# Warm-Up to Hugo Nominations 2016 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003 "2015-08-27T00:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/21 "2015-08-28T02:52:14Z")
**Best professional editor (long form)** The long form editor is problematic. The award was split off because it was almost exclusively won by magazine editors (Terry Carr won several times for his best of the year collections, David Hartwell won once, and Judy-Lynn Del Rey won the year after her death; her husband refused the award because it was given to her out of sympathy. The problem is that people don’t think of particular book editors, and often don’t know who they are. The candidates and winners are high-profile and well-known to fans from conventions. The same names show up almost every year. For instance, I think that David Hartwell is an fine editor, judging by the books he works on, but I only know what he’s doing when he talks about them, and from meeting him at cons. There may be others doing terrific work who don’t have such a big public presence, so it’s difficult to select anyone. **Best Dramatic Presentation** These are the most popular categories and always get the most votes. The winner for the long form is often the movie that had the biggest box office that year. Short form has been dominated by _Doctor Who_ lately for two reasons: it’s popular, and you can identify individual episodes. As an example, _Sense8_ did some great stuff this year, but it’s not easy to pick out individual episodes since the show was all one story. ---
**Author:** ![Amara\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@Amara\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amara_1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/22 "2015-08-28T02:56:27Z")
I believe that Andy Weir is still eligible for the Campbell. He wrote **The Martian** which is also coming out in film in this year. ---
**Author:** ![thotso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@thotso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thotso)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/23 "2015-08-28T09:16:48Z")
For shorts and novelettes… K. Tempest Bradford, who sometimes posts weekly lists of good reads, posted a “best stories of the year so far” list along with a few other reviewers on IO9 in June: [http://io9.com/what-are-the-best-short-stories-of-the-year-so-far-ju-1713433313](http://io9.com/what-are-the-best-short-stories-of-the-year-so-far-ju-1713433313) Several bloggers post lists & reviews of their faves. Short & Sublime: [http://skiffyandfanty.com/?s=Short+and+Sublime&submit=Search](http://skiffyandfanty.com/?s=Short+and+Sublime&submit=Search) J Sun: [http://jsun.freeshell.org/webzine\_reviews/](http://jsun.freeshell.org/webzine_reviews/) Nerds of a Feather monthly round (reviews of shorts): [http://www.nerds-feather.com/search/label/The%20Monthly%20Round](http://www.nerds-feather.com/search/label/The%20Monthly%20Round) Lois Tilton Reviews Short Fiction: [http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/category/lois-tilton/](http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/category/lois-tilton/) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/24 "2015-08-28T13:14:01Z")
> [@Amara\_1](#): > > I believe that Andy Weir is still eligible for the Campbell. He wrote **The Martian** which is also coming out in film in this year. He’s probably not eligible. The book was first self-published in 2011. That should be the start of the eligibility clock (though it is possible that someone might make an exception). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/25 "2015-08-29T17:43:15Z")
This is the rolling update for Novel, Novella, Novelette, and Short Story. I’ll get other update lists going for other categories. Feel free to point out works that don’t qualify. Novels in 2015: **Armada** Ernest Cline **The End of All Things** John Scalzi \*\*The Fifth Season \*\*(The Broken Stone #1) N.K. Jemisin **The Grace of Kings** Ken Liu **The Just City** (Thessaly #1) Jo Walton **The Library at Mount Char** Scott Hawkins **Karen Memory** Elizabeth Bear **Seveneves** Neal Stephenson **Uprooted** Naomi Novik Not released yet: **Ancillary Mercy** Ann Leckie **Shepherd’s Crown** Terry Pratchett Novelette or Novella: **Penric’s Demon** by Lois McMaster Bujold Short Stories: (collection) Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman (collection) The End Has Come (many authors) (collection) Shadows-Other-Stories by Aidan Moher ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/26 "2015-08-29T19:16:12Z")
From my short experience with the **Graphic Story** category, the list tends to skew away from regular mainline superhero titles. So I’m going to throw out \*\*Battlepug \*\*by Mike Norton, an artist for DC Comics. It’s available online as a webcomic and he also collects them into volumes. Online it begins [here](http://battlepug.com/comic/first). The volume published in 2015 is available on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Battlepug-Devils-Biscuit-Mike-Norton-ebook/dp/B014GAKZ9U/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440874561&sr=1-2&keywords=battlepug&pebp=1440874589398&perid=0M740P65RXENGHPJF6GM). The story in that volume starts http://battlepug.com/comic/2015/1/7/remember-that-night-many-years-ago"]here. I’m enjoying it, but may be biased because Mr. Norton came to [Stocktoncon](http://stocktoncon.com/), where he gave a panel presentation and had a booth. Besides the book he was also selling 8x10s of Battlepug dressed as different superheros and heroines. Sadly, the [Deadpool](http://www.ihatemike.com/image/111469506728)one was sold out. One of my nieces loves pugs, so that took care of her birthday present. (While I was looking for the links I discovered that Norton is also half of a podcast. I’ll check it out. His website is at [IHateMike.com](http://IHateMike.com) because [MikeNorton.com](http://MikeNorton.com) was already taken.) I haven’t kept up with comics, at least none that aren’t online. Feel free to advise. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/27 "2015-08-29T19:42:09Z")
**Fanzine** : Ansible [A Dribble of Ink](http://aidanmoher.com/blog/) [Tangent Online](http://tangentonline.com) Blogs with suggestions: [Rebekah Golden](http://rebekahgolden.com/2016-hugo-award-suggestions/) (books) [Chaos Horizon](https://chaoshorizon.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/2016-hugonebula-watchlist/) (books) [io9 article](http://io9.com/what-are-the-best-short-stories-of-the-year-so-far-ju-1713433313) (shorts) [Short and Sublime](http://skiffyandfanty.com/?s=Short+and+Sublime&submit=Search) [J Sun](http://jsun.freeshell.org/webzine_reviews/) [Nerds of a Feather](http://www.nerds-feather.com/search/label/The%20Monthly%20Round) [Lois Tilton Reviews](http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/category/lois-tilton/) in Locus Magazines that publish shorter writing: [Analog](https://www.analogsf.com/2015_10/index.shtml) [Asimov’s](http://www.asimovs.com/)[Clarkesworld](http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/) [Fantasy & Science Fiction](https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/) [Galaxy’s Edge](http://www.galaxysedge.com/) [Lightspeed](http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/28 "2015-08-29T19:58:37Z")
According to the [Chalion wiki](http://chalion.wikia.com/wiki/Penric's_Demon) - **Penric’s Demon** is a novella. I’ll clean up the list later. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/29 "2015-08-29T21:42:30Z")
Armada was disappointing to me, but a lot of my friends really liked it. Uprooted is the top of my list this year. I’m nominating The Martian also (they usually vote on eligibility based on how well known the self-pub was, whether it’s been significantly altered between then and now, and a few other things I’m sure.) They can sort it out and if it’s disqualified, eh. I tried. Binta by Okorafor is either novella or novellette, and is really good. Really dense and hard-edged and powerful. 5th Kingdom by Jemisin was a solid addition to her series of books. Someeally nifty worldbuilding and magic/deity ideas going on in that series. I’m hoping Ancillary Mercy is more like Justice than like Sword. Sword suffered from middle-book-of-the-trilogy sag a bit, and some weird character choices. Pratchett’s pretty much guaranteed to be on there. It’s his last book, it’s a Tiffany Aching book, and even before he passed, it was feverishly expected. Jim Butcher (of Dresden Files fame) has a steampunky space opera fantasy The Aeronaut’s Windlass (I think). That’s out very soon. The Just City is good in a strange fable/philosophy sort of way, and it also has a sequel out already that I haven’t gotten to yet. Library at Mt Char is on my list, but keep hearing it’s dark and gory, so it may not be one I read. I’ll update as I learn of/read more. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/30 "2015-08-29T23:30:27Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Library at Mt Char is on my list, but keep hearing it’s dark and gory, so it may not be one I read. It’s definitely dark and gory, but it’s so over-the-top that it’s funny. Very minor spoiler about a bit of characterization: A character who specializes in murder and warfare squeezes the hearts of his victims into his hair, creating a foul-smelling rotten fly-infested helmet of dried blood. He reeks of charnel from this and similar habits. Also, he knows nothing about human culture, so when he needs to dress himself from an abandoned house, he chooses the item closest to his traditional gladiatorial skirt: a pink tutu. We’re not talking GRR Martin here. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/31 "2015-08-31T20:12:00Z")
**Old Venus** is a short story collection by GRRM and Gardner Dozois, and has some really absolutely stand-out stories in there. Everything’s from 2015, so they’re all qualified. I’ve got three out of the bunch that I could easily see nominating this time around. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/32 "2015-09-03T14:13:05Z")
Sigh. I wanted to start reading The End is Come, but it’s the third collection in a trilogy. So of course I started with the first book first. I’m maybe a quarter of the way through the second book (The End is Now). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/33 "2015-09-08T14:33:12Z")
Part of the way through **The End is Now.** Trying to decide if I want to read [Supersymmetry](http://www.amazon.com/Supersymmetry-David-Walton/dp/1633880982/ref=la_B002BMID4K_1_2_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441722422&sr=1-2) next. By David Walton, it’s a detective/political thriller/SF book with quantum physics. I’ve bought **Old Venus**. Thanks for that tip. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/34 "2015-09-08T15:09:07Z")
Currently reading **The Dead Lands** , described as a mix of Stephen King (i.e., The Stand), Cormac McCarthy (i.e., Blood Meridian), and Lewis and Clark. It’s got some pretty lovely passages, but I’m not convinced it brings much to the post-apocalyptic genre. Ooh, look, a deadly flu, plus mutant radiation monsters and evil dictators in isolated pockets of civilization! How original! I just finished **Beyond Redemption** , which I think is gonna get a lot of buzz. And deservedly so: its magic system is really something new, and is incredibly realized, and its characters are mostly interesting. At the same time, I think it suffers from two fatal flaws, which I’ll spoiler although they don’t necessarily spoil much: [spoiler]The magic is predicated on the idea that the delusions of insane people shape reality, and the stronger the delusion, the stronger the effect. That’s pretty awesome. Except all the insane people in the book, all the folks with magic powers, are casual murderers of innocent people. I think it would’ve been much more interesting if only the sociopaths were casual about murder, and the pyromaniacs and kleptomaniacs and multiple personalities and such had a normal attitude toward murder. A related problem is the role of the sane in the book: very few of them are named, and almost all of them serve no role in the book except to die gruesomely. It’d have been nice for some of the sane people to have actual personalities.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/35 "2015-09-08T16:39:48Z")
For Graphic Story, assuming that the Foglios don’t get it yet again for _Girl Genius_, my recommendation is _Schlock Mercenary_, which deserves its many nominations but has yet to actually win. For being a self-proclaimed schlocky space opera, it actually does a heck of a job both on the science and on the science fiction. Currently, humans (as well as a number of other races in the Galaxy) are finding themselves poised on the brink of immortality, and trying to come to grips with all that that signifies… and never mind that the AIs they use have long since come to grips with most of those issues. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/36 "2015-09-09T04:38:00Z")
For Best Novel: I enjoyed **The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet** by Becky Chambers. It’s a well-done tale about a new person joining the crew of a spaceship, and some of the adventures they have while completing their mission. It’s got passable world-building, some neat aliens, good guys, bad guys and a happy ending of sorts. It has been called “Firefly with Aliens”, but I think that’s a little unjust. At the other extreme, I enjoyed **Karen Memory** by Elizabeth Bear. It’s a rollicking steampunk yarn set in an alternate universe, sometime in the 1890s (part of the story involves gold miners going to and from Alaska). It’s set in River City (which absolutely isn’t Seattle with the numbers filed off). Took me a couple of chapters to get in to it, but then I found I couldn’t put the book down. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/37 "2015-09-09T05:58:54Z")
Finished **The End Has Come** , a collection of post-apocalyptic short stories. I liked Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn and The Happiest Place by Mira Grant. Other than being post-apocalyptic, there wasn’t much science in either one, though. Although that could probably be expected in a P-A short story. Starting **Penric’s Demon**. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/38 "2015-09-15T15:10:01Z")
**Penric’s Demon** was good light reading. It felt like a prequel or an origin story. I’m reading through \*\*Old Venus \*\*the short story collection by GRRM and Gardner Dozois that **Lasciel** recommended. I agree that most of the stories are solid. This is a theme collection. The editors solicited stories from name authors, asking to write a story set on Venus as it was understood/speculated to be in the thirties through fifties. Why give up a location just because it doesn’t match what we now know about the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/39 "2015-09-27T17:47:25Z")
\*\*Old Venus \*\*was an interesting read. The introduction spoke of the subgenre of Planetary Romance, also called Sword and Planet stories. It was Mariner 2 that sent back readings in 1962 proving that Venus had no swamps, jungles, or oceans, and was far too hot to support the sort of life likely to wield a sword or swoon over daring explorers. But “. . . why not rekindle the wonderful, gorgeously colored dream of Old Venus?” I must not be very romantic. The story I liked best was “Greeves and the Evening Star”, a Wodehouse homage by Matthew Hughes. What can I say, I have a weakness for comedy. “Bones of Air, Bones of Stone” by Stephen Leigh also hit a sweet spot for me, but it’s more introspective than a strict romance would be. The one I though was most straightforwardly Planetary Romance was “A Planet Called Desire” by Gwyneth Jones. The protagonist is all that a planetary romance could hope for. It’s hard to describe without hitting spoilers. “Frogsled and Lizardback to Outcast Venusian Lepers” by Garth Nix also fits the subgenre well, with more interference by government agencies. It also has more irreverence and a team of expeditionists, able to survive where most humans cannot go. I like it better. None of the stories were clunkers. I recommend the book. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003/40 "2015-09-27T18:07:24Z")
OK, it finally dawned on me that **The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage** qualifies as a Related Work. At least I’m pretty sure it does. Bits were posted online at [2D Goggles](http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/)earlier, but the book, with bits re-written and plenty of added information, was published by Pantheon in 2015. This is something that I can unhesitatingly recommend for nomination. I’ve been following the “webcomic with footnotes” since I discovered it. I took a day off to drive to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View when Sydney Padua, the author/artist, was interviewed by Ryan Germick, Google Doodle Leader. I am a fan. I will be nominating this. The webcomic is still online. The start is[here](http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/lovelace-the-origin-2/). The book expands the origin story, but the original has better pacing and punch, if less information. I recommend both digging through the website and reading the book. The website is hyperlink rich. Has anyone else read this? Is it a better fit for Related Work than for Graphic Novel? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warm-up-to-hugo-nominations-2016/729003.md?page=3)