Hugo Finalist Recommendations

 

Well, Chengdu released its list of Hugo finalists awhile back, which means it's time for me to review the list and give my picks. I get a little better at this every year (I think), so maybe my recommendations will be worth a bit more than a hill of beans this time around.

Astounding Award for Best New Writer

• **Travis Baldree
• Naseem Jamnia
• Isabel J Kim*
• Maijia Liu
• Everina Maxwell*
• Weimu Xin*

* 2nd year of eligibility

This is actually an interesting category. Weimu Xin gives China good representation as a blogger and translator, even though she writes under a pseudonym, and her articles are impactful. Isabel J. Kim is a Korean writer, and her short story Day Ten Thousand (Clarkesworld, June 2023) is an amazing story which I'm going to try to nominate next year. Everina Maxwell wrote a queer romantic space opera called Winter's Orbit. Naseem Jamnia, author of The Bruising of Quilwa, is a writer I'm very familiar with, and saw in person this year at Wiscon. I was unable to find an English language sample of Maijia Liu's writing. But the biggest name here is Travis Baldree. All the other nominees lack one thing Baldree has - a Hugo nomination for Best Novel. That's one HELL of an achievement for a new writer, even one like Baldree who has been writing story plots for computer games behind the scenes. Nothing else comes close, so he's my pick, hands down.

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

• Akata Woman (The Nsibidi Scripts), by Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Books for Young Readers)
• *Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
• Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen/Titan Books)
• **The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• In the Serpents Wake, by Rachel Hartman (Random House Books for Young Readers)
• Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods, by Catherynne M. Valente (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

As usual, I haven't had time to go through all the YA works, and this year is especially difficult with all of the trilogies nominated. Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak has already been recognized with a Locus Award. Akata Woman and Eightpenny Woods have the powerful names of Nnedi Okorafor and Catherynne Valente backing them up, respectively. If I'm to believe the hype from Black Nerd Problems, Bloodmarked is the best YA book of 2022. But The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik has an astonishing 54,896 ratings on Goodreads with an average totaling 4.17. She's doing something right! So, until I read some of these and potentially change my mind, I'm going with Naomi Novik on this one. But Black Nerd Problems is usually right, so Bloodmarked may end up winning it.

Best Fan Artist

• Iain Clark
• Richard Man
• Laya Rose
• Alison Scott
• España Sheriff
• Orion Smith

It always amazes me when a name like Iain Clark appears in the "Fan Artist" category. He's so obviously a professional artist it's silly. But coming up with a definitional difference between what constitutes a "fan artist" vs. a "professional artist" is nigh on impossible. So, with Mr. Clark ruled out on the general principle of,  "his trophy case will collapse under the weight of one more award," I'm going with Laya Rose.

Richard Man is a photographer and Chinese calligrapher whose work can be seen on what's left of Twitter. (Sorry, I meant "X." On second thought, no I didn't. Screw that.) Espana Sheriff is also a photographer. Orion Smith is a storyboard artist whose comic style is delightful. But Laya Rose is one whose art I have evaluated in the past, and am still impressed with. She's the top pick in this category, IMHO.

Best Fan Writer

• *Chris M. Barkley
• Bitter Karella
• Arthur Liu
• **RiverFlow
• Jason Sanford
• Örjan Westin

Bitter Karella's good-natured ribbing at all things horror-related is fun, and we all love Jason Sanford. Orjan Westin's micro-fiction is delightful, and Arthur Liu's translations and writings are well respected. But in this category, I've picked Chris Barkley to win in the past, and this year is no exception. He has repeatedly kept fans informed regarding major events in fandom, and has offered up opinions and insights which are second to none. But RiverFlow (all one word) is a Chinese writer whose accomplishments are significant enough to garner him the win. He's is an active member and participant of the Chinese Science Fiction Database, which is a pro-bono science fiction archive Jiulong Project. He's also involved with the Chinese Science Fiction Academic Workshop, and is the editor-in-chief of the fanzine Zero Gravity Science Fiction. He's done many other great things for Chinese science fiction as well. I'm still voting for Chris Barkley, but I'm picking RiverFlow for the win.

Best Fancast

• Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, produced by Jonathan Strahan
• *Hugo, Girl!, by Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson
• Hugos There, by Seth Heasley
• Kalanadi, created and presented by Rachel
• **Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty
• Worldbuilding for Masochists, by Cass Morris, Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca

This category I know exceptionally well, and for the first time, I can evaluate all the nominees without even having to do any research.

We know and love Hugo, Girl! Haley, Amy, and Lori are so much fun. It's brother show, Hugos There, is an excellent source for reviews of past Hugo winners. And the book reviews presented by Rachel on the YouTube show Kalanadi are very useful and fun to watch, especially for recent releases. The Coode Street Podcast is one of the best sources for information about the sci fi world anywhere. And Worldbuilding for Masochists is a must-listen for aspiring writers. These are all excellent choices who all deserve to win. But this year I'm recommending Octothorpe. Although I would love to see Hugo, Girl! win an award as well, Octothorpe has been the best source for what's going on in Chengdu right now. They've reported frequently and fairly about the situation, they've maintained excellent journalistic integrity, and they've worked hard to be fair to both fans and the Chengdu Worldcon committee. The Coode Street Podcast has also done well at this, but they already have a rocket. I think Chinese fans will recognize all this and acknowledge that this year is Octothorpe's year.

But Haley, Amy, and Lori? Hang in there! You've got a rocket coming your way someday soon, too!

Best Fanzine

• *Chinese Academic SF Express, by Latssep and Tianluo_Qi
• Galactic Journey, Editors: Gideon Marcus, Janice Marcus, Tammy Bozic, Erica Frank, Arrel Lucas, Mark Young
• Journey Planet, by Regina Kanyu Wang, Yen Ooi, Arthur Liu, Jean Martin, Erin Underwood, Steven H Silver, Pádraig Ó Méalóid and their other co-editors.
• *Nerds of a Feather, by Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer, Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, G. Brown
• Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, by Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk
• **Zero Gravity Newspaper, by RiverFlow and Ling Shizhen

Honestly, this category is a toss-up. Most insider fans are aware of Nerds of a Feather and the tremendous resource it is for us, especially during awards season. Yet there's no denying the power of Journey Planet and/or Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog. Still, the real powerhouses may be Chinese Academic SF Express, and Zero Gravity Newspaper. With the Chinese vote weighing in, I could see either of these publications winning. If I'm right about the fan writer category, and RiverFlow wins it, then I think he will take Zero Gravity Newspaper along for the ride.

Best Semiprozine

• Escape Pod, co-editors Mur Lafferty & Valerie Valdes; Assistant editors Benjamin C. Kinney & Premee Mohamed, host Tina Connolly, producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht
• FIYAH, edited by the entire FIYAH team
• khōréō, edited by Team khōréō
• PodCastle, co-Editors Shingai Njeri Kagunda and Eleanor R. Wood; Assistant Editor Sofia Barker; Host Matt Dovey; Audio Producers Peter Adrian Behravesh, Devin Martin, and Eric Valdes
• *Strange Horizons, edited by The Strange Horizons Editorial Team
• **Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing/poetry editor Chimedum Ohaegbu; managing editor Monte Lin; nonfiction editor Meg Elison; podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky.

Back in March, I recommended The Deadlands for this category, but it didn't make the cut. So, in the wake of that travesty, the usual leaders of FIYAH, Strange Horizons, and Uncanny lead the way, with Uncanny dominating them all with six short stories and three novelettes making the Locus recommended reading list. Someday, Uncanny will cease to dominate, but this isn't the year.

Best Professional Artist

• Sija Hong
• Kuri Huang
• Paul Lewin
• Alyssa Winans
• *Jian Zhang
• **Enzhe Zhao

With the Hugo Packet out for this category, it was easy to make a selection, here. In my opinion, Enzhe Zhao is the standout. I was also impressed by Jian Zhang, who depicts such wonderful backgrounds amidst (sometimes) simplistic foreground. And Kuri Huang's subtle faces and fluid lines were also very lovely. But Zhao had the highest quality and the most detail. The best is easy to recognize.

Best Editor, Long Form

• Ruoxi Chen
• Lindsey Hall
• **Lee Harris
• Sarah Peed
• Huan Yan
• *Haijun Yao

This category is a little bit tricky to navigate. Although we have some materials to evaluate in this year's Hugo Packet, much of it is in Chinese, as one might expect with so many Chinese nominees. Ordinarily, I like to evaluate both quality and quantity, but I'm no judge of quality writing when it's in Chinese. If one goes by quantity, the clear winner is Haijun Yao. But I cannot ignore the fact that Lee Harris has more Hugo nominated works edited than any other nominee by far. Many of them from past years are Hugo winners. That wins it by quality. Part of me hopes Haijun Yao wins it. But the winner I can see and evaluate clearly is Lee Harris. He's my pick this year.

Ruoxi Chen, last year's winner in this category, did not submit a Hugo Packet (or at least, hasn't done so yet). Same thing goes for Lindsey Hall, although I could find no news articles saying anything regarding her status.

Best Editor, Short Form

• *Scott H. Andrews
• Neil Clarke
• Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
• **Sheree Renée Thomas
• Xu Wang
• Feng Yang

I am again conflicted over this category. It is so very difficult to be fair to Chinese editors when one cannot read the works in question. But Xu Wang submitted four works for the Hugo Packet, and Feng Yang submitted only two. Scott Andrews has proven many times how excellent Beneath Ceaseless Skies can be, and the many works he's edited show this. But I think the best balance of quality and quantity comes from Shree Renée Thomas this year, no disrespect to Neil Clarke and Clarkesworld. Oghenochovwe Donald Ekpeki has also proven himself, but submitted only one edited work this year. It was an impactful work, but still only one.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• *Andor: “One Way Out”, written by Beau Willimon, Tony Gilroy, and George Lucas, directed by Toby Haynes (Lucasfilm)
• Andor: “Rix Road”, written by Tony Gilroy and George Lucas, directed by Benjamin Caron (Lucasfilm)
• The Expanse: "Babylon's Ashes", written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, Naren Shankar, directed by Breck Eisner (Alcon Entertainment)
• For All Mankind: “Stranger in a Strange Land”, written by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, directed by Craig Zisk (Tall Ship Productions/Sony Pictures Television)
• **She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: “Whose Show is This?”, written by Jessica Gao, Francesca Gailes, and Jacqueline Gailes, directed by Kat Coiro (Marvel Entertainment)
• Stranger Things: “Chapter Four: Dear Billy”, written by Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, and Paul Dichter, directed by Shawn Levy (21 Laps Entertainment)

This one is easy to evaluate, because I've pretty much watched everything here. Beyond doubt, She-Hulk's marvelous episode which shows her crawling across the streaming menu in classic She-Hulk style, is absolutely the best. Although Andor "One Way Out" may be the most memorable.

Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form

• Avatar: The Way of Water, screenplay by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, directed by James Cameron (Lightstorm Entertainment / TSG Entertainment II)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, screenplay by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, directed by Ryan Coogler (Marvel Studios)
• **Everything Everywhere All at Once, screenplay by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Sheinert (IAC Films / Gozie AGBO)
• Nope, written by Jordan Peele, directed by Jordan Peele (Universal Pictures / Monkeypaw Productions)
• *Severance (Season 1), written by Dan Erickson, Anna Ouyang Moench et al., directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle (Red Hour Productions / Fifth Season)
• Turning Red, screenplay by Julia Cho and Domee Shi, directed by Domee Shi (Walt Disney Studios / Pixar Animation Studios)

Again, easy to evaluate. Nothing compares to Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. But honestly, after Severance got cancelled by a bunch of know-nothings in Hollywood, despite having a second season all set to go? I'm tempted to give the Hugo to that, just out of spite.

Best Related Work

• Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, by Kyle Buchanan (William Morrow)
• Buffalito World Outreach Project, by Lawrence M. Schoen (Paper Golem LLC)
• **Chinese Science Fiction, An Oral History, Volume 1, by Yang Feng (Chengdu Times Press)
• “The Ghost of Workshops Past”, by SL Huang (Tor.com)
• *Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir, by Wil Wheaton (William Morrow)
• Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes, by Rob Wilkins (Doubleday)

Were it merely me, I would give the award to Wil Wheaton. He's become everybody's best sci-fi pal. But in terms of impactfulness, Yang Feng's Oral History of Chinese Science Fiction is absolutely the winner, and will likely have as much influence upon the genre as Dangerous Visions once had during the 1970's.

Best Graphic Story or Comic

• Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams, by Bartosz Sztybor, Filipe Andrade, Alessio Fioriniello, Roman Titov, Krzysztof Ostrowski (Dark Horse Books)
• **DUNE: The Official Movie Graphic Novel, by Lilah Sturges, Drew Johnson, Zid (Legendary Comics)
• Monstress vol. 7: Devourer, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
• Once & Future Vol 4: Monarchies in the UK, by Kieron Gillen / Dan Mora (BOOM! Studios)
• Saga, Vol. 10, by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Fonografiks (Image Comics)
• Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Matheus Lopes (DC Comics)

I'm not very good with graphic novels. But DUNE stands out, both in terms of material and artistry.

Best Series

• **Children of Time Series, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Pan Macmillan/Orbit)
• The Founders Trilogy, by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey)
• The Locked Tomb, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com)
• October Day, by Seanan McGuire (DAW)
• Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovich (Orion)
• The Scholomance, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

This is an interesting year. I'm not familiar with ANY of these series! But the one that has the most name recognition is Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. It will take me months to read all these, but until I do, Tchaikovsky has my vote.

Best Short Story

• "DIY", by John Wiswell (Tor.com, August 2022)
• "On the Razor's Edge", by Jiang Bo (Science Fiction World, January 2022)
• **“Rabbit Test”, by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2022)
• “Resurrection”, by Ren Qing (Future Fiction/Science Fiction World, December 2022)
• “The White Cliff”, by Lu Ban (Science Fiction World, May 2022)
• "Zhurong on Mars", by Regina Kanyu Wang (Frontiers, September 2022)

I don't think there's any doubt that Rabbit Test is both the best and most impactful story in this category. Chinese readers may be puzzled as to why a short story about abortion matters so much to American readers, but I think they can appreciate a good story, politics or not.

Best Novelette

• **"The Difference Between Love and Time," by Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time: Tales of Time-Crossed Romance, Solaris)
• “A Dream of Electric Mothers”, by Wole Talabi (Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Tordotcom)
• “If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You”, by John Chu (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2022)
• “Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness”, by SL Huang (Clarkesworld, December 2022)
• "The Space-Time Painter", by Hai Ya (Galaxy's Edge, April 2022)
• “We Built This City”, by Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld, June 2022)

The skill and beauty of Cathrynne M. Valente's writings is unmatched. The Difference Between Love and Time blew me away. It was thought-provoking, funny, original, and creative in a way I've never seen. I enthusiastically endorse her story as the clear choice this year.

That having been said, there were some interesting things about this year's slate of nominees. The most interesting was the fact that "The Space-Time Painter" by Hai Ya, has no English translation. This makes evaluating it very difficult. I was forced to put the entire story through Google translate, which didn't do a bad job, but I'm quite certain nuances of the Chinese language were lost in this process. Still, it turned out to be a delightful story about a strange visitation within the walls of the Forbidden City, which witnesses, and even some officials, presume is some kind of ghost. I found it to be deeply thought out, in spite of the language barrier.

John Chu's story is actually one I'd first encountered via podcast. It's a beautiful homoerotic story about love and loss, and I greatly enjoyed it. Marie Vibbert's story, 'We Built This City,' was also greatly enjoyable, though I couldn't read it without the Jefferson Starship song playing in my mind's ear the whole time. 'Murder By Pixel' by SL Huang features a whopper of an idea - an A.I. cyberstalker. 

Best Novella

• Even Though I Knew the End, by CL Polk (Tordotcom)
• Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
• A Mirror Mended, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
• *Ogres, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)
• **What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire)
• *Where the Drowned Girls Go, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)

For Best Novella, the book that got the most interest was What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. In this tale, literally involving the fall of the house of Usher (yeah, I caught that one, Ursula), a strange mystery unravels involving madness, and fungus. (And this book might explain the strange acceptance speech she gave at last year's Worldcon involving slime molds.) Adrian Tchaikovsky scores the highest overall ratings, and Seanan McGuire has nearly as loyal a following as Tchaikovsky does, but neither of them has the volume of sales or reviews.

Best Novel

• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• **The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi (Tor Books)
• Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree (Tor Books)
• Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
• Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books)
• The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)

I've read all these except for Nona the Ninth (although I'm currently working on book 2 of the trilogy right now, and I can get a sense of what the story is, and how the third novel is likely to shape up). The standout novel this time in terms of absolute fun is The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. It sets itself up perfectly to be a blockbuster movie someday, and is such a delight to read. The fact that it accomplishes this without ever revealing the gender of the main character is a testament to the skill (and snarkiness) of the author.

All the other books nominated here are very deserving, however. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, while wonderful, is a story which has gone over too much pre-trodden ground before, or else I might consider it the winner. Legends & Lattes was absolutely delightful, but it's soft story arc made it feel more like a YA or a children's book (which it very well functions as). T. Kingfisher has yet to write anything I dislike, but Nettle & Bone is far darker than any of the other books I've encountered from her -- dark enough, in fact, that I couldn't bring myself to think of it as the year's best. And The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal is quite good, but as a "whodunnit," it didn't have me gripping the cover of my book all that tightly. (Until someone kidnapped a little dog named Gimlet. That was tense. And if I could give the Hugo to Gimlet, I would.) By all accounts I've read, Nona the Ninth is even better than Gideon the Ninth, and might well prove the winner.