My Hugo Ballot 2011
It's been an interesting journey through the Hugo Voters packet. Thanks to it, I've discovered new authors who I'm keen to see more of, e.g., N.K. Jemisin, Saladin Ahmed, but rather more that I never want to bother with again.
These are my rankings for the final Hugo Award ballot, for which the deadline is today. Unfortunately, I was too busy racing through them so only had time to properly review one book. Will try to do better next year! [Edited to add the winners.]
Best Novel
(1) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - She'd better win a Hugo at some point.
(2) Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold - Not her best, but not her worst either.
(3) Feed by Mira Grant - Zombies are not my thing but the thought she'd put into a zombie-infested world was interesting enough. Smart-arse characters slightly wearing and flat, but I really liked the sibling relationship.
(4) Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis - papersky said the second half was better and it was. Not that it makes me want to rant less. It's going to win, isn't it? *sigh* [It won.]
(5) The Dervish House by Ian McDonald - Plenty of people ranked this 1st, I couldn't even finish it which is why it's last. Too Much Stuff that I didn't care about.
Best Novella
(1) "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window" by Rachel Swirsky - Enjoyed the uncompromising character of this story. Not 100% sure about the ending though.
(2) "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" by Elizabeth Hand - Written with the ease of a truly experienced author. Minimally SFnal though, bet it doesn't come close to winning.
(3) "Troika" by Alastair Reynolds - A nicely structured dark SF story, but just happened to like the other two better. Very close though.
(4) "The Sultan of the Clouds" by Geoffrey A. Landis - A story as immature as the Sultan himself.
(5) The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang - Apparently this story about AIs is popular but I hated the prose and struggled to get through it. [It won.]
Best Novelette
(1) "Eight Miles" by Sean McMullen - A Victorian period piece. They do write 'em like they used to...
(2) "The Jaguar House, in Shadow" by Aliette de Bodard - Um, Aztec SF? Original, at least, if a tad hard to follow.
(3) "Plus or Minus" by James Patrick Kelly - Small crew stuck on a space ship in trouble, including one too self-involved main character which messed up the ending for me.
(4) "The Emperor of Mars" by Allen M. Steele - Not particularly deep treatment of how Mars workers deal with the distance from Earth. Maybe I'd've appreciated it more if I was familiar with the old Mars stories it referenced. [Hugo winner.]
(5) "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone - Awful.
Best Short Story
(1) "Ponies" by Kij Johnson - Girly cliques and My Little Ponies. Technically the best of the lot, if not exactly subtle.
(2) "For Want of a Nail" by Mary Robinette Kowal - A generation ship has a problem with its AI. The use of the AI didn't entirely make sense to me. [Hugo winner.]
(3) "The Things" by Peter Watts - I learned afterwards that this has something to do with a movie. Perhaps I would've appreciated it more if I'd known, but I hated the end anyway.
(4) "Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn - Is it really going to be this predictable? Yep.
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
(1) Lauren Beukes - Moxyland was in last year's EasterCon goodie bag but it took me until now it read it! Competent cyberpunk set in South Africa with dislikable characters.
(2) Saladin Ahmed - Interesting array of styles on display in his short fiction, with prose worthy of the poet he is.
(3) Dan Wells - Serial killers rank below zombies as far as I'm concerned, but still an ok YA.
(4) Larry Correia - kind of fun but could've just skipped to the author's bio where he says he likes guns 'n' stuff.
(5) Lev Grossman - The short was awful and The Magicians increasingly tedious. [Hugo winner.]
This post inspired by nwhyte's 2011 Hugo Awards: who do voters say they will vote for? Quite interesting to see the range of opinion!
These are my rankings for the final Hugo Award ballot, for which the deadline is today. Unfortunately, I was too busy racing through them so only had time to properly review one book. Will try to do better next year! [Edited to add the winners.]
Best Novel
(1) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - She'd better win a Hugo at some point.
(2) Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold - Not her best, but not her worst either.
(3) Feed by Mira Grant - Zombies are not my thing but the thought she'd put into a zombie-infested world was interesting enough. Smart-arse characters slightly wearing and flat, but I really liked the sibling relationship.
(4) Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis - papersky said the second half was better and it was. Not that it makes me want to rant less. It's going to win, isn't it? *sigh* [It won.]
(5) The Dervish House by Ian McDonald - Plenty of people ranked this 1st, I couldn't even finish it which is why it's last. Too Much Stuff that I didn't care about.
Best Novella
(1) "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window" by Rachel Swirsky - Enjoyed the uncompromising character of this story. Not 100% sure about the ending though.
(2) "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" by Elizabeth Hand - Written with the ease of a truly experienced author. Minimally SFnal though, bet it doesn't come close to winning.
(3) "Troika" by Alastair Reynolds - A nicely structured dark SF story, but just happened to like the other two better. Very close though.
(4) "The Sultan of the Clouds" by Geoffrey A. Landis - A story as immature as the Sultan himself.
(5) The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang - Apparently this story about AIs is popular but I hated the prose and struggled to get through it. [It won.]
Best Novelette
(1) "Eight Miles" by Sean McMullen - A Victorian period piece. They do write 'em like they used to...
(2) "The Jaguar House, in Shadow" by Aliette de Bodard - Um, Aztec SF? Original, at least, if a tad hard to follow.
(3) "Plus or Minus" by James Patrick Kelly - Small crew stuck on a space ship in trouble, including one too self-involved main character which messed up the ending for me.
(4) "The Emperor of Mars" by Allen M. Steele - Not particularly deep treatment of how Mars workers deal with the distance from Earth. Maybe I'd've appreciated it more if I was familiar with the old Mars stories it referenced. [Hugo winner.]
(5) "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone - Awful.
Best Short Story
(1) "Ponies" by Kij Johnson - Girly cliques and My Little Ponies. Technically the best of the lot, if not exactly subtle.
(2) "For Want of a Nail" by Mary Robinette Kowal - A generation ship has a problem with its AI. The use of the AI didn't entirely make sense to me. [Hugo winner.]
(3) "The Things" by Peter Watts - I learned afterwards that this has something to do with a movie. Perhaps I would've appreciated it more if I'd known, but I hated the end anyway.
(4) "Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn - Is it really going to be this predictable? Yep.
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
(1) Lauren Beukes - Moxyland was in last year's EasterCon goodie bag but it took me until now it read it! Competent cyberpunk set in South Africa with dislikable characters.
(2) Saladin Ahmed - Interesting array of styles on display in his short fiction, with prose worthy of the poet he is.
(3) Dan Wells - Serial killers rank below zombies as far as I'm concerned, but still an ok YA.
(4) Larry Correia - kind of fun but could've just skipped to the author's bio where he says he likes guns 'n' stuff.
(5) Lev Grossman - The short was awful and The Magicians increasingly tedious. [Hugo winner.]
This post inspired by nwhyte's 2011 Hugo Awards: who do voters say they will vote for? Quite interesting to see the range of opinion!