Month: October 2023

The winners of the 2023 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer are being announced at the Hugo Award Ceremony at the Chengdu Worldcon today.  Here’s how I personally ranked the finalists:

Best Novel

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

Best Novella

1. Even Though I Knew the End, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
2. What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher (Tor Nightfire)
3. Where the Drowned Girls Go, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
4. A Mirror Mended, Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
5. Ogres, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)
6. Into the Riverlands, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Best Novelette

1. The Difference Between Love and Time, Catherynne M. Valente (Someone in Time, Solaris)
2. Murder by Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness, S.L. Huang (Clarkesworld, Dec 2022)
3. We Built This City, Marie Vibbert (Clarkesworld, Jun 2022)
4. A Dream of Electric Mothers, Wole Talabi (Africa Risen, Tordotcom)
5. If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You, John Chu (Uncanny, Jul/Aug 2022)

Best Short Story

1. Rabbit Test, Samantha Mills (Uncanny, Nov/Dec 2022)
2. D.I.Y., John Wiswell (Tor.com, 24 Aug 202)

Best Series

1. October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
2. The Locked Tomb, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
3. The Founders Trilogy, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey)
4. The Scholomance, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
5. Children of Time Series, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit)
6. Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovich (DAW)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

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

Best Related Work

1. Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes, Rob Wilkins (Doubleday)
2. Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, Kyle Buchanan (William Morrow)
3. The Ghost of Workshops Past, S.L. Huang (Tor.com)
4. Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir, Wil Wheaton (William Morrow)
5. Buffalito World Outreach Project, Lawrence M. Schoen (Paper Golem LLC)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

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

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

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

Best Editor, Short Form

1. Scott H. Andrews
2. Neil Clarke
3. Sheree Renée Thomas
4. Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

Best Editor, Long Form

1. Sarah Peed
2. Lindsey Hall
3. Lee Harris
4. Ruoxi Chen

Best Professional Artist

1. Sija Hong
2. Kuri Huang
3. Alyssa Winans

Best Semiprozine

1. Strange Horizons
2. PodCastle
3. khōréō
4. FIYAH
5. Escape Pod
6. Uncanny Magazine

Best Fanzine

1. Nerds of a Feather, flock together
2. Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog
3. Journey Planet
4. Galactic Journey

Best Fancast

1. Kalanadi
2. The Coode Street Podcast
3. Hugo, Girl!
4. Hugos There
5. Octothorpe
6. Worldbuilding for Masochists

Best Fan Writer

1. Örjan Westin
2. Bitter Karella
3. Jason Sanford
4. Chris M. Barkley

Best Fan Artist

1. Alison Scott
2. Iain Clark
3. Richard Man
4. Laya Rose
5. España Sheriff
6. Orion Smith

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

1. In the Serpent’s Wake, Rachel Hartman (Random House Books for Young Readers)
2. The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
3. Bloodmarked, Tracy Deonn (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
4. Akata Woman, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Books for Young Readers)
5. Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods, Catherynne M. Valente (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
6. Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen/Titan Books)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)

1. Isabel J. Kim*
2. Everina Maxwell*
3. Travis Baldree
4. Naseem Jamnia

*2nd year of eligibility

The finalists I left off my ballot are those I felt I didn’t have enough information about.  Who are you hoping to see take home shiny trophies?