Hugo Award Recommendations - 2021

 

This is the first year where I feel read enough, and researched enough, to do a recommendations list for the Hugo Awards. As it happens, I cannot vote for the nominees, because I did not register by Dec 31st of last year. However, I can at least voice my opinion about which works should be nominated. Maybe a few people might even listen to me.

In subsequent years, I hope to have various people to meet and discuss nominees with, making this annual posting a product of a true round-table discussion. Until then, however, this is my lone shout into the void, and solely my own opinion.

This is, of course, merely my recommendations for nominations. I may change my mind regarding who is the best overall for the year, and I will certainly revise my selections once the finalists are named (in April?).

I will start with the lesser awards and move up - going in the tradition of awards ceremonies not announcing the biggest award until the end. As such, those of you who wish to skip straight to the recommendations for Best Novel can scroll down to the bottom. Everyone else may (or may not) slough through the smaller stuff first.

Here we go:

Best Video Game

This is one of those come-and-go categories that's here for 2021, and will go away afterwards. It may return at some later year, but for now, it's a one-time deal.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to video games. I tend to prefer real-time military strategy games like Dune or Starcraft. (I'm old-school that way.) First-person shooter games aren't my thing, unless they're inside the cockpit of a spaceship. LARP games like World of Warcraft are things I never got into, although I can see the appeal. So for awards nominees, I tend to like good old fashioned fun, or games with a really great sci-fi back story (think Halo). Yeah, I know. I'm an old fart.

That having been said, I don't think anything is going to stop Star Wars: Squadrons from taking the top prize. A lot of people might also vote for Cyberpunk 2077. Personally, I think that Starfield by Bethesda Games looks really interesting, but I have yet to play it.

Lodestar Award

The Lodestar Award is for best young adult fiction, or YA. It's a category I tend to have very little investment in. But I do hear things, and base my opinion on what the general buzz is all about. For that, the best book of 2020 seems to be A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. It's a story about a boy who must use his unique magical baking skills to fight evil - a clever idea if there ever was one. At least one reviewer at Locus is convinced that Red Hood by Elena K. Arnold is a must-read. It's a re-telling of the Red Riding Hood trope, with a twist.

Astounding Award

The Astounding Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell memorial award) is one I take special interest in. There are many writers which qualify this year, and they're all pretty good (although mostly fantasy-based). But for all those great names, only one rises above all the rest, and so I make it my one and only recommendation: Isabel Fall.

Isabel Fall wrote an upstart short story for Clarkesworld called (I shit you not) I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter. For those who aren't aware (as I wasn't), the title is also a phrase which right-wingers began using back in 2014 to ridicule transsexual people, calling all those who denied their right to bomb people as attack helicopters "Heliophobes." Young Isabel wrote a trans-positive story about being a futuristic attack helicopter, and thus threw a monkey wrench in every Google search which used the phrase. It was a brilliant move, as well as a pretty damned good story. And it worked - at least at first. Then, some in the trans community misinterpreted Isabel's story, and its intentions, based largely on the title, and began attacking her. She was forced to come out of the closet as trans herself out of self defense! Finally, she requested that Clarkesworld take the story off-line. Those who had a pre-existing subscription by paper or kindle edition were able to retain the story, but otherwise, it disappeared. (Although I have a copy, if anyone wants to read it.)

Isabel's courage in undermining a bigoted phrase should be rewarded. Her actions foiled the Alt-Right. Her story shook the sci-fi community, as well as forced it to have introspection about its own tendency to cancel one of its own, both wrongly and prematurely. She made history! That's an amazing accomplishment for her very first story! And for that, she deserves this year's Astounding Award, hands down.

Best Fan Writer

The line between fan writer and professional writer is tricky. Today's fan writer might easily become tomorrow's novelist. But generally, bloggers who provide useful material are the ones I choose. For that, I say the best of these is Paul Weimer of the blog Nerds of a Feather Flock Together. His posts are only a few of the one posted by an entire team of news and opinion writers, but he provides useful breakdowns that are helpful to fans who wish to really, REALLY know what's going on in the world of sci-fi!

Some other names of note include Adri Joy, also of Nerds of a Feather, Adam Whitehead of The Wertzone, and the enigmatic Forestofglory, of Ladybusiness. Many also name Janette Ng as a great fan writer, but she already has two Hugos, and is about as professional a writer as one can be at this point.

Best Fan Artist

Fan art is everywhere, and it's very difficult to pick just one artist out from among all the others. But for my money, the best one is Gene Raz von Elder/Ellysiumn. His beautiful imagery, landscapes, and form are beyond parallel in this year's class of non-professionals, and I believe it won't be long before this man is considered a professional artist.

Best Fancast

I know my podcasts! And there are quite a few of them which are worth considering this year. But my favorite is Glitchy Pancakes, run by Jesse Adams, Rob Gilmore, and Allison Charlesworth. Begun back in June of 2020 in response to Covid quarantining, this small group of friends have managed to persuade some of the biggest names in sci-fi to come do an interview with them, all while keeping the subject matter fresh and interesting.

Other great podcasts include Our Opinions Are Correct with Charlie Jane Anders and Analee Newitz. This podcast has won the Hugo twice already, and for good reason. They discuss sci-fi subjects which are truly interesting and cutting-edge. Then there is Breaking the Glass Slipper with Megan Leigh, Charlotte Bond, and Lucy Hounsom. These women deal with sci-fi from a feminist perspective. The Skiffy and Fanty Show with Sean Duke and Jen Zlnk is a great bit of fun, along with cool bits of trivia. The Worldshapers with Edward Willett has some of the best interviews out there. Lastly, I feel I should say a word about The Science Fiction Review Podcast, with Luke Burrage and Julienne Kunzendorf. Luke is a professional juggler and performance artist who reads science fiction. Whenever he finishes a book, audiobook, or movie, he podcasts his review with his girlfriend Julienne. That's it. Simple. There is no rhyme or reason to which books he reads, or when, but he's done this for years, and I feel that deserves a bit or recognition. That having been said, he also shits on some of my favorite authors, especially John Scalzi, and that pisses me off somewhat. But hard work and perseverance cause me to mention Luke anyway.

Best Fanzine

I lean towards the fanzines with the best blogs, or which have blogs themselves. That means this year's winner should be Nerds of a Feather Flock Together, without a doubt. It has the best reviews and information that sci fi fans crave, plus handy guides on how to vote for the Hugo Awards.

Best Semiprozine

The best semi-professional magazine by far this past year has been Uncanny Magazine. It featured no fewer than TEN stories which made the Locus short list! TWO of them made my own personal list of the year's best! By comparison, the next runners-up, Strange Horizons and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, had only four stories each make the Locus list, while FIYAH had three.

Best Artist

As usual, there is an overload of outstanding talent for art. But for me, the winner is Chris McGrath for the cover he did for Titan's Day. That book cover features not only the hero of the book, but also a work of graffitti painted behind him on a city wall which bears a striking likeness to himself, and his monstrous partner! It's a triumph of perspective, line, brush and realism.

Other artists of special note are Tidhi Ludathong for her amazing cover on Sideways In Time, and Franchesca Retha for her cover art on Clarkesworkd #169.

Best Editor, Short Form

The best short story editor out there is, in my humble opinion, Torie Bosch, who edited all 12 short stories which appeared in Slate Magazine's column, Future Tense. All 12 are outstanding, and that's quite an achievement! Right behind Torie is Chimedum Ohaegbu of Uncanny magazine. Getting 10 short stories listed on the Locus list is an amazing achievement! Of special note also is Jonathan Strahan for his work on the anthology Robots and Revolution, as well as 7 Tor.com originals. Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld Magazine ha 8 novelettes and 3 short stories shortlisted in his 12 issues, 3 of which were outstanding. Ruoxie Chen deserves recognition for her work on Riot Baby, as well as a few other outstanding short stories.

Best Editor, Long Form

There's quite a few shining stars in this category, although I'm a little disappointed in that the editors for my two favorite books, The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer and The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, didn't seem to have the requisite number of books, in so far as I could tell. One needs to have edited four books to qualify. Still, that left some other great candidates. The best one of these, I feel, is Betsy Wollheim, with two great sci fi books edited this year in C.J. Cherryh's Divergence and Resurgence. High marks also go to Devi Pillai for editing To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Christopher Paolini) to Joe Monti for editing Vagabonds (Hao Jinfang), and to the duo of Brit Hvide and Jenni Hill for editing The City We Became (N.K. Jemisin).

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Lots of great options in this category, but I think only one item deserves to win. That, of course, is the final episode of The Mandalorian, Season 2, Chapter 16, The Rescue. The return of Mark Hammill as Luke Skywalker to the Star Wars universe is simply too much for any competitor to overcome. Although - there are some pretty good competitors out there. Various episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Doctor Who, Lovecraft Country, and even the Star Wars Lego Christmas Special.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Usually, movies are considered in this category. But this year, Covid-19 has pretty much knocked most movies out of 2020 altogether. Many of the best autumn or winter movies were put on hold, and the one big release, Wonder Woman 1984, was a letdown. So, with the exceptions of Bill & Ted Face The Music, and Soul, there are really no movies worthwhile from 2020 worth considering. That means that television seasons will dominate the Hugos. The Trek Trilogy of Discovery, Lower Decks, and Picard will factor. The Mandalorian Season 2 will certainly make the ballot. Season 1 of Upload deserves consideration. But I feel the one which will win will be Lovecraft Country. It had something for everybody.

Best Graphic Story

I'm not a comic book nerd. I do enjoy some of the classics, and show up occasionally for Free Comic Book Day, but I gravitate towards graphic novels over single-issues, and whole stories over chapbooks. I prefer Neil Gaiman's Sandman over Batman, and Silver Sable over Silver Surfer. In short, I'm finicky. Be that as it may, I think there's one stand-out graphic novel that will win outright, and that's the one based on Octavia Butler's novel, Parable of the Sower. Nothing like a Hugo-worthy novel to inspire another Hugo win. However, there is also a graphic novel based on Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. There is also a manga version of Star Wars which is garnering some attention.

Best Related Work

In this category, Octavia Butler wins again, as A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler by Lynell George stands out. But there are some other interesting options as well. The Magic of Terry Pratchett by Marc Burrows is one such item. Also, The Long-Lost Autobiography of Georges Melies is an intriguing item. Walter Koenig has an autobiographical book about his Star Trek days called, Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star Trek.

Best Series

The sheer number of qualifying works in this category is daunting. And when one considers that evaluating even one series which one hasn't read means sometimes reading three or four books just to get to the most recent volume, it becomes even more so. Nevertheless, I've evaluated these anyway, and I think you'll find I'm spot on for this one.

The likely winner here is The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, book 5 of which is Network Effect. Locus magazine tagged this book, the first full-length novel in the series, as one of the three best all year, and since the other two are stand-alones, this seems the likeliest candidate to win outright in the series category.

Nevertheless, the field is crowded. Network Effect will have to win out over the Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor (Heaven's River), the Interdependency by John Scalzi (The Last Emperox), the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal (The Relentless Moon), the Little Brother series by Cory Doctorow (Attack Surface), and the Ready Player series by Ernest Cline (Ready Player Two). It will even have to win out against the late Gene Wolfe, whose much-beloved work, The Borrowed Man (2015), has become a duology with the posthumous publication of Interlibrary Loan.

One last note for David Wong's sequel to John Dies at the End (2012) (which was once a Hugo finalist too), with the entertaining name of Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick. I doubt it will win either best series or best novel, but Wong has wowed readers before, and he will likely do so again.

Best Short Story

Another crowded field, but one story clearly rises above the rest, and to my mind, isn't even close. It Came From Cruden Farm by Max Barry, published in Slate Magazine's Future Tense column. It put a smile on the face of everyone who read it. A lot of people don't even have this on their list, and I think that's an absolute crime. Read it. Judge for yourself. I dare ya!

The other two best stories of the year are The Cycle of the Eternal Witness by Adelehin Ijasan, published in Omenana Magazine and The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connely by Alix E. Harrow, published in Fireside Magazine. The former simply blew me away. The latter is a fantasy story, yet is so surprisingly good that I had to include it as one of the top three stories of the year.

Another surprisingly good story was Across The Ice by Ada Hoffman, published in Strange Horizons. It was only flash fiction, but it impressed me. Scar Tissue by Tobias S. Buckell, was published in Slate magazine, and deserves ranking in the top five. How to Pay Reparations, A Documentary by Tochi Onyabuchi, also published in Slate, was disturbingly good, being one part left-wing wish fulfillment, two parts cautionary tale.

Best Novelette

Many, many good stories here, and some of them lay behind subscription pay walls, such as stories in Asimov's and F&SF, which I found annoying. I then learned why that's the case - because those stories are typically the best of the best! Anyway, I managed to thoroughly vet them all. (You're welcome.)

The best story by far is the surprisingly fun story, Loosestrife by Marissa Lingen, published in New Decamercon. It features semi-intelligent goats - yes, goats - who are genetically modified to prefer eating certain invasive weeds, like garlic mustard and loosestrife. Their rudimentary intelligence allows them to speak simple phrases like "yeh" and "neh," or "weeeed baaad," and they absolutely won me over. Because it's meant to be the first story in a series, it has a brief, tacked-on, secondary ending in which two new characters are introduced seemingly out of nowhere. That's meant to have relevance in the next series episode, so don't let it bother you. Outside of that, the story is perfect. Read it! You'll love it!

Other novelettes that really amazed me include Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars by Mercurio D. Rivera, published in Asimov's (March/April, 2000). Its ethical ramifications are wrapped up in a kind of Gnostic-themed religious outlook in the tradition of The Matrix. Very well done. The Bahrain Underground Bazaar by Nadia Afifi, published in F&SF (November/December 2000) is a moving tale about an old granny facing death, as well as a look at what could happen if recorded experiences could be bought and sold on an open market. But that description doesn't really do the story justice. It is a milieu-driven plot which reels you in, and leaves you satisfied. I'm a sucker for stories with religious undertones, so I was also impressed with A Stick of Clay in the Hands of God is Infinite Potential by J.Y. Neon Yang, published in Clarkesworld. The story is about pilots of apex fighting machines who question their role in a religious war. I wish I could also recommend I Sexually Identify As An Attack Helicopter by Isabel Fall, but she has removed her story from consideration. Besides, I have already recommended Ms. Fall for the Astounding Award.

Best Novella

The short list for novellas is much shorter than the other categories this year, but there's still a good crop to choose from. Of these, the most deserving is either Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi, or Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark. Both are stories about triumph over racial injustice, and that always garners awards. But I personally also enjoyed Firewalkers by Adrian Tchaikovsky, both for its story and because its pure science ficiton. Dispersion by Greg Egan and Sea Change by Nancy Kress also deserve consideration.

I should also put in a word regarding 20020 by John Bois. A sequel to 17776 (2018), this tale about immortal humans playing bizarre versions of cross-country football has numerous problems, but the phenomenal research work done by Bois, as well as the three loveable, sentient satellites who play a key role in plot exposition, make the story very worthwhile. The story also relies so much on YouTube videos and interactive graphics that it might warrant consideration for Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form. I don't think the story should, or even could, win out over Riot Baby or Ring Shout, but it should probably be shortlisted for a nomination.

Best Novel

Finally, the one everybody waits for, best novel. I was amazed how jam-packed the field was this year. Perhaps this was due to so many people quarantining over Covid-19 and having more time to read, but that doesn't explain how so many great books got published at the same time. Also, I was stunned at how many of 2020's best books were series novels! From Ready Player Two to The Last Emperox to Heaven's River to The Relentless Moon, there were just so many that were book #5, or #3, or #4 in a set. Furthermore, this past year saw a huge trend away from fantasy and towards sci fi. And although I delight in this, I was also swamped with great books to read!

I would be very surprised if the award did not go to Kim Stanley Robinson for his book, The Ministry for the Future. But I was equally impressed with Robert J. Sawyer's The Oppenheimer Alternative, which I believe is equally as good as Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, if not better. Network Effect by Martha Wells is probably the third or fourth best novel of the year, but I've already recommended that book as the winner for Best Series.

N.K. Jemisin's new novel, The City We Became is fantasy, which I have an admitted bias against, yet both the premise and quality of the story are simply too good for me to ignore. It would not surprise me in the least if Jemisin took home her fourth Hugo for best novel. Other fantasy novels have been generating buzz, such as Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab, but neither of these are good enough in a crowded field like this year, in my opinion. More fantasy-minded critics would likely disagree with me on that point.

The Cyberpunk master, William Gibson, returns to prominence with Agency, and his huge fan base gives him an excellent chance to win, especially since Locus ranked the book as one of the three best sci fi novels of 2020. Christopher Paolini's To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars is also remarkably good - though it takes a while to develop at the very beginning. Vagabonds by Hao Jinfang and Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow are also deserving of final ballot status. Kate Elliot's Unconquerable Sun received positive reviews, and Alyssa Cole wrote a well-premised book with The A.I. Who Loved Me. Those last two will likely be crowded out this year, but they deserve a look.

That's it! Happy reading!

Eric

*