297 replies to this topic

[JetboyGirl]

Some of us were talking this past weekend about the Hugos and how when it comes time to nominate we have no idea what to do because we've totally forgotten everything that happened in the previous year.  Additionally, the idea of pretending that we are even remotely qualified to vote can be a bit disquieting.

We decided that in order to increase our own involvement in the Hugo process it would be good to have a thread where people can post cool shit they find throughout the year. This way we'll have a nice reminder of all the stuff we liked. Plus, everyone who is intimidated by the Hugos can take a look at what other people found interesting. Those who find the award itself to be past its prime can aid us young ignoramouses in keeping the Hugos hip and lively. It wouldn't hurt if all you bloggers posted your Top Ten lists in here, too.

So, feel free to post about things you think were awesome this year. Maybe when its nomination time - and I know this is stretching credulity - people can actually figure out which category your suggestion even fits into.

Cool shit that I think should be considered for the Hugos, as of this second, because I said so:

• A Dance with Dragons (duh)
  
• Doorways (GRRM comic)
  
• Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot/Rivers of London
  
• Jesse Bullington, The Enterprise of Death
  
• John Picacio, the awesome artist of the ASOIAF calendar for 2012
  
• 'The Wertzone', for best fan writing [img]http://asoiaf.wester.../smile.gif[/img]

Add things as you think of them!

EDIT:
Here are the things that have been nominated in this thread so far. I will periodically update it as we get closer to the nomination deadline. For convenience sake I also included the recommendations made by GRRM on his blog. If there are mistakes or I forgot something, send me a PM.

Nominations are due on Sunday, March 11, 2012, 23:59, Pacific Daylight Time.

Best Novel
George RR Martin, Dance with Dragons.
Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes
China Mieville, Embassytown
Ernst Cline, Ready Player One
Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
R. Scott Bakker, The White-Luck Warrior
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
James S. Cory, Leviathan Wakes
Daniel Abraham, The Dragon's Path
Ben Aaronovitch's Midnight Riot/Rivers of London
Jesse Bullington, The Enterprise of Death
Paedar O’ Guilin, Deserter
Kameron Hurley, God's War
Genevieve Valentin, Mechanique
David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt, Heaven’s Shadow
Lev Grossman, The Magician King
Stephen King, 11/22/63
The Clockwork Rocket, Greg Egan
Among Others, Jo Walton

Best Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words)
K.J. Parker's, “A small price to pay for birdsong”
Paolo Bacigalupi's “The Alchemist”
"Lord John and the Plague of Zombies," by Diana Gabaldon (Down these strange streets)
"The Adakian Eagle," by Bradley Denton (Down these strange streets)
Cherie Priest, “The rat race” (Fort Freak)
"The Alchemist," Paolo Bacigalupi
"The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary," Ken Liu
"Blue and Gold," K. J. Parker
"The Ants of Flanders," Robert Reed
"Silently and Very Fast," Catherynne M. Valente

Best Novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words)
Stephen Leigh, "Hope We Die Before We Get Old" (Fort Freak)
"A Long Way Home," Jay Lake
"Ghostweight," Yoon Ha Lee
"Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer," Ken Liu
"A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong," K. J. Parker
"A Response from EST17," Tom Purdom

Best Short Story (up to 7,500 words)
Paedar O’ Guilin, "The Drowner."
Paedar O’ Guilin, "Heartless"
"Story Kit" by Kij Johnson in Eclipse 4
"The Architect of Heaven" by Jason K. Chapman in Clarkesworld
“Tying Knots" by Ken Liu in Clarkesworld
“Her Husband's Hands” by Adam-Troy Castro (in Lightspeed)
Yoon Ha Lee, "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel"
Paul Cornell, “More!” (Fort Freak)
Molly Tanzer, “The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins” (The Book of Cthulhu)
Augusto Monterroso's "Mister Taylor" (Trans. Larry)
Leopoldo Lugones' "The Bloat Toad" (Trans. Larry)
Jesse Bullington, "The Saga of Hilde Ansgardottir" (Historical Lovecraft)
"Shipbirth," Aliette de Bodard
"Conservation of Shadows," Yoon Ha Lee
"The Server and the Dragon," Hannu Rajaniemi
"The Bread We Eat in Dreams," Catherynne M. Valente
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees," E. Lily Yu

Best Related Work
Jessica Langer, Science Fiction and Postcolonialism

Best Graphic Story
George R.R. Martin, Doorways
George R.R. Martin, Fevre Dream

Best Professional Artist
Julien Alday (Never knew another)
Michael Kormack (Fort Freak, Aces High)
John Picacio (ASOIAF calendar)
Cliff Nielson (NK Jemisin books)
Raymand Swanland (Glen Cook reprints, Blackdog)
Jason Chan (Prince of thorns)
Vincent Chong (Subpress Embassytown)
Daniel Dociu (Leviathan Wakes)
Kekai Kotaki (The Quantum Thief)
Chris McGrath (Ghost Story)
Ted Nasmith
Jon Foster (Shipbreaker, Subterranean; Clementine, Ganymede)
Julie Dillon
Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Terese Nielsen

Best Dramatic Presentation - Long form (more than 90 minutes)
Attack the Block
Game of Thrones
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Adjustment Bureau
Source Code
Super 8
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Rango
Hugo

Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form (less than 90 minutes)
Game of Thrones: “The Pointy End”
Game of Thrones: “Baelor”
Game of Thrones, “Fire and blood”
*** NB. In order to improve the chances that Game of Thrones getting nominated, it has been suggested that we concentrate our forces on one or two specific episodes. From what I have gathered, 'Baelor' seems to be the most commonly chosen episode that people intend to nominate.***)

Eureka, “Do you hear what I hear?”
Supernatural, “The French mistake”
Supernatural, “The Mentalist”
My Little Pony, “The best night ever”
Dr. Who, “The Doctor’s Wife”
Fringe, "The Firefly", Season 3, Episode 10
Fringe, "6B", Season 3, Episode 14
Fringe, "The Day We Died", Season 3, Episode 22
Being Human (US), 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Me Killing You' (season 1 finale)

Best Editor - Short Form
Gardner Dozois and George Martin, Down these strange streets
George Martin, Fort Freak

Best Editor - Long Form
Anne Groell, A Dance with Dragons

Best Semiprozine
Salon Futura
Strange Horizons
Lightspeed

Best Fanzine
The Wertzone
Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
A Dribble of Ink
Making Light
The Blog of the Fallen
Stomping on Yeti
Cheese Magnets
Hathor Legacy
Punkadiddle

Best Fan Writer
Adam Whitehead
Ran (Elio Miguel Garcia)
Mark Oshiro
Patrick St. Denis
Adam Roberts
John J. Miller
Larry
Aidan

Best Fancast

The Campbell Award*
Ben Aaronovitch Not eligible because of several Dr. Who novelisations in the 90s
Hannu Rajaniemi Not eligible b/c of previous stories
Ty Frank (James S.A. Corey)
Kameron Hurley
Mark Lawrence
Dexter Palmer
Mazarkis Williams
E. Lily Yu


* "The John W. Campbell Award is given to the best new science fiction or fantasy writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy was published in a professional publication in the previous two years."

Edited by JetboyGirl, 02 March 2012 - 05:47 PM.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

White Luck Warrior - R. Scott Bakker
Wise Man's Fear - Pat Rothfuss
The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie

I am not too familiar with the specifics of the Hugos, but those books were all excellent.

[Grack21]

WrathOfCyvasse, on 24 August 2011 - 09:33 PM, said:

White Luck Warrior - R. Scott Bakker
Wise Man's Fear - Pat Rothfuss
The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie

I am not too familiar with the specifics of the Hugos, but those books were all excellent.

Where those all 2011? I thought The Heroes came out in very late 2010 in the UK. I agree with the last two though, and I only can't comment on WLW cause I haven't gotten to it yet.

I doubt any of those will make the list though. My faith in the sci/fantasy awards is pretty weak.

Was The Quantum Thief 2011? I LOVE that book.

[JetboyGirl]

Grack21, on 24 August 2011 - 11:17 PM, said:

Was The Quantum Thief 2011? I LOVE that book.

It was a 2010 release in Britain, but since it is being released in the US in 2011 by Tor, apparently it will qualify for the Hugos again. It has gotten great reviews.

So yes, for your consideration....

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

[Stego]

So far for me:

Novel:
A Dance With Dragons
Wise Man's Fear
The Quantum Thief



Dramatic Presentation, short form:
A Game of Thrones: The Pointy End
A Game of Thrones: Baelor
Anything but that shit awful show, Dr. Who.

Artist:
John Picacio

[Grack21]

Stego, on 25 August 2011 - 02:08 AM, said:

So far for me:

Novel:
A Dance With Dragons
Wise Man's Fear
The Quantum Thief



Dramatic Presentation, short form:
A Game of Thrones: The Pointy End
A Game of Thrones: Baelor
Anything but that shit awful show, Dr. Who.

Artist:
John Picacio

Oh thank you lord, I HATE Dr. Who. All my friends love it and it baffles me.
has Raymand Swanland(I hope I spelled that right, its late) won any awards? HIs art for all the Glen Cook reprints is amazing.

[Maltaran]

Dance with Dragons for Best Novel, certainly.

BDP short form, probably Baelor (although I might also nominate The Doctor's Wife, aka the Neil Gaiman episode of Doctor Who).

I'm not sure about long form - Captain America was enjoyable, but not really good. Maybe Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides? This struggle to come up with names is more an indication of how few films I've watched this year, rather than any kind of comment on the state of genre cinema.

[kalbear]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes would work as a good long form. It's a surprisingly good flick.

I'd also vote for Embassytown, but I know that I'm in the minority on that one.

[JetboyGirl]

Movies: 'The Adjustment Bureau'; 'Source Code'

Michael Kormack for the cover art of Fort Freak

Anne Groell, editor of A Dance with Dragons

George Martin, editor of Fort Freak

Edited by JetboyGirl, 25 August 2011 - 01:13 PM.

[jdiddyesquire]

Grack21, on 25 August 2011 - 02:23 AM, said:

Oh thank you lord, I HATE Dr. Who. All my friends love it and it baffles me.
has Raymand Swanland(I hope I spelled that right, its late) won any awards? HIs art for all the Glen Cook reprints is amazing.

He also did Blackdog, which is pretty sweet.

[kalbear]

Quote

Anne Groell, editor of A Dance with Dragons

Of the things Dance did well, editing was not one of them.

[Contrarius]

Ooo, is there a cover art category? If so, I'd nominate whomever did the cover for Prince of Thorns. I do admire that cover.

http://www.princeofthorns.com/

[Stego]

That's a very nice cover. Find the artists name and post it, mate!


Also, the artist who does Norah Jemisin's covers should be nominated.

Edited by Stego, 25 August 2011 - 02:42 PM.

[ambyr]

For (if I've counted length right) novelette: K.J. Parker's "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong".

For short story: Yoon Ha Lee's "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel"

Fanwriter: Mark Oshiro, of markwatches/markreads. For those unfamiliar, Mark's gimmick is that he reads and watches things completely unspoiled and posts his reactions and wildly inaccurate predictions (example for A Clash of Kings) one chapter/episode per day, while those more familiar with the source laugh a lot in the comments and make heavy use of rot-13 to hide their responses from him. It's a lot of fun. Genre material covered thus far in 2011 has been the His Dark Materials trilogy, the Hunger Games trilogy, Dr. Who, Fringe, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Battlestar Galactica. And A Storm of Swords is apparently up next on the read side of things.

Edited by ambyr, 31 August 2011 - 07:35 AM.

[Mark Lawrence]

Contrarius, on 25 August 2011 - 02:04 PM, said:

Ooo, is there a cover art category? If so, I'd nominate whomever did the cover for Prince of Thorns. I do admire that cover.

http://www.princeofthorns.com/

Jason Chan. If he hasn't got awards yet I'm sure there are some around the corner.

[williamjm]

Grack21, on 24 August 2011 - 11:17 PM, said:

Where those all 2011? I thought The Heroes came out in very late 2010 in the UK. I agree with the last two though, and I only can't comment on WLW cause I haven't gotten to it yet.

The Heroes was the end of January 2011, although I think it's primarily US publication data that determines eligibility anyway.

Books from 2011 so far that I'd suggest would be The Heroes, A Dance With Dragons, Leviathan Wakes and Rivers of London.

For films, I would suggest Super 8 and Source Code.

[JetboyGirl]

And how could we forget Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

[beniowa]

Most of my favorite books have been mentioned already.  I'd like to nominate Paolo Bacigalupi's The Alchemist for novella, but I'm not sure if it'll eligible or not.  The print edition is from this year, but it was first released as an audiobook last year.  

Some more art:
Vincent Chong,(Subpress Embassytown)
Daniel Dociu, (Leviathan Wakes)
Kekai Kotaki, (The Quantum Thief)
Chris McGrath, (Ghost Story)

[Werthead]

Quote

  The Heroes was the end of January 2011, although I think it's primarily US publication data that determines eligibility anyway.  

In theory, no. If a book comes out in the UK in the eligibility period but not the US, it's still eligible. However, given the overwhelming majority of the voter base is in the USA, it's almost impossible for the UK book to get any attention (Charles Stross did some pushing on The Quantum Thief this year, I believe, but even this wasn't enough to do much for it). So the US publication date is de facto the more important one. That will only be different for UK releases in 2013, since (presumably) many more Brits will vote for the 2014 awards (to be held in the UK).

[Datepalm]

Hm. I need to read more short stuff and watch more tv.

For novel, i'd add Kameron Hurleys God's War, (I guess she might be elegible for the Campbell? I might be mollified by that if theres no Hugo nod) which - like the Quantum Thief - isn't completely perfect but is original and ambitious in a particularly sfnal way. I wouldn't mind seeing Genevieve Valentin's Mechanique nominated either.

So atm those two plus The Heroes, the Quantum Thief and ADWD.

(I like Bullinton's Enterprise of Death a lot as well, but it falls a bit short for me, and while I adore Rivers of London, I don't think i'd give it a hugo. (Should get a Gemmel though. Ditto with Shadows of the Apt, though thats been picking up a degree of thematic complexity as it goes on that might knock it over into Hugo material in my personal system of award classifications (Hm. Nebulas. What do those do?) by the end of the series.)