Hugo Nominations & Awards: 2021 and Onward

[felice]

57 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

I voted in the dramas categories.

What did you think of the For All Mankind episode? I've only seen the first five episodes of season one so far. I've watched all the other Drama nominees.

57 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

For the novellas, I was largely unimpressed

See if you can read The Past is Red in the next couple of days?

In novelette, Valente gets bonus points for Sisyphus wearing a Rock 'n' Roll Forever t-shirt, but Bots of the Lost Ark is the most fun to read.

Oaken Hearts is the standout in short story. Best read at Uncanny rather than from the packet.

[Corvinus85]

29 minutes ago, felice said:

What did you think of the For All Mankind episode? I've only seen the first five episodes of season one so far. I've watched all the other Drama nominees.

See if you can read The Past is Red in the next couple of days?

Oh, I don't watch For All Mankind. Or Lower Decks. But I watched the rest.

I attempted to read The Past is Red but it didn't grab me and found my mood slipping. So I pushed to finish A Master of Djinn instead. I'm a slow reader.  

[williamjm]

I've filled out the voting form now.

I went for:

Novel : The Galaxy and the Ground Within, A Desolation Called Peace, A Master of Djinn, Light from Uncommon Stars, She Who Became the Sun.

The formatting in the voters packet for Project Hail Mary with the huge watermark was annoying so I didn't read it, although I'll probably get round to it in physical form at some point.

Overall probably not the strongest year for the novel category, none of them are bad but they often had some significant weaknesses.

Novella: Elder Race, A Psalm for the Well-Built, A Spindle Shattered, The Past is Red, Across the Green Grass Fields, Fireheart Tiger.

I thought this was perhaps the strongest of the fiction categories.

Novelette: Bots of the Lost Arc, Unseelie Brothers Ltd., That Story Isn't The Story, L'Esprit de L'Escalier, Colors of the Immortal Palette, O2 Arena

Short Story: Mr. Death, Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather, Unknown Number, The Sin of America, Tangles, Proof by Induction.

[Werthead]

Uganda has made a bid for the 2028 WorldCon to be held in Kampala.

Interesting to see how the discourse about that one unfolds.

[Derfel Cadarn]

8 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Uganda has made a bid for the 2028 WorldCon to be held in Kampala.

Interesting to see how the discourse about that one unfolds.

Homosexuality is still illegal there, so I suspect that will go against it

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Homosexuality is still illegal there, so I suspect that will go against it

Yup, it is illegal and the country tried to pass a law in 2014 making it punishable with the death sentence, although the country's supreme court did throw that out and the president subsequently agreed not to reintroduce it. They did pass laws further criminalising it last year though, and they have a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage. They have made some progress with trans rights recently, but it's very slow going. Uganda continues to rank near the bottom, if not at the bottom, of indexes for LGBTQ+ rights. Many traditional attendees of WorldCon would not feel safe attending a WorldCon in Uganda, unless there has been a major shift in policy by 2028. That's not impossible - there's been a big shift in public opinion in favour of gay rights in Uganda if you believe the polls - but has not been reflected in government policy so far.

[Teng Ai Hui]

On 8/12/2022 at 5:42 AM, williamjm said:

Novelette: Bots of the Lost Arc, Unseelie Brothers Ltd., That Story Isn't The Story, L'Esprit de L'Escalier, Colors of the Immortal Palette, O2 Arena

My first thought was: I've got to read that one based on the title alone.

I was excited to learn that it's written by my favorite "unknown" author, Suzanne Palmer.

I'm planning to read Bots of the Lost Arc sometime this weekend.  But, since its a sequel, I probably need to reread The Secret Life of Bots first.

[williamjm]

4 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

My first thought was: I've got to read that one based on the title alone.

I was excited to learn that it's written by my favorite "unknown" author, Suzanne Palmer.

I'm planning to read Bots of the Lost Arc sometime this weekend.  But, since its a sequel, I probably need to reread The Secret Life of Bots first.

I had not known it was a sequel, but now that you've said it, it does make sense since our protagonist bot does make some references back to previous events.

[David Selig]

I've read most short fiction nominees and my main takeaway is - what the hell were the voters smoking when they nominated O2 Arena? it's without any exaggeration one of the worst stories I've ever read. The plot would be a perfect fit in a straight to video action movie from the 80s, the characters couldn't be any more flat, the clumsy message of the story is hammered home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the worldbuilding is completely ludicrous. I hope it finishes below No Award.

Elder Race is easily the best nominated novella and Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather easily the best short story, so chances are the Hugo voters will pick some schmaltzy Hugo bait instead for a winner (like Mr. Death or the Becky Chambers novella).

[Corvinus85]

Drama wins: Nemesis Games and Dune. Extremely happy for these.

[David Selig]

I am quite annoyed that the utterly mediocre A Psalm for the Wild-Built beat Elder Race. At least 02 Arena finished last, though it should have been below No Award. The Nebula voters must have smoked some pretty strong stuff when they gave it the award.

A Desolation Called Peace is a solid novel, though I prefer A Memory Called Empire, but I don't see it as one of the better Best Hugo winners historically. Still, I enjoyed it more than Project Hail Mary and She Who Became the Sun, so I am fine with it winning.

Good to see Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather get a well deserved win

The pure and total coincidence of the fiction categories being completely dominated by women since Puppygate continues for another year. Who could have guessed it?

[williamjm]

I think in the various fiction categories the winner was either what I had put first or (in most cases) second. Out of the things I've read/seen the results all seem reasonable to me.

The full details are here:

https://chicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022-Hugo-Award-Details-Final.pdf

I see that Martha Wells who had the most nominations for the latest Murderbot story declined the best novella nomination. Elder Race was the replacement on the ballot and ended up finishing second.

[dog-days]

I'm sorry that Elder Race didn't win Best Novella. I didn't read the other contenders in the category and so didn't vote, but I enjoyed its particular combination of science fiction and fantasy a lot. 

[Corvinus85]

FYI, the Chengdu nominations have been open since March 1 and will close April 30. https://www.thehugoawards.org/

Since I went to Chicago last year I'm eligible to make nominations, but I've not read anything new so I've submitted nominations just for the drama short form and long form categories.

[williamjm]

The 2023 Finalists have been announced (after a false start where someone posted a provisional list a few days ago then withdrew it):

https://file770.com/2023-hugo-finalists-2/

I've only read Nona the Ninth out of the best novel finalists.

[Caligula_K3]

It's very hard to care about the Hugos when novels like Legends & Lattes, Nettle and Bones, and The Kaizu Preservation Society are nominated. I'm not saying any of these books are bad... But best of the year? Really?

[Ran]

The Scalzi novel won the Locus Award, and Legends and Lattes and Nettle and Bones were also Nebula nominees. Scalzi and Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher are now perennially ensconced as  beloved of the typical con voting fandom, so the bar for them to get a work in his lower than it might be for someone else. At the same time, I'm getting these sense that there's a certain post-Covid "no more grimdark" thing going on, so lighter fare may be advantaged for now.

It's an interesting Hugo year because of the Chinese element. As I understand it, a well-organized Chinese slate has managed to get 1 or 2 of its recommendations onto most categories (fortunately, the EPH algorithm prevented them from getting more than that), and I fully suspect that for the most part the Hugos this year will mostly go to the Chinese nominees (which is fair enough, after decades of Anglo-American dominance). 

The Cyberpunk 2077 graphic novel happens to have been on the Chinese slate. It's a very European-feeling comic compared to some of the other CP2077 tie-in comics, no doubt due to its artists. 

"One Way Out" is absolutely my hope for best dramatic presentation, short. Everything Everywhere All at Once feels like a shoe-in for long form presentation.

 

[Teng Ai Hui]

On 8/13/2022 at 8:10 PM, williamjm said:

I had not known it was a sequel, but now that you've said it, it does make sense since our protagonist bot does make some references back to previous events.

If anyone is interested in the Bot 9 series by Suzanne Palmer, she recently published novelette #3 called To Sail Beyond the Botnet, published in Clarkesworld (May 2023, issue #200).

[Lily Valley]

On 7/10/2023 at 2:29 PM, Caligula_K3 said:

It's very hard to care about the Hugos when novels like Legends & Lattes, Nettle and Bones, and The Kaizu Preservation Society are nominated. I'm not saying any of these books are bad... But best of the year? Really?

Nona was absolutely the best and will get my vote for best series and best novel.  It's new, it's fresh, it's funny and it expects you to be smart and keep up.  Loved it.  Loved it LOVED IT.

[Kalbear]

I really hope One Way Out wins as well. That was a superb piece of drama that weirdly happens in Star Wars.