![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hugo longlist thoughts
Aug. 20th, 2018 10:00 pmThe detailed results and nominee longlists are in this pdf here.
Some thoughts behind this cut. ( Read more... )
Some thoughts behind this cut. ( Read more... )
other Hugo business opinions
Aug. 20th, 2018 08:25 pmReferring here to the Hugo Study Committee Report - these are (as I understand it) proposals that are "out there" for consideration but have not yet made it as far as the formal agenda item/amendment phases.
There's a proposal for a Best Translated category. I really dislike this, as a first reaction - right now works in translation are nominated to the appropriate length categories, and I think that's where they belong, competing as equals and not sequestered off to a less-prestigious category. I hear the argument that a special category would help welcome and recognize international and marginalized fans and creators, but I think the "ghettoization" risk outweighs that. Like, it clearly would not have been better for international sff fandom for Three-Body Problem to win some special Translated Work Hugo instead of the big one, that was such a powerful moment for internationality. Also if the Hugo is meant to honor *the work of translators*, I don't feel remotely qualified as a voter to say whether something was "a good translation" as opposed to a good story. To me that feels more appropriate for some kind of professional society/peer award, or maybe a juried award.
There's a proposal to reorganize/replace Semipro and the two Editor categories with Magazine, Anthology/Collection, and Publisher/Imprint. In contrast my kneejerk reaction here is that it's terrific and they should totally do it. Semipro and Short Editor are, although not entirely, significantly redundant; the "four installments" requirement for Short Editors means that I can't nominate the editors of outstanding one-off anthologies (I mean, I keep trying to, but I think they're not actually qualified); and I don't nominate for Long Editor despite reading plenty of novels because there's no easy/straightforward way to figure out the name of the person who edited any given work, unless I guess they happen to be thanked by name in acknowledgments which I happened to read and write this information down, which has never all happened so far but theoretically could. Anyways, the proposal to turn this into Magazine/Anthology/Imprint would solve all of these problems (publisher, unlike editor, is right there in the Goodreads header) and seems so clearly superior to the current state of affairs that I suspect there's some major catch I haven't noticed yet. Possibly Tradition but we've only been doing this Long and Short editor business since 2007, and Semipro since 1984 but honestly the magazine world is so different now (and also evolving) that it feels overdue to me for an overhaul. I don't really see it happening though, I don't think there's enough unhappiness with the current situation to drive it.
There's a discussion re monkeying with the Dramatic categories. I definitely have some horses in this race, a, I like to watch and vote for Movies but am uninterested (or, well, more accurately, logistically unwilling) to watch Serieses, and b, Clipping is the most interesting thing to happen to the Dramatic Hugos in ages and I don't want to see the categories codified in a "TV vs Movies" split such that albums/radio/theater end up out in the cold. I see how there are frustrations in various directions with the current situation but the tentative proposal here, to add two more categories, such that there would be Short, Episodes, Long, and Serieses, doesn't really feel coherent to me, and it's too many dang categories.
There was a proposal to split Best Novel into Fantasy and Science Fiction, which is a terrible idea and fortunately seems to have been decisively shot down, thank you Hugo Committee.
There's a proposal for a Best Translated category. I really dislike this, as a first reaction - right now works in translation are nominated to the appropriate length categories, and I think that's where they belong, competing as equals and not sequestered off to a less-prestigious category. I hear the argument that a special category would help welcome and recognize international and marginalized fans and creators, but I think the "ghettoization" risk outweighs that. Like, it clearly would not have been better for international sff fandom for Three-Body Problem to win some special Translated Work Hugo instead of the big one, that was such a powerful moment for internationality. Also if the Hugo is meant to honor *the work of translators*, I don't feel remotely qualified as a voter to say whether something was "a good translation" as opposed to a good story. To me that feels more appropriate for some kind of professional society/peer award, or maybe a juried award.
There's a proposal to reorganize/replace Semipro and the two Editor categories with Magazine, Anthology/Collection, and Publisher/Imprint. In contrast my kneejerk reaction here is that it's terrific and they should totally do it. Semipro and Short Editor are, although not entirely, significantly redundant; the "four installments" requirement for Short Editors means that I can't nominate the editors of outstanding one-off anthologies (I mean, I keep trying to, but I think they're not actually qualified); and I don't nominate for Long Editor despite reading plenty of novels because there's no easy/straightforward way to figure out the name of the person who edited any given work, unless I guess they happen to be thanked by name in acknowledgments which I happened to read and write this information down, which has never all happened so far but theoretically could. Anyways, the proposal to turn this into Magazine/Anthology/Imprint would solve all of these problems (publisher, unlike editor, is right there in the Goodreads header) and seems so clearly superior to the current state of affairs that I suspect there's some major catch I haven't noticed yet. Possibly Tradition but we've only been doing this Long and Short editor business since 2007, and Semipro since 1984 but honestly the magazine world is so different now (and also evolving) that it feels overdue to me for an overhaul. I don't really see it happening though, I don't think there's enough unhappiness with the current situation to drive it.
There's a discussion re monkeying with the Dramatic categories. I definitely have some horses in this race, a, I like to watch and vote for Movies but am uninterested (or, well, more accurately, logistically unwilling) to watch Serieses, and b, Clipping is the most interesting thing to happen to the Dramatic Hugos in ages and I don't want to see the categories codified in a "TV vs Movies" split such that albums/radio/theater end up out in the cold. I see how there are frustrations in various directions with the current situation but the tentative proposal here, to add two more categories, such that there would be Short, Episodes, Long, and Serieses, doesn't really feel coherent to me, and it's too many dang categories.
There was a proposal to split Best Novel into Fantasy and Science Fiction, which is a terrible idea and fortunately seems to have been decisively shot down, thank you Hugo Committee.
more about the Hugo Artist awards
Aug. 20th, 2018 07:49 pmRe Artist Hugos - after further reflection, I think scrapping person awards in favor of works awards is too radical a change for the Hugos, which are not wrong to value continuity and consistency (so that in some sense an award given in 2018 is "the same award" that someone got in 1953 or whatever). Professional Artist is in fact one of the original awards (as "Best Interior Illustrator" and "Best Cover Artist"; it has also been "Best Artist"), and I think any changes made in the arts categories should prioritize making sure this award has broad and easily understood eligibility.
To that end, I think it would be better to drop the notion of "Professional" and just award it to the Best Artist regardless of whether/how they got paid. (I personally would like to spend zero hours of the rest of my life ever thinking about whether Patreon-supported art or Kickstartered art or whatever newfangled funding streams they're going to have in another twenty years are "professional", for instance.) And then I propose dropping the category of "Fan Artist" entirely and instead introducing a new award for "Best New Artist" in parallel with the Campbell Award and following similar eligibility rules. I think the Campbell does great work recognizing and celebrating exciting new voices and that's something it would be great to be doing for art too, and it's *not* something the Chesleys are already doing. I think this would be much more useful and important for the genre than this idea that Fan Artist is meant to thank people for helping out with con programs and fanzines, which seems to me like a backwards-looking approach focused on irrelevant details of payment and venue. We voters already have a good understanding of what the Campbell is and the admins know how to wrangle it, so I think, for a completely new award, this would be actually be a relatively conservative addition.
I am serious about this proposal to the extent that I may try to write it up in better language and email it to someone on the new committee, but people should feel free to link to this post, or to share the general idea without attribution, I think it's a good enough idea that I'd be happy for it to get some traction in any fashion.
To that end, I think it would be better to drop the notion of "Professional" and just award it to the Best Artist regardless of whether/how they got paid. (I personally would like to spend zero hours of the rest of my life ever thinking about whether Patreon-supported art or Kickstartered art or whatever newfangled funding streams they're going to have in another twenty years are "professional", for instance.) And then I propose dropping the category of "Fan Artist" entirely and instead introducing a new award for "Best New Artist" in parallel with the Campbell Award and following similar eligibility rules. I think the Campbell does great work recognizing and celebrating exciting new voices and that's something it would be great to be doing for art too, and it's *not* something the Chesleys are already doing. I think this would be much more useful and important for the genre than this idea that Fan Artist is meant to thank people for helping out with con programs and fanzines, which seems to me like a backwards-looking approach focused on irrelevant details of payment and venue. We voters already have a good understanding of what the Campbell is and the admins know how to wrangle it, so I think, for a completely new award, this would be actually be a relatively conservative addition.
I am serious about this proposal to the extent that I may try to write it up in better language and email it to someone on the new committee, but people should feel free to link to this post, or to share the general idea without attribution, I think it's a good enough idea that I'd be happy for it to get some traction in any fashion.
2018 Hugo awards!!
Aug. 20th, 2018 01:06 amWinners (and also my first-place votes and predictions and commentary) behind the cut. ( Read more... )
WSFS business opinions
Aug. 19th, 2018 10:00 pmSo I guess Worldcon decided to reduce the amount of neck protection on goalie chest pa - what? Wrong sport? Oh, right, sorry. Hugos! Potential changes! Business meeting business!
Lodestar ratified as the YA award name with no last-minute shenanigans - I approve, especially since I've finally made myself memorize it :)
I'm fascinated by the proposal to allow some sort of remote participation in the business meeting - I totally would, if they decide to let us! I'll be watching this with interest.
If changing the category name to "Best Graphic Story or Comic" magically encourages people to nominate more webcomics and fewer superhero trade paperbacks, that would be neat, but it's probably not going to, so who really cares.
I don't really understand the proposed change around longlist reporting but I'm always in favor of More Things On The List because more information is delicious (and I like to see how much better my failed nominees would have had to do to make it).
Artist Hugos! So. I'm, in general, really pleased that people are working on some sort of redefinition or clarification of the Artist categories, because every goddamn year I'm like "who the fuck is a professional artist vs a fan artist", so, like, yes, please, what if it didn't have to be so confusing somehow. HOWEVER, I hate this proposed idea that "Fan Artist" should be a Hugo for people who donate art to fanzines and convention programs, because I have *also* been railing for years about the eternal tedious ballot presence of Foster and Stiles, and for fuck's sake, the *last* thing we need is to redefine the category to protect them from people who actually do interesting art online! The Art Hugos Should Not Be Service Awards. The proposal has been bumped to a new committee so we now get another chance to come up with something better, which I guess is a good outcome.
Personally, if I was the new committee, I'd be tempted to propose scrapping Pro Artist and Fan Artist entirely and replacing them with works awards rather than person awards. I don't know historically why they're person awards (but would be very interested in the justification for that) but work awards just seem so much more straightforward? Like, I don't know, covers, digital works, and traditional media? Covers, illustrations, other? We could look at the Chesleys, which I believe are the artist professional society equivalent of the Nebulas (voted on by ASFA members the way the Nebs are done by SFWA). In much the way that it's nice to have both the Nebulas and the Hugos, I think it would be fine to have fan-voted art awards that overlapped with the professional society ones. I don't think there's a chance in hell they're actually going to do this, because Tradition (and maybe because there's a whole bunch of different Chesleys and nobody wants to nominate in ten different art categories), but honestly it would make more sense.
... part two to follow at some point but the Hugos are actually starting. :)
Lodestar ratified as the YA award name with no last-minute shenanigans - I approve, especially since I've finally made myself memorize it :)
I'm fascinated by the proposal to allow some sort of remote participation in the business meeting - I totally would, if they decide to let us! I'll be watching this with interest.
If changing the category name to "Best Graphic Story or Comic" magically encourages people to nominate more webcomics and fewer superhero trade paperbacks, that would be neat, but it's probably not going to, so who really cares.
I don't really understand the proposed change around longlist reporting but I'm always in favor of More Things On The List because more information is delicious (and I like to see how much better my failed nominees would have had to do to make it).
Artist Hugos! So. I'm, in general, really pleased that people are working on some sort of redefinition or clarification of the Artist categories, because every goddamn year I'm like "who the fuck is a professional artist vs a fan artist", so, like, yes, please, what if it didn't have to be so confusing somehow. HOWEVER, I hate this proposed idea that "Fan Artist" should be a Hugo for people who donate art to fanzines and convention programs, because I have *also* been railing for years about the eternal tedious ballot presence of Foster and Stiles, and for fuck's sake, the *last* thing we need is to redefine the category to protect them from people who actually do interesting art online! The Art Hugos Should Not Be Service Awards. The proposal has been bumped to a new committee so we now get another chance to come up with something better, which I guess is a good outcome.
Personally, if I was the new committee, I'd be tempted to propose scrapping Pro Artist and Fan Artist entirely and replacing them with works awards rather than person awards. I don't know historically why they're person awards (but would be very interested in the justification for that) but work awards just seem so much more straightforward? Like, I don't know, covers, digital works, and traditional media? Covers, illustrations, other? We could look at the Chesleys, which I believe are the artist professional society equivalent of the Nebulas (voted on by ASFA members the way the Nebs are done by SFWA). In much the way that it's nice to have both the Nebulas and the Hugos, I think it would be fine to have fan-voted art awards that overlapped with the professional society ones. I don't think there's a chance in hell they're actually going to do this, because Tradition (and maybe because there's a whole bunch of different Chesleys and nobody wants to nominate in ten different art categories), but honestly it would make more sense.
... part two to follow at some point but the Hugos are actually starting. :)
I left the Le Guin for last on the grounds that I thought I might actually enjoy it, and I did. Her skill with words and her skill of observation are on such a different level than the rest of this stuff, and, I don't know, her wisdom? Like I'm genuinely interested in what she has to say about random things, in her insight and perspective. (And I'm so ongoingly sad that the world has lost that. Le Guin and Carrie Fisher, man.) (Although I admit I did skip all the parts about her cat.)
For me personally, the most emotional part was when she talked about the kinds of fan letters she did and didn't like - I thought for years, on and off, about writing to her with a question, but never did, and sometimes I'm sad about that, now that the opportunity is definitively past.
(The question, if you're curious - SPOILERS for the entire Earthsea series:)( Read more... )
Space!
My ballot ranking and comments:( Read more... )
For me personally, the most emotional part was when she talked about the kinds of fan letters she did and didn't like - I thought for years, on and off, about writing to her with a question, but never did, and sometimes I'm sad about that, now that the opportunity is definitively past.
(The question, if you're curious - SPOILERS for the entire Earthsea series:)( Read more... )
Space!
My ballot ranking and comments:( Read more... )
Locus Award winners!
Jun. 23rd, 2018 10:12 pmSee the list yourself here. I voted in them this year; it's an open online poll but subscriber votes (which I am not) count double.
So let's see. Collapsing Empire beat Provenance, Raven Strategem, and New York 2140 for Science Fiction Novel (and other things - there were ten finalists per category - including Stars Are Legion, which got my top vote). Stone Sky won Fantasy Novel. Akata Warrior beat In Other Lands, Skinful of Shadows, and Book of Dust (and Frogkisser) for YA. Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter beat Bear and the Nightingale, Art of Starving, and Unkindness of Ghosts for First Novel (and also City of Brass, Winter Tide, and Autonomous). Hard to say exactly what this might foreshadow for Hugo-land given that the categories don't line up the same way, but the Akata Warrior win lends some credence to my theory that the YA voting will favor someone with a bigger name who people are more likely to have read.
Short fiction: All Systems Red beat all five other nominees from the Hugo ballot (as I'm predicting for the Hugos as well). A Delaney novelette I haven't read, "The Hermit of Houston" from F&SF, beat "Children of Thorns", "Extracurricular Activities", and "Wind Will Rove". "The Martian Obelisk" beat "Fandom for Robots", "Carnival Nine", and "Authentic Indian Experience", possibly the biggest surprise to me of these awards. (Really? Martian Obelisk, over both "Fandom for Robots" and "Indian Experience"??)
Hm, anthologies, collections, art books; Tor.com won for best magazine, Datlow for editor, and Julie Dillon for artist. Best magazine almost feels like more of a demographic question here, like, where has this voting population come from. That Luminescent Threads:Connections to Octavia Butler related work won Non-Fiction, beating some of the other Hugo Related Work nominees.
So let's see. Collapsing Empire beat Provenance, Raven Strategem, and New York 2140 for Science Fiction Novel (and other things - there were ten finalists per category - including Stars Are Legion, which got my top vote). Stone Sky won Fantasy Novel. Akata Warrior beat In Other Lands, Skinful of Shadows, and Book of Dust (and Frogkisser) for YA. Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter beat Bear and the Nightingale, Art of Starving, and Unkindness of Ghosts for First Novel (and also City of Brass, Winter Tide, and Autonomous). Hard to say exactly what this might foreshadow for Hugo-land given that the categories don't line up the same way, but the Akata Warrior win lends some credence to my theory that the YA voting will favor someone with a bigger name who people are more likely to have read.
Short fiction: All Systems Red beat all five other nominees from the Hugo ballot (as I'm predicting for the Hugos as well). A Delaney novelette I haven't read, "The Hermit of Houston" from F&SF, beat "Children of Thorns", "Extracurricular Activities", and "Wind Will Rove". "The Martian Obelisk" beat "Fandom for Robots", "Carnival Nine", and "Authentic Indian Experience", possibly the biggest surprise to me of these awards. (Really? Martian Obelisk, over both "Fandom for Robots" and "Indian Experience"??)
Hm, anthologies, collections, art books; Tor.com won for best magazine, Datlow for editor, and Julie Dillon for artist. Best magazine almost feels like more of a demographic question here, like, where has this voting population come from. That Luminescent Threads:Connections to Octavia Butler related work won Non-Fiction, beating some of the other Hugo Related Work nominees.
New York 2140 and my Hugo Novel ballot
Jun. 14th, 2018 10:41 pmNew York 2140, Kim Stanley Robinson, standalone. (Could possibly secretly be in a bigger universe with some of his other books but I didn't catch any references.) I liked this more than I thought I would during the first fifth or so, although I do think he's developed some acquired editing immunity, the phenomenon in which as an author accumulates prestige, their editors fail to edit them as strictly anymore. Didn't help that he's deliberately doing a Steinbeck-Melville thing with chapters of direct commentary/future history/free association, etc. Really felt its length.
Also (cut for some more specific/spoilery comments) ( Read more... ) Content note for animal harm.
And now, some space, and then my ranking and comments.
S
P
A
C
E
( Read more... )
Also (cut for some more specific/spoilery comments) ( Read more... ) Content note for animal harm.
And now, some space, and then my ranking and comments.
S
P
A
C
E
( Read more... )
Down Among and my Hugo Novella ballot
Jun. 12th, 2018 10:36 pmDown Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire, novella, sidequel to Every Heart A Doorway (chronologically earlier but should be read after, I think). I liked the premise of Every Heart a lot more than the execution (true of pretty much everything I've ever read by McGuire) and felt no need to return to that world. This one felt like a novelette of material, belabored.
A space, and then my ballot ranking behind a cut.
Space!
( Read more... )
A space, and then my ballot ranking behind a cut.
Space!
( Read more... )
I love a deliberate theme but this time it was just by coincidence that I ended up reading, back to back, two books about humans in faeryland that I was really unenthusiastic about at first but did eventually warm up to somewhat.
Holly Black's The Cruel Prince is the first in a new trilogy. All of her Faerie books take place in the same larger universe, and characters from some of her other books have cameos in this one, but you don't need to have read any of them to follow the story here. I loved Darkest Part of the Forest, her most recent previous Faerie book, so I was excited to read this one, but Black's main characters are hit or miss for me in whether I enjoy them and their often messed-up motivations, and I had a really hard time getting onboard with this one, a human stolen with her sisters by the fairies at a young age and now determined to make a place for herself in their world. For most of the book I just wanted to see her get *out* - there was this heartbreaking flashback early on where (spoiler) ( Read more... ) Black did eventually convince me that the protag's motivations made sense as a response to the profound trauma and abuse of her childhood but, still, one of those stories where you wish the protag could escape from the plot and get therapy instead. The romance aspect also seems to be proceeding along (spoiler) ( Read more... ) Black's court-intrigue plotting is solid, though, and by the end I was well suckered in and I'll probably read the next one. If you like both Tithe and Game of Thrones, you'll probably like this from earlier on than I did.
Under the Pendulum Sun, by Jeannette Ng, is about a pair of brother and sister missionaries who travel to the land of the Fae to bring Christianity to the fairies, which goes about as well as you might think. This is very slow Gothic theologypunk - seriously Gothic, in the classic "woman sits around a spooky house and waits for the plot to happen to her" sense - but does eventually hit some interestingish beats, if you can get there. In general, I find book-characters' Christianity hard to take seriously (as opposed to made-up religions that are clearly metaphysically true in the book's universe, which I often find quite powerful, as in Curse of Chalion or Kushiel's Avatar) - this is a book where characters really care about the details of transubstantiation or biblical inconsistency, and I do not. But what *Ng* cares about is both bigger/more historical (how the attitudes of Victorian Christian imperialism towards other peoples run aground on the power and incomprehensibility of the Fae) and more specific (in the main character's reactions and choices). I had picked up a spoiler somewhere for a certain aspect of the story, which added to the interest for me, but might be a no-go for others: content note for (spoiler) ( Read more... ). People might enjoy this who like Sandman, or Gaiman's adult work in general, or A.S. Byatt's Possession. There is an excellent spoilery Q&A with Ng here that talks about some of the textual references and ideas behind the worldbuilding, definitely recommended afterwards if you read the book.
And now I'll leave a little space, and then discuss my ballot ranking for the Campbell Notahugo behind another cut.
A space!
( Read more... )
Holly Black's The Cruel Prince is the first in a new trilogy. All of her Faerie books take place in the same larger universe, and characters from some of her other books have cameos in this one, but you don't need to have read any of them to follow the story here. I loved Darkest Part of the Forest, her most recent previous Faerie book, so I was excited to read this one, but Black's main characters are hit or miss for me in whether I enjoy them and their often messed-up motivations, and I had a really hard time getting onboard with this one, a human stolen with her sisters by the fairies at a young age and now determined to make a place for herself in their world. For most of the book I just wanted to see her get *out* - there was this heartbreaking flashback early on where (spoiler) ( Read more... ) Black did eventually convince me that the protag's motivations made sense as a response to the profound trauma and abuse of her childhood but, still, one of those stories where you wish the protag could escape from the plot and get therapy instead. The romance aspect also seems to be proceeding along (spoiler) ( Read more... ) Black's court-intrigue plotting is solid, though, and by the end I was well suckered in and I'll probably read the next one. If you like both Tithe and Game of Thrones, you'll probably like this from earlier on than I did.
Under the Pendulum Sun, by Jeannette Ng, is about a pair of brother and sister missionaries who travel to the land of the Fae to bring Christianity to the fairies, which goes about as well as you might think. This is very slow Gothic theologypunk - seriously Gothic, in the classic "woman sits around a spooky house and waits for the plot to happen to her" sense - but does eventually hit some interestingish beats, if you can get there. In general, I find book-characters' Christianity hard to take seriously (as opposed to made-up religions that are clearly metaphysically true in the book's universe, which I often find quite powerful, as in Curse of Chalion or Kushiel's Avatar) - this is a book where characters really care about the details of transubstantiation or biblical inconsistency, and I do not. But what *Ng* cares about is both bigger/more historical (how the attitudes of Victorian Christian imperialism towards other peoples run aground on the power and incomprehensibility of the Fae) and more specific (in the main character's reactions and choices). I had picked up a spoiler somewhere for a certain aspect of the story, which added to the interest for me, but might be a no-go for others: content note for (spoiler) ( Read more... ). People might enjoy this who like Sandman, or Gaiman's adult work in general, or A.S. Byatt's Possession. There is an excellent spoilery Q&A with Ng here that talks about some of the textual references and ideas behind the worldbuilding, definitely recommended afterwards if you read the book.
And now I'll leave a little space, and then discuss my ballot ranking for the Campbell Notahugo behind another cut.
A space!
( Read more... )
I was waiting until we got the packet and I read the last two novellas to rank all the short fiction at once, but now I've decided that we're not getting the packet until I make some public gesture of giving up hope of getting the packet, so, behind the cut, my ballot ranking w/comments for the novelettes and short stories. ( Read more... )
Nebula awards!
May. 19th, 2018 09:19 pmWatched the livestream. I'm all emoootional about sff right now.
Novel
Amberlough, Lara Elena Donnelly
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss
Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty
Jade City, Fonda Lee
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz
Part of me wanted this to go to Autonomous, which didn't make the Hugo ballot, since I am very hopeful that Stone Sky will get the Hugo. But I can't quarrel with this outcome. It felt a little weird that Jemisin wasn't there, like, I don't know, it's more satisfying to see the awards go to people who are there to be excited about it, but I respect that she needs to manage her time and her interactions as works for her.
Novella
River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com Publishing)
Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing)
“And Then There Were (N-One)”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/17)
Barry’s Deal, Lawrence M. Schoen (NobleFusion Press)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
The Black Tides of Heaven, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)
I guessed Black Tides but I also like this outcome. (Man, when will the library give me the second one of these.)
Novelette
“Dirty Old Town”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 5-6/17)
“Weaponized Math”, Jonathan P. Brazee (The Expanding Universe, Vol. 3)
“Wind Will Rove”, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 9-10/17)
“A Series of Steaks”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld 1/17)
“A Human Stain”, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 1/4/17)
“Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time”, K.M. Szpara (Uncanny 5-6/17)
Interesting! I glanced at this one when I was browsing through Tor stuff and rejected it as gothic horror and not to my interest, but apparently a bunch of people though it was pretty good if it beat the Pinzker, Prasad, and Szpara stories, which I have read and are great. Maybe I'll have to give it another try. [ETA: Nope!]
Short Story
“Fandom for Robots”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny 9-10/17)
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM”, Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex 8/17)
“Utopia, LOL?”, Jamie Wahls (Strange Horizons 6/5/17)
“Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 9-10/17)
“The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)”, Matthew Kressel (Tor.com 3/15/17)
“Carnival Nine”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17)
Called this one! God, she said in her speech it was her first short story, hell of a way to start your career. I think we have decent odds of giving her a Hugo in a few months too.
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Get Out (Written by Jordan Peele)
The Good Place: “Michael’s Gambit” (Written by Michael Schur)
Logan (Screenplay by Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green)
The Shape of Water (Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Written by Rian Johnson)
Wonder Woman (Screenplay by Allan Heinberg)
I called this as they were reading the nominees, which was satisfying. And this is a very satisfying outcome.
The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
Exo, Fonda Lee (Scholastic Press)
Weave a Circle Round, Kari Maaren (Tor)
The Art of Starving, Sam J. Miller (HarperTeen)
Want, Cindy Pon (Simon Pulse)
One of the two I've read! (Still in the library queue for the other two.) I liked this a lot and am pleased to see it recognized (even though I ended up ranking other stuff over it in the Hugos).
Novel
Amberlough, Lara Elena Donnelly
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss
Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty
Jade City, Fonda Lee
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz
Part of me wanted this to go to Autonomous, which didn't make the Hugo ballot, since I am very hopeful that Stone Sky will get the Hugo. But I can't quarrel with this outcome. It felt a little weird that Jemisin wasn't there, like, I don't know, it's more satisfying to see the awards go to people who are there to be excited about it, but I respect that she needs to manage her time and her interactions as works for her.
Novella
River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com Publishing)
Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing)
“And Then There Were (N-One)”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/17)
Barry’s Deal, Lawrence M. Schoen (NobleFusion Press)
All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
The Black Tides of Heaven, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)
I guessed Black Tides but I also like this outcome. (Man, when will the library give me the second one of these.)
Novelette
“Dirty Old Town”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 5-6/17)
“Weaponized Math”, Jonathan P. Brazee (The Expanding Universe, Vol. 3)
“Wind Will Rove”, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 9-10/17)
“A Series of Steaks”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld 1/17)
“A Human Stain”, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 1/4/17)
“Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time”, K.M. Szpara (Uncanny 5-6/17)
Interesting! I glanced at this one when I was browsing through Tor stuff and rejected it as gothic horror and not to my interest, but apparently a bunch of people though it was pretty good if it beat the Pinzker, Prasad, and Szpara stories, which I have read and are great. Maybe I'll have to give it another try. [ETA: Nope!]
Short Story
“Fandom for Robots”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny 9-10/17)
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM”, Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex 8/17)
“Utopia, LOL?”, Jamie Wahls (Strange Horizons 6/5/17)
“Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 9-10/17)
“The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)”, Matthew Kressel (Tor.com 3/15/17)
“Carnival Nine”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17)
Called this one! God, she said in her speech it was her first short story, hell of a way to start your career. I think we have decent odds of giving her a Hugo in a few months too.
The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Get Out (Written by Jordan Peele)
The Good Place: “Michael’s Gambit” (Written by Michael Schur)
Logan (Screenplay by Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green)
The Shape of Water (Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Written by Rian Johnson)
Wonder Woman (Screenplay by Allan Heinberg)
I called this as they were reading the nominees, which was satisfying. And this is a very satisfying outcome.
The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
Exo, Fonda Lee (Scholastic Press)
Weave a Circle Round, Kari Maaren (Tor)
The Art of Starving, Sam J. Miller (HarperTeen)
Want, Cindy Pon (Simon Pulse)
One of the two I've read! (Still in the library queue for the other two.) I liked this a lot and am pleased to see it recognized (even though I ended up ranking other stuff over it in the Hugos).
Akata Warrior + Hugo YA ballot
May. 17th, 2018 06:58 pmAkata Warrior, Nnedi Okorafor. Unfortunately I think I liked this less well than the first one. There were some really vivid images and gripping moments but the whole thing didn't quite hang together for me as a story. It just felt random what Okorafor was going to throw in there next, which isn't my favorite kind of narrative structure. And I don't really like any of the cast besides the protag, and there's nominally a romance but I didn't feel the chemistry. I don't know, the Nigerian culture angle continues to be sort of interesting, but right now I'm thinking I won't read the next one unless it ends up on a ballot. (It also continues to *totally* be Nigerian Harry Potter and there are *so many comparisons* you could make, although knowing Okorafor is grumpy about that comparison sucks some of the fun out of it. But it's not like that makes me stop seeing it.)
I have now read all six novels, so I'll leave a little space, and then make some predictions and talk about my ballot ranking behind a cut.
Space!
Cut!( Read more... )
I have now read all six novels, so I'll leave a little space, and then make some predictions and talk about my ballot ranking behind a cut.
Space!
Cut!( Read more... )
Blade Runner 2049 was definitely not the worst thing I've ever watched because it was on a Hugo ballot, but there seems to be something every year that's just like "yup, I would have been fine to skip that". I thought they did a really good job making a sequel to the first one! Really captured the atmospheric, moody, aesthetic-driven feeling of it! Great cinematography and some really striking visuals. But ultimately this is another murderer-cop anti-hero doing more murders, with the ultimate reward ( Read more... )
Anyways, I've now seen all six movies, so a little space, and then I'll put my ballot ranking and some thoughts behind another cut.
Space!
Another cut! ( Read more... )
Anyways, I've now seen all six movies, so a little space, and then I'll put my ballot ranking and some thoughts behind another cut.
Space!
Another cut! ( Read more... )
Locus Award finalists
Apr. 30th, 2018 08:57 pmFinalists list here. I've never really followed the Locus Awards but I voted in them this year. They're an open online poll, so less barrier to entry than the Hugos, but I think subscriber votes count double, which might countervail the "internet freeforall" effect a bit. Anyways, if you like awards shortlists, this is one; I like seeing what different subsets of people are excited about.
2018 Hugo finalists
Mar. 31st, 2018 04:21 pmSo I think this is a terrific ballot, probably significantly influenced by how many of my nominees got on here, woooo! You can read them here if you want to see the list without all my commentary.
Behind the cut, ballot w/commentary:( Read more... )
Aaaaand I have to go, so, stay tuned for the second half later, I guess!
Behind the cut, ballot w/commentary:( Read more... )
Aaaaand I have to go, so, stay tuned for the second half later, I guess!
2018 Hugo nominating - other categories
Feb. 25th, 2018 10:39 pmI will likely continue to poke at some of these but here's everything I have so far in all the categories that aren't prose fiction, in order from the ballot for ease of copypaste:
Best Related Work:
(I will probably vote in this category but don't nominate in it.)
Best Graphic Story:
The Witch Boy, Molly Ostertag, Scholastic
Pashmina, Nidhi Chanani, First Second
I'm more excited about Witch Boy than Pashmina but honestly neither of these is going to end up on the ballot, it's going to be the latest Saga, maybe the latest Ms. Marvel or Paper Girls if there was a 2017 one, something else exciting happening in Marvel comics, etc. Anyways I figured I had the ballot slots and might as well see if we could get Ostertag onto the long list.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form):
Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins
Your Name, Makoto Shinkai
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro
Coco, Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson
This was hard! Close runners up in Logan and Thor: Ragnarok, but I think they're more likely to make the final ballot than Your Name and Coco. (And Your Name was a definite for me; amazing film.) Other possible ballot contenders include Get Out and Blade Runner, which I haven't seen, and Justice League, which was terrible but might gather some dogcrap support? I honestly don't know what I think is going to happen here.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form):
Dawn of Thunder, Kolawole Olarewaju, Komotion Studiios
The Narrow World, Brent Bonacorso
Burn Out, Cecile Carre, Gobelins
The Deep, clipping., Subpop Records
Another category where my nominations are meaningless - probably won't even make the long list - but it pleases my contrarian nature to remember that short films exist and to nominate them in the TV episode category. (I do actually look forward to finding out if there's another episode of Black Mirror I should watch.) This clipping. song doesn't have the whole-album power of Splendor&Misery but hey.
Best Professional Editor (Long Form):
(I will probably vote in this category but am not nominating in it.)
Best Professional Editor (Short Form):
Mavesh Murad and Jared Shurin
No idea if they're qualified (I guess there's a four-thing minimum?) but Djinn Falls In Love was a really good anthology.
Best Professional Artist:
Yuko Shimizu
Brenoch Adams
Galen Dara
Reiko Murakami
Victo Ngai
This was haaaard. Dara, Murakami, and Ngai were all on my nominees last year and I noticed them again this year in magazine covers and illustrations as I did my short-fiction reading. Brenoch Adams did the cover for Prey of Gods, which gets my "cover of the year" award, and Yuko Shimizu did the covers for Black Tides and Red Threads, which are a close runner up.
Other artist runners-up: Micah Epstein, Peter Mohrbacher, and Goñi Montes. Also I always love Julie Dillon's work but I don't want this award to just be the Julie Dillon award for best Julie Dillon. I don't feel like doing individual links but if you go to RocketStackRank's page about artists you can see some of everybody's work but Brenoch Adams.
Best Semiprozine:
Strange Horizons
Uncanny Magazine
Giganotosaurus
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Daily Science Fiction
SH and Uncanny were my shoe-ins, I'm always happy to show a little love to underappreciated Giganotosaurus, and then I figured I might as well use up my slots. I haven't actually been reading DSF but I still care about them very much as a *market* for flash, ahem... (My understanding is that Lightspeed and Clarkesworld, the other magazines I do read, are both pro rather than semipro.)
Best Fanzine:
(I may vote in this category but don't nominate in it.)
Best Fancast:
(I neither nominate nor vote in this category.)
Best Fan Writer:
(I will probably vote in this category but am not nominating in it.)
Best Fan Artist:
Iguanamouth
Euclase
Likhain
Geneva Benton
Stephanie Law
Ugh, I feel like such a slacker for not being more on top of this category, the category in which a single nomination is mathematically most likely to make a difference. (At least in some past years.) But, as always, WHO THE FUCK IS A FAN ARTIST AND WHO IS A PRO. The nomination suggestions wiki thinks Galen Dara has done "fan" work, for instance, and then shows examples of what are obviously works for "professional" markets. Except works published in SFWA-qualified markets are "professional" but works published in semiprozines are "fan", so where does that leave SFWA-qualified semiprozines like SH? The Hugo-Eligible Art Tumblr is mostly defunct, bah. Anyways, I got Geneva Benton out of the wiki, Likhain's been on the ballot before, and Iguanamouth and Euclase are fanartists I like who I can name off the top of my head. I would encourage people to check out Geneva Benton, I think she does very eye-catching, appealing, awesome art, is unambigiously qualified, might be well-enough known via her Fiyah covers to make the ballot, and isn't Steve Stiles or Brad Foster. (1997, people. TWENTY FUCKING YEARS since there was a ballot without one of them. CAN WE GET SOME TURNOVER IN THIS CATEGORY.)
The John W. Campbell Not a Hugo:
Allison Jamieson-Lucy
Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Katherine Arden
Rebecca Roanhorse
April Daniels
Katherine Arden and April Daniels aren't listed as eligible but I can't figure out what else either has written. I don't think Jamieson-Lucy is on anyone else's radar but Prasad and Roanhorse are both on the Nebula ballot and may have a chance. I'm predicting Rivers Solomon on the ballot and maybe S.A. Chakraborty, although she's also not listed as eligible. (I would really love an *ineligibility* list with everyone that you might think might be eligible that isn't. Or, look, seriously, for Locus to just annotate their "First Novel" list with who has short fiction priors and who doesn't, wouldn't that be useful? They're Locus, I'm sure they know.)
Best Related Work:
(I will probably vote in this category but don't nominate in it.)
Best Graphic Story:
The Witch Boy, Molly Ostertag, Scholastic
Pashmina, Nidhi Chanani, First Second
I'm more excited about Witch Boy than Pashmina but honestly neither of these is going to end up on the ballot, it's going to be the latest Saga, maybe the latest Ms. Marvel or Paper Girls if there was a 2017 one, something else exciting happening in Marvel comics, etc. Anyways I figured I had the ballot slots and might as well see if we could get Ostertag onto the long list.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form):
Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins
Your Name, Makoto Shinkai
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro
Coco, Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson
This was hard! Close runners up in Logan and Thor: Ragnarok, but I think they're more likely to make the final ballot than Your Name and Coco. (And Your Name was a definite for me; amazing film.) Other possible ballot contenders include Get Out and Blade Runner, which I haven't seen, and Justice League, which was terrible but might gather some dogcrap support? I honestly don't know what I think is going to happen here.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form):
Dawn of Thunder, Kolawole Olarewaju, Komotion Studiios
The Narrow World, Brent Bonacorso
Burn Out, Cecile Carre, Gobelins
The Deep, clipping., Subpop Records
Another category where my nominations are meaningless - probably won't even make the long list - but it pleases my contrarian nature to remember that short films exist and to nominate them in the TV episode category. (I do actually look forward to finding out if there's another episode of Black Mirror I should watch.) This clipping. song doesn't have the whole-album power of Splendor&Misery but hey.
Best Professional Editor (Long Form):
(I will probably vote in this category but am not nominating in it.)
Best Professional Editor (Short Form):
Mavesh Murad and Jared Shurin
No idea if they're qualified (I guess there's a four-thing minimum?) but Djinn Falls In Love was a really good anthology.
Best Professional Artist:
Yuko Shimizu
Brenoch Adams
Galen Dara
Reiko Murakami
Victo Ngai
This was haaaard. Dara, Murakami, and Ngai were all on my nominees last year and I noticed them again this year in magazine covers and illustrations as I did my short-fiction reading. Brenoch Adams did the cover for Prey of Gods, which gets my "cover of the year" award, and Yuko Shimizu did the covers for Black Tides and Red Threads, which are a close runner up.
Other artist runners-up: Micah Epstein, Peter Mohrbacher, and Goñi Montes. Also I always love Julie Dillon's work but I don't want this award to just be the Julie Dillon award for best Julie Dillon. I don't feel like doing individual links but if you go to RocketStackRank's page about artists you can see some of everybody's work but Brenoch Adams.
Best Semiprozine:
Strange Horizons
Uncanny Magazine
Giganotosaurus
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Daily Science Fiction
SH and Uncanny were my shoe-ins, I'm always happy to show a little love to underappreciated Giganotosaurus, and then I figured I might as well use up my slots. I haven't actually been reading DSF but I still care about them very much as a *market* for flash, ahem... (My understanding is that Lightspeed and Clarkesworld, the other magazines I do read, are both pro rather than semipro.)
Best Fanzine:
(I may vote in this category but don't nominate in it.)
Best Fancast:
(I neither nominate nor vote in this category.)
Best Fan Writer:
(I will probably vote in this category but am not nominating in it.)
Best Fan Artist:
Iguanamouth
Euclase
Likhain
Geneva Benton
Stephanie Law
Ugh, I feel like such a slacker for not being more on top of this category, the category in which a single nomination is mathematically most likely to make a difference. (At least in some past years.) But, as always, WHO THE FUCK IS A FAN ARTIST AND WHO IS A PRO. The nomination suggestions wiki thinks Galen Dara has done "fan" work, for instance, and then shows examples of what are obviously works for "professional" markets. Except works published in SFWA-qualified markets are "professional" but works published in semiprozines are "fan", so where does that leave SFWA-qualified semiprozines like SH? The Hugo-Eligible Art Tumblr is mostly defunct, bah. Anyways, I got Geneva Benton out of the wiki, Likhain's been on the ballot before, and Iguanamouth and Euclase are fanartists I like who I can name off the top of my head. I would encourage people to check out Geneva Benton, I think she does very eye-catching, appealing, awesome art, is unambigiously qualified, might be well-enough known via her Fiyah covers to make the ballot, and isn't Steve Stiles or Brad Foster. (1997, people. TWENTY FUCKING YEARS since there was a ballot without one of them. CAN WE GET SOME TURNOVER IN THIS CATEGORY.)
The John W. Campbell Not a Hugo:
Allison Jamieson-Lucy
Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Katherine Arden
Rebecca Roanhorse
April Daniels
Katherine Arden and April Daniels aren't listed as eligible but I can't figure out what else either has written. I don't think Jamieson-Lucy is on anyone else's radar but Prasad and Roanhorse are both on the Nebula ballot and may have a chance. I'm predicting Rivers Solomon on the ballot and maybe S.A. Chakraborty, although she's also not listed as eligible. (I would really love an *ineligibility* list with everyone that you might think might be eligible that isn't. Or, look, seriously, for Locus to just annotate their "First Novel" list with who has short fiction priors and who doesn't, wouldn't that be useful? They're Locus, I'm sure they know.)
I have hit the point in my personal February when I'm starting to face the reality that I can't read, like, sixteen more 2017 books from my to-read list before Hugo nominations close on March 16th. I can probably read a couple more things, but what I can also do is start talking about my nominations far enough in advance that someone else could hypothetically read something I liked. Possibly I should have said weeks ago that if I was the Secret Master of Hugos, I would want Stone Sky to get Best Novel (and the threepeat), In Other Lands to get the YA/Lodestar, and the Queen's Thief series to get Best Series. Doesn't that sound perfect? It's so good it almost undermines my enthusiasm for coming up with 5-item ballots. But of course I'm going to do so anyways because I am not actually SMOH.
Here's a (hopefully complete) list of all the 2017 SFF novels I've read:
Seven Surrenders, Ada Palmer
Thick As Thieves, Megan Whalen Turner (YA)
Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzi Lee (YA)
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin
The Wanderers, Meg Howrey
Waste of Space, Gina Damico (YA)
The Space Between The Stars, Anne Corlett
The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden
Squirrel Meets World, Shannon Hale & Dean Hale (YA)
Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys
Null States, Malka Older
Jane, Unlimited, Kristin Cashore (YA)
Provenance, Ann Leckie
The Book of Dust, Philip Pullman (YA)
The Prey of Gods, Nicky Drayden
Into the Bright Unknown, Rae Carson (YA)
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz
Artemis, Andy Weir
The Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley
An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
The Power, Naomi Alderman (I would have sworn this was a 2016 book but it's on the wiki so I don't even know)
In Other Lands, Sarah Rees Brennan (YA)
Frogkisser!, Garth Nix (YA)
And here's what I've pulled out of there for Best Novel nominees:
Definitely:
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin
Very Likely:
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz
The Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley
Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee
Maybe:
The Wanderers, Meg Howrey
Null States, Malka Older
It's possible that what I really want with Null States is for more people to read the first one, Infomocracy. I think Wanderers is definitely SFF (it's about a simulated Mars mission) but I think was maybe marketed more on the literary side? Anyways I don't think it has any chance of seeing the ballot and maybe not even the long list and I'm willing to spend nominations on things with no chances if I absolutely loved them, but maybe not if there are other things I'd be just as happy to put on there.
YA/Lodestar: (I am trying really hard to learn the name "Lodestar" which I keep forgetting and having to look up)
Definitely:
In Other Lands, Sarah Rees Brennan
Thick As Thieves, Megan Whalen Turner
Very Likely:
Jane, Unlimited, Kristin Cashore
Maybe:
Frogkisser!, Garth Nix
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzi Lee
Gentleman's Guide is only very slightly SFF and Frogkisser! was fun but... I don't know, a little young and not the precedent I want to see as the first recipient of this award? Man, I really need some more YA books for this category. I just started reading April Daniels' Dreadnought (which I almost typoed as Dreadnougat, which would make a fantastic band name), but I'm only a few chapters in.
(Here's everything else relevant that's actually in my house right now: City of Brass (S.A. Chakraborty; I"m about halfway through), After The Flare (Deji Bryce Olukotun), and Barbary Station (R.E. Stearns). And in my library ebook queue, Want (Cindy Pon) and An Unkindness of Magicians (Kat Howard), but I probably won't get either of those before, like, summer.)
Best Series:
Queen's Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
Books of the Raksura, Martha Wells
I haven't actually read the latest installments of the Raksura books but I really liked the first three, so I feel comfortable nominating them as a series on that basis.
Here's a (hopefully complete) list of all the 2017 SFF novels I've read:
Seven Surrenders, Ada Palmer
Thick As Thieves, Megan Whalen Turner (YA)
Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzi Lee (YA)
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin
The Wanderers, Meg Howrey
Waste of Space, Gina Damico (YA)
The Space Between The Stars, Anne Corlett
The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden
Squirrel Meets World, Shannon Hale & Dean Hale (YA)
Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys
Null States, Malka Older
Jane, Unlimited, Kristin Cashore (YA)
Provenance, Ann Leckie
The Book of Dust, Philip Pullman (YA)
The Prey of Gods, Nicky Drayden
Into the Bright Unknown, Rae Carson (YA)
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz
Artemis, Andy Weir
The Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley
An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
The Power, Naomi Alderman (I would have sworn this was a 2016 book but it's on the wiki so I don't even know)
In Other Lands, Sarah Rees Brennan (YA)
Frogkisser!, Garth Nix (YA)
And here's what I've pulled out of there for Best Novel nominees:
Definitely:
The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin
Very Likely:
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz
The Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley
Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee
Maybe:
The Wanderers, Meg Howrey
Null States, Malka Older
It's possible that what I really want with Null States is for more people to read the first one, Infomocracy. I think Wanderers is definitely SFF (it's about a simulated Mars mission) but I think was maybe marketed more on the literary side? Anyways I don't think it has any chance of seeing the ballot and maybe not even the long list and I'm willing to spend nominations on things with no chances if I absolutely loved them, but maybe not if there are other things I'd be just as happy to put on there.
YA/Lodestar: (I am trying really hard to learn the name "Lodestar" which I keep forgetting and having to look up)
Definitely:
In Other Lands, Sarah Rees Brennan
Thick As Thieves, Megan Whalen Turner
Very Likely:
Jane, Unlimited, Kristin Cashore
Maybe:
Frogkisser!, Garth Nix
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzi Lee
Gentleman's Guide is only very slightly SFF and Frogkisser! was fun but... I don't know, a little young and not the precedent I want to see as the first recipient of this award? Man, I really need some more YA books for this category. I just started reading April Daniels' Dreadnought (which I almost typoed as Dreadnougat, which would make a fantastic band name), but I'm only a few chapters in.
(Here's everything else relevant that's actually in my house right now: City of Brass (S.A. Chakraborty; I"m about halfway through), After The Flare (Deji Bryce Olukotun), and Barbary Station (R.E. Stearns). And in my library ebook queue, Want (Cindy Pon) and An Unkindness of Magicians (Kat Howard), but I probably won't get either of those before, like, summer.)
Best Series:
Queen's Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
Books of the Raksura, Martha Wells
I haven't actually read the latest installments of the Raksura books but I really liked the first three, so I feel comfortable nominating them as a series on that basis.
