Last-Minute Hugo Homework

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by Doctor Science (sorry for stepping on your post, lj, but I wanted to get this up before voting closes.)

Due to an ongoing family medical crisis, I just barely finished voting for the Hugo Awards. I’ve been rushing to finish what reading/viewing I can before the deadline (2am Eastern Sunday morning). Here’s what I’ve decided.

Best Series. You can tell my household includes Typical Hugo Voters, because of the six series nominated we have complete runs of *four*, mostly in hardcover. I had very little reading to do for this category. My ballot, in reverse order:

7. Seanan McGuire, October Daye: I read the first one and it didn’t work for me. Nor do I find it on a level with the other nominees.

6. No Award.

5. Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London. An excellent urban fantasy, but doesn’t quite open up the world for me the way the other nominees do (it’s a tough field!)

4. James S.A. Corey, The Expanse. Another excellent series, only knocked down so low because

3. Naomi Novik, Temeraire is by a friend. Also dragons+Age of Sail, perfect together! I suspect it reads better to me than it might to other people because I know Naomi’s writing well enough to know what she means even when she doesn’t actually say it.

2. Max Gladstone, The Craft Sequence. Not merely an excellent series, it’s actually doing something new: an alternate magical history with capitalist gods. I just wish there was a map!

1. Lois Bujold, Vorkosigan. By far the longest & most varied of the nominees. It’s the one that has been growing with me for decades, parts of which I’ve re-read many times, so it’s hard to separate my love of the series from my life. Just as important for my decision is that it has periods of lightness, humor, and grace: fantasy of manners. Complexity and darkness are all very well, but comedy is REALLY hard. And in these difficult, Interesting Times, it’s more necessary than ever to have something that can give a feeling of light-hearted joy – while reminding us to honor “Persons before principles.”

Cut for length.

Best Novel. I’d already read 4 of them (Typical Hugo Voter!)

7. All the Birds in the Sky. I had tried twice before and couldn’t get into it. I forced myself through the copy in the Hugo Packet, but almost quit 80% of the way through when I had to go scream at the family because the protagonists were being such uncommunicative dumbasses.

6. Death’s End. I couldn’t finish it, I found it both confusing and turgid. On the other hand, it was at least trying to do some things that are big and interesting.

5. No Award

4. A Closed and Common Orbit. I thought this was much better than A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and gave backstory that explains some things that bugged me about the earlier book (snack crumbs in engineering! gah!), but some of the world-building was still almost hilariously shoddy (ecosystems, how do they work?).

3. The Obelisk Gate. Now we’re in the “any of these could win and I’d be happy” zone. I downvoted this one because Vol1 has a Hugo already & Vol3’s probably going to be on next year’s ballot. No need to be greedy.

2. Ninefox Gambit. Downvoted this one because I just read Vol2 and it’s better, so it gets another chance.

1. Too Like the Lightning. Brilliant, complex, and novel, and succeeds at Unreliable Narrator (highest degree of literary difficulty: Palmer succeeds where Nabokov failed, an achievement that should be rewarded). But also, upvoted because I was disappointed with Vol2.

Welp, I have run out of time to explain or discuss my votes. Herewith:

Novella:

1. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe
2. A Taste of Honey
3. The Ballad of Black Tom
4. Penric and the Shaman
5. Every Heart a Doorway
6. No award
7. This Census-Taker

Novelette:

1. “The Tomato Thief”
2. The Jewel and Her Lapidary
3-5: Brain fried, couldn’t decide.

Short Story:

1. “The City Born Great”
2. “Seasons of Glass and Iron”
3. “A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers”
4. “That Game We Played During the War”
5. “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”
6. No award

Related Work:

1. The Geek Feminist Revolution
2. The Women of Harry Potter posts
3. The Princess Diarist
4. Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016
5. The View From the Cheap Seats
6. Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg

Graphic Story:

1. Ms. Marvel, Volume 5: Super Famous
2. Paper Girls, Volume 1

Dramatic Long (already discussed here):

1. Hidden Figures
2. Arrival
3. Rogue One
4. Ghostbusters
5. Stranger Things, Season One
6. Deadpool

Dramatic Short:

1. Splendor & Misery [album]
2. The Expanse: “Leviathan Wakes”
3. Black Mirror: “San Junipero”

Pro Artist:

1. Julie Dillon
2. Sana Takeda
3. John Picacio
4. Victo Ngai
5. Galen Dara
6. Chris McGrath

Fan Writer:

1. Foz Meadows
2. Abigail Nussbaum
3. Chuck Tingle
4. Mike Glyer

Fan Artist:

1. Likhain (M. Sereno)
2. Elizabeth Leggett
3. Ninni Aalto
4. Spring Schoenhuth
5. Steve Stiles
6. Vesa Lehtimäki

36 thoughts on “Last-Minute Hugo Homework”

  1. Bujold’s vorKosigans are truly a delight. And she does a great job of creating well-rounded characters, and not just the leads.

  2. Bujold’s vorKosigans are truly a delight. And she does a great job of creating well-rounded characters, and not just the leads.

  3. Doc, I hope things are going in the right direction for you and yours. Re Naomi Novik, I very much enjoyed the first few Temeraire books, and loved Temeraire’s character: he reminded me a lot of Jack Aubrey in the Patrick O’Brien books (obviously a great influence) – open-hearted, brave and impetuous, if not the most subtle tool in the toolkit. She boxed herself in rather by setting them in such a well-known period of history, so after a while I was glad she was moving on. I thought Uprooted was excellent – I may have been alerted to its existence by you in fact, and if so, thanks. Here’s looking forward to many more of her novels.

  4. Doc, I hope things are going in the right direction for you and yours. Re Naomi Novik, I very much enjoyed the first few Temeraire books, and loved Temeraire’s character: he reminded me a lot of Jack Aubrey in the Patrick O’Brien books (obviously a great influence) – open-hearted, brave and impetuous, if not the most subtle tool in the toolkit. She boxed herself in rather by setting them in such a well-known period of history, so after a while I was glad she was moving on. I thought Uprooted was excellent – I may have been alerted to its existence by you in fact, and if so, thanks. Here’s looking forward to many more of her novels.

  5. Doctor S, forgive me if this is a foolish question, but why isn’t the Liaden Universe on the Best Series list?
    Sure, Vorkosigan is good, the others I haven’t read, but how can it be absent?

  6. Doctor S, forgive me if this is a foolish question, but why isn’t the Liaden Universe on the Best Series list?
    Sure, Vorkosigan is good, the others I haven’t read, but how can it be absent?

  7. ral:
    We don’t know yet how high up it was in the nominations list. We (Worldcon members) nominated in Jan-March. We each got to vote for 5 series. Mine were:
    – Memoirs of Lady Trent; Marie Brennan;
    – The Expanse; James S.A. Corey;
    – Craft Sequence; Max Gladstone;
    – Temeraire; Naomi Novik;
    – Thessaly; Jo Walton;
    So we all had to make choices, and we all see things on the ballot we didn’t choose.

  8. ral:
    We don’t know yet how high up it was in the nominations list. We (Worldcon members) nominated in Jan-March. We each got to vote for 5 series. Mine were:
    – Memoirs of Lady Trent; Marie Brennan;
    – The Expanse; James S.A. Corey;
    – Craft Sequence; Max Gladstone;
    – Temeraire; Naomi Novik;
    – Thessaly; Jo Walton;
    So we all had to make choices, and we all see things on the ballot we didn’t choose.

  9. I don’t read very widely in sf/fantasy anymore, but I have to agree re the Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, that was a terrific story. I was sorry I couldn’t get as into Winter’s Tide by Ruthanna Emrys, given how much I liked Litany of Earth. With Lovecraft Country, it’s amazing how fruitful that demented old dude’s universe turned out to be. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget The Mall of Cthulhu. That was a lot of fun. Not to mention Scream for Jeeves.
    rai, I love the Liaden books but they’re definitely not in a class with Vorkosigan in my opinion. Too many continuity failures and questionable world-building. Just try to figure out how much a cantra is really worth . . . .

  10. I don’t read very widely in sf/fantasy anymore, but I have to agree re the Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, that was a terrific story. I was sorry I couldn’t get as into Winter’s Tide by Ruthanna Emrys, given how much I liked Litany of Earth. With Lovecraft Country, it’s amazing how fruitful that demented old dude’s universe turned out to be. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget The Mall of Cthulhu. That was a lot of fun. Not to mention Scream for Jeeves.
    rai, I love the Liaden books but they’re definitely not in a class with Vorkosigan in my opinion. Too many continuity failures and questionable world-building. Just try to figure out how much a cantra is really worth . . . .

  11. hi doc, quick note, no worries. When I finish all the stuff I’m doing (hopefully August?) I’m looking forward to checking some of this out.

  12. hi doc, quick note, no worries. When I finish all the stuff I’m doing (hopefully August?) I’m looking forward to checking some of this out.

  13. Too Like the Lightning. I really enjoyed this book. I am worried it will turn out as pointless as Leckie’s mess of a trilogy, but so far so good.
    Ada Palmer’s site is worth a read as well. Her series on Machiavelli is a delight.

  14. Too Like the Lightning. I really enjoyed this book. I am worried it will turn out as pointless as Leckie’s mess of a trilogy, but so far so good.
    Ada Palmer’s site is worth a read as well. Her series on Machiavelli is a delight.

  15. Note on my own idiocy regarding Bujold. I recall seeing the many novels stacking up in the racks over the years, and never picked one up.
    I kind of recall thinking Lois Mcmaster Bujold must be the name of a male western writer, and why in hell did they keep showing up in my beloved SF racks.
    Now there are so many I cannot figure out where to start.

  16. Note on my own idiocy regarding Bujold. I recall seeing the many novels stacking up in the racks over the years, and never picked one up.
    I kind of recall thinking Lois Mcmaster Bujold must be the name of a male western writer, and why in hell did they keep showing up in my beloved SF racks.
    Now there are so many I cannot figure out where to start.

  17. Yama–
    Cordelia’s Honor or Falling Free are both fine places to start . . . early in the chronology and relatively early books.
    Whatever you do don’t read the Sharing Knife trilogy, unless you like softcore romance novels. God I hate those books.

  18. Yama–
    Cordelia’s Honor or Falling Free are both fine places to start . . . early in the chronology and relatively early books.
    Whatever you do don’t read the Sharing Knife trilogy, unless you like softcore romance novels. God I hate those books.

  21. Don’t know if Doc is around, but anyone else, I hate to ask this, but what happened with all the Puppy shit? Did they give up?

  22. Don’t know if Doc is around, but anyone else, I hate to ask this, but what happened with all the Puppy shit? Did they give up?

  23. Puppies are done. The factions still strongly dislike each other, but the mischief is pretty much over. The argument, of course, will never end, which seems normal for literary fights.

  24. Puppies are done. The factions still strongly dislike each other, but the mischief is pretty much over. The argument, of course, will never end, which seems normal for literary fights.

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