Hugo Awards 2025

I remembered to become a member this year in order to vote, huzzah! Which means I had access to the voting packet (AKA the giant packet of PDF books), which meant I was able to review many more things than I can on my own (given affordability and library waiting times).

Also, ALSO, WorldCon is in Seattle this summer, so I'll theoretically get to be there in person when they announce the winners!

Could You Repeat That? CCVI

I did not travel as I'd intended this summer, nor did I do anything that would merit great acclaim. What did I do, instead? I read, friends. I read so many books.


Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky
It is the right and proper way of intelligence to be blown on the winds of subconscious whimsy. He does not need to know the deeper workings of his own mind, indeed he cannot, any more than he can know the precise positioning of his arms: the data is simply too complex to be consciously grasped.

The Ninth Metal, Benjamin Percy
"A steak knife magically flew across the street and into his parked SUV and hit him right in the heart. Weirdest thing, right?"

Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me, Aisha Harris
This moment gave me the kind of publicity many people dream of and spend an inordinate amount of time and effort attempting to manufacture; meanwhile, I just stumbled into this attention merely because I said I wanted Santa Claus to be a penguin.

Teach Me, Olivia Dade
Annette patted his hand, then removed hers. "Cause her pain, and we'll make quite certain you regret it."
"So much regret." Alfred offered him a genial smile. "The sort of regret that would cause a man to rethink all his critical life choices to that point."

Count Your Lucky Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur
"Livvy, relax. The doctor says I'm healthy as a horse."
She pursed her lips." Are we talking Seabiscuit, or the Red Pony?"

The Red Scholar's Wake, Aliette de Bodard
It was one thing to make the best of a bad situation--to be civil with pirates and try to build relationships even though all she could see, most days, was Ngà's pale face; it was quite another to boldly go kissing the leader of a pirate banner.

Shattered, Kevin Hearne
There is no way to perform Druidry without knowing how first. To even attempt it would be dangerous. I am beginning to think that much of what these people are doing in the name of convenience might be dangerous also. Magic does not happen free of cost.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, KJ Charles
"Joss, he's a baronet. You can't tup a baronet."
"Someone's got to."

Hook, Line, and Sinker, Tessa Bailey
She pressed her lips into a line.
Fox narrowed his eyes at her. "Are you doing that thing with your mouth because you're trying to trap all the psychological terms you want to throw at me?"
Her expression turned miserable. "Yes."

Hugo Awards 2024

Hey-o, the Hugo Awards nominations came out on March 29, 2024. Which was earlier than I expected, but given the scandal of last year's awards, I imagine the procedures for this year's are SPOTLESS.

I totally forgot to become a member for this year's voting, which I only realized three days before ballots were due, so. I did not vote this year, and also did not get the handy voters' packet--which means I didn't get to read some stuff, alas!

In any case, as per usual, media I consumed before the nominations came out on March 29, 2024, are highlighted in blue and stuff I read afterwards is in green. (Purple are those I had already obtained but hadn't read yet.) I've ranked the media in the order I would have voted for them. I did not rank media I didn't consume, and I've included handy snippets from the stuff I did consume.

Since I'm posting this after the winners have been announced, I've opted to bold and underline the actual winners, while preserving how I chose to rank them.

Could You Repeat That? CCIII

So it turns out I haven't posted one of these since September. Whoops? This includes most of my Hugos reading, in fact, plus a bunch for the Tournament of Books.

Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman
Tess clasped a hand to her heart (she felt it beating even through Florian's jacket) and wished with all her might. Not for the classical piratical standbys--vengeance, fame, or fortune--but that she might shed the past like a skin and walk on with nothing, empty and new.

Snacking Cakes, Yossy Arefi
Okay, okay, raisin haters--you win.

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, Charlie Jane Anders
Rachel never told Yiwei she loves him before. Maybe she should have picked a more romantic setting, like a moonlit beach, instead of a mutilation cave.

Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor
"Seeing is not the same as caring," the magician replied. "You're American; you should understand that more than anyone."

Saga, Volume One, Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, x2

Hugos 2023 Voting!

It's Hugos time again! I became a Hugos voter a few years ago after the whole mess before they adjusted the nomination and voting process. It's actually super-easy to become a voting member--if you pay for your annual membership (it's been about $50-60), you get a packet of most of the books and stories that have been nominated (not all of them--providing copies for voters is not required of the nominees; publishers just happen to be quite generous most of the time). And then you get to vote!

There's also the associated possibility of actually, like ATTENDING Worldcon, but that's an additional cost I haven't taken on as yet. (But if they have it in Seattle in the near future, as some have suggested....)

As the host of Worldcon this year is in China--Chengdu, specifically--there have been some interesting hurdles that I won't really grumble about. It's worth noting, however, that because of the location, there was a slightly different body of voters/nominators than before. (Worldcon, in my recollection, has most often been hosted in English-dominant locations.) Which is neato, in that there are many more folks of Chinese nationality (not just descent, mind you--in recent years, the diversity of nominees has been markedly increasing) nominated. Between that AND a short window for nominees to provide materials (I think a couple of the zine/podcast nominees specifically noted in their packets they only had eleven days), that also meant not everyone was able to get their materials translated in time.

Or: There were several nominees who were only able to share their materials in Chinese and not any translations in English. (And, to be fair, vice versa: Several of the nominees who shared things in English only added apology notes.) Some nominees could only share part of their materials in both languages; some folks who shared translations confessed they had to rely on AI/machine-translation in order to get it done before their deadline. In those cases, you could almost feel the absence of nuance. (In the case of one short story, that's almost the point--in the Astounding category, Maijia Lu's story "Left" is specifically about how the pictographic basis of Chinese language means some elements of physics can be expressed more wholly than in phonetic-based scripts like English.)

I find this interesting and not irritating, though YE GODS, can you imagine how I feel, having multiple stories and books in my possession that I cannot read? My heart, she is breaking. But also, this is a cool problem to have, no? From my perspective, anyway.

Hugos! AKA Chicon 8 Winners!

The Hugo winners were announced last night! So, as I usually do with the Oscars, here's my wrap-up post. My original Hugos post included bits about each of the nominees, which was fun to do. As you may known from that post, I marked texts consumed previously to the nominations in green, those consumed afterwards in blue, and I used purple to indicate stuff I already owned but hadn't read. The numbering indicates how I ranked them in my own vote. To indicate the actual winners, I opted to underscore.



Best Novel

1. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
   
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
   
3. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
   
4. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
   
5. A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
   
6. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
   

Best Novella

1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
   
2. Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
   
3. A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
   
4. Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
   
5. Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
   
6. The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente

Could You Repeat That? CXCVII

A lot of these were Hugos nominations reading, and then a TON of urban fantasy. Summer reading at its best, as far as I'm concerned. 

Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
"I think it's pretty amazing that you're saying this," I told him bluntly.
"Oh, I took some night school courses in psychology," said Bill Compton, vampire.

The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave
"And all the details are different too, right?" She pauses "Like...my birthday?"
That stops me. The heartbreak in her voice when she asks the question.
"Like my birthday's not really my birthday?" she says.
"No, probably not."
She looks down. She looks away from me. "That seems like something a person should know about themselves," she says.

Gone with the Gin: Cocktails with a Hollywood Twist, Tim Federle
Set aside your beer (sorry: your Stelllllaaaaa!) and combine all the ingredients with ice in a shaker.

Witchmark, CL Polk
"Do you have any idea how much work it is to be majestic? The high court is exhausting."

Stormsong, CL Polk
"They can't know," I whispered. "If they knew what our parents and grandparents did, they'd never forgive us."
"Do we deserve forgiveness?"

Soulstar, CL Polk
The word "uza" meant something that didn't quite translate to Aelander. It meant solidarity. It meant unity. But something more than that--it meant that the people banded together in a community had a moral duty to each other, to serve one another.

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers
'You know, on the subject of Humans, there's something I've long wanted to ask someone about.' He paused in thought. 'Cheese. Is that a real thing?'

Chicon 8 AKA Hugo Awards 2022!

Fun fact: the Hugo award voting is via ranking, which I honestly find pretty satisfying. And I managed to read/watch/listen to all of them! Yay for me!
As with the Oscars, I'm marking texts (in all formats) consumed previously to the nominations in green and those consumed afterwards in blue. I am, however, also going to add in purple to indicate stuff I already owned but hadn't read because, as all book lovers know, at least a third of one's own library is built upon intention. (It's worth distinguishing which ones I owned because one of the nicest perks of being a voting member is getting a packet of most of the texts prior to voting.)

Largely, I've ranked things in terms of my enjoyment. I've tried to explain my rationale for some, but AS IS MY WAY, I've included snippets of the texts to give you a sense of how I feel about them.

Best Novel

1. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

   The thing that held a society together, Roveg had been taught, was shared narrative. A common history, a bedrock of ethics. This was the shell that held the world together, and protected all that was soft and fragile. Turning away from your own story was to open yourself to chaos. This was not academic opinion, his teachers had told him. This was observable fact.

   
   
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

   I can't imagine explaining "sleep" to someone who had never heard of it. Hey, I'm going to fall unconscious and hallucinate for a while. By the way, I spend a third of my time doing this. And if I can't do it for a while, I go insane and eventually die. No need for concern.

3. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

   Lucy was tempted to ask if she'd had a nice date, but she was still Shizuka Satomi, and one does not casually ask the Queen of Hell about her relationship with the donut lady.

4. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

   "Half-blood. Your sire was djinn."
   "I prefer double-blood. And the djinn who 'sired' me was hardly superior."
   "Still, you are djinn-touched. Even if lesser, you may share in the coming glory."
   "How gracious. But you can keep your glory."

5. A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

   The adjutant, Twenty Cicada, made an entirely remarkable noise, like he'd drowned a laugh and swallowed its corpse.

6. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
   

   Lady Rui's jaw was tight with the same intensity Zhu had glimpsed earlier: a compressed rage that had as its heart the female desire to survive all that sought to make her nothing.

Could You Repeat That? CXCVI

The past month's reading has been part "get them read before the move," part Tournament-of-Books-ish, and part Hugo nominees. Not a bad mix, honestly.

All the Devils Are Here, Louise Penny
This was what modern devils looked like. Not the writhing creatures captured by Rodin, but good, decent, silent people.

Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart
After that, it didn't take long to drown St Christopher.

Devil House, John Darnielle
But few things, at any rate, are more powerful than expectations. Blunt force, maybe. Firepower, certainly. Sword and steel. But even those have their limits. The imagination has none.

The Madness of Crowds, Louise Penny
"If it comes out, you'll be fired," Beauvoir said.
"I've been fired before," said Gamache. "I suspect by now they're tired of changing the name on the door."

The Unspoken Name, AK Larkwood
"You think of magic as a sort of toolbox, don't you?" said Oranna. "Do you have any idea how much study, how much negotiation, how much prayer and sacrifice...I have dominion over the hungering dead, over the whole kingdom of death. I am an extremely accomplished necromancer. I cannot make you invisible."

Star Wars: Dark Disciple, Christie Golden
By this point Obi-Wan was not just alarmed by Ventress's single-minded and inexplicable distrust of Vos, but growing profoundly exasperated.