Hugo Nominations and Awards - Now onto 2021 Nominations

[Calibandar]

There you go.

[HexMachina]

52 minutes ago, Errant Bard said:

She was finalist of Nebula and Hugo for short stories written as Megan Lindholm in 1990. (A Touch of Lavender, and Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man)

Thanks, i had a niggling suspicion a touch of lavender might have been up for something.

My point was more that, disappointing as I personally find it, it’s unsurprising she didn’t get nominated for best series

[Mlle. Zabzie]

I really enjoyed Revenant Gun, and will probs nominate it long list but it is the weakest of the three - agree with that too.

I have downloaded the new Becky Chambers - we shall see.

Am enjoying the new Novik - Spinning Silver.  I really like the way she writes.

Jane Yolen has a collection of short stories coming out in October that I will probably read.

Starless by Carey was fun, but not sure if it is nomination worthy (not particularly groundbreaking).

Would nominate Gnomon by Harkaway if it is eligible.

[Darth Richard II]

Haha The Unholy Consult winning anything makes me chuckle.

[ljkeane]

36 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Starless by Carey was fun, but not sure if it is nomination worthy (not particularly groundbreaking).

I agree with Maia on that one. I thought the first half or so was good and then I don't know if Carey remembered she wanted it to be a standalone book or something but the second half whips through a fairly boring quest story line to get it finished.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

48 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

I agree with Maia on that one. I thought the first half or so was good and then I don't know if Carey remembered she wanted it to be a standalone book or something but the second half whips through a fairly boring quest story line to get it finished.

makes sense.

[Darth Richard II]

Looking back at my reading list I didn't read a lot that was actually  published in 2018 in 2918. (And also omg am I behind).

I will rec Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. Just finished it, think its my favorite of the three so far.

[Lily Valley]

3 hours ago, Maia said:

 

 

 

 

Didn't yet get to the rest, but definitely intend to. However, from where I stand, it is mostly about taste differences - both between me and you and either of us and the Hugo voters. I do think that reaction to the Puppy stuff did have an effect on nominations, as well as British authors' habitual disadvantage, but from the finalists that I have read, none of them are completely unreasonable and they make for an enjoyable reading list, on the whole, which, for me, is the true purpose of the Hugos. I fully expect the things to balance themselves out in the next few years, provided that the quality is there. Heck, if certain  popular authors get over their writing blocks in the same year, it can get very crowded indeed!

I loved "All systems Red" and was rooting for it to win, and I fully agree that "The Stone Sky" was worthy, and I enjoyed it immensely, even though I was rooting for "The Raven Stratagem". In "Related Works", it was the last chance to honor Le Guin, even though I am sad to see my beloved Iain M. Banks - or his biography, in this case, get the shaft yet again. Speaking of the real travesty here, BTW, which is that he never won and was seldom nominated despite being active before all that pesky female domination and was IMHO brilliant  ;). I didn't keep abreast of the shorter works this year, so no opinions there.

 

Just checked this out, so we'll see. I wasn't impressed by her previous work despite the buzz, but here is to hoping...

I thought that this one was markedly weaker than the other 2 and that it didn't provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, but YMMV.

So, um... from things published this year other than the above, I read and loved "Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells, "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi which I liked, but thought to be a little too derivative of "The Last Airbender" animation series, by which it was inspired, "The Girl in the Tower" by Katherine Arden, that I was greatly disappointed in after the excellent first book, "The Hyena and the Hawk" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I think that "The Echoes of the Fall" fantasy trilogy that it is the  conclusion to wholly deserves to be a series Hugo finalist, "Starless" by Jacqueline Carey that starts pretty well and then turns into ye olde fantasy quest cliche... that's probably it so far. I am on the waiting list for Tchaikovsky's "The Expert System's Brother", Robert  Jackson Bennett's "Foundryside", and "The Rogue Protocol" by Martha Wells. 

The Bollander novella is MUCH better than her previous work.  

I totally bounced off the murderbot diaries.  I found murderbot to be a brat.  One of those "not for me" books.  

I did place Bennet's trilogy first on my ballot.  I loved that series and look forward to reading more of his work.

Sorry to hear your reaction to Lee's new book.  It's on my to-read pile along with Arden's new book.  We'll see.

 

[Calibandar]

On 8/28/2018 at 12:40 AM, Darth Richard II said:

 

I will rec Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. Just finished it, think its my favorite of the three so far.

Very hard to see the quality of that series.

I like the premise, and I wish a good writer who writes great characters and dialogue does something with such a premise.

Sadly that is not this series. It feels ever so childish.

[Darth Richard II]

Yeah, I’m sure that’s the reason.

[Darth Richard II]

Wait, premise of the series? Have you actually read any of them?

[LugaJetboyGirl]

I recommend for nomination Adam Whitehead (Werthead) and the Wertzone for Best Fan Writer.

[Calibandar]

The Oracle Year by Charle Soule is a pretty good book. Sort of borders mainstream lit and fantasy.

Certainly the big bookstore had it placed firmly in the SFF section, though I wouldn't have categorized it there myself.

I also noted while browsing there that Rebecca Roanhorse has her first novel out.

[Werthead]

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Winning it two years in a row is pretty much unheard of, in the looooooong history of the Hugo's that only happened with Lois Mc Master Bujold in 91-92.

And Orson Scott Card in 1986 and 1987 (the latter, ironically, possibly as a result of bloc-voting to stop L. Ron Hubbard winning the award).

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But I don't think that was as largely the result of identity voting as what we are seeing now. They did after all publish 80% of the output back in those days.

I'd be interesting in seeing the statistical basis for that. Given that women have both increased their standings in the percentages of SFF published (to 50% or probably more now) and have also published the biggest-selling series in both genres in the past two decades (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight et al, at sales levels that leave even the likes of Rothfuss and Sanderson choking in their dust), it is unsurprising that female representation will have increased dramatically.

The argument that minority representation is winning out over quality is also dubious. If that was the case Saladin Ahmed - the first Muslim I believe to be nominated for Best Novel - should have won over John Scalzi in 2013 (I mean, he or any of the other nominees should have won anywhere, Redshirts was dreadful, but if the Hugos were indeed in full virtue-signalling mode as you suggest, he should have won on that basis and did not do so).

The other argument that is a certain clique-iness to the Hugo Awards and you can predict what authors will end up in the shortlist is a different one, far better supported (Blackout/All Clear, which was terrible, and Redshirts, which was worse, were clear indicators of that, as was Neil Gaiman winning for a very minor children's book because he was a default choice for people who hadn't read all that year's books). Ironically, the Sad Puppies fiasco may have broken that curse as well. We'll see for sure next year, although I do have a terrible feeling that Space Opera will be nominated and may win.

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Jemisin is the 'first African-American woman to be in the running'

I was surprised to see that she was indeed the first African-American woman to be in the running for Best Novel, but of course others have won Hugos before (Nnedi Okorafor recently and Octavia Butler, twice, way back in the day).

 

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I recommend for nomination Adam Whitehead (Werthead) and the Wertzone for Best Fan Writer.

Thanks! I do think it's a forlorn hope though. After the last few years, when I at least made the longlist, not hitting it this year despite 2017 and 2018 being by far the most popular and successful years for the blog  makes me think it's not going to happen.

[Lily Valley]

Nebula Reading List is up and kinda started.  It's still pretty thin,  Click the menu left to look at novels or novellas.

https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/3-novelette/

I opened to the novellette page because I loved Shooting Iron by Cassandra Khaw (Magic Cowgirl story published in F&SF) and The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bollander (Alternate history elephant story)

[Ran]

That 

5 minutes ago, Lily Valley said:

Nebula Reading List is up and kinda started.  It's still pretty thin,  Click the menu left to look at novels or novellas.https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/3-novelette/

The SFWA reading list reminds me that Madeline Miller's Circe is gorgeous and terrific and should definitely be considered for nomination for the Hugos.

Also recently finished Spinning Silver, and I think it holds together better than Uprooted, so presently I'd consider it as a nomination.

 

[LugaJetboyGirl]

On 9/4/2018 at 6:34 AM, Calibandar said:

 

I also noted while browsing there that Rebecca Roanhorse has her first novel out.

Ehn. I thought it was very entertaining but not Hugo worthy. It's a standard urban fantasy (inspired by one particular cultural tradition that has been generally overlooked), and it had some serious plot and characterization problems. It's got a five star average on Amazon which I just really don't think is warranted given its 'first novel' weaknesses. 

[Lily Valley]

7 hours ago, Ran said:

That 

The SFWA reading list reminds me that Madeline Miller's Circe is gorgeous and terrific and should definitely be considered for nomination for the Hugos.

Also recently finished Spinning Silver, and I think it holds together better than Uprooted, so presently I'd consider it as a nomination.

 

I like Uprooted series for a YA. I know it's not eligible for that, exactly.  I liked the Binti series for YA also.   To me it fits that genre.  Given, what "most people think is for teens" and "what I think is for teens" are much different books.  Your Circe book is in my queue!

[David Selig]

One rec from me for each short fiction category:

Short story:

Meat and Salt and Sparks by Rich Larson (Tor.com)

Novelette:

Hard Mary by Sofia Samatar (Lightspeed's September 2018, it's an exclusive paid content, not available on the site)

Novella:

The Persistence of Blood by Juliette Wade (Clarkesworld)

 

 

[Calibandar]

16 hours ago, Lily Valley said:

I like Uprooted series for a YA. I know it's not eligible for that, exactly.  I liked the Binti series for YA also.   To me it fits that genre.  Given, what "most people think is for teens" and "what I think is for teens" are much different books.  Your Circe book is in my queue!

I'd definitely categorize them as YA myself as well. 

Meanwhile, I'll throw in two more possible candidates in the sci-fi field. Relic, by Alan Dean Foster, and Avengers of the Moon by Allen Steele.

The Circe book by Miller is indeed very well written, at least the first few chapters I got around to so far.