Tag: 2018 hugo awards

2018 Hugo Awards: Not a Hugos

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There are two other non-Hugo awards included on the Hugo Ballot.  They are nominated and voted on by the same people, they are awarded at the Hugo Ceremony, but the recipients don’t take home a shiny rocket trophy.

 

Appearing for the first time this year is the Award for Best Young Adult Book:

A book published for young adult readers in the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during 2017.

Attempts to create a Young Adult Hugo were unsuccessful for many years because it really wasn’t compatible with the other word-count based fiction categories.  Finally, they decided to create a seperate award administered with the Hugos, but not a Hugo itself.  Therefore, becoming a finalist for this award does not prevent a work from being eligible for the Hugo category its word-count would qualify it for.

The name Lodestar is up for ratification at this year’s Business Meeting.  If approved, it would go into effect for 2019.  However, a proposal to name it after Ursula K. Le Guin instead is also going to be brought up at that time.  Online reaction doesn’t look good for this.  But if those in attendance at the Business Meeting do decide to change the name to this or something else altogether, it would undoubtedly cause the award to remain nameless for another year until the new one is ratified.

While I can appreciate the desire to honor Le Guin, I think an award for women writers and/or feminist writing would be more applicable to her legacy.  Also, I feel it is disrespectful to everyone involved in the long and careful process that went into selecting the Lodestar name to suggest a change at this late date.  At the same time, this seems like a rush to name something after her now that she’s no longer with us.

I had several things lined up to read for this category, but just didn’t get to them in time to nominate anything.  I look forward to seeing what does make the finalist list.

 

The other non-Hugo category is the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer:

A writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy appeared in a professional publication during 2016 or 2017.

This award is sponsored by Dell Magazines, publisher of Analog, and named in memory of the magazine’s long-time, influential editor.  Originally presented in 1973, one of the finalists who lost to Jerry Pournelle that first year was a young George R. R. Martin.

Again I didn’t get to everything I had planned to look at for this, but I was able to find new writers to nominate from works I’d already read.  There is a page at the Writertopia.org site which maintains a list of eligible writers.  And Rocket Stack Rank also makes note of eligible short fiction writers.  Here are the authors I nominated with at least one of the works which I read by them:

 

Today’s the day we find out who this year’s finalists are!  Live announcements are taking place at 3 pm EDT (UTC−04:00), and a video announcement will be posted at Worldcon76.org approximately one hour later.

2018 Hugo Awards: Fan Categories

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The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine was first awarded in 1955, making it the oldest of the current fan categories, and given every year since with the mysterious exception of 1958 (categories were more or less in flux in those early years).

Best Fanzine:

Any generally available non-professional periodical publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that by the close of 2017 has published four (4) or more issues (or the equivalent in other media), at least one (1) of which appeared in 2017, that does not qualify as a semiprozine or a fancast, and that in 2017 met neither of the following criteria:

  1. paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication,
  2. was generally available only for paid purchase.

In spite of some resistance, in recent years many nominators include regularly updated websites or blogs, rather than just traditional zines or e-zines, in their interpretation of this category.  Of course, blogs are now getting supplanted by social media so who knows where this category will go in the future.  I nominated my five favorite go-to online resources:

 

In 2011, a podcast won Best Fanzine, and a proposal to create a new category for audio or video fan productions was approved.  Best Fancast was first presented in 2012 and ratified to continue for at least four more years.  In 2016, it was re-ratified to become an ongoing category.

Best Fancast:

Any generally available non-professional audio or video periodical devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that by the close of 2017 has released four (4) or more episodes, at least one (1) of which appeared in 2017, and that does not qualify as a dramatic presentation.

While I enjoy listening to the occasional episode, I haven’t managed to become a regular follower of any podcasts.  However, a few years ago I discovered Booktube, a community of YouTube channels which are primarily devoted to reading-related videos.  I nominated my three favorite that focus on SFF:

 

In 1967 two more fan categories were added for writers and artists (see my previous post on the artist categories).

Best Fan Writer:

Any person whose writing has appeared in semiprozines, fanzines, or in generally available electronic media during 2017.

Here’s who I nominated with links to their blogs (a couple repeats from fanzine above):

I would have included last year’s winner Abigail Nussbaum, but she stated that she didn’t want to accept a repeat finalist spot this year.  I’m not sure who I would have left off in her place though.

 

What do you think about the fan categories?  Who and what are you a fan of?

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Semiprozine

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The Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine was split off from Fanzine in 1984 in order to limit that category to true fan publications.  (The former Professional Magazine category had been replaced by Best Editor in 1973.)

Best Semiprozine:

Any generally available non-professional periodical publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects which by the close of 2017 has published four (4) or more issues (or the equivalent in other media), at least one (1) of which appeared in 2017, which does not qualify as a fancast, and which in 2017 has met at least one (1) of the following criteria:

  1. paid its contributors and/or staff in other than copies of the publication,
  2. was generally available only for paid purchase.

In 2008 a motion to eliminate the category was passed on for ratification at the next Business Meeting.  However, the proposal was not ratified in 2009 so the category was kept.  At the 2012 Business Meeting, additional changes were ratified to better differentiate between professional publication, Semiprozine, Fanzine, and the newly created Fancast category.  The distinctions are still not necessarily clear to the average nominator, but a directory of eligible candidates is maintained at Semiprozine.org.

Out of the magazines that I regularly read, I nominated the four that qualify as semiprozines:

 

I would like to see this category opened up to include professional magazines as well. Eliminating the division between semi-pro and pro, but still leaving fanzines separate.  As a reader, there’s no obvious difference, and I believe they could absolutely compete with one another.  Of course, that would have a lot of knock-on effects.

There’s already a fair amount of overlap between this category and Best Editor, Short Form.  Including pro mags would almost complete the redundancy and make it entirely too likely for someone to win two Hugos for the same thing.  But eliminating Short Form Editor would leave short fiction editors who don’t have magazines out in the cold.  And it would be odd to have a Long Form Editor category without the Short Form.  You would also need to reword the Fan Writer and Fan Artist categories as they both include “semiprozine” in their descriptions.

Kevin Standlee blogged about this a few years ago and suggested adding Best Publisher and Best Anthology or Collection in place of the editor categories.  It would be strange to award their employer rather than the editors themselves, but a heck of a lot easier to determine who’s eligible and what they’ve done.  And I would definitely need to up my anthology and collection reading if I wanted to nominate in that category.  I do hope something along these lines gets proposed because I would really like to see what people think and how it might be hashed out.  Terrible idea or one whose time has come?

2018 Hugo Awards: Artist Categories

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Hugo nominations closed yesterday, but I’ll continue with my thoughts on the remaining categories.

There has been some sort of Best Artist category since the beginning of the Hugos.  Although in the initial year of 1953,  both Interior Illustrator and Cover Artist awards were given.  During the 1990’s, awards were also given for Best Original Artwork.

 

Best Professional Artist:

An illustrator whose work has appeared in a professional publication in the field of science fiction or fantasy during 2017.

I try to keep track of impressive artwork I come across in my reading during the year, but Rocket Stack Rank’s page for 2018 Professional Artists was a big help in jogging my memory.  Here are my choices with links to their websites and the example I included on my ballot:

Here are some other artists from my long list with examples from 2017:

 

Since 1967, there has also been an award for Best Fan Artist:

An artist or cartoonist whose work has appeared through publication in fanzines, semiprozines, or through any other public non-professional display (including at conventions) during 2017.

For this category, I already had one artist in mind, I found two more at the Hugo Award Eligible Art(ists) tumblr, and another two at the Hugo Nominees 2018 Wiki.  Here are my picks with some of my favorite examples of their work:

There were a few artists whose work I liked from 2017 technically puts them in this category because it was published in semiprozines.  But for the most part, I decided to relegate this less “fannish” work to my long list:

 

The Hugo Awards Study Committee formed at last year’s Business Meeting was actually expanded from an initial resolution for a committee to look at the artist categories.  The Hugo Administrator Decisions Report, available as a PDF from the 2017 Hugo Awards page, clearly shows that voters are struggling with the definitions of these awards.  Four artists (two in each category) who qualified for the final ballot were ruled ineligible.  Two artists (one in each category) who made the final ballot nearly qualified as finalists in the other category.

One issue is that the pro category specifies illustrator, thereby excluding the sculptor who would otherwise have made the ballot last year.  Whereas, the fan category allows other types of artists.  Indeed, five-time finalist Spring Schoenhuth creates SFF-related jewelry.  I think we need to be consistent in the type of art allowed across both categories.

However, another problem is defining what is considered professional versus fan art.  I think work for semiprozines is for all intents and purposes professional.  In fact, I’d like to get rid of the weird semiprozine beast altogether and open that category to any magazine that’s not a fanzine.

Another way to go would be honoring specific individual works instead of the artists themselves.  Although I believe that the former Best Original Artwork category was discontinued for lack of voter participation.

[3/23/2018 ETA:  In a comment over at File 770, someone mentioned that they consider cover art (and interior illustration) for the pro artist category and all other sff-related art for the fan artist category regardless of the artists’ pro or fan status.  And someone else responded that they felt that was the actual intention for the categories.  That works for me, but they’d need to adjust the titles and definitions to make it clear.]

 

Who are your favorite artists?  And how do you think these categories should be defined?

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Editor

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The Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor was first award in 1973 when it replaced the Best Professional Magazine category.  In 2007 it was split into Short Form (editors of short fiction) and Long Form (editors of novels).

 

Best Editor, Short Form:

The editor of at least four (4) anthologies, collections, or magazine issues (or their equivalent in other media) primarily devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy, at least one of which was published in 2017.

I did some number crunching on the editors from the magazines I read last year to find out which had the highest percentage of stories I liked and the lowest percentage I disliked.

 

Best Editor, Long Form:

The editor of at least four (4) novel-length works primarily devoted to science fiction and/or fantasy, published in 2017 that do not qualify as works under Best Editor, Short Form.

For this category, I simply figured out the editors of my Best Novel choices and nominated them.

  • Jennifer Hershey
  • Will Hinton
  • Brit Hvide
  • Sean McDonald
  • Devi Pellai

 

A few years back, Kevin Standlee blogged about an idea for removing the editor categories and semiprozine and proposing three related but easier to vote on categories of publisher, anthology/collection, and professional magazine (including both pro and semi-pro, not fanzine).  However, the timing hasn’t been right to actually bring this to the Business Meeting since then.  Perhaps this will be the year since Kevin is one of the members of the Hugo Award Study Committee which will be offering suggestions.

I think I could get behind those changes.  It’s much simpler to find out who published what books as opposed to who edited them.  [ETA:  I see they very briefly had a Best SF Book Publisher category in 1964 and 1965.]  I don’t read too many anthologies or collections currently, but professional magazine would essentially be the same for me as short form editor.  What are your thoughts?

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Dramatic Presentation

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The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation was first presented in 1958.  Beginning in 2003, it was split into Long Form (more than 90 minutes) and Short Form (90 minutes or less).

At last year’s Business Meeting, there was a proposal to split these categories into four categories:  Long Form, Episodic Form, Short Form, and Series.  (See section D.8 of the meeting minutes archived at WSFS.org for details.)  It was referred to a committee which will be looking over all the Hugo categories.  As with similar proposals for Best Novel and Best Related Work, I’d like to see categories clarified and changed rather than adding more.

 

The first of the two existing categories is Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:

Any theatrical feature or other production, with a complete running time of more than 90 minutes, in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during 2017.

 

So far I have the following two movies on my ballot:

  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi

 

I’m hoping to look at a few more things before the ballots are due:

  • Get Out, Logan, and Wonder Woman, three of the finalists for The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation (presented at the Nebula Awards), are all available on HBO right now.  [Update 3/12/18: added Wonder Woman to my ballot.]
  • Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 are both available on Netflix.  [Update 3/10/18: added Beauty and the Beast to my ballot.]
  • A 2016 Japanese anime called your name. (Kimi no Na wa.) was not generally released for U.S. or English-language viewing until after last year’s nominations were closed.   Therefore, the 2017 Business Meeting accepted a proposal to extend its eligibility for this year.  It’s now available to rent for online streaming.
  • Coco, Oscar winner for Animated Feature Film, is also available to rent for online streaming.
  • The Shape of Water, Oscar winner for Best Picture and Ray Bradbury Award finalist, will be available for rent on March 13.  [Updated 3/13/18: added to my ballot.]

Any other must-sees that I should squeeze in?

 

The other current category is Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:

Any television program or other production, with a complete running time of 90 minutes or less, in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during 2017.

 

My dance card is almost full for this category:

  • Doctor Who, “Twice Upon a Time” (2017 Christmas Special)
  • Game of Thrones, “The Dragon and the Wolf” (Season 7, Episode 7)
  • The Magicians, “Lesser Evils” (Season 2, Episode 9)
  • Orphan Black, “To Right the Wrongs of Many” (Season 5, Episode 10)

Right now I have two more episodes of The Expanse to watch, and I’m pretty certain one of the season’s episodes will capture that last slot.  [Update 3/8/18: Added The Expanse, “Caliban’s War” (Season 2, Episode 13) to my ballot.]

 

There are so many other shows I’d like to eventually check out or catch up on:

  • American Gods (Starz)
  • Black Mirror (Netflix)
  • The Good Place (NBC)
  • The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
  • Outlander (Starz)
  • Stranger Things (Netflix)

Anything else I’m forgetting?  Maybe I’ll get to it before next year!

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Graphic Story

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Following Best Related Work on the Hugo Ballot is Best Graphic Story:

Any science fiction or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in 2017.

A relatively new category, it was first awarded in 2009 as a special category.  The 2009 Business Meeting approved it as an ongoing category provided it be re-ratified in 2012.  At that time, they decided it had enough interest and viability to become a permanent category.

One thing to keep in mind is that graphic novels are often collections of previously published single issues.  In that case, the year of eligibility is the original publication date of the final issue, not the publication date of the graphic novel itself.

 

Here’s what I’m looking at for Graphic Story:

Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson, Ashley A. Woods, and Becca Farrow
This caught my eye over on the 2018 Hugo nominee spreadsheet.  Dawson is an author whose books are on my TBR (as Lila Bowen).  The premise sounds fun, but I haven’t actually seen it mentioned anywhere else.  I may check it out anyway since I can access it from hoopla with my library account.

Bitch Planet, Vol. 2: President Bitch by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Taki Soma
This was recommended by nerds of a feather and others.  I would need to go back and read Vol. 1.  I picked up both recently in a Humble Bundle from Image Comics.

Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred by Damian Duffy and John Jennings
Having just finished Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler (and nominating it for Best Related Work), this should be a good follow-up.  It was also recommended by nerds of a feather.  [Update 3/15/2018:  added to my ballot.]

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book One by Emil Ferris
I read this because it’s on the BooktubeSFF Awards shortlist (and my library had it).  Designed to appear as though the protagonist is drawing her own story in a lined, spiral-bound notebook, the title comes from her love of horror comics.  But the real monsters here are all ostensibly human.  I’ve already added it to my Hugo Ballot.

Monstress, Volume Two: The Blood by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
Monstress, Volume One: Awakening was last year’s winner, and I really loved it.  They’re both also included in the Humble Bundle from Image Comics.  [Update 3/13/18:  added to my ballot.]

Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too by Jomny Sun
Another one shortlisted for the BooktubeSFF Awards (and I was able to get it through interlibrary loan).  It’s very cute and fun with more serious underlying themes, but I’m waffling about whether to nominate it or not.  [Update 3/13/18:  added to my ballot.]

Paper Girls, Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
Paper Girls, Vol. 1 was a finalist last year.  I would need to read Vol. 2 first.  All three are available on hoopla via my library.

Saga, Volume Seven by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Saga, Volume One was the winner in 2013, and subsequent volumes have been finalists almost every year since.  Saga, Volume Eight is also eligible this year.  [Update 3/16/2018:  added to my ballot.]

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 7: Damage Per Second by G. Willow Wilson, Mirka Andolfo, Takeshi Miyazawa, and Francesco Gaston
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal was the winner in 2015, and Ms. Marvel, Vol. 5: Super Famous was a finalist last year.  Ms. Marvel, Vol. 8: Mecca is also eligible this year.

Any other suggestions? (Preferably not too far into a series.)

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Related Work

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Following the fiction categories on the Hugo Ballot is Best Related Work:

Any work related to the field of science fiction, fantasy, or fandom appearing for the first time during 2017 or which has been substantially modified during 2017, and which is either non-fiction or, if fictional, is noteworthy primarily for aspects other than the fictional text, and which is not eligible in any other category.

This category first appeared in 1980 as Best Non-Fiction Book.  In 1999, it became Best Related Book.  Finally in 2010, it was given its current title.

At last year’s Business Meeting, there was a proposal to split the category into its old title of Best Non-Fiction Book and a new category for Best Art Book.  It was given to a committee which will be studying all the current categories and offering suggestions at this year’s Business Meeting.

I personally like the more catch-all nature of the current category, and I’m not in favor of narrowing it back to its original form.  It does sometimes making ranking in the final voting a bit of an apples to oranges comparison.  But it’s not that difficult, and I think it’s nice during the nomination period.

As much as I’d like to, I don’t think I could feasibly participate in an art book category.  Looking at those listed on this year’s Locus List, my library doesn’t have them, I haven’t seen them at the bookstore, and naturally they’re often pricey.  As with the idea of splitting Best Novel into separate fantasy and science fiction categories, I hope that clarifying and redefining current categories takes precedence over adding more.

 

Here’s what I’m planning to read for this category:

Gender Identity and Sexuality in Current Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by Francesca T Barbini
One of the essays in this collection is on the 2017 British Science Fiction Association Awards shortlist for Best Non-Fiction.  The subject should be engaging and topical.  [Update 3/16/18: added to my ballot.]

Science Fiction Criticism: An Anthology of Essential Writings by Rob Latham
This was one of the non-fiction items on the 2017 Locus Recommended Reading List.  It touts itself as “a comprehensive introduction to the study of this enduringly popular genre.” [Update 3/15/2018: added to my ballot.]

No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin has been one of my favorite writers (of both fiction and non-fiction) for almost my entire life.  I was very happy to see her win in this category last year while she was still with us.  Since this collects writing from her blog and I’ve been following her website for many years, I’m probably already familiar with a lot of it.  But it will be nice to revisit and remember.  [Update 3/16/18: added to my ballot.]

Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal
From the same publisher, from one of the same editors, and in the same format as Letters to Tiptree (winner of the 2016 Alfie Award for Best Related Work). This time dedicated to the ongoing influence of Octavia E. Butler. [Update 3/3/2018: added to my ballot.]

Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoë Quinn
Not something I would have thought to consider for this until I saw JJ’s review over at File 770’s Recommended SF/F List.  Sounds like it will be pertinent and helpful.

Don’t Live For Your Obituary: Advice, Commentary and Personal Observations on Writing, 2008-2017 by John Scalzi
Another one from the Locus List. Obviously intended for fellow writers, but I still find that sort of thing fascinating even as a reader without ambitions to write fiction.  And speaking as someone who’s probably read more of his blog than his fiction, Scalzi’s usually pretty entertaining on whatever topic he chooses. [Update 3/15/2018: added to my ballot.]

[Update 2/26/18:
This Is What a Librarian Looks Like: A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information by Kyle Cassidy
I saw this suggested on the Hugo Nominees 2018 Wiki and picked it up from the library today.  The book’s only relation to “science fiction, fantasy, or fandom” is that it includes some thoughts on libraries from a few SFF authors such as Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, and George R. R. Martin.  Not sure that’s enough for me to consider for nomination, but it sounds like a good read anyway.]

Any other suggestions?

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Series

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Appearing this year for the first time as an official category, we have Best Series:

A multi-installment science fiction or fantasy story, unified by elements such as plot, characters, setting, and presentation, appearing in at least three (3) installments consisting in total of at least 240,000 words by the close of 2017, at least one (1) installment of which was published in 2017.

Last year, Worldcon 75 had a special Best Series category to give it a test run before it was ratified as one of the ongoing categories.  Back in 1966, a Best All-Time Series Hugo was awarded to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.

This category has a couple of additional caveats.  A previous winner may not be a finalist in this category again.  Any other finalists must have at least two additional installments (with at least one published during the qualifying year) totalling at least 240,000 words since their last appearance in order to be eligible again.  I think it’s best to assume that last year’s Best Series winner and finalists are therefore ineligible even though that was technically a different one-off special category.  Of course, that will be up to the Hugo committee should any of them get enough nominations.

 

I’m woefully behind in reading series, and there’s no time to catch up or start something new now.  After looking through the massive list of possibilities compiled by the folks at File770, I found only seven series that I know I’ve read any part of (disregarding last year’s finalists).  And for various reasons, I don’t think I’ll be nominating any of them.

Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin, The Stone Sky
Jemisin herself has said that she’d rather this wasn’t nominated.  And yeah…a trilogy which has already received two Best Novel Hugos (and may well be a finalist again) doesn’t really need to be acknowledged as a series as well.  I see this category as intended more for honoring situations where the installments are good, but the overall series is where it really becomes Hugo-worthy.  Not that I’d want those that had won other Hugos to be explicitly excluded.  It would save me some reading this summer if it were a finalist.  Although she might decline the nomination anyway.

Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie, Provenance
I’m almost finished reading Provenance.  While there’s no question that this occurs in the same universe and shortly after her previous trilogy, it’s really only very tangentially related.

Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer
I enjoyed the first two, but I haven’t started the latest tome yet.  And since this is projected to be a ten book series, I think nominating it now is a little premature.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, “The Sons of the Dragon”
Um, yeah…no.  And also, Martin himself has requested it not be nominated.  I’ve loved this series for 20 years, but it’s a mass of cliffhangers right now.  I think anything nominated for series needs to have reached some conclusion, if not the overall ending.

Wild Cards by George R. R. Martin (and many others), Mississippi Roll
While I don’t feel it necessary to have read all of this series to nominate it, I’ve probably only read a handful of the stories and none of the actual collections or mosaic novels.

World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold, Prisoner of Limnos
I’ve only read the first two novellas in the Penric and Desdemona sub-series and none of the main series.  Going by the word counts given over at Rocket Stack Rank, the sub-series of novellas hasn’t quite reached the 240,000 word requirement to be nominated on its own.

Xuya Universe by Aliette de Bodard, “First Presentation”
This is a series of 24 short fiction works, and the author has confirmed that it meets the word requirement. But I’ve probably read less than a handful.

 

All of that to say, I’ve got nothing here!  Which series do you plan to nominate?

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Short Story

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Fourth and final of the classic fiction categories on the Hugo Ballot is Best Short Story:

A science fiction or fantasy story of less than 7,500 words that appeared for the first time in 2017.

The only possible change I can see for this category is splitting out flash fiction.  I haven’t really heard any serious discussion of that though.

 

In this case, I actually have six contenders for my five ballot slots:

I’ll probably end up eliminating one of the Ghost/Bird stories, but we’ll see.  Who knew that was a combo I’d like?  I’m not particularly fond of either individually!  [Update 3/15/18:  I left “If a Bird Can Be a Ghost” off my ballot here, but I nominated Allison Mills for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.]

 

I’m feeling the most prepared for this category because I made a point of reading all the 2017 original short fiction from eight sources:

 

If I have time (ha!), I’d like to read the online stories I haven’t gotten to yet from the 2017 Locus Recommended Reading List and the Year’s Best anthologies.  Asimov’s has now posted their five stories that made the Locus List (all of which also made one or more Year’s Best).  Jason at Featured Futures lists the stories chosen for the Clarke, Dozois, Horton, and Strahan annual anthologies in Collated Contents of the Big Year’s Bests (2017 Stories, with Links!).  The Spacefaring Kitten takes a thoughtful look at which stories Dozois and Strahan picked in Anthologies Answer Questions.

Any other 2017 short stories out there I shouldn’t miss?