Hugo Shortlist!
Originally published at tansyrr.com. You can comment here or there.
The Hugo shortlist nominees went up on Twitter this morning, Australian time - luckily I had been woken up early by my adorable/dreadful children, so I was around to read them as they came in.
I haven’t been as excited about a Hugo shortlist in years - not just because I got to nominate and will get to vote in these particular ones, but because it does look as if there has been a bit of a demographic shift this year. There are lots of women, new writers and online publications represented across most of the categories. Many things I really liked and indeed nominated got up, which is rather nice.
Congratulations to all the nominees! Hope to see as many of you as possible at Aussiecon this September.
The shortlisted items/people I am most excited about are:
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor) [best novel nominee]
“Act One”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 3/09) [best novella nominee]
“Eros, Philia, Agape”, Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/09) [best novelette nominee]
“The Island”, Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2) [best novelette nominee]
“It Takes Two”, Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three) [best novelette nominee]
“Spar”, Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09) [best short story nominee]
On Joanna Russ, Farah Mendlesohn (ed.) (Wesleyan) [best related book nominee]
The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of SF Feminisms, Helen Merrick (Aqueduct) [best related book nominee]
Jonathan Strahan [best editor, short form nominee]
Shaun Tan [best pro artist nominee]
StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith [best fanzine nominee]
And the works that have been added to or moved up to the top of my reading list are:
Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra) [best novel nominee]
The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade) [best novel nominee]
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean) [best novella nominee]
Soulless by Gail Carriger [The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer nominee]
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire [The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer nominee]
Ah yes, somehow it all comes down to more books for Tansy to read… funny, that.
Best Novel
(699 Ballots)
* Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor)
* The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
* Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
* Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
* Wake, Robert J. Sawyer (Ace; Penguin; Gollancz; Analog)
* The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
Best Novella
(375 Ballots)
* “Act One”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 3/09)
* The God Engines, John Scalzi (Subterranean)
* “Palimpsest”, Charles Stross (Wireless)
* Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon)
* “Vishnu at the Cat Circus”, Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)
* The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
Best Novelette
(402 Ballots)
* “Eros, Philia, Agape”, Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/09)
* The Island”, Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)
* “It Takes Two”, Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)
* “One of Our Bastards is Missing”, Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
* “Overtime”, Charles Stross (Tor.com 12/09)
* “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast”, Eugie Foster (Interzone 2/09)
Best Short Story
(432 Ballots)
* “The Bride of Frankenstein”, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s 12/09)
* “Bridesicle”, Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)
* “The Moment”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Footprints)
* “Non-Zero Probabilities”, N.K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld 9/09)
* “Spar”, Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
Best Related Book
(259 Ballots)
* Canary Fever: Reviews, John Clute (Beccon)
* Hope-In-The-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees, Michael Swanwick (Temporary Culture)
* The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction, Farah Mendlesohn (McFarland)
* On Joanna Russ, Farah Mendlesohn (ed.) (Wesleyan)
* The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of SF Feminisms, Helen Merrick (Aqueduct)
* This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is “I”), Jack Vance (Subterranean)
Best Graphic Story
(221 Ballots)
* Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Written by Neil Gaiman; Pencilled by Andy Kubert; Inked by Scott Williams (DC Comics)
* Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State Written by Paul Cornell; Pencilled by Leonard Kirk with Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona and Ardian Syaf (Marvel Comics)
* Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages Written by Bill Willingham; Pencilled by Mark Buckingham; Art by Peter Gross & Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, David Hahn; Colour by Lee Loughridge & Laura Allred; Letters by Todd Klein (Vertigo Comics)
* Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; Art by Phil Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
* Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse Written and Illustrated by Howard Tayler
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
(541 Ballots)
* Avatar Screenplay and Directed by James Cameron (Twentieth Century Fox)
* District 9 Screenplay by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell; Directed by Neill Blomkamp (TriStar Pictures)
* Moon Screenplay by Nathan Parker; Story by Duncan Jones; Directed by Duncan Jones (Liberty Films)
* Star Trek Screenplay by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Directed by J.J. Abrams (Paramount)
* Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter; Story by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, & Thomas McCarthy; Directed by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
(282 Ballots)
* Doctor Who: “The Next Doctor” Written by Russell T Davies; Directed by Andy Goddard (BBC Wales)
* Doctor Who: “Planet of the Dead” Written by Russell T Davies & Gareth Roberts; Directed by James Strong (BBC Wales)
* Doctor Who: “The Waters of Mars” Written by Russell T Davies & Phil Ford; Directed by Graeme Harper (BBC Wales)
* Dollhouse: “Epitaph 1? Story by Joss Whedon; Written by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon; Directed by David Solomon (Mutant Enemy)
* FlashForward: “No More Good Days” Written by Brannon Braga & David S. Goyer; Directed by David S. Goyer; based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer (ABC)
Best Editor, Long Form
(289 Ballots)
* Lou Anders
* Ginjer Buchanan
* Liz Gorinsky
* Patrick Nielsen Hayden
* Juliet Ulman
Best Editor, Short Form
(419 Ballots)
* Ellen Datlow
* Stanley Schmidt
* Jonathan Strahan
* Gordon Van Gelder
* Sheila Williams
Best Professional Artist
(327 Ballots)
* Bob Eggleton
* Stephan Martiniere
* John Picacio
* Daniel Dos Santos
* Shaun Tan
Best Semiprozine
(377 Ballots)
* Ansible edited by David Langford
* Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, & Cheryl Morgan
* Interzone edited by Andy Cox
* Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
* Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal
Best Fan Writer
(319 Ballots)
* Claire Brialey
* Christopher J Garcia
* James Nicoll
* Lloyd Penney
* Frederik Pohl
Best Fanzine
(298 Ballots)
* Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
* Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
* CHALLENGER edited by Guy H. Lillian III
* Drink Tank edited by Christopher J Garcia, with guest editor James Bacon
* File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
* StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith
Best Fan Artist
(199 Ballots)
* Brad W. Foster
* Dave Howell
* Sue Mason
* Steve Stiles
* Taral Wayne
The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
(356 Ballots)
* Saladin Ahmed
* Gail Carriger
* Felix Gilman
* Seanan McGuire
* Lezli Robyn