Collecting Hugo thoughts, part 1.

[theweaselking]

So I need to make my Hugo nominations. I was tagging *most* stuff as I found it, but not all of it, and now I need to filter through it and decide what gets a nom and what doesn't.

Let's start with the easy category, Best Short Story, since I don't read a lot of short stories. The ones I read that I really loved are:

"Cat Pictures, Please" - Naomi Kritzer
"Steve Rogers, PR Disaster" from Rearranging The Alphabet (and I asked the author for permission to nominate it and got it, here)
"Palimpsest" - Frances Rowat
"John Scalzi Is Not A Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular By Theophilus Pratt" - Alexandra Erin - have to check the number of words on this, I might have it in the wrong category.
"Monkey King, Fairie Queen" - Zen Cho

That's less than 5, the first three are truly excellent and the last two decent. I don't really need to filter this category down unless people have a bunch of suggestions I love in the comments.

Novella and Novelette: I seriously don't read a lot of short fiction. The Alexandra Erin from above might actually go in one of these instead.

Novels are a little harder:
Calibre tells me that in 2015 I read these 2015 novels:
Terry and Rhianna Pratchett, "The Shepherd's Crown"
Chuck Wendig, "Star Wars: Aftermath"
Zen Cho, "Sorcerer To The Crown"
Neal Stephenson, "Seveneves"
Jenny Lawson, "Furiously Happy"
Seth Dickinson, "The Traitor Baru Cormorant"
Jim Butcher, "The Aeronaut's Windlass"
Charles Stross, "The Annihilation Score"
Ann Leckie, "Ancillary Mercy"

I also read a crapton of other books that aren't from 2015 and don't count. And, in something I consider HILARIOUS, *the entire Discworld*, all 41 novels, may technically be eligible for Best Novel. This fact, and the arguments it will spawn, warm my cockles greatly, especially because the Discworld oeuvre contains several of the best SFF books ever written.

So, that list is too big, gotta cut it down some.
Ancillary Mercy and The Traitor Baru Cormorant are two of the best books I've read in years, both are definitely going on the list.

The Aeronaut's Windlass was unreadable crap - I bailed on it after several Oh Look At All The Steampunk chapters, so it's definitely off.

I didn't throw Sorcerer To The Crown across the room like I did Strange & Norrell, but it was a very near thing; apparently I have a VERY LOW tolerance for Second Order Idiot Plots based on inbred prats harrumphing about how things just are Not Proper. The fact that it was well-written enough that I finished it doesn't change that I didn't like it, so it's off.

Seveneves was an entertaining, breezy read, as long as you don't mind that all the non-physics science wasn't just wrong it was actively stupid, few of the characters act remotely like humans, the author has no idea how long a "year" is, and neither Kerbal Space Program The Novel nor the attached novella have an ending. Still, despite that, I found myself liking it and would probably consider it better than No Award. I don't think I'll nominate it, though.

Star Wars: Aftermath: Uh, yeah, no, sorry. While it was certainly the best movie-tie-in I've read in decades, it still wasn't great on a scale of my first two picks.

If Terry Pratchett wasn't dead and The Shepherd's Crown wasn't his last book I'd never nominate it. It felt flat, and not up to the standard of the really good novels. But it *is* his last book, and that gives it sentimental weight. Still, I think I'm going to stick "all 41 Discworld Novels" on my nomination because really, Pratchett doesn't need my single vote and getting The Discworld on as a whole on would make me laugh for days.

Furiously Happy is allegedly nonfiction. If you've read it, you'll see why I use "allegedly". It's frankly awesome but I'm not sure it really counts as a "SFF novel" or even a "novel". Still, just being nonfiction doesn't prevent Hugo awards from being given out - Apollo 11 won Best Dramatic Presentation, after all - but not being SFF-appropriate does. (I might keep this one. Probably not.)

That leaves The Annihilation Score. Which I really liked, but is book 6 of an ongoing series and isn't the best of them.

So I'm looking at
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Ancillary Mercy
The Entire Damn Discworld, Yes All 41 Novels
Furiously Happy (probably not)

which leaves me with one or two spots, and waffling about including The Annihilation Score. Which is a pretty nice place to be and leaves room for ones I've missed.

Audience Participation: What 2015 fiction works have I missed, that I *should* read and maybe include?

Next time: Dramatic Presentations, I think.

Comments

[jayblanc.livejournal.com]

"John Scalzi Is Not A Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular By Theophilus Pratt" goes into "Best Related Work"

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

That also seems like a fair category for it since it's metacommentary, but I figured the fact that it's fiction-with-a-narrative might put it in "Story".

What happens to things nominated in the wrong category? Are they not counted, or are the votes "moved" to the right category? (And what if the target category is full?)

[jayblanc.livejournal.com]

It's related work, because it's *about* science fiction, not science fiction it's self.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Sure, but then we get back to Apollo 11 winning Best Dramatic Presentation, when it was neither science fiction nor about science fiction.

(And I'm not saying "One small step for a man" SHOULDN'T have won a Hugo, just that it wasn't really SFF)

[kaph.livejournal.com]

I loved Naomi Novik's "Uprooted," and my spouse is currently reading "The Fifth Season," by N. K. Jemisin, and raving about it.

Thanks for your insights. I struggle with things to nominate in the short story category, so I appreciate your suggestions, and that you linked to the actual stories.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I do *not* read much short fiction. torrain will likely be doing this same kind of thing soon and she reads more short fiction than anyone else I know, so I'm expecting to run through a bunch of her recommendations myself.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Here's one:

Things You Can Buy for a Penny by Will Kaufman. (And I'm very glad that Lightspeed has put up a tag for its 2015 original fiction. ETA: Because I can skim through the titles and remember things, like that story and the zippy little cyberpunk stab that is And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead by Brooke Bolander.)

I am also deeply in love with the language in Hadley Full of Hate which it took me way too long to realize was functionally an Old English poem. Read it aloud and you'll see.

[kaph.livejournal.com]

Thanks for those!

[thornae.livejournal.com]

Have you read Emily Devenport's Postcards from Monster Island (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/devenport_04_15/)?

I admit I haven't read a great deal of short fiction this year, but of that which I have, that one seems to have stayed with me the most clearly.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I have now! Thank you, that was kind of lovely. :)

It reminded me of "Cat Pictures Please" which theweaselking linked above, so I figured this was a good time to mention her short story "So Much Cooking", which is also eligible. A little darker than either "Postards" or "Cat Pictures", but has a gorgeously approachable voice.

[zxhrue.livejournal.com]

ooh, thank you for the point to 'hadley full of hate', that is marvelous, and indeed would make for a _great_ bedtime read aloud.

[skington.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the latest ones, but the first of Max Gladstone's corporate lawyers and Gods novels were good. Looks like Last First Snow is the one that's eligible for the Hugo.

[bentgaidin.livejournal.com]

'Last First Snow' was really good, but I haven't reread it yet, and I kind of feel like it's not as strong as some of the others because it's a prequel, and gets some of the punch from knowing coming in that the book is a tragedy. I'd want to reread it to see how it stands on its own...

I would definitely second the recommendation for 'The Fifth Season' though.
**Edited to add 'The Builders' by Daniel Polansky for short fiction. Talking animals in a Western revenge flick; very evocative and cinematic.

[awesomelies.livejournal.com]

Don’t know if it’s to your tastes but Dave Hutchinson’s Europe at Midnight is a cracking book – a sort of grubby near-future John Le Carre-does-science-fiction thriller. It’s kinda-sorta a sequel to Europe in Autumn, which is also ace, though I you need to read Autumn for Midnight to make sense.

(Disclaimer: Dave’s a friend. But Proper Serious SF Critics like Paul Kincaid and Adam Roberts have also been lavish in praising the books, so it’s not just me…)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

You've dropped a word or two in there.

though I you need to read Autumn for Midnight to make sense.

Would that be "I think you need to" or "I don't think you need to"?

(I'll take a look!)

[awesomelies.livejournal.com]

Bugger, sorry. “DON’T think you need to”.

[alchemist.livejournal.com]

Don't forget about Pocosin (http://www.apex-magazine.com/pocosin/) and Wooden Feathers (http://uncannymagazine.com/article/wooden-feathers/) both by @ursulav in the short stories.

Full disclosure : I'm biased as hell, but still, they ARE damn fine shorts.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Wooden Feathers is excellent. I haven't read the other one yet. And nothing wrong with being biased as hell as long as the work holds up. :)