2018 Hugo Awards: My Final Ballot

The Hugo Awards Ceremony will take place tonight at 8 pm PDT (UTC−7).  Live streaming will be available at Worldcon 76’s YouTube channel.  Live text-based coverage will be available at the Hugo Awards website.  In the meantime, here’s how I ranked the finalists on my ballot.  Links go to posts on the individual categories.

Best Novel

  1. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
  2. Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee
  3. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
  4. Provenance by Ann Leckie
  5. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
  6. New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

Best Novella

  1. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
  2. The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang
  3. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  4. “And Then There Were (N-One)” by Sarah Pinsker
  5. River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
  6. Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor

Best Novelette

  1. “Wind Will Rove” by Sarah Pinsker
  2. “The Secret Life of Bots” by Suzanne Palmer
  3. “A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
  4. “Children of Thorns, Children of Water” by Aliette de Bodard
  5. “Extracurricular Activities” by Yoon Ha Lee
  6. “Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time” by K.M. Szpara

Best Short Story

  1. “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon
  2. “Fandom for Robots” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
  3. “Carnival Nine” by Caroline M. Yoachim
  4. “The Martian Obelisk” by Linda Nagata
  5. “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM” by Rebecca Roanhorse
  6. “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand” by Fran Wilde

Best Series

  1. World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold
  2. The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett
  3. The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
  4. InCryptid by Seanan McGuire
  5. The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells
  6. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Best Related Work

  1. Sleeping with Monsters by Liz Bourke
  2. No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin
  3. Iain M. Banks by Paul Kincaid
  4. Luminescent Threads edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal
  5. Crash Override by Zoë Quinn
  6. A Lit Fuse by Nat Segaloff

Best Graphic Story

  1. Monstress, Vol. 2 by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda
  2. My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris
  3. Saga, Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
  4. Paper Girls, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
  5. Bitch Planet, Vol. 2 by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Taki Soma
  6. Black Bolt, Vol. 1 by Saladin Ahmed and Christian Ward

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

  1. The Shape of Water
  2. Get Out
  3. Blade Runner 2049
  4. Wonder Woman
  5. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  6. Thor: Ragnarok

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

  1. Doctor Who, “Twice Upon a Time”
  2. Star Trek: Discovery, “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”
  3. Black Mirror, “USS Callister”
  4. The Good Place, “Michael’s Gambit”
  5. The Good Place, “The Trolley Problem”
  6. “The Deep” by clipping.

Best Editor, Long Form

  1. Navah Wolfe
  2. Miriam Weinberg
  3. Sheila E. Gilbert
  4. Diana M. Pho
  5. Joe Monti
  6. Devi Pillai

Best Editor, Short Form

  1. Lee Harris
  2. Sheila Williams
  3. Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
  4. John Joseph Adams
  5. Jonathan Strahan
  6. Neil Clarke

Best Professional Artist

  1. Sana Takeda
  2. Victo Ngai
  3. Galen Dara
  4. Kathleen Jennings
  5. Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
  6. John Picacio

Best Semiprozine

  1. Uncanny Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
  2. Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
  3. Strange Horizons edited by Jane Crowley, Kate Dollarhyde, and Niall Harrison
  4. Escape Pod edited by Mur Lafferty, S.B. Divya, and Norm Sherman
  5. Fireside Magazine edited by Brian White and Julia Rios
  6.  The Book Smugglers edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James

Best Fanzine

  1. File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
  2. Rocket Stack Rank edited by Greg Hullender and Eric Wong
  3. nerds of a feather, flock together edited by The G, Vance Kotrla, and Joe Sherry
  4. SF Bluestocking edited by Bridget McKinney
  5. Galactic Journey edited by Gideon Marcus
  6. Journey Planet edited by Team Journey Planet

Best Fancast

  1. Fangirl Happy Hour hosted by Ana Grilo and Renay Williams
  2. Galactic Suburbia hosted by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
  3. The Coode Street Podcast hosted by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
  4. Sword and Laser hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt
  5. Verity! hosted by Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
  6. Ditch Diggers hosted by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace

Best Fan Writer

  1. Camestros Felapton
  2. Charles Payseur
  3. Foz Meadows
  4. Mike Glyer
  5. Sarah Gailey
  6. Bogi Takács

Best Fan Artist

  1. Grace P. Fong
  2. Geneva Benton
  3. Maya Hahto
  4. Likhain (M. Sereno)
  5. Spring Schoenhuth
  6. Steve Stiles

WSFS Award for Best Young Adult Book

  1. Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher, illustrated by Lauren Henderson
  2. Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
  3. The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
  4. In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
  5. The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller
  6. A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

  1. Katherine Arden
  2. Jeannette Ng
  3. Vina Jie-Min Prasad
  4. Rivers Solomon
  5. Sarah Kuhn
  6. Rebecca Roanhorse

There were so many great finalists this year.  I had a hard time ranking a lot of them.  For some, the award could go to anyone and it wouldn’t surprise or disappoint me.  Who are you rooting for?

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