Tag: best editor

Here is a guide to some of the work from this year’s six Hugo Finalists for Best Editor, Long Form.  Generally speaking, it is not easy to figure out who has done what in this category.  For each of the following editors, I’ve done my best to determine the novel-length works they edited which appeared during 2017 with links to excerpts where available.  Please leave any corrections or additions in the comments.

Update June 8, 2018:  Now that the Hugo Voter Packet is available, I’ve revised the following lists to reflect the information provided by the finalists themselves.

Update July 28, 2018:  Devi Pillai’s Hugo Voter Packet information has been corrected, and I’ve revised this post accordingly.

 

Sheila E. Gilbert is with DAW Books and has won one out of six nominations in this category.  As Seanan McGuire’s editor, she worked on Magic for Nothing, book six of the InCrypted series (one of this year’s Best Series finalists), and The Brightest Fell, book eleven of the October Daye series (one of last year’s Best Series finalists).  For those of us not caught up on series, here are the stand-alone or first-in-series books that Gilbert published in 2017:

• Halls of Law by V. M. Escalada
• Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines
• A Fading Sun by Stephen Leigh
• The Holver Alley Crew by Marshall Ryan Maresca
• A Spoonful of Magic by Irene Radford
• The Cityborn by Edward Willett

 

Joe Monti is with Saga Press, and this is his first Hugo nomination.  Here are the 2017 novels which Monti edited:

• The Berlin Project by Gregory Benford
• Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley (additional excerpt)
• The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley
• The Moon and the Other by John Kessel

 

Diana M. Pho is with Tor Books, and this is her first Hugo nomination.  I know exactly what 2017 books she edited because she did an eligibility post!  Here are the stand-alone or first-in-series books mentioned:

• The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis (additional excerpts)
• Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly (Nebula Finalist)
• Crossroads of Canopy by Thoraiya Dyer
• Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren (Andre Norton Award Finalist)

 

Devi Pillai moved from Orbit Books to Tor Books in 2016, and this is her second nomination in this category.  At Tor she co-edited Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, the third book in The Stormlight Archive (one of this year’s Best Series Finalists), along with Moshe Feder.  Pillai also edited the following 2017 novels from Orbit:

• Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky (Olympus Bound #2)
• Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (Best Novel Finalist)
• Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan

 

Miriam Weinberg is with Tor Books, and this is her second nomination in this category.  Among the 2017 books that she edited was Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan, the fifth and final book in one of this year’s Best Series Finalists, The Memoirs of Lady Trent.  With the exception of The Tiger’s Daughter by K Arsenault Rivera, the remaining books edited by Weinberg are also later books in series:

• Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald (Luna #2)
• A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab (Shades of Magic #3)
• Horizon by Fran Wilde (Bone Universe #3)

 

Navah Wolfe is with Saga Press, and this is her second nomination in this category.  Here are the 2017 stand-alone or first-in-series books Wolfe edited:

• Star’s End by Cassandra Rose Clarke
• The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss (Nebula Finalist)
• At the Table of Wolves by Kay Kenyon
• Winter of Ice and Iron by Rachel Neumeier
• Barbary Station by R. E. Stearns

 

Four out of six here are repeat finalists from last year along with two first-time finalists.  Devi Pillai was my one nominee who made the final ballot in this category.  I will definitely need to find out more and at least read some excerpts before making any decisions here.  What are your thoughts on these finalists?

Here is a guide to the work of this year’s six Hugo Finalists for Best Editor, Short Form.  Wherever possible, I’ve added links to full text, excerpts, or more details on the short fiction they edited during 2017.  Please let me know if you have any additional information or corrections.

 

John Joseph Adams has been a finalist in this category seven times.  As editor of Lightspeed Magazine, he has won two out of five nominations for Best Semiprozine.  (Lightspeed is now a professional magazine and no longer qualifies as a semiprozine.)  Adams edited the following magazines and anthologies last year:

• Lightspeed Magazine
• Nightmare Magazine
• Cosmic Powers
• The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 (with guest editor Charles Yu)

 

Neil Clarke has been a finalist in this category six times.  As editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, he has won three out of four nominations for Best Semiprozine.  (Clarkesworld has also graduated from semi-pro to pro and no longer qualifies in that category.)  Two novelettes from Clarkesworld, “The Secret Life of Bots” by Suzanne Palmer and “A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, are Hugo finalists this year.  Clarke edited the following magazines and anthologies last year:

• Clarkesworld Magazine
• Forever Magazine
• Galactic Empires
• More Human Than Human
• The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 2
• Touchable Unreality

 

Lee Harris was a 2014 finalist for Best Editor, Long Form.  This is his first time as finalist in this category.  He edited three of the Best Novella finalists:  All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #1), Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti #2), and Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #2).  Harris also edited the following short fiction from Tor.com last year:

• Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire
• Idle Ingredients by Matt Wallace (Sin du Jour #4)
• Greedy Pigs by Matt Wallace (Sin du Jour #5)
• Gluttony Bay by Matt Wallace (Sin du Jour #6)
• Brother’s Ruin by Emma Newman (Industrial Magic #1)
• Weaver’s Lament by Emma Newman (Industrial Magic #2)
• Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus
• Acadie by Dave Hutchinson
• A Long Day in Lychford by Paul Cornell (Lychford #3)
• “Persephone” by Seanan McGuire

 

Jonathan Strahan has been a finalist in this category nine times.  As co-host of The Coode Street Podcast, he has also been nominated five times for Best Fancast.  One of the novelettes he edited for Tor.com, “Extracurricular Activities” by Yoon Ha Lee (The Machineries of Empire), is a Hugo finalist this year.  Strahan also edited the following anthologies from Solaris and short fiction from Tor.com last year:

• Infinity Wars (The Infinity Project Vol. 6)
• The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 11
• Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
• Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Proof of Concept by Gwyneth Jones
• “Uncanny Valley” by Greg Egan
• “The Old Dispensation” by Lavie Tidhar
• “Sanctuary” by Allen Steele
• “The Martian in the Wood” by Stephen Baxter (The War of the Worlds)
• “The Future of Hunger in the Age of Programmable Matter” by Sam J. Miller

 

Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas are two-time finalists in this category.  As co-editors of Uncanny Magazine, they are also finalists for Best Semiprozine this year and the winners of that category for the previous two years.  As former editors of Apex Magazine, Lynne has three additional nominations for Best Semiprozine, and Michael has two.  Lynne has also won one of two nominations for co-editing Best Related Work finalists, won twice in Best Fancast as a moderator of SF Squeecast, and additionally been a finalist in Best Fancast both this year and in 2014 as a contributor to the Verity! Podcast.  Michael was also a co-editor of another Best Related Work finalist.  The following six stories from Uncanny Magazine are Hugo finalists this year:

• “And Then There Were (N-One)” by Sarah Pinsker
• “Children of Thorns, Children of Water” by Aliette de Bodard
• “Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time” by K.M. Szpara
• “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand” by Fran Wilde
• “Fandom for Robots” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
• “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon

 

Sheila Williams became the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in 2004 and has won two of eleven nominations in this category.  She was also a one-time finalist for Best Professional Editor just before the category was split into Long Form and Short Form.  One of Asimov’s novelettes, “Wind Will Rove” by Sarah Pinsker, is a Hugo Finalist this year.  Some of Asimov’s other notable stories from last year are currently available at the following links:

• Asimov’s 2017 Readers’ Awards Finalists
• Asimov’s stories on the 2017 Locus Recommended Reading List

 

I imagine I will probably rank Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas first since they were my only nominees which made the finalist list in this category.  I’m a regular reader of both Lightspeed and Clarkesworld so John Joseph Adams and Neil Clark will probably be second and third.  I nominated stories edited by Lee Harris and Sheila Williams and enjoyed most of the online Tor.com stories edited by Jonathan Strahan, but I really need to read more before making my final decisions.  What are your thoughts on these finalists?

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.

• Scott H. Andrews, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Jane Crowley and Kate Dollarhyde, Strange Horizons (starting in April)
• C. C. Finlay, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
• Jason Sizemore, Apex Magazine
• Lynn M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Uncanny Magazine

 

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?