Tag: 2018 hugo awards

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Novelette

Published on by Laura1 Comment

The third category on the Hugo ballot is Best Novelette:

A science fiction or fantasy story between 7,500 and 17,500 words that appeared for the first time in 2017.

A few years ago, there was some discussion of consolidating this category into the other short fiction categories, but the idea was pretty quickly rejected.  So I don’t see any changes being proposed here.

 

I’ve done a fair amount of reading at this length, so I’ve tentatively filled four of five slots on my ballot:

 

To find a contender for that final slot, I plan to take a look at some of the novelettes in the following sources:

  • Cosmic Powers edited by John Joseph Adams
  • The Book of Swords edited by Gardner Dozois
  • Infinity Wars edited by Jonathan Strahan
  • Asimov’s stories on the Locus Recommended Reading List

Any other suggestions?

 

One resource I use to find short fiction is Rocket Stack Rank.  Not only do they give their own reviews, but they highlight stories recommended by other sources and provide a lot of related information.

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Novella

Published on by LauraLeave a comment

The second category on the Hugo ballot is Best Novella:

A science fiction or fantasy story between 17,500 and 40,000 words that appeared for the first time in 2017.

If the committee formed at last year’s WSFS Business Meeting proposes any changes to this category, I imagine it might be to raise the upper word count limit to correspond with any suggested changes to the Best Novel category.

 

So far I have two choices penciled into my ballot:

 

And here are some others I’d like to get to before nominations close on March 16:

  • The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch
  • In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle [added to my ballot 2/22/18]
  • Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus
  • The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford
  • River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey
  • The Ghost Line by Andrew Neil Gray and J. S. Herbison
  • Acadie by Dave Hutchinson
  • Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
  • Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
  • The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy
  • Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire [added to my ballot 2/19/18]
  • Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire
  • Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman
  • Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor [read 2/21/18]
  • Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson
  • The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson
  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells [added to my ballot 2/18/18]
  • Killing Gravity by Corey J. White
  • The Black Tides of Heaven by J. Y. Yang
  • Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska

Any of those I should make sure to read?  Anything else I should look for?

 

In addition to the general recommendation sites I mentioned at the bottom of yesterday’s post, there’s JJ’s 2017 Novellapalooza post over at File 770.

2018 Hugo Awards: Best Novel

Published on by LauraLeave a comment

Nominations are now open for the 2018 Hugo Awards.  We have until 11:59pm Pacific Daylight Time (UTC−7:00) on March 16th to pick out our favorites from 2017.  First up, I’m looking at Best Novel:

A science fiction or fantasy story of 40,000 words or more that appeared for the first time in 2017.

 

So far, I’ve got a couple that will probably be on my ballot:

  • The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
  • Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

And I’m currently reading The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin.  At this point, it’s definitely on track to join my short list.  [Update 2/8/18:  Finished it last night and just added it to my ballot!]

 

In a world where I could read all I wanted (or at least read faster than I do), here are some others I’d consider:

  • Phantom Pains by Mishell Baker
  • Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys
  • The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone
  • Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
  • The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley
  • Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher
  • The Changeling by Victor LaValle
  • Provenance by Ann Leckie [added to my ballot 2/13/18]
  • Jade City by Fonda Lee
  • Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee
  • The Five Daughters of the Moon by Leena Likitalo
  • Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
  • New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
  • Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
  • The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
  • The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
  • Borne by Jeff VanderMeer [added to my ballot 2/17/18]
  • Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn

Any thoughts on what I should prioritize from that list?

 

Here are some places to find recommendations:

 

At last year’s WSFS Business Meeting, a committee was formed to look into possible changes to the Hugo Award categories.  Obviously Best Novel is here to stay, but I could see the word count requirement being raised.  The average novel length has definitely gotten longer, and books marketed as novellas are pushing into the lower end of this category.