The latest installment of the Octothorpe podcast has a couple of points on counting Hugo nominations raised by Alison Scott, which I'd like to address here ( Read more... )

Final ballot stats here, nominations hereHeadlines ( Read more... )

So, the last category I'm writing up for the Hugos this year: seven television episodes (one double nomination) of which only two are from shows that I know.

6) The Mandalorian: Chapter 13: The Jedi
5) She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Heart (episode 1 and 2)
4) The Expanse: GaugamelaWithout going into tedious detail, I dutifully watched all of ( Read more... )

Less than a week to go for Hugo voting, later than usual this year for reasons we are all very familiar with. This will be my second last post on this year's finalists ( Read more... )

In some past years, the Campbell Award, now the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, has presented the conscientious voter with difficulties, due to the different formats of submission from different authors - how can you judge the talent displayed in three short stories against a fantasy blockbuster? This year, fortunately, all of the finalists ( Read more... )

6) “A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Opening dialogue in third section:Kleekai Greyhound (K.g1-09030)
hey mentor figure! guess what?

Constant Killer (C.k2-00452)
You have a new display name?
Sorry, this is a story with cute doglike killer robots, and I can't stand stories about cute robots. It's not you, it's me ( Read more... )

Before I get started, I just want to say that these are all really good. Some years it feels like the novelette is the ideal range for speculative fiction, and this is one of those years. I wish that all of these could win.

6) “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt. Second paragraph of third section:At least that’s ( Read more... )

Here are my thoughts on this year's Hugo finalists in the Best Novella category. All of them are from Tor.com, a clean sweep previously achieved by Asimov's in 1996 and 1991 - though in those days there were usually only five on the final ballot, not six.

6) The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. Second paragraph of third chapter:Five cubed ( Read more... )

As I always say, I don't know much about art, but I know what I like. And I like the work of all of these artists. Without further commentary, my votes this year are as follows:

Best Professional Artist


( Read more... )

Obligatory bit of throat-clearing: I opposed the creation of the YA award because I am keenly aware of the extra burden every new category places on the Hugo administrators. But I have to admit that pound for pound, the YA and now Lodestar finalists are on par with the Best Novel finalists for the Hugos, and the extra degree of quality added to the ( Read more... )