Months ago, I knew I would have a hard time choosing between The Goblin Emperor and Ancillary Sword. With the Hugo Award voting deadline coming up, I finished The Three-Body Problem this week and found myself with a Three Book Problem that I needed to have a good night's sleep on.

(1) The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison This promised to contain ( Read more... )

It's sad to have to employ the No Award Hammer again, but once it's out, it's out.

(1) “The Waiting Stars” - Aliette de Bodard. Here De Bodard brings the same high quality space opera that made me vote her into first place last year. The ending has a twist, which I only just saw coming.

(2) [Hugo winner] “The Lady Astronaut of Mars” - Mary ( Read more... )

Once again, Novella = 17,500 to 40,000 words and Novelette = 7,500 to 17,500 words. Does anyone actually care about the distinction? Maybe it would be better to fold the two categories into one and open up the remaining space to Best YA Novel.

That said, the first two novellas were very worthwhile.

(1) Six-Gun Snow White - Catherynne M. Valente A ( Read more... )

Tough field! My nominated winner, John Chu, is certainly worth a click of your time.

(1) [Hugo winner] “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” - John Chu
The undoubted winner. Lovely and emotional story of a man struggling to come out to his family. The primary conceit of water falling when someone lies is gently dealt with.

(2) Selkie Stories ( Read more... )

Less than half a day to choose your favourites for the Hugo awards! The bad news is that I had to do remarkably little reading to come to my conclusions. The good news is that my winner is a discovery on a par with N. K. Jemisin's 100,000 Kingdoms which was a nominee in 2011.

(1) [Hugo winner] Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie The buzz around this ( Read more... )

This was a tough category to get through. There were two plodders, one half-half, and two good stories.

(6) Blackout by Mira Grant - Third in the Newsflesh trilogy, the other two were nominated in previous years. Book #2, Deadline, made me want to go out and poke a zombie with a stick. This book made me want to find a whole mob of zombies and poke ( Read more... )

Best Novella. Could be a type of coffee? But is actually a written work of fiction between 17,500 and 40,000 words long.

(6) San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant - I'm not going to rant.

(5) No Award.

(4) The Stars Do Not Lie by Jay Lake - An alternate Galileo-type makes a major discovery and unwittingly pits ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Only three short stories made it past the 5% vote threshold to be nominated for this year's Hugo Awards and all three authors have been previously nominated in this category. While it makes choosing easy, I think it's a shame there's no new blood.

(3) “Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson - A well-written horror sketch with, as the title suggests, insects ( Read more... )

Instead of immersing myself in the Dutch language like I should, I've spent the last few weeks swimming about in the Hugo Voter Packet. The results of my dive were better than last year: again, one or two discoveries I'll be excited to hear more from, but less outright bad stuff ( Read more... )