Hugo nominees for 2014 (shortlist @ post 156 on page 8)

[beniowa]

With 2013 almost over and the Hugo nomination period coming up soon, I thought about a new thread in the spirit of Luga's original topic to discuss possible Hugo nominations. The old thread was close to being done so I started a new one to get things going again for next year.

Feel free to post about books or works you think were outstanding in 2013. I'll keep a running list and edit this post as people chime in. I've got a bunch already to get things started off.

A few links:

Loncon 3 with progress reports

Hugo Awards

John W. Campbell Award

Worldcon Society

You may nominate for the Hugos if you are a supporting or attending member of Lonestarcon 3, Loncon 3, or Sasquan (Spokane 2015) on or before January 31, 2014.

Nominations for 2014 Hugos and Campbell due on or before March 31, 2014, 11:59 PST. Nomination period opens at 8am (GMT) January 8/midnight (PST) January 7.

1939 Retro Hugos:

Best Novel

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien - George Allen and Unwin

The Sword in the Stone - T.H. White - Collins

Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis - John Lane

Best Short Story

How We Went to Mars - Arthur C. Clarke - Amateur Science Stories

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells, Orson Welles - Mercury Theatre on the Air

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Walt Disney, Disney Studios - Disney Studios

Best Editor (Short Form)

John W. Campbell

2014:

Novel

The Tyrant's Law, Daniel Abraham (Orbit)

The Shattered Pillars, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)

Abaddon’s Gate, James S.A. Corey (Orbit)

Cold Fire, Kate Elliot (Orbit)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Foweler (Marion Wood/Putnam)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (William Morrow)

Trafalgar, Angelica Gorodischer (Small Beer)

A Memory of Light, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor)

River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay (Roc)

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit)

The Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch (Del Rey)

Worm, John McCrae (self-published)

The Adjacent, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)

Shaman, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

On the Steel Breeze, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)

A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer)

Steelheart, Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte)

Neptune's Blood, Charles Stross (Ace)

War Master's Gate, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)

Necessary Evil, Ian Tregillis (Tor)

Something More Than Night, Ian Tregillis (Tor)

The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker (Harper)

The Ace of Skulls, Chris Wooding (Gollancz)

Possible finished series as total works:

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson (Putnam/Ace)

Riftwar, Raymond E. Feist (Harper Voyager)

The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan (Tor)

Novella (17,500-40,000 words)

“The Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs”, Daniel Abraham (Subterranean Press)

“Spin”, Nina Allan (TTA Press)

“Iseul's Lexicon”, Yoon Ha Lee (Conservation of Shadows, Prime)

“I Travel By Night”, Robert McCammon (Subterranean Press)

“The Princess and the Queen”, George R.R. Martin (Dangerous Women, Tor)

“Then Will the Great Ocean Wash Deep Above”, Ian Sales (Whippleshield Books)

“Equiod”, Charles Stross (Tor.com)

“Six-Gun Snow White”, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Press)

Novelette (7,500-17,500 words)

“The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”, Ted Chiang (Subterranean Magazine)

“A Man Without Honor”, James S.A. Corey (Old Mars, Bantam)

“The Effigy Engine”, Scott Lynch (Fearsome Journeys, Solaris)

“Illuminated”, K.J. Parker (Subterranean Magazine)

“The Sun and I”, K.J. Parker (Subterranean Magazine)

“The Dragon of Merebarton”, K.J. Parker (Fearsome Journeys, Solaris)

“The Year of the Rat”, Chen Qiufan (Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

Short Story (<7,500 words)

“The High King Dreaming”, Daniel Abraham (Fearsome Journeys, Solaris)

“The Too-Clever Fox”, Leigh Bardugo (Tor.com)

“The Weight of a Blessing”, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld)

“The Sleeper and the Spindle”, Neil Gaiman (Rags & Bones, Little, Brown)

“Drona’s Death”, Max Gladstone (xo Orpheus, Penguin)

“The Dowry”, Peadar O’Guilin (Black Gate)

“Soulcatcher”, James Patrick Kelly (Clarkesworld)

“Effigy Nights”, Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld)

“The Urashima Effect”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld)

“The Coin of Heart's Desire”, Yoon Ha Lee (Once Upon a Time, Prime)

“Phosphorus”, Veronica Schanoes (Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, Tor)

“We Without Us Are Shadows”, Catherynne M. Valente

“86, 87, 88, 89”, Genevieve Valentine (Clarkesworld)

“The Best We Can”, Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com)

Best Related Work

Adventures with the Wife in Space, Neil Perryman (Faber and Faber)

Best Graphic Story

The First Law, Joe Abercrombie, Chuck Dixon, and Andie Tong (Blind Ferret Books)

Meathouse Man, George R.R. Martin and Raya Golden (Jet City Comics)

The Skin Trade

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (more than 90 mins)

Frozen (Disney)

Game of Thrones, Season 3 (HBO)

Gravity (Warner Bros.)

The Howard, George, and Gardner Show, (Capclave)

Les Revenants, Season 1 (Haut et Court)

Orphan Black, Season 1 (BBC America)

Pacific Rim (Warner Bros.)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (less than 90 mins)

Defiance, “Everything is Broken” (Syfy)

Dr. Who Automatically Wins due to 50th Anniversary

Game of Thrones, “The Rains of Castamere” (HBO)

Gravity (Warner Bros.)

Orphan Black, “Natural Selection” (BBC America)

Best Editor – Short

George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, Old Mars

George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, Dangerous Women

Neil Clarke, Clarkesworld

Best Editor – Long

Simon Spanton - Gollancz (The Adjacent, The Republic of Thieves)

Best Professional Artist

Benjamin Carre/Bragelonne (Republic of Thieves)

Vincent Chong (The Ape’s Wife)

Julie Dillon (“The Ministry of Changes”)

Daniel Dociu (Abaddon’s Gate)

Ron Guyatt (Trafalgar)

John Harris (The Human Division)

Joey Hi-Fi (The Lowest Heaven)

Alan Lee (The Hobbit)

Todd Lockwood (The Natural History of Dragons)

Stephen Martiniere (The Ace of Skulls)

John Picacio

Larry Rostant (River of Stars)

Stephen Walter (Broken Homes)

Best Semiprozine

Clarkesworld

Subterranean Online

Best Fanzine

A Dribble of Ink

The Book Smugglers

The Speculative Scotsman

Pornokitsch

The Wertzone

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist

Best Fancast

SF Crossing the Gulf, Karen Burnham (SF Signal)

The Writer and the Critic, Kirstyn McDermoot and Ian Mond

The Coode Street Podcast, Gary Wolfe and Jonathon Strahan

Best Fan Writer

Aidan Moher, A Dribble of Ink

Niall Alexander

Jared Shurin

Kameron Hurley, We Have Always Fought

Adam Whitehead, The Wertzone

Best Fan Artist

Campbell Award

partial list on Campbell site (bottom of the page)

Leigh Bardugo

Max Gladstone

Brian McClellan

Sofia Samatar

Helene Wecker

Updated: 1/15/2014.

[Darth Richard]

Most of those are too high quality to be nominated let alone win a Hugo.

[williamjm]

For best novel I'd probably agree with Abaddon's Gate, River of Stars, Ancillary Justice and Ace of Skulls. I might consider adding Daniel Abraham's The Tyrant's Law (although it suffers a bit from being a middle book in a series) or Adrian Tchaikovsky's War Master's Gate.

I'd agree with Gravity and GoT for the long-form dramatic presentation. I don't know how the eligibility is decided for counting an entire TV series, but the first series of Orphan Black would be another possibility.

For short form they might as well give the award to The Day of the Doctor now, Doctor Who tends to dominate the award anyway so the 50th Anniversary episode is probably a guaranteed winner. In another year The Rains of Castamere might have had a chance, but not this year.

Is Anne Leckie eligible for the Campbell Award?

[beniowa]

Most of those are too high quality to be nominated let alone win a Hugo.

True, but part of the fun every year is debating which ones deserve to win and then bitching because they don't get on the ballot leading to a general dissing. Which of course happens all over again next year. :)

I'd agree with Gravity and GoT for the long-form dramatic presentation. I don't know how the eligibility is decided for counting an entire TV series, but the first series of Orphan Black would be another possibility.

I don't remember either to be honest. I need to read the rules again. Something about how enough nominations for a show or episodes and they automatically do it for a whole show? I'll be sure to check it tomorrow.

Is Anne Leckie eligible for the Campbell Award?

I don't believe so as I think she's had several short stories published over the last several years.

[Seli]

I haven't put much thought into it yet. I will have to look more deeply at short stories and novellas, and don't think I've read any novels published this year yet.

For the shorter works I'd definitely take a look at the production by E Lily Yu and Greg Egan this year, Ken Liu as well.

Editors are nominated individually, not for specific works (stupidly enough).

For best fancast I'd really like to see SF Crossing the Gulf and The Writer and the Critic on the ballot.

[David Selig]

Novel:

Six-Gun Snow White (Cat Valente)

Ancilliary Justice

The Adjacent

Cold Steel (Kate Elliott)

Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves was easily the best 2013 novel by an author people think of as a SFF writer, but it isn't really speculative fiction (it's largely about science and its effects but it's set in current day and there's nothing fantastic in the plot or the setting), at least according to most definition, though Fowler won a nebula for a short story some years ago which was even fantastic, so I'll mention it anyway.

Short fiction (I am not sure which one is novella, novellette or a short story, so I'd list all noteworthy ones in one place):

The Best We Can - Carrie Vaughn

We Without Us Were Shadows - Cat Valente

Phosphorus - Veronica Schanoes

86,87,88,89 - Genevieve Valentine

The Sun and I - KJ Parker

[felice]

Novel: Worm. A science fiction / superhero novel published online in serial form, completed last month. Not short, but very very good. The science fiction novel aspect becomes increasingly apparent as the story progresses. I discovered it on the recommendation of the author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

[beniowa]

I don't remember either to be honest. I need to read the rules again. Something about how enough nominations for a show or episodes and they automatically do it for a whole show? I'll be sure to check it tomorrow.

I checked the rules and for the most part, the con committee has discretion on whether to "relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category". Like if there's a flood of nominations for individual episodes. I'm also assuming this is if a show doesn't receive enough nominations in the long form on it's own anyway.

Novel: Worm. A science fiction / superhero novel published online in serial form, completed last month. Not short, but very very good. The science fiction novel aspect becomes increasingly apparent as the story progresses. I discovered it on the recommendation of the author of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

You weren't kidding about the length: "roughly 1,750,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels)."

Even though parts were released earlier than this year, I believe the whole thing should be eligible. Can you verify that they author is John McCrae? I can only find the name in like one place.

[felice]

You weren't kidding about the length: "roughly 1,750,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels)."

It's basically about the same length as what's been published of ASoIaF to date. And I read it last month. Highly unputdownable stuff.

Even though parts were released earlier than this year, I believe the whole thing should be eligible. Can you verify that they author is John McCrae? I can only find the name in like one place.

It's the name on the author's blog, so I have no reason to doubt it.

[ColdDrake]

I didn't see Gravity, what is the science fiction aspect of it? It looked more like a disaster movie set in space

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

At the moment my nominations would be (still due to change, of course):

Novel:

River of Stars - Guy Gavriel Kay

Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie

Neptune's Brood - Charles Stross

Stranger in Olondria - Sofia Samatar

Republic of Thieves - Scott Lynch

Novella:

Iseul's Lexicon - Yoon Ha Lee

The Princess and the Queen - GRRM

Equoid - Charles Stross

Arachne - Nina Allan

Novelette:

The Sun and I - K. J. Parker

The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling - Ted Chiang

The Year of the Rat - Chen Quifan

Illuminated - K. J. Parker

Short story:

Effigy Night - Yoon Ha Lee

The Dragon of Merebarton - K. J. Parker

Soulcatcher - James Patrick Kelly

The Sleeper and the Spindle - Neil Gaiman

The Coin of Heart's Desire - Yoon Ha Lee

Campbell Award:

I am not sure who is eligible, but Sofia Samatar and Max Gladstone probably should be.

I see I have six short fiction nominations for only two authors, but I happen to think they deserve it.

[beniowa]

I didn't see Gravity, what is the science fiction aspect of it? It looked more like a disaster movie set in space

Well, one could make the "it's not science fiction" argument for many past Hugo nominees including Hugo, Up, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man. Indeed, the Hugos allow a pretty broad definition for many of the categories, including movies. And for many people, a movie about living and working in space, disaster movie or not, will seem like science fiction. :)

[Werthead]

Novel

River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay (Roc)

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit)

The Adjacent, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)

On the Steel Breeze, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)

Novella (17,500-40,000 words)

“The Princess and the Queen”, George R.R. Martin (Dangerous Women, Tor)

"Then Will the Great Ocean Wash Deep Above", Ian Sales (independently-published)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (more than 90 mins)

Game of Thrones, Season 3 (HBO)

Orphan Black, Season 1

Les Revenants, Season 1

Pacific Rim (Warner Bros.)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (less than 90 mins)

Game of Thrones, “The Rains of Castamere” (HBO)

Orphan Black, "Natural Selection" (BBC America/SPACE)

Best Editor – Short

George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, Dangerous Women

Best Editor – Long

Simon Spanton - Gollancz (for The Adjacent and The Republic of Thieves)

Best Professional Artist

Benjamin Carre/Bragelonne (Republic of Thieves)

Alan Lee (The Hobbit)

Stephen Martiniere (The Ace of Skulls)

John Picacio

Larry Rostant (River of Stars)

Best Fanzine

A Dribble of Ink

The Book Smugglers

The Speculative Scotsman

Pornokitsch

Best Fan Writer

Aidan Moher

Jared Shurin

Campbell Award

Leigh Bardugo

Max Gladstone

[Maltaran]

Best Fanzine

A Dribble of Ink

The Book Smugglers

The Speculative Scotsman

Pornokitsch

No self-promotion?

[Werthead]

No self-promotion?

For SFF as a whole, I wouldn't have a problem putting myself forward. But for literary leanings, no. I found this year to be pretty meh in terms of books (though there's been a few exceptions) and my coverage of books has been way down compared to TV and computer games as a result.

[ColdDrake]

beniowa,

Fair enough. Disaster movies tend to be rather stressful and exhausting to me, unless they involve Bill Paxton chasing down a tornado in his truck

[beniowa]

I've updated with nomination information released by Loncon. I've also added web links for works that have been published online.

[David Selig]

Nice work, but "My Heart is Either Broken", while a really great story, isn't SFF at all.

The Coode Street Podcast deserves a mention for Best Fancast, they've had a strong year IMO.

[beniowa]

Nice work, but "My Heart is Either Broken", while a really great story, isn't SFF at all.

Good point.

[Isabel]

I would like to add 'The Wheel of Time' for best novel ;)

It's the last time the Wheel of time can be nominated for a Hugo. The wheel of time has been a huge influence in the field and made bigger series possible, so I do think the Wheel of Time and Robert Jordan deserves some recognition.

Besides WOT is my favourite series :)