It's Hugo Time! How I Voted

Yeah, I know I was trying to write up each category individually, but the last few days of voting just got away from me. I had to return to the day job, and the final evenings were spent trying to hammer out my votes on the last few categories. So I thought I'd just paste my full ballot and add a few comments.

Best Novel

1. The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
2. A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
3. The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
4. Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
5. Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
6. No award
7. The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)

(I was still juggling this category through the final hours. I moved Memory up and January down, and stuck a No Award in there because discussing Anders' book just cemented in my mind how much I didn't like it. But Kameron Hurley's glorious, unsubtle, political, timely mindfuck of a story has pretty much been at the top of my list ever since I first read it.)

Best Novella

1. In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
2. To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)
3. The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga Press/Gallery)
4. The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
5. “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
6. This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)

(Looking back, this was a weaker category, for me. Mainly because two excellent novellas I read from Asimov's Science Fiction, "The Work of Wolves" by Tegan Moore and "Waterlines" by Suzanne Palmer, didn't make the final ballot. It will be interesting when the longlists are released to see how close they came.)

Best Novelette

1. “For He Can Creep”, by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com, 10 July 2019)
2. “Away With the Wolves”, by Sarah Gailey (Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy Special Issue, September/October 2019)
3. Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))
4. “Omphalos”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
5. “The Archronology of Love”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, April 2019)
6. “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2019)

Best Short Story

1. “Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2019)
2. “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons, 9 September 2019)
3. “As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)
4. “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, May 2019)
5. “A Catalog of Storms”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2019)
6. “Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, by Rivers Solomon (Tor.com, 24 July 2019)

Best Series

1. The Expanse, by James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
2. Winternight Trilogy, by Katherine Arden (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)
3. InCryptid, by Seanan McGuire (DAW)
4. Planetfall series, by Emma Newman (Ace; Gollancz)
5. No award
6. The Wormwood Trilogy, by Tade Thompson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
7. Luna, by Ian McDonald (Tor; Gollancz)

Best Related Work

1. Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood, by J. Michael Straczynski (Harper Voyager US)
2. The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, by Farah Mendlesohn (Unbound)
3. Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, produced and directed by Arwen Curry
4. The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, by Mallory O’Meara (Hanover Square)
5. Joanna Russ, by Gwyneth Jones (University of Illinois Press (Modern Masters of Science Fiction))
6. “2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech”, by Jeannette Ng

Best Graphic Story or Comic

1. The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: “Okay”, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image)
2. Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
3. Paper Girls, Volume 6, written by Brian K. Vaughan, drawn by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher (Image)
4. LaGuardia, written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin (Berger Books; Dark Horse)
5. Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image)
6. Mooncakes, by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker, letters by Joamette Gil (Oni Press; Lion Forge)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

1. Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios/Narrativia/The Blank Corporation)
2. Us, written and directed by Jordan Peele (Monkeypaw Productions/Universal Pictures)
3. Captain Marvel, screenplay by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios/Animal Logic (Australia))
4. Russian Doll (Season One), created by Natasha Lyonne, Leslye Headland and Amy Poehler, directed by Leslye Headland, Jamie Babbit and Natasha Lyonne (3 Arts Entertainment/Jax Media/Netflix/Paper Kite Productions/Universal Television)
5. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, screenplay by Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams, directed by J.J. Abrams (Walt Disney Pictures/Lucasfilm/Bad Robot)
6. Avengers: Endgame, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Studios)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

1. Watchmen: “This Extraordinary Being”, written by Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson, directed by Stephen Williams (HBO)
2. Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, written by Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof, directed by Nicole Kassell (HBO)
3. The Mandalorian: “Redemption”, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Taika Waititi (Disney+)
4. The Expanse: “Cibola Burn”, written by Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck and Naren Shankar, directed by Breck Eisner (Amazon Prime Video)
5. Doctor Who: “Resolution”, written by Chris Chibnall, directed by Wayne Yip (BBC)
6. No award
7. The Good Place: “The Answer”, written by Daniel Schofield, directed by Valeria Migliassi Collins (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal Television)

(Y'all know Dramatic Presentation nominees are going to be pretty thin next year, right? We'll have to scour the depths of streaming channels to find stuff to put on the ballot.)

Best Editor, Short Form

1. Sheila Williams
2. Neil Clarke
3. Ellen Datlow
4. Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
5. Jonathan Strahan
6. C.C. Finlay

Best Editor, Long Form

1. Navah Wolfe
2. Sheila E. Gilbert
3. Devi Pillai
4. Diana M. Pho
5. Miriam Weinberg
6. Brit Hvide

Best Professional Artist

1. Tommy Arnold
2. Galen Dara
3. Rovina Cai
4. Alyssa Winans
5. Yuko Shimizu
6. John Picacio

(Tommy Arnold really impressed me with his work, especially the cover for Gideon the Ninth, which I liked better than the actual book.)

Best Semiprozine

1. Strange Horizons, Vanessa Rose Phin, Catherine Krahe, AJ Odasso, Dan Hartland, Joyce Chng, Dante Luiz and the Strange Horizons staff
2. FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editor Troy L. Wiggins, editors Eboni Dunbar, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Danny Lore, Brandon O’Brien and Kaleb Russell
3. Uncanny Magazine, editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
4. Fireside Magazine, editor Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson, copyeditor Chelle Parker, social coordinator Meg Frank, publisher & art director Pablo Defendini, founding editor Brian White
5. Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, audio producers Adam Pracht and Summer Brooks, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart
6. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews

(I expect Uncanny Magazine to take this again, as they've been an unstoppable juggernaut for the past few years. If they do, I really wish they would recuse themselves from the category for the next year or two. It would be nice to let someone else take a turn, especially one of my top two placements.)

Best Fanzine

1. nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, and The G
2. The Book Smugglers, editors Ana Grilo and Thea James
3. Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
4. Journey Planet, editors James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Ann Gry, Chuck Serface, John Coxon and Steven H Silver
5. Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice Marcus, senior writers Rosemary Benton, Lorelei Marcus and Victoria Silverwolf
6. The Rec Center, editors Elizabeth Minkel and Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Best Fan Writer

1. Cora Buhlert
2. Bogi Takács
3. Paul Weimer
4. Adam Whitehead
5. Alasdair Stuart
6. James Davis Nicoll

(I subscribe to Cora's blog and am thus a bit prejudiced, but I really hope she gets this.)

Best Fan Artist

1. Grace P. Fong
2. Elise Matthesen
3. Ariela Housman
4. Sara Felix
5. No award
6. Meg Frank
7. Iain Clark

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

1. Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan)
2. The Wicked King, by Holly Black (Little, Brown; Hot Key)
3. Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
4. Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee (Disney/Hyperion)
5. Minor Mage, by T. Kingfisher (Argyll)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)

1. R.F. Kuang (2nd year of eligibility)
2. Tasha Suri (2nd year of eligibility)
3. Sam Hawke (2nd year of eligibility)
4. Jenn Lyons (1st year of eligibility)
5. Nibedita Sen (2nd year of eligibility)
6. Emily Tesh (1st year of eligibility)

So there we are.

Now I have my 2020 TBR pile teetering on my nightstand and can start working on it! Go me!

It's Hugo Time! Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

(Note: This is technically Not-a-Hugo, like the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and has to be labeled as such, even though it's awarded with the rest of the Hugos during the same ceremony. This is apparently one of those Necessary Distinctions That Make No Difference.)

This is another of the newest categories, for Young Adult SFF books. There are a couple of middle-grade books on this ballot, one of which I couldn't read because I couldn't get the packet-provided NetGalley link to work and it's not available at my library. I did try reading an Amazon excerpt but so many pages were omitted I couldn't really get a sense of the story. So, unfortunately, Fran Wilde's Riverland is omitted from my ballot.

Sorry, No

Minor Mage, T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)

T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon has written some lovely, whimsical, and downright terrifying stories (I have her adult horror novel, The Twisted Ones, and it scared the kee-rap out of me). This young-adult novella is about Oliver, a twelve-year-old mage who heads out with his three near-useless little spells (except when push comes to shove, they turn out to be not so useless after all) to bring the rain to his drought-stricken village. This was cute and sometimes funny, but definitely not at the top of the Kingfisher/Vernon pantheon.

Knocking On the Door

Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee

(Full review here)

I'm sure many thirteen-year-olds loved this book, but its uneven and sometimes uncomfortable blend of Korean myth and science fiction didn't really work for me.

We Have a Winnah!

Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer

(Full review here)

This is a full-length expansion of Kritzer's Hugo-winning short story, "Cat Pictures Please." I think it has a good chance of taking this category, even if I couldn't quite put it at the top.

The Wicked King, Holly Black

(Full review here)

No book is for everyone, and this one even more so. If you can't handle morally twisted, ethically compromised, sometimes sociopathic, oft-murderous, and utterly compelling Fae and human characters, steer clear of this series.

Deeplight, Frances Hardinge

(Full review here)

This was the first time I'd ever read one of Hardinge's books, and this was quite the introduction. This is a lovely, thoughtful story (if sometimes terrifying--there's more than a bit of body horror to be found here), with fascinating worldbuilding and depth of characterization.

Next up: Best Semiprozine

It's Hugo Time! Best Related Work

Best Related Work is sometimes a sort of grab-bag, stuff that doesn't readily fit anywhere else (witness Archive of Our Own's win last year). Occasionally I think the rules need to be tightened a bit, to better define exactly what a "Related Work" is...but on the other hand, the inherent goofiness of a category that can encompass cookbooks, art books, serious academic biographies, restaurant guides, filk CDs, YouTube videos, and websites has a wacky charm all its own. That being said, I don't think some of the goofier nominees should necessarily win.

Sorry, No

Jeannette Ng's 2020 Campbell Award Acceptance Speech

I want to make it clear that I applaud what Jeannette's speech actually did (although I think Alec Nevala-Lee's book Astounding had a bit of play in the outcome as well). Her speech was the catalyst for the SFF community rethinking who it wants to honor, and whether people for whom awards have been named in the past really deserve such recognition today. My problem is that I simply cannot compare a two-minute snippet of video, no matter the important paradigm shift it inspired, to a beautifully filmed documentary, an exhaustively researched biography, or a harrowing and ultimately uplifting memoir. I kinda wish CoNZealand could bestow a Special Award for Best Related Moment to this, to acknowledge what it accomplished.

Knocking On the Door

Joanna Russ, Gwyneth Jones

Thank goodness for the Hugo packet this year, as two of the books in this category, including this one, were unavailable at my library, in either print or ebook. There was only a two-chapter excerpt included, but that was enough to reveal that this book was rather dry and meh, to me. 

We Have a Winnah!

These last four places were really tight. This is another chessboard of moving pieces, with this the current order...but I still have a few days to change my mind.

The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, Mallory O’Meara

(Full review here)

I nominated this. This story of the forgotten woman who designed the last great Hollywood monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, is equal parts sad and infuriating. 

"Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin," produced and directed by Arwen Curry

This is a lovely documentary, filmed with love and care, highlighted by some rather neat animated sequences to illustrate Ursula's books. 

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, Farah Mendlesohn

Fortunately, this book was also part of the Hugo packet, and we got the whole thing (thank you, Unbound Publishing). I haven't quite finished, because damn it is a dense read, wading far into the analytical weeds. But I've read enough to make my placement. I do tend to tilt in the analytical direction, and any other time, I probably would have ranked it first...

...except for this. 

Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood, J. Michael Straczynski

(Full review here)

I don't know if this book will win, because it's such a harrowing story to read. You should be prepared for this, because it needs ALL the content warnings. It's a profoundly disturbing tale, but in the end it is also an inspiring one.

Next up: Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (Not-a-Hugo)

It's Hugo Time! Best Series

Best Series is one of the newer Hugo Awards, set up to commemorate the long-running series in the field. There are some fairy strict requirements on it--such as, a previous winner may not be nominated again; and a previous nominee can only requalify if two years have passed and at least 240,000 more words have been published. (Which leads to some reservations about my top pick, as we shall see.)

Needless to say, this category adds a LOT of reading for a voter each year. I lucked out a bit this year, as three of the nominees were on my ballot, meaning I'd already completed them.

Sorry, No

Luna, starting with Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

The Wormwood Trilogy, starting with Rosewater, by Tade Thompson

This actually could be expanded further, as a Sorry HELL no. I tried my best to get into both these series. I attempted to read Luna: New Moon twice and bounced off it hard both times--both the characters and the setting turned me off--and finally gave up on Rosewater after 260 pages, when I knew I didn't care about any of the people found within.

In any event, I really disliked both books. So on my final ballot, they are at the bottom, with "No Award" above.

We Have a Winnah!

There aren't any "knocking on the doors" in this category--the remaining four entries are solid finalists, and I shuffled them around a few times before deciding on the final rankings.

Planetfall, Emma Newman

This series isn't so much a sequence of plotlines as one big, world-defining event at its center and its consequences, explored through the eyes of several different characters. The first book is dragged down by its awful ending, but subsequent books are better, with Before Mars my personal favorite.

InCryptid, Seanan McGuire

Seanan regularly (at least so far) rotates appearances in this category, between this series and the October Daye series. I'm sure she'll get this trophy one of these years, but I just couldn't put her above the remaining two finalists.

The Winternight Trilogy, Katherine Arden

I nominated this. It's a lovely story based on Russian folklore, enchantingly told. One of the best things about it, for me, was watching the writer's development from book to book. When she reaches the third book, she is fully in control of her story, and the results are magic.

The Expanse, James S.A. Corey

I'm a wee bit put out with the voters for putting this on the ballot this year, only because the final book in the series is coming out next year (I believe) and unless it doesn't win and that final book isn't 240,000 words long, it can't appear again. (Or they write another novella after the final book, I suppose.) Having said that, this big, sprawling, galaxy-spanning space opera series is what this category was made for, and I had to put it at the top.

Next up: Best Related Work

It's Hugo Time! Best Fan Writer

Fan Writers come in two flavors, it seems to me: Reviewers and Analytics. The Reviewers are just that: they take a book/story/movie/video game and break it down into Good/Bad, Read/Don't Read, Watch/Don't Watch categories. The more entertaining Reviewers, of course, have their own well-thought-out definitions of what falls into their personal go/no go, and can explain their conclusions about a specific work in sometimes excruciating detail. (I've been guilty of that myself.) If you stumble upon a good Reviewer, many times the bad reviews are more entertaining than the good ones.

(The late, sorely missed Roger Ebert, of course, was the master at this, as shown here. For my money, he produced the most eviscerating review of a movie I've ever read, commenting on Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.)

The Analytics are a bit more wide-ranging: they take an SFF-related subject and drill down into it, commenting on theme, text and subtext, and history. These are generally longer, chewier reads than the Reviewers. Neither approach is better than the other, of course; it depends on what the reader wants at a given moment. But I tend to lean towards the Analytic side of the spectrum (depending on the subject and how well the Analytic tackles it) and my ratings in this category reflect this.

So, this is divided into two parts.

The Resourceful Reviewers

James Davis Nicoll

James is the purest, most voracious book reviewer on this ballot. In 2019, according to his Hugo packet, he read and reviewed 244 books. This works out to about a day and a half of reading and writing per book. Of course, he gets paid for it, so he certainly has an incentive to be fast. But because of this, his reviews are sometimes...a bit shallow. Not that swift and shallow doesn't have its place, mind you, to help you determine quickly if a book might be for you. I just prefer something with a little more meat on its bones.

Alasdair Stuart

Alasdair expands the canvas a bit, as he has a newsletter and also does podcasts. In his packet, he offers examples of all of these, which turns out to be quite a bit of (to me) unfocused scattershot material. Again, this is fine if it's your thing. It's not really mine.

Adam Whitehead

I subscribed to Adam's blog, "The Wertzone," on the strength of his Hugo nomination this year. In looking at his Hugo packet entries, I see he has a great interest in what might be considered minutiae, such as the size of the planet Arrakis, and he definitely has a thing for maps. Unfortunately, I....don't.

Paul Weimer

Paul's Hugo packet was a bit difficult to read, as the Epub formatting was...rather weird, shall we say. (Edit: I went back and tried the PDF version and that was a lot better.) His work is a mix of reviews and interviews, written in an unpretentious, engaging style, with nice details and delving into the books he reviews.

The Accomplished Analytics

Bogi Takacs

Bogi mainly does reviews, but has a laser-sharp, distinct focus: e reviews marginalized authors, and a lot of eir work deals with trans/intersex issues. One of the highlights of eir packet was eir deep dive into Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy (which I really must get around to one of these days).

Cora Buhlert

(Disclaimer: When Cora was putting her Hugo packet together, she asked on her blog for suggestions as to what to include, and I made a couple of suggestions. So if you don't like something in her packet, I suppose I'm at least partially to blame...)

Cora is a full-on Analytic, and it shows in pretty much everything she writes. She turns out the kind of deep, detailed, long-form pieces you don't see much on the internet anymore. Her Hugo packet shows this off well, with subjects including space opera, hopepunk, steampunk, Star Wars, Star Trek: Discovery, the Dragon Awards, Margaret St. Clair, and--my personal favorite--"Ian McEwan is Clueless About Science Fiction," a delightfully snarky takedown of authors writing in the SFF field without any knowledge of its tropes and traditions.

On this ballot, amidst this competition, Cora Buhlert comes out on top, for me.

Next up: Best Series

It's Hugo Time! Astounding Award for Best New Writer

The Hugos have opened for voting!

Fortunately, the deadline has been extended a week (to July 22, although that might make it tight on CoNZealand's end).

This category used to be called the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer, until the acceptance speech of last year's winner, Jeannette Ng (itself a nominee for Best Related Work this year, which I will get to). After that uproar, Dell Magazines, the owner and administrator of the award--it's included in the Hugo ceremony, but is quote-unquote "not a Hugo," the same as the new Lodestar Award--changed the name to the Astounding Award for Best New Writer.

This category is a bit different in that there were no nominees I actively disliked: no "Sorry, No," in other words. Instead, there were two that made the final cut and four that were on the border, as it were.

Knocking On the Door

Nibedita Sen secured this nomination on the strength of her short stories; indeed, her "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island" is a finalist for Best Short Story (although I preferred another story she included in her packet, "Leviathan Sings To Me In the Deep," a twisty little horror tale of a whale who gets the ultimate revenge on her whaler). It is a bit unfair to compare the writers of novels to the writers of short stories, as the book writer gets more of a chance to show off her skills at longer lengths. On the other hand, it is a testament to Nibedita Sen's skills as a writer that she made the ballot with her short stories, even if she didn't ascend to the top spot, for me.

Emily Tesh made the ballot on the strength of this novella, a retelling of the Green Man legend. This was...okay, but it didn't excite me all that much.

(Full review here)

This is a chunky doorstopper fantasy from Jenn Lyons, if you like that sort of thing. It was a bit more focused than the usual, not succumbing to the cast-of-thousands-and-dozens-of-POVs that tend to put me off reading them, so I did manage to finish it. Having said that, I doubt I'll jump back into the series again.

(Full review here)

Sam Hawke's book is definitely a step up from the previous finalist, both in characterization and worldbuilding. As a first novel, it did have some pacing problems (as they usually do), especially at the climax, but the characters were well-drawn and engaging. 

We Have a Winnah!

(Full review here)

Tasha Suri's novel was a most pleasant surprise, and one I might have overlooked had she not appeared on the Astounding ballot. This novel, inspired by Indian history with a magic system based in Hindu beliefs and rites, is a damn fine debut. 

(Full review here)

R.F. Kuang's outstanding second novel was one of my five-star reads from last year, so it's no surprise that Kuang takes the top slot (although Tasha Suri gave her a bit of a run for her money). This is a brutal, bloody story of war and insane gods, and needs just about all the content warnings you can muster, so be warned. 

Next up: Fan Writer

It's Hugo Time! Best Graphic Novel

Sorry, No

Mooncakes, Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker

This love story between a teenage witch and a werewolf was cute, sweet, light and fluffy as a feather, and about as memorable. I'm sure it's just the kind of story some readers need right now. I am not that reader. 

Knocking On the Door

LaGuardia, Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford

This alien-invasion story of intelligent plants and discrimination is very on the nose, a thinly disguised metaphor for the United States today. It sorta grabbed my interest, but didn't hold it for very long.

Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans

This was a grimdark and brutal story, and the art reflected that. I think it would have more appeal to gamers though, and I don't fall into that category.

We Have a Winnah!

Paper Girls Volume 6, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang

After time travel from the far past to the distant future, Erin, Mac, Tiffany and KJ get back to where they started. Quite satisfying ending. One of my nominees.

Monstress Volume 4: The Chosen, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

The art is as gorgeous and unique as ever, even as the story gets more convoluted. What I appreciated about this volume is Kippa the fox girl coming into her own. She is a voice of compassion and kindness in a bloody, grimdark world.

The Wicked and the Divine Volume 9: "Okay," by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

When I read this, I thought, "How in the heck did this not get nominated before?" (Also, I deeply appreciate Image Comics making all the previous volumes available--without watermarks, no less!--in the Hugo Voters' Packet. I couldn't have made sense of Volume 9 otherwise.) This story of twelve gods reborn as human beings every ninety years, living for two years and then dying, and their renouncing their powers and breaking free in the final cycle is excellent. I didn't think anything could have knocked Monstress out of the top slot for me, but this just might have managed it.

(And I'm still waiting for voting to open, hint hint. The calendar is marching on, hint hint.)

It's Hugo Time! Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

This one's going to be tough, because right now I have a four-way tie for first place. I'll have a think on this a while before deciding my final placements. (And voting has yet to open.... 😞)

Sorry, No

Doctor Who, "Resolution"

I'm not really a Whovian as such; that is, I'm not one of the fans who's watched it for years and years and could describe every tic on David Tennant's or Peter Capaldi's faces. I did get interested when Jodie Whittaker took over the role, and watched a few episodes of her first season--I was particularly impressed by "Demons of the Punjab." I've also read a bit about the Daleks, but know very little of their storied history. So this was a sort of new antagonist for me, and I must say I wasn't overly impressed.

To be sure, part of this was the fact that the Daleks are what? Fifty-some years old, and created in an era when television special effects were decidedly primitive? Now, I know modern Who tends to revel in its cheesiness, and that was certainly in evidence here. But for crying out loud, in spite of all the Doctor's dire warnings about the Dalek, in its metal shell the thing looked like an overgrown, awkward, bumpy chess piece. I kept wondering why the Doctor just didn't angle the Tardis in and knock it over, because I couldn't see how it could get up. It was actually more frightening in its alien squid form.

(Of course, that led to the most cringey, facepalming moment of the entire episode, when the female guest star went to check out the odd sound, and spotted said alien squid perched on the wall. Then she proceeded to approach the squid--despite my screaming at my monitor, "OH FOR FRAK'S SAKE HAVE YOU NEVER WATCHED ALIEN OR ANY HORROR MOVIE EVER,"--and touch the damn thing.)

To be sure, the Doctor and companions succeeded in sloughing the Dalek off Ryan's father's back and into space--while somehow avoiding simultaneously dumping all of the Tardis's oxygen supply--but the entire storyline just seemed mediocre to me. The subplot with Ryan and his father was slightly more interesting, but the episode as a whole was simply not that good.

The Good Place, "The Answer"

I kowtow to no one in my dislike of The Good Place. I've tried to watch previous Hugo-nominated episodes, and more often than not couldn't finish them. These people are not funny or even likable, seeming to be more of a collection of exaggerated sitcom stereotypes than real people, and the dialogue doesn't sound like something even semi-real people would say. Having said that, I did finish this episode, but not because I liked the characters any better. Chidi appeared to be stuck at the age of eight until the very end, trying to logic, nitpick and intellectualize his way through life (no wonder his girlfriend walked out on him). I finally realized I liked some of the philosophical ideas the characters were presenting, but I wished said ideas were coming out of anybody but these people's mouths. 

We Have a Winnah!

The Expanse, "Cibola Burn" 

I nominated one episode of The Expanse Season 4, but it wasn't this one. It was episode 9, "Saeculum." This episode was more of a preparation for season 5 than a proper ending in and of itself. Not that it was't good--it certainly whet my appetite for the upcoming season 5--but I didn't think it represented the best of the season. 

The Mandalorian, "Redemption" 

Now this was a proper ending, directed by Taika Waititi in his trademarked action-packed, poignant and humorous style. We got a glimpse under Mando's helmet, and saw Pedro Pascal's face! Gina Carano really can act, and did a fine job here! IG-11 had an emotional send-off, and Mando accepted the responsibility of Baby Yoda, setting off at the end to find his people. This was the longest episode of the season, but all the payoffs were definitely here. 

Watchmen, "A God Walks Into Abar" and "This Extraordinary Being"

Here we have two episodes from Watchmen's excellent first season, and they're neck and neck for me. "This Extraordinary Being" is more or less a standalone, telling the origin story of the vigilante superhero Hooded Justice, and "A God Walks Into Abar" is more of a love story, recounting the relationship of the show's lead Angela Abar and Dr. Manhattan. This entire first season, of course, is bound up in the history of race relations in America, and retelling the 1921 Tulsa Black Wall Street massacre. Now, of course, it is more pointed and necessary than ever. 

Whew. This shows what an embarrassment of riches we have on genre TV and streaming these days, because I think this ballot--as much as I love Good Omens--walks all over the Long Form nominees. 

Review: Mooncakes

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a sweet, straightforward, and somewhat slight story of a witch and a female werewolf taking down a demon and falling in love. The art is simple and cute to match. I liked it well enough, but I don't think it's a story for the ages.

View all my reviews

It's Hugo Time! Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Now that the Hugo deadline has been announced (July 15) I have to get cracking. Fortunately, I had already watched and/or nominated most of these. In looking over the list again, I have to say that in retrospect, it's kind of a weak Long Form year.

Sorry, No

Avengers: Endgame

I was afraid this movie would be all spectacle with precious little substance, and that turned out to be the case, at least as far as I was concerned. Yeah, Tony reconciled with his father and Steve got his happy ending with Peggy (even if the resultant timeline made no damn sense), but the bloat and confusing chrono-hopping dragged the movie down. (Just as an aside, Kameron Hurley does that sort of thing a helluva lot better in her Hugo-nominated novel The Light Brigade, which is a far better use of your time than this movie.) I suppose if one were really into these characters and the whole Marvel universe, one could overlook this...but the shabby treatment of Natasha Romanov pretty much killed any benefit-of-the-doubt I might have offered. I know she's going to get her own movie, which I will see if/when it comes out, but it's a bloody prequel, and she's still going to be dead. 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

My complaints about this movie are similar to Endgame, only more so...more bloat, more useless CGI spectacle, and even less character development. Look, I realize JJ Abrams was handed an impossible task: wrap up a (mostly) beloved nine-part series while juggling multiple iconic characters and simultaneously dealing with the heartbreaking loss of Carrie Fisher and trying to pacify the noisy entitled fanboys who raised holy hell over what Rian Johnson did in The Last Jedi. He failed, and unfortunately he was set up to fail. That doesn't mean he made a good movie. The best of the few and far between highlights came from Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver (even if the latter's redemption was waayyyyyyy too rushed, and depended heavily on an uncredited Harrison Ford cameo). The other characters were dealt with sketchily and shallowly, if at all, and the pacing was so fast and frantic it sucked the oxygen out of the room. Also, about Carrie Fisher...I appreciate Abrams' efforts to honor her memory and work her into the film as best he could. Her passing left gaping holes in the story. That being the case, I wish the movie had opened with General Leia Organa's funeral, and we could have had a proper closure for both actress and character.

Knocking On the Door

Captain Marvel

This was a fairly good origin film, and certainly better than Endgame. I liked it well enough, but it didn't quite wow me. They did a very good job with the special effects, however, particularly the de-aging of Samuel L. Jackson (as the 20 years younger and two eyed Nick Fury) and Phil Coulson. In fact, they descended into the uncanny valley less than some of the shots of Goose, Carol's flerken-in-a-cat-suit. The most memorable scene was the sight of a preening, posturing Yon-Rogg challenging Carol to a fight, and her effortlessly smashing him into the ground a good football field's length away, then marching up to him and proclaiming: "I have nothing to prove to you." Also, the final after credits scene....good heavens, I hope my cat never harks up anything like that. 

We Have a Winnah!

Russian Doll, Season 1

Is this the year of time hoops? Because that's what this is, and it's far better than Endgame. Maybe that's because the central Groundhog Day-conceit is never explained. There is no quasi-scientific handwaving or bafflegab, it simply happens. It happens because the main character, the gloriously messed-up game designer Nadia, meets a suicidal young man one fateful night. Because Nadia is so enthralled with her sleazy fucktoy, she fails to make the one crucial intercession that would have led to the young man, Alan, not killing himself. Due to this, both she and Alan are locked into an intertwined karmic loop, reliving that day over and over (and dying over and over, in all sorts of morbidly ingenious ways), until they both dig down into their characters and help each other, and thus break free. This show is tightly plotted and structured, with equal attention given to the characters. There's supposed to be a season season, but I rather hope not--I honestly don't know what else they could do that wouldn't feel like a diminished retread. 

Us

I'm beginning to think that Jordan Peele can do no wrong. This inventive horror story, anchored by an outstanding performance from Lupita Nyong'o (who deserved an Oscar nomination, dammit), was full of poetry and metaphor. I didn't understand some of it--especially the Hands Across America thing--but those images have remained in my mind ever since. 

Good Omens

I went searching for the title credits to embed here, because I loved them. I could watch them over and over. The whimsical music, the little paper cutouts of Crowley and Aziraphale, the glimpses of characters that would appear in the miniseries--they show off this program in all of its absurd British glory. I think Sir Terry would have been very proud of this. 

****

Now that I've downloaded the Hugo packet, I can start some serious ranking. (Although voting hasn't opened yet. That should be soon, I hope. With their sudden unavoidable switch to a virtual convention, I'm sure those people are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and I certainly don't want to pressure them further. But...soon? Please?) 

It's Hugo Time! Novellas

Yes, folks! My holds from the library have finally started trickling in. One of my local libraries has a drive-up window, and the other is reopening this week for curbside pickup. In this category, I only had one book left to read.

Sorry, No

This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (full review here)

I'm going to say here and now this is the novella that probably will win. Everybody seems to have raved about it....except me. I didn't hate it, but as far as I'm concerned, it had a great many problems. It was beautifully written, but the worldbuilding left a lot to be desired.  To put it bluntly, as a science fiction story, this made no frakking sense, and for me, the lovely prose couldn't carry the day all by its lonesome.

Knocking At the Door

The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djeli Clark (full review here)

Compared to his excellent novella The Black God's Drums, this fell a bit short. Having said that, there's some interesting worldbuilding here I wouldn't mind revisiting.

"Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom," Ted Chiang, from the collection Exhalation

I didn't like this as well as "Omphalos," the other nominated story from this collection. Mainly because the ending wasn't that great. Having said that, Ted Chiang spins out ideas as easily as most other writers pen their names. 

We Have a Winnah!

The Deep, Rivers Solomon w/Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes (full review here)

This is based on the Hugo-nominated Clipping song, expanded into a full book. There's a lot to think about here, dealing as it does with the weight of memory, the responsibility of the historian, and how trauma is transmitted from generation to generation.

In An Absent Dream, Seanan McGuire (full review here)

As I wrote when I read this about a week ago, this is a "fairy tale with teeth." It also doesn't have a happy ending, so bear that in mind.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate, Becky Chambers (full review here)

Out of all the nominees in this category, this one surprised me the most. I haven't been overly impressed with Becky Chamber's books in the past; they've been either twee, silly, or plotless, and usually all three. This one works. Maybe it's because of its shorter length, or the better characterization, or the fact that it's fairly bursting with a love of science and the scientific method. It poses important questions for its future Earth to consider that ring true for our day as well.

These top three are very close. I'm sure I'll be shifting their slots in my mind for quite a while.

It's Hugo Time! Novelettes

Novelettes are kind of a kludgy category, squished in between short story and novella. It's really a long-ish story (the official definition is between 7500 and 17,500 words). They do have a bit more room for characterization and worldbuilding. All of this year's nominees are available online, with the exception of Ted Chiang's "Omphalos," which is found in his short story collection Exhalation. 

Sorry, No

"The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye," Sarah Pinsker

Normally I like Pinsker's stories, but I didn't care for this one at all. I think it was because of how cavalier the writer's assistant was about her...condition. I mean, she's just been enabling this alien creature inside the writer for who knows how many years, following it when it emerges from the writer's sleeping body and scraping the eggs from the people it kills (only one in five)? Really? That's like being touchy-feely with a facehugger. 

Knocking On the Door

"Omphalos," Ted Chiang

It may be blasphemy to even assign Chiang this rating, as he's been an awards favorite for decades. He's made his stellar reputation entirely on his infrequently-published stories. That said, he strikes me as sometimes caring more about his ideas and thought experiments than his characters. Not that he can't write good characterization: "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" and "The Great Silence" (the latter of which made the room get very dusty when I read it) proves otherwise. This story follows the other pattern: the idea is great, the characters...less so. 

"The Archronology of Love," Caroline M. Yoachim

The first line of this story sums it up: "This is a love story, the last of a series of moments when we meet." It also involves aliens, nanites, and a layered time repository like an archaeological dig. I liked it, but it wasn't outstanding.

We Have a Winnah! 

"Emergency Skin," N.K. Jemisin

This is a story only N.K. Jemisin could write--a post-apocalyptic scenario where the planet improved once the white supremacists/1% abandoned Earth to climate change and stormed off to a colony world in a huff; where the people took back control, destroyed capitalism, and instituted a utopia that restored the planet; and when a descendant of the selfish parasites who left returns to Earth to get the cell cultures needed to keep his society alive, he discovers a thriving society which is a complete antithesis to the one he came from. As she tends to do, Jemisin is playing with point of view in this story. You have to read it more than once to grasp its layers and nuances. 

"Away With the Wolves," Sarah Gailey

I nominated this. It appeared in last year's special edition of Uncanny Magazine, Disabled People Destroy Fantasy. This is the story of a female werewolf who becomes a wolf not because she is unable to control herself or because she is forced to change every month, but because her lupine body frees her from the chronic pain she suffers in her human form. It's a story of choice, of paying a price to live the life you want. 

"For He Can Creep," Siobhan Carroll

If I had read this in time, I would have nominated it too. This is a marvelous story, taking a real-life poet and a poem written in the eighteen century and spinning up an entire world out of it. I would love more stories about these characters, especially the Nighthunter Moppet. 

I said I'm not going to rank anything yet, and I'm not, but this category will be easier to decide than others, I think. 

It's Hugo Time! Short Stories

I've decided on three classifications to use as I read through the nominees. These will be as follows: 1) Sorry, No; 2) Knocking On the Door; and 3) We Have a Winnah! I'm not going to provide rankings at this time. Most years, unless I think there's a single standout, whatever gets slotted into #3 changes its ranking daily. That will be especially true of Best Novel this year, I think.

(I'm starting now because I just received word that my state might not end its lockdown till the first week of June, which means the library may not open up till then. I don't know about y'all, but I personally cannot read 15 books in four weeks [the number I have on hold]. I'm hoping we'll receive the Voters' Packet before then, which will help.)

All of these stories are available to read online.

Sorry, No

"Blood Is Another Word for Hunger," Rivers Solomon

I don't know if I didn't really understand this story or couldn't relate to the characters, but it pretty much left me cold. I'm also not fond of the idea that murder = birth.

"A Catalog of Storms," Fran Wilde 

This was more "meh" than anything else. I tried to read it before, stopped halfway through, and remembered nothing. The second, complete read didn't leave any deeper impression. 

Knocking On the Door

"Ten Excerpts From an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island," Nibedita Sen

It took a couple of reads for me to realize what this story was doing. When I finally got it, I thought the concept was clever (if a bit gory). I prefer an actual plot and characters though, not footnotes.

We Have a Winnah! 

"As the Last I May Know," S.L. Huang

In one way, this story is the most idea-centered of the six: the central idea being if a leader will sacrifice a single life--the young girl whose body is implanted with the launch codes--to use the horrifying weapons he thinks are needed to save his country in a war (called "sere" in the story, but of course that's a synonym for "nukes"). But the idea would be useless without characters to bring it to life, and the characters in this story are spot-on. There are also hard ethical questions here, questions with no easy answers or indeed any answers at all, and the story does not flinch when it tackles them. 

"Do Not Look Back, My Lion," Alix E. Harrow 

I read this again, and damn. This is another story of war, fantasy rather than science fiction, and a different society where the women ride to war and the men wait at home. But the themes are similar, with the healer rebelling against the yoke of "the great wolf of war padding through the streets, howling its glee," and the healer's wife, the revered Lion of the city of Xot, finally realizing that her Emperor will feed the wolf of war "until there is no good thing left." The prose is simple and beautiful.

"And Now His Lordship is Laughing," Shiv Ramdas

This is a story of colonization, magic and revenge, set in India during World War II, when the natives were starved by their British colonizers taking their rice to give to the war effort. It's stark and brutal, with a violent ending that is earned. (I sometimes wonder how English people live with their country's history of conquest and colonization. It's just as bad as the US history of slavery and genocide.)

Looking at these stories as a group, I see that overall, they're pretty grim. This does not surprise me, given the state of the world. All we can do is hope next year will be better (and in the States, work to defeat the orange monster). 

It's Hugo Time!

Yes, most of us are hunkered down at home, but in varying degrees the world goes on. CoNZealand, the home of this year's Worldcon, just announced the nominees for the 2020 Hugos.

I was surprised to find I've already read and watched a goodly percentage of this ballot. This is a good thing, as my library is closed and I've no idea when it will reopen. As it is, I went on the website and put 15 books on hold, so when it opens--I'm crossing my fingers at the end of this month--I can take my wheelbarrow down there, load up, and get started. I'm guessing the voting deadline will probably be around the first or second week of July, which will give me just enough time to squeeze it all in.

(Yes, I could borrow ebooks of all these. However, I don't have a portable e-reader, and I cannot see myself sitting at my desk and reading 15 books on my desktop. And please no, I'm not about to attempt reading a 600-page behemoth like one of the Expanse novels on my phone.)

At any rate, here are the nominees, with my initial impressions and comments. Asterisks indicate those I've already read/seen.

Best Novel

*The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
*The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
*A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
*The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

(Three of these were on my own ballot, albeit I put the Harrow in the Lodestar slot, as I personally thought it felt more like a YA novel. I know the author disagrees. So I've read four out of the six, with the Anders the only one I didn't like.)

Best Novella

*“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador)
*The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga Press/Gallery)
*The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
*This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)
To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)

(Again, I've read four of the six, although the Solomon was the only one on my ballot. I have the McGuire, but I just didn't get around to reading it. The Chiang and Clark I liked but didn't love, and I wasn't overly fond of the El-Mohtar/Gladstone. I haven't been swept away by Chambers' work to date either, so this is one category I'm not too enthused about.)

Best Novelette

“The Archronology of Love”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, April 2019)
*“Away With the Wolves”, by Sarah Gailey (Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy Special Issue, September/October 2019)
*“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2019)
*"Emergency Skin," by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))
“For He Can Creep”, by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com, 10 July 2019)
*“Omphalos”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador)

(Read four of these, and nominated the Gailey. I remember nothing of the Pinsker, so evidently it didn't impress me. I liked this story of Ted Chiang's better than the novella.)

Best Short Story

*“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons, 9 September 2019)
“As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)
“Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, by Rivers Solomon (Tor.com, 24 July 2019)
“A Catalog of Storms”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2019)
*“Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2019)
*“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, May 2019)

(Read three of these and nominated two. I didn't care for the Wilde--started to read it and didn't finish. The Sen story, for me, didn't quite measure up to a couple of the others, but I can see why she made the Astounding ballot.)

Best Series

The Expanse, by James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
*InCryptid, by Seanan McGuire (DAW)
Luna, by Ian McDonald (Tor; Gollancz)
*Planetfall series, by Emma Newman (Ace; Gollancz)
*Winternight Trilogy, by Katherine Arden (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)
The Wormwood Trilogy, by Tade Thompson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

(Ooo, here's the doorstoppers. Three of them were on my ballot. I've read the early Expanse novels, but not the latest. And I rather wish it hadn't made the ballot this time around anyway, as the final book will come out--later this year, I believe?--and it won't be eligible for next year.)

Best Related Work

*Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood, by J. Michael Straczynski (Harper Voyager US)
Joanna Russ, by Gwyneth Jones (University of Illinois Press (Modern Masters of Science Fiction))
*The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, by Mallory O’Meara (Hanover Square)
The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, by Farah Mendlesohn (Unbound)
*“2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech”, by Jeannette Ng
*Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, produced and directed by Arwen Curry

(Three of these were on my ballot. I hope the Worldcon committee can get some good excerpts of the other two books, as they're nowhere to be found in my library. I watched Jeannette Ng's acceptance speech, of course, and while it brought about some much-needed change, it's a pretty odd duck to wind up on the ballot. I mean, I'm not going to argue with the will of the nominators, but I don't think it really belongs here.)

Best Graphic Story or Comic

Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image)
LaGuardia, written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin (Berger Books; Dark Horse)
*Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
Mooncakes, by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker, letters by Joamette Gil (Oni Press; Lion Forge)
*Paper Girls, Volume 6, written by Brian K. Vaughan, drawn by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher (Image)
The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: “Okay”, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image)

(Two of these were on my ballot. Some of the rest I've never heard of, although I did manage to score "Mooncakes" from my library. Somewhat of a surprise that nothing from DC or Marvel made it.)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

*Avengers: Endgame, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Studios)
*Captain Marvel, screenplay by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios/Animal Logic (Australia))
*Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios/Narrativia/The Blank Corporation)
Russian Doll (Season One), created by Natasha Lyonne, Leslye Headland and Amy Poehler, directed by Leslye Headland, Jamie Babbit and Natasha Lyonne (3 Arts Entertainment/Jax Media/Netflix/Paper Kite Productions/Universal Television)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, screenplay by Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams, directed by J.J. Abrams (Walt Disney Pictures/Lucasfilm/Bad Robot)
*Us, written and directed by Jordan Peele (Monkeypaw Productions/Universal Pictures)

(Three of these were on my ballot, although I only nominated an episode of Good Omens as opposed to the whole thing. I skipped seeing The Rise of Skywalker because I read how much JJ Abrams walked back/undermined what Rian Johnson did in The Last Jedi, which I really liked. I suppose I'll have to watch it now. I already know I'm not going to rank Endgame highly; it had its moments, but it was mainly an overstuffed mess, and I hated what they did to Natasha. I've heard various things about Russian Doll, but I somehow missed watching any of it.)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

The Good Place: “The Answer”, written by Daniel Schofield, directed by Valeria Migliassi Collins (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal Television)
*The Expanse: “Cibola Burn”, written by Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck and Naren Shankar, directed by Breck Eisner (Amazon Prime Video)
*Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, written by Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof, directed by Nicole Kassell (HBO)
*The Mandalorian: “Redemption”, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Taika Waititi (Disney+)
Doctor Who: “Resolution”, written by Chris Chibnall, directed by Wayne Yip (BBC)
*Watchmen: “This Extraordinary Being”, written by Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson, directed by Stephen Williams (HBO)

(Two and a half of these were on my ballot: I nominated episode 9 of The Expanse, "Saeculum," which I thought was a stronger episode than the finale. And ugh, I guess I'm going to have to force myself to sit through another episode of The Good Place. I'm sorry, but I cannot understand my fellow nominators' endless fascination with that mess.)

Best Editor, Short Form

Neil Clarke
Ellen Datlow
C.C. Finlay
Jonathan Strahan
Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

Sheila E. Gilbert
Brit Hvide
Diana M. Pho
Devi Pillai
Miriam Weinberg
Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

Tommy Arnold
Rovina Cai
Galen Dara
John Picacio
Yuko Shimizu
Alyssa Winans

Best Semiprozine

Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, audio producers Adam Pracht and Summer Brooks, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart
*Fireside Magazine, editor Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson, copyeditor Chelle Parker, social coordinator Meg Frank, publisher & art director Pablo Defendini, founding editor Brian White
FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editor Troy L. Wiggins, editors Eboni Dunbar, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Danny Lore, Brandon O’Brien and Kaleb Russell
*Strange Horizons, Vanessa Rose Phin, Catherine Krahe, AJ Odasso, Dan Hartland, Joyce Chng, Dante Luiz and the Strange Horizons staff
*Uncanny Magazine, editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky

(I subscribe to three of these magazines, and two of them were on my ballot. I didn't nominate the obvious juggernaut in the category, because I wanted to honor some smaller, less heralded semiprozines. Y'know, occasionally when people have won a lot, they recuse themselves from nominations for a year or two? Just sayin'.)

Best Fanzine

*The Book Smugglers, editors Ana Grilo and Thea James
Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice Marcus, senior writers Rosemary Benton, Lorelei Marcus and Victoria Silverwolf
Journey Planet, editors James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Ann Gry, Chuck Serface, John Coxon and Steven H Silver
*nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, and The G
Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
The Rec Center, editors Elizabeth Minkel and Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

(One of these was on my ballot. The Rec Center is a completely new name to me. It's nice to see a bit of a break from the usual suspects.)

Best Fancast

Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel, produced & presented by Claire Rousseau
The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia, presented by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce and Tansy Rayner Roberts, producer Andrew Finch
Our Opinions Are Correct, presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders
The Skiffy and Fanty Show, presented by Jen Zink and Shaun Duke

(Not much into podcasts, unfortunately, although I will check the YouTube channel out.)

Best Fan Writer

*Cora Buhlert
*James Davis Nicoll
Alasdair Stuart
Bogi Takács
*Paul Weimer
Adam Whitehead

(In this list, I'm really happy for Cora and Paul. I'd never heard of Adam Whitehead, but now I've subscribed to his blog.)

Best Fan Artist

Iain Clark
Sara Felix
Grace P. Fong
Meg Frank
Ariela Housman
Elise Matthesen

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

*Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan)
*Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee (Disney/Hyperion)
Minor Mage, by T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
Riverland, by Fran Wilde (Amulet)
The Wicked King, by Holly Black (Little, Brown; Hot Key)

(I flat made a mistake with this category, as I forgot to include the Lee until it was too late. Fortunately, it showed up anyway.)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)

Sam Hawke (2nd year of eligibility)
*R.F. Kuang (2nd year of eligibility)
Jenn Lyons (1st year of eligibility)
*Nibedita Sen (2nd year of eligibility)
Tasha Suri (2nd year of eligibility)
Emily Tesh (1st year of eligibility)

(R.F. Kuang's second novel, The Dragon Republic, made my Best Novel list, and I also nominated her here. To me, she stands head and shoulders above the rest.)

So since I can't get to my library holds just yet, I plan to start reading and ranking the shorter stuff. I'm wondering if the voters' packet might be late this year, understandably, with the con committee dealing with both the New Zealand lockdown and the fact that they're going to hold a virtual con instead of a physical one. I'm sure they will do their best, and I think when they announce their virtual attending fees, I will upgrade. They're taking on a monumental task, and they deserve our help.

At any rate, this will give me plenty to write about, with the side effect of thinking about something other than what's going on in the world. (I'm actually still working my regular job--VA personnel are considered "essential," and I'm fortunate enough to be in an isolated building where only the relatively small number of regular employees/supervisors are allowed in. We all disinfect our desks and wash our hands constantly. So far, cross my fingers, I'm not sick. I'm very aware of how privileged I am, and how much other people and places are hurting.) We will get through this, folks, and good books and better people are one way everyone will stay sane.