: “wej Duj,” written by Kathryn Lyn, directed by Bob Suarez (CBS Eye Animation Productions)

Hey, I have seen none of these, and can comfortably plan to sit out this category!

Best Editor, Short Form

319 ballots for 123 nominees; finalist range 47-72

Neil Clarke
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
Mur Lafferty & S.B. Divya
Jonathan Strahan
Sheree Renée Thomas
Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

182 ballots for 85 nominees; finalist range 12-44

Ruoxi Chen
Nivia Evans
Sarah T. Guan
Brit Hvide
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

233 ballots for 210 nominees; finalist range 19-34

Tommy Arnold
Rovina Cai
Ashley Mackenzie
Maurizio Manzieri
Will Staehle
Alyssa Winans

Ok, this is an interesting ballot! No Picacio, no Dara (Picacio has been on 8 of the last 10 and I think the missing two were both Puppy years; Dara has been on 6 of them). Arnold, Cai, Manzieri, and Winans are all repeats from last year. MacKenzie was on Renay's spreadsheet and I quite like although did not end up nominating (did the Iron Widow and Terciel and Elinor covers); Staehle did those striking VE Schwab covers, although I might have said graphic designer rather than pro artist, is there a difference, is that difference snobbery, hmm.

Best Semiprozine

312 ballots for 78 nominees, finalist range 39-113

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
Escape Pod, editors S.B. Divya, Mur Lafferty, and Valerie Valdes; assistant editors Benjamin C. Kinney and Premee Mohamed; guest editor Brent C. Lambert; hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart; audio producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht; and the entire Escape Pod team
FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L Wiggins; executive editor DaVaun Sanders; managing editor Eboni Dunbar; poetry editor B. Sharise Moore; reviews editor and social media manager Brent Lambert; art director L. D. Lewis; web editor Chavonne Brown; non-fiction editor Margeaux Weston; guest editors Summer Farah and Nadia Shammas; acquiring editors Kaleb Russell, Rebecca McGee, Kerine Wint, Joshua Morley, Emmalia Harrington, Genine Tyson, Tonya R. Moore, Danny Lore; technical assistant Nelson Rolon
PodCastle, co-editors Jen R. Albert, C. L. Clark, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, and Eleanor R. Wood; assistant editors Summer Fletcher and Sofía Barker; audio producer Peter Adrian Behravesh; host Matt Dovey; and the entire PodCastle team
Strange Horizons, Vanessa Aguirre, Joseph Aitken, Kwan-Ann Tan, Rachel Ayers, M H Ayinde, Tierney Bailey, Scott Beggs, Drew Matthew Beyer, Gautam Bhatia, Tom Borger, S. K. Campbell, Emma Celi, Zhui Ning Chang, Rita Chen, Tania Chen, Liz Christman, Emma-Grace Clarke, Linda H. Codega, Kristian Wilson Colyard, Bruhad Dave, Sarah Davidson, Tahlia Day, Arinn Dembo, Belen Edwards, Rebecca Evans, Ciro Faienza, Courtney Floyd, Lila Garrott, Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright, Colette Grecco, Julia Gunnison, Dan Hartland, Sydney Hilton, Angela Hinck, Amanda Jean, Jamie Johnson, Sean Joyce-Farley, Erika Kanda, Kat Kourbeti, Catherine Krahe, Anna Krepinsky, Clayton Kroh, Natasha Leullier, Dante Luiz, Gui Machiavelli, Cameron Mack, Samantha Manaktola, Marisa Manuel, Jean McConnell, Heather McDougal, Maria Morabe, Amelia Moriarty, Sarah Noakes, Aidan Oatway, AJ Odasso, Joel Oliver-Cormier, Kristina Palmer, Karintha Parker, Anjali Patel, Juliana Pinho, Nicasio Reed, Belicia Rhea, Abbey Schlanz, Elijah Rain Smith, Alyn Spector, Hebe Stanton, Melody Steiner, Romie Stott, Yejin Suh, Sonia Sulaiman, Ben Tyrrell, Renee Van Siclen, Kathryn Weaver, Liza Wemakor, Aigner Loren Wilson, E.M. Wright, Vicki Xu, and The Strange Horizons Editorial Collective
Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing/poetry editor Chimedum Ohaegbu; nonfiction editor Elsa Sjunneson; podcast producers Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

WELP this is the exact same ballot as last year. Granted this is not a category with a *lot* of churn but that's still boring. I guess we can use it as a comparative point between last year and this year's voters, whether the ranking comes out exactly the same or not.

Best Fanzine

243 ballots for 87 nominees; finalist range 21-76

The Full Lid, by Alasdair Stuart and Marguerite Kenner
Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus; editor Janice L. Newman; associate writers Gwyn Conaway, Jason Sacks, and John Boston
Journey Planet, edited by Erin Underwood, Jean Martin, Sara Felix, Vanessa Applegate, Chuck Serface, Errick Nunnally, Evan Reeves, Steven H Silver, James Bacon, and Christopher J Garcia
Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
Small Gods, Lee Moyer (Icon) and Seanan McGuire (Story)
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, editors Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne

Best Fancast

384 ballots for 202 nominees, finalist range 32-55

Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske, and Jennifer Mace
The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan producer
Hugo, Girl!, hosts Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, and Lori Anderson; producer/editor Kevin Anderson
Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty
Our Opinions Are Correct, presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, produced by Veronica Simonetti
Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Cass Morris, Rowenna Miller, and Marshall Ryan Maresca

Best Fan Writer

368 ballots for 168 nominees; finalist range 31-117

Chris M. Barkley
Bitter Karella
Alex Brown
Cora Buhlert
Jason Sanford
Paul Weimer

Best Fan Artist

230 ballots for 122 nominees, finalist range 15-49

Iain J. Clark
Lorelei Esther
Sara Felix
Ariela Housman
Nilah Magruder
Lee Moyer

Esther and Moyer were on the spreadsheet and Moyer's stuff is very slick - not quite sure actually why he's a fan and not a pro, he seems to do illustration professionally. (Hm, but is doing some kind of non-commercial project with McGuire maybe? The McGuire people turn up again...)

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

450 ballots for 208 nominees; finalist range 59-117

Chaos on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen / Rock the Boat)
The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey Books)
Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet Books / Hot Key Books)
A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
Victories Greater Than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen / Titan)

Okay! It looks like I have finally turned around my "why haven't I read any of the YA" problem, since I have in fact read a whopping five out of six of these! (And look forward to Iron Widow.) I think my predictions in this category have historically been poor but I'm going to guess Kritzer gets it just by track records.

Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)

416 ballots for 187 nominees; finalist range 44-119

Tracy Deonn (2nd year of eligibility)
Micaiah Johnson (2nd year of eligibility)
A.K. Larkwood (2nd year of eligibility)
Everina Maxwell (1st year of eligibility)
Shelley Parker-Chan (1st year of eligibility)
Xiran Jay Zhao (1st year of eligibility)

Well, I am sad that is 100% novelists with no short fiction writers, but what can you do. I'm pleased to see that a bunch of people I didn't like last year have been mostly replaced by people I like better! And also from an efficiency standpoint I only have to read Iron Widow once and I knock off two entire categories! Johnson won the first round last year - Tesh didn't pull ahead until the second-last round - so I think Johnson probably takes it unless people really rally around Zhao or something (Deonn ended up fourth in the Lodestar last year and while I myself nominated Parker-Chan, and liked Maxwell's book way more than Johnson's, I don't see either of them quite having the momentum).