{"id":8490,"date":"2012-04-10T00:15:31","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T08:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/?p=8490"},"modified":"2012-04-10T10:17:19","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T18:17:19","slug":"my-reaction-to-the-2012-hugo-award-shortlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/articles\/my-reaction-to-the-2012-hugo-award-shortlist\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the 2012 Hugo Award Shortlist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Hugo_Logo_1_350px.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Hugo_Logo_1_350px-210x300.png\" alt=\"Hugo Awards Logo\" title=\"Hugo Awards Logo\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-7603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Hugo_Logo_1_350px-210x300.png 210w, https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Hugo_Logo_1_350px.png 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a>I might be late to the party here, but a few people have asked for my thoughts on this year&#8217;s Hugo ballot. A <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/asides\/an-aside-my-thoughts-on-the-2011-hugo-award-winners\/\" title=\"An Aside | My thoughts on the 2011 Hugo Award Winners\" target=\"_blank\">similar article last year<\/a> inspired much conversation, particularly with regards to &#8220;Best Fanzine&#8221; and &#8220;Best Fan Writer.&#8221; So, then, here goes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Bold is my choice of winner<\/strong><br \/>\nAsterisk (*) indicates that they were included on <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/asides\/an-aside-my-2012-hugo-nominations\/\" title=\"An Aside | My 2012 Hugo Nominations\" target=\"_blank\">my ballot<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Best Novel<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey<\/li>\n<li>Deadline by Mira Grant<\/li>\n<li>A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin*<\/li>\n<li>Embassytown by China Mi\u00e9ville<\/li>\n<li><strong>Among Others by Jo Walton*<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m happy to see <em>Leviathan Wakes<\/em> on the list. It didn&#8217;t make my nominations, but only because of the last minute addition of <em>The Night Circus<\/em> by Erin Morgenstern (which I&#8217;m sorry, but not surprised, to see miss the final ballot). It&#8217;s a fun science fiction adventure with noir undertones. Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are both great guys and I&#8217;m excited for the work they&#8217;ve been doing recently. I wouldn&#8217;t be upset to see this win, despite it just missing my own ballot. Also interesting to note is that before <em>Leviathan Wakes<\/em>, Franck was best known as the personal assistant of George R.R. Martin, who also has a novel on the list. Has there ever been a case of an author and their PA being nominated in the same category at the Hugos? I&#8217;d love to be at breakfast the morning after the awards if &#8220;Corey&#8221; wins the award. Talk about awkward. ;)<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nI was confused last year when <em>Feed<\/em> made the list (and almost won) and equally bemused\/curious to see its sequel, <em>Deadline<\/em>, appear on the short list this year. I can&#8217;t speak to the quality of the novel (and people seem to <em>love<\/em> Mira Grant\/Seanen McGuire), but no one, in any of the circles I wander through, seemed to talk about <em>Deadline<\/em> before these nominations. There was little buzz when it was released and it didn&#8217;t really have an impact on the discussion of SFF throughout 2011, despite my watching very closely for its presence due to my curiosity surrounding <em>Feed<\/em>&#8216;s inclusion last year. All this suggests, though, is that the world of the average Hugo voter is very different from the world of online fandom that I find myself in. I do find it delightfully ironic that, for two years in a row, a novel about bloggers can get nominated by a group of people who often seem so reticent to admit that we exist in SFF fandom (though this year we seem to have seen the first of those bricks fall.)<\/p>\n<p><em>A Dance with Dragons<\/em> is a funny one. It made my ballot, despite some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/reviews\/not-a-review-early-thoughts-on-a-dance-with-dragons-by-george-r-r-martin\/\" title=\"(Not a) Review | Early thoughts on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R.R. Martin\" target=\"_blank\">obvious reservations<\/a> I had about and its quality when stacked up against some of the earlier volumes of <em>A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em>. Still, with my sky high expectations stripped away, <em>A Dance with Dragons<\/em> was a tremendous novel that I feel deserves recognition for its accomplishments. I also expect that <em>A Dance with Dragons<\/em> is to Martin as <em>The Departed<\/em> is to Scorsese (who, oddly, is also among this year&#8217;s Hugo nominees); it might not be his best work, but it may be recognized by voters in an attempt to make up for the fact that <em>A Storm of Swords<\/em> (the finest Fantasy released since the turn of the century, if you ask this blogger) was robbed by one of J.K. Rowling&#8217;s more mediocre novels. I won&#8217;t vote for it due to the issues I had for it, but I&#8217;m happy to see it here.<\/p>\n<p><em>Embassytown<\/em> I have no opinion of. It&#8217;s Mieville, so everyone who&#8217;s ever come within a breath of SFF fandom knew it would be included here. From what I gather it&#8217;s not even one of his better novels (something I just excused Martin for in the previous paragraph), though probably closest of the nominated novels to the template that&#8217;s long found success with this award.<\/p>\n<p>My vote will be going to <em>Among Others<\/em>. I&#8217;ve seen some criticism levelled against the inclusion of <em>Among Others<\/em> on the ballot, suggesting that its nostalgic road-trip through SFF fandom in the early &#8217;80s panders too directly towards the older, long-in-the-trenches Hugo Voters. This might be true, but as a voter who wasn&#8217;t even born yet when <em>Among Others<\/em> was taking place, I can&#8217;t can&#8217;t blame nostalgia for my immense enjoyment of it. <em>Among Others<\/em> is a sweet book about fandom and escapism, about magic, family and recovery. There&#8217;s wonderful imagery and characterization in the novel and its melancholy is often tempered by a nice sense of humour and discovery. It&#8217;s a beautiful novel and I would be thrilled to see Walton walk away with the silver rocket.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Novella<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Countdown by Mira Grant (Orbit)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Ice Owl\u201d by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy &#038; Science Fiction November\/December 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.maryrobinettekowal.com\/journal\/i-am-43-today-have-a-novella-as-a-party-favor\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cKiss Me Twice\u201d by Mary Robinette Kowal<\/a> (Asimov\u2019s June 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kijjohnson.com\/MistBridge.doc\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Man Who Bridged the Mist\u201d by Kij Johnson<\/a> (Asimov\u2019s September\/October 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/kenliu.name\/binary\/liu_the_man_who_ended_history.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Man Who Ended History: A Documentary\u201d by Ken Liu<\/a> (Panverse 3)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/clarkesworldmagazine.com\/valente_10_11\/\" target=\"_blank\">Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente<\/a> (WSFA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t read any of these, but will do so, and review each of the stories (if available) before I cast my final vote. I&#8217;m particularily looking forward to the contributions from Kowal and Liu.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Novelette<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.asimovs.com\/2012_02\/images\/TheCopenhagenInterpretation_Cornell.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Copenhagen Interpretation\u201d by Paul Cornell<\/a> (Asimov\u2019s July 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tor.com\/stories\/2012\/03\/fields-of-gold\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cFields of Gold\u201d by Rachel Swirsky<\/a> (Eclipse Four)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cRay of Light\u201d by Brad R. Torgersen (Analog December 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tor.com\/stories\/2011\/06\/six-months-three-days\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cSix Months, Three Days\u201d by Charlie Jane Anders<\/a> (Tor.com)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWhat We Found\u201d by Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy &#038; Science Fiction March\/April 2011)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>See above. I&#8217;m most interested in Swirsky&#8217;s story. Curious about Torgersen, given his appearance on the Campbell ballot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Short Story<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/clarkesworldmagazine.com\/yu_04_11\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees\u201d by E. Lily Yu<\/a> (Clarkesworld April 2011)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Homecoming\u201d by Mike Resnick (Asimov\u2019s April\/May 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/escapepod.org\/2011\/10\/13\/ep314\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cMovement\u201d by Nancy Fulda<\/a> (Asimov\u2019s March 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/a1018.g.akamai.net\/f\/1018\/19022\/1d\/randomhouse1.download.akamai.com\/19022\/pdf\/Paper_Menagerie.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Paper Menagerie\u201d by Ken Liu<\/a> (The Magazine of Fantasy &#038; Science Fiction March\/April 2011)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tor.com\/stories\/2011\/04\/the-shadow-war-of-the-night-dragons-book-one-the-dead-city-excerpt\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cShadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue\u201d by John Scalzi<\/a> (Tor.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The inclusion of Scalzi&#8217;s story seems a little glib, but, in all, it seems like a solid list. As with the above two categories, I will read and review this before the final vote. Liu and Yu have best caught my eye.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Related Work<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz)<\/li>\n<li>Jar Jar Binks Must Die\u2026 and Other Observations about Science Fiction Movies by Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books)<\/li>\n<li>The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image)<\/li>\n<li>Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire<\/li>\n<li>Writing Excuses, Season 6 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I have no real comment here. I love Writing Excuses, so it&#8217;ll probably get my vote, but The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is also important.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Graphic Story<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)<\/li>\n<li>Fables Vol 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)<\/li>\n<li>Locke &#038; Key Volume 4, Keys to the Kingdom written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)<\/li>\n<li>Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)<\/li>\n<li>The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Again, no comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely, directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)*<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.)*<\/li>\n<li>Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount)<\/li>\n<li>Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)*<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m not thrilled with this list. Shocked not to see <em>Super 8<\/em> on here, and disappointed that <em>Midnight in Paris<\/em> and <em>The Adjustment Bureau<\/em> were missed, especially with the inclusion of <em>Captain America<\/em>. I chose to nominate individual episodes of <em>Game of Thrones<\/em>, rather than the series as a whole, but it will certainly get my vote.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe Doctor\u2019s Wife\u201d (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Drink Tank\u2019s Hugo Acceptance Speech,\u201d Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Girl Who Waited\u201d (Doctor Who), written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cA Good Man Goes to War\u201d (Doctor Who), written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cRemedial Chaos Theory\u201d (Community), written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)*<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So incredibly thrilled to see &#8220;Remedial Chaos Theory&#8221; on there, I didn&#8217;t expect it even had a chance to make the ballot; too bad it&#8217;ll lose to Gaiman&#8217;s episode of <em>Dr. Who<\/em>. I&#8217;m utterly baffled by the inclusion of Garcia and Bacon&#8217;s acceptance speech. If the Hugo voters couldn&#8217;t see how much of an &#8220;old boy&#8217;s club&#8221; they were before this, it&#8217;s certainly clear now. I&#8217;d just like to point out that this acceptance speech garnered more votes than &#8220;Baelor&#8221; (<em>Game of Thrones<\/em>), which is one of the finest television episodes I&#8217;ve watched in years. Weird.<\/p>\n<p>EDIT: In the comments section below, Kevin Standlee, who has had long ties with the Hugo Awards administration and knows the rules inside-and-out, explains how the inclusion of <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> in the Long Form category make it impossible for single episodes to appear in the Short Form category:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>You have no way of knowing that until the final figures are released after the Hugo Awards ceremony this September. Once the Administrator ruled that Game of Thrones Season 1 was a single serialized work and had enough nominations to make the Long Form ballot, none of the individual episodes, regardless of how many nominations they received, were eligible for Short Form. If you think this isn\u2019t fair, imagine a novel serialized over a period of several months, and imagine you nominating both the novel as a novel and one of the serialized pieces as (say) a novelette. Generally speaking, a work can\u2019t be in two categories simultaneously, and this is one of those cases. For all we know, \u201cBaelor\u201d got more nominations than anything else, but since it\u2019s part of the longer work, it\u2019s not eligible on its own.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Which makes sense to me, so I&#8217;ll wait with some curiousity to see the final nomination statistics later this year. Though I chose to vote for individual episodes, and kept the show off my Long Form nomination list, for, essentially the same reasons as above, I&#8217;m happy to see the show being recognized regardless of category.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Semiprozine<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/apex-magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Apex Magazine<\/a> edited by Catherynne M. Valente, Lynne M. Thomas, and Jason Sizemore<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ttapress.com\/interzone\/\" target=\"_blank\">Interzone<\/a> edited by Andy Cox<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lightspeedmagazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lightspeed<\/a> edited by John Joseph Adams*<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.locusmag.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Locus<\/a> edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nyrsf.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">New York Review of Science Fiction<\/a> edited by David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Dikeman, and Avram Grumer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Lightspeed<\/em> is the only of these to make my own ballot, so, by default, it gets my vote. Still, a strong list and I&#8217;m generally happy with it. Would have liked to have seen <em>Beneath Ceaseless Skies<\/em> get a nod.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Fanzine<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/efanzines.com\/BananaWings\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Banana Wings<\/a> edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/efanzines.com\/DrinkTank\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Drink Tank<\/a> edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/file770.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">File 770<\/a> edited by Mike Glyer<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/efanzines.com\/JourneyPlanet\/\" target=\"_blank\">Journey Planet<\/a> edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, et al.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfsignal.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">SF Signal<\/a> edited by John DeNardo*<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I had <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/asides\/in-light-of-the-hugo-awards-an-updated-bio\/\" target=\"_blank\">some fun at their expense<\/a> earlier, but I&#8217;m absolutely chuffed to see SF Signal on the ballot. I&#8217;ve spent the last couple of years campaigning for the blogosphere to get the recognition it deserves for its growing place within the overall discussion of fandom (seriously, SF Signal has over 14,000 subscribers, it&#8217;s huge) and SF Signal making the ballot is a great step in that direction. Congratulations to John Denardo, all the writers at SF Signal (of which I am one, though fairly infrequently) and the Hugo voters for seeing that this happened. Well deserved. Hopefully this helps open the door in future years for single-author blogs to gain attention from the voters. I am disappointed not to see a blog like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pornokitsch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pornokitsch<\/a> on here, especially with the double-nomination for Bacon and Garcia, but I will take small victories as they come. <a href=\"http:\/\/joesherry.blogspot.ca\/2012\/04\/2012-hugo-award-nominees.html\">Joe Sherry<\/a> has some smart things to say about this award, all of which I agree with:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I very firmly believe that blogs are where the heart of the modern fanzine lives today. There is still a small but strong community built around the old style mimeographed fanzines of yesteryear, the most prominent of which are still being published and launched online at e-fanzines (and possibly still existing in print), but so many more fans are gathering online and writing blogs, commenting on others, contributing, and engaging in meaningful conversations in a way that builds fandom. Yes, small islands exist in this online fandom, but I believe that small islands always existed with the old style fanzine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Also, I would be remiss not to congratulate <a href=\"http:\/\/file770.com\" target=\"_blank\">File 770<\/a> for its 29th nomination for the award. Too bad the world ending later this year will hold them back from lucky number thirty. Maybe then, in whatever era is ushered in by the end of the Mayan Calendar, some fresh blood will have a shot at getting on the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in learning more about Fanzines and their history, check out Christopher J. Garcia&#8217;s recent article about subject, <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/articles\/ma-vie-en-zines-by-christopher-j-garcia\/\" title=\"Christopher J. Garcia on Fanzines\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Ma Vie En Zines,&#8221;<\/a> right here on <em>A Dribble of Ink<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Fan Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>James Bacon<\/li>\n<li>Claire Brialey<\/li>\n<li>Christopher J Garcia<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jim C. Hines*<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Steven H Silver<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Though I&#8217;m disappointed that again we&#8217;re left with no prominent writers from the blogging community, I&#8217;m happy to see Hines on the list. Christopher J. Garcia recently contributed here at <em>A Dribble of Ink<\/em>, which I&#8217;m very grateful for and excited about, and hopefully that won&#8217;t be the last time I help to introduce some of the readers in the blogosphere to the writers that appear on this list year-after-year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Fancast<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan &#038; Gary K. Wolfe<\/li>\n<li>Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)<\/li>\n<li><strong>SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester*<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente<\/li>\n<li>StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>SF Signal will get my vote. John, JP and Patrick do a great job week-in-and-week-out on it and I&#8217;m thrilled beyond belief to see such good friends make it on this ballot. I should also note that I&#8217;ve appeared on the SF Signal podcast on a few occasions. In all, a very strong ballot. I also quite enjoy The Coode Street podcast and what I can understand of StarShipSofa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Professional Editor \u2014 Long Form<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Lou Anders*<\/li>\n<li>Liz Gorinsky<\/li>\n<li>Anne Lesley Groell<\/li>\n<li>Patrick Nielsen Hayden<\/li>\n<li>Betsy Wollheim*<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Both Wollheim and Anders were on my list, which is cool, though I&#8217;m not sure which of the two I&#8217;ll vote for. This is a tough category, because, while I respect both Groell and Wollheim greatly, they are both editors of the two novels from last year that I felt could have used, well&#8230; a firmer hand in reining in their authors: <em>A Dance with Dragons<\/em> by George R.R. Martin and <em>The Wise Man&#8217;s Fear<\/em> by Patrick Rothfuss. It&#8217;s often difficult to tell how an editor has affected a novel (as we rarely see early drafts) and so this award, I presume, is meant to be more indicative of the work acquired and published by editors in a given year. Just writing this out, it looks like I&#8217;ll be voting for Lou Anders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Professional Editor \u2014 Short Form<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>John Joseph Adams*<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Neil Clarke<\/li>\n<li>Stanley Schmidt<\/li>\n<li>Jonathan Strahan<\/li>\n<li>Sheila Williams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Adams is the only of the nominees on my original ballot, so he&#8217;ll get my vote. That said, I was under the impression that Clarke had pulled his eligibility, otherwise he would have been on my ballot. I guess that was just Clarkesworld that wasn&#8217;t eligible this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Professional Artist<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Dan dos Santos<\/li>\n<li>Bob Eggleton<\/li>\n<li>Michael Komarck<\/li>\n<li>Stephan Martiniere<\/li>\n<li>John Picacio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>None of my nominees made this list, which is saddening. It&#8217;ll be a toss up between Dos Santos and Picacio for me. Picacio&#8217;s work on the <em>A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em> calendar is particularly strong.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best Fan Artist<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Brad W. Foster<\/li>\n<li>Randall Munroe<\/li>\n<li>Spring Schoenhuth<\/li>\n<li>Maurine Starkey<\/li>\n<li>Steve Stiles<\/li>\n<li>Taral Wayne<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>No real comment other than to point out that Wayne said some very silly things in <a href=\"http:\/\/file770.com\/?p=8557#comments\" target=\"_blank\">this conversation about the Fanzine and Fan Writer awards<\/a>. Also, I don&#8217;t consider Randall Munroe to be a Fan Artist. I will look into the work from these artists before casting my votes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Mur Lafferty<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stina Leicht*<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Karen Lord<\/li>\n<li>Brad R. Torgersen<\/li>\n<li>E. Lily Yu<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Since reading her debut, <em>Of Blood and Honey<\/em> (<a href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/reviews\/review-of-blood-and-honey-by-stina-leicht\/\" title=\"Review | OF BLOOD AND HONEY by Stina Leicht\" target=\"_blank\">REVIEW<\/a>), I&#8217;ve been openly enthusiastic about my love for her fiction. She&#8217;s my clear vote here and I urge everyone to read <em>Of Blood and Honey<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>I would also like to point out that E. Lily Yu, whose &#8220;The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees&#8221; is nominated for &#8220;Best Short Story,&#8221; is only 21 years old, which is a wonderful story and certainly works against the idea that the Hugo voters are entirely impenetrable to new writers. At only 21, Yu seems to have a very bright, very exciting future ahead of herself.<\/p>\n<p>On the flip side, Justin Landon, of <a href=\"http:\/\/staffersmusings.blogspot.com\" title=\"Staffer's Book Review, edited by Justin Landon\" target=\"_blank\">Staffer&#8217;s Book Review<\/a>, has some interesting thoughts about this category that I think deserve some discussion.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>My first thought on this list are that only two eligible novels have been published by authors on it &#8212; one each for Leicht and Lord. Lafferty will have a novel out in 2013, well past her continued Campbell eligibility (and Torgersen has one in the works). I know this award is for short fiction as well as novels, but Yu and Laffery have only one story each that qualifies under the award. Torgersen at least has several, now in his second year of eligibility. The take away from this list is that several thousand words are enough to make you the Best New Writer of 2011. I feel like the floor should be a little higher. At least in Torgersen and Yu&#8217;s cases, their stories are also nominated for Best Novella and Novelette respectively, giving some hope that despite the scarcity of their work, what they&#8217;ve had published is of exceptional quality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can read the entirety of Landon&#8217;s thoughts <a href=\"http:\/\/staffersmusings.blogspot.ca\/2012\/04\/comments-on-hugo-short-lists.html#comment-form\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>. I respect the Campbell Award&#8217;s position to reward great writer&#8217;s of short fiction (I discovered one of my favourite writers, Saladin Ahmed, this way), but Landon makes an interesting observation about the low barrier to entry for making it onto this list. I don&#8217;t know enough about these writers, or the archaic eligibility rules for the award, to properly comment, but I encourage anyone with insight into the matter to please broach the subject either here or at Landon&#8217;s blog.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, more Hugo reactions from friends and foes alike:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/joesherry.blogspot.ca\/2012\/04\/initial-thoughts-on-2012-hugo-nominees.html\">Adventures in Reading<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/staffersmusings.blogspot.com\/2012\/04\/comments-on-hugo-short-lists.html\">Staffer&#8217;s Book Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/ofblog.blogspot.ca\/2012\/04\/quick-but-not-fast-analysis-of-2012.html\">The OF Blog<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/file770.com\/?p=8665\">File 770<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cheryl-morgan.com\/?p=13493\">Cheryl Morgan<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cheryl-morgan.com\/?p=13504\">and again<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/whatever.scalzi.com\/2012\/04\/07\/the-hugo-award-nominees-2012\/\">The hivemind at John Scalzi&#8217;s <em>Whatever<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tested.com\/news\/articles\/43827-the-hugo-award-nominees-for-2012-are-out\/\">Tested.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/james-nicoll.livejournal.com\/3700780.html\">James Nicoll<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What are your thoughts on the nominations?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I might be late to the party here, but a few people have asked for my thoughts on this year&#8217;s Hugo ballot. A similar article last year inspired much conversation, particularly with regards to &#8220;Best Fanzine&#8221; and &#8220;Best Fan Writer.&#8221; So, then, here goes: Bold is my choice of winner Asterisk (*) indicates that they&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/articles\/my-reaction-to-the-2012-hugo-award-shortlist\/\" title=\"ReadThoughts on the 2012 Hugo Award Shortlist\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[38,57,59],"class_list":["post-8490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-fantasy","tag-hugo-awards","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v14.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/articles\/my-reaction-to-the-2012-hugo-award-shortlist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoughts on the 2012 Hugo Award Shortlist - A Dribble of Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I might be late to the party here, but a few people have asked for my thoughts on this year&#8217;s Hugo ballot. A similar article last year inspired much conversation, particularly with regards to &#8220;Best Fanzine&#8221; and &#8220;Best Fan Writer.&#8221; So, then, here goes: Bold is my choice of winner Asterisk (*) indicates that they... 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