Musings of a Hugo Voter, 2017
Well, I got my ballot done before the deadline. Some of the stuff, I didn't vote on. For example, I don't own a TV, so Drama (short) wasn't in it. I also don't listen to fancasts, or read any fanzines but one. Since "Revenge of Hump Day" didn't get nommed, no vote. Since the only Long Form Editor that I recognized was Theodore Beale aka Vox Day, that's where my only vote for Noah Ward went. For Fan Writer, I of course had to pick Chuck Tingle.
A note, here: Over the past few years, the Puppy-Kickers had accused us of gaming the system, nomming things that we liked by ganging up. Funny thing, that. I noticed LOTS and LOTS of these headers, in the nominated works' PDFs:
A Tor.com Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
Now, the PKs will tell you that the Pup's calls of "We just want good stories, not crappy message fic" was a dog-whistle (pun intended) for "We hate diversity". When I pointed out to a Tor editor that this year's ballot smacked a LOT of "Tor gaming the system", he just replied, "No, Tor just happens to be publishing most of the Quality Science Fiction(tm)." Yeah, right.
On to the Rest of the Ballot!
For Novel, Death's End was the only one I'd read. None of the excerpts in the package really grabbed me, so my #1 vote was my only. Likewise, for Best Series, Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga was the only one I'd read. #1 and only for that, as well.
In the Novella category, "Dream Quest" was outstanding. I've liked Lois Bujold's stuff since I first read Warrior's Apprentice, and "Penric and the Shaman" measures up. The rest of the category was, quite frankly, meh.
For Novelette, I was tickled to see Ursula Vernon in the mix. I seriously loved her webcomic, "Digger". "Tomato Thief" is right up there. "Touring With The Alien" was also great, but had to give the props to "TD". "The Jewel And Her Lapidary" was pretty good, although it got a bit repetitive in spots. "Stripper" had its interesting points, but went way overboard in trying to beat "Space Raptor Butt Invasion" from last year. The other two, meh.
In the Short Stories, "That Game We Played During the War" was excellent. This is so often true, in war: "All we had to do, was not lose." For the #2 slot, "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies" was also good -- "Game" edged it out by a slim margin. The others, meh -- incoherent, acid-trippy, more "journey of the mind" than story.
In Related Work, I went for SilverBob and Ursula LeGuin, because Elder Gods of SF.
Dramatic Long is a short ballot, because even a last-place vote is still a vote and would weigh in later rounds of Australian-whatzis voting. Rogue One was the top of my nomination list. Deadpool, great flick. Now why, you may ask, did I not include Hidden Figures? Well, let's see... I saw the flick. It was amazing. Fantastic movie, covers a chunk of history that fascinated me while I was watching it on the news (or in newsreels when I was 2-3,000 miles from the nearest TV). One of the absolute great movies of 2016. So, why did I not vote for it? Because it's not science fiction. It's a docudrama.
For Graphic Story, I went through each selection, and voted as they struck me. Ditto for Pro and Fan Artist. Those three categories, I tend to do quickly -- zap through, and vote my impressions. On Graphic -- Monstress was amazing. I really liked Paper Girls. Saga was ok. The remaining three, meh.
Wrapping up with the Campbell: Gailey's "Haunted" knocked it out of the ballpark. Older's "Black Box" was cool. Mulroney's "Equation" was amusing, the rest were meh.
Novel:
1. Death's End
Novella:
1. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe
2. Penric and the Shaman
3. Every Heart a Doorway
4. A Taste of Honey
5. The Ballad of Black Tom
6. This Census-Taker
Novelette:
1. "The Tomato Thief"
2. "Touring with the Alien"
3. The Jewel and Her Lapidary
4. Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex
5. "The Art of Space Travel"
6. "You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay"
Short Story:
1. "That Game We Played During the War"
2. "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies"
3. "Seasons of Glass and Iron"
4. "A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers"
5. "The City Born Great"
6. "An Unimaginable Light"
Related Work:
1. Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg
2. Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016
Graphic Story:
1. Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
2. Paper Girls, Volume 1
3. Saga, Volume 6
4. The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man
5. Black Panther, Volume 1: A Nation Under Our Feet
6. Ms. Marvel, Volume 5: Super Famous
Dramatic Long:
1. Rogue One
2. Deadpool
Editor Long:
1. No award
Pro Artist:
1. Sana Takeda
2. Galen Dara
3. Julie Dillon
4. Chris McGrath
5. Victo Ngai
6. John Picacio
Fan Writer:
1. Chuck Tingle
Fan Artist:
1. Elizabeth Leggett
2. Spring Schoenhuth
3. Likhain (M. Sereno)
4. Steve Stiles
5. Vesa Lehtimäki
6. Ninni Aalto
Series:
1. The Vorkosigan Saga
New Writer:
1. Sarah Gailey
2. Malka Older
3. J. Mulrooney
[DW Original]