So what did I think? Just some brief thoughts here:
| Category | What Won | Where I Ranked It | What I Ranked #1 | Where It Placed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Novel | The Obelisk Gate | 3rd | Too Like the Lightning | 5th |
| Hard for me to object to my third-place choice winning when I declared that "I'd be pleased if anything in my top four won in Best Novel"; however, Too Like the Lightning came in second-last! I really enjoyed, but more than that, I predicted that either it or All the Birds in the Sky (which finished second) would win. I did say it would be tight, though, and I was right; four of the novels received first-place votes within a thirty-vote range of each other (out of 2,339 votes cast). | ||||
| Best Novella | Every Heart a Doorway | 2nd | This Census-Taker | 6th |
| Obviously my choices are doing really well so far! Every Heart a Doorway is a worthy winner, and actually, I did predict that my first-place choice would not come in first. Little did I know how right I was. | ||||
| Best Novelette | "The Tomato Thief" | 1st | "The Tomato Thief" | 1st |
| Obviously the Hugo voters are wise. I declared I was "pretty confident" they shared my taste in this category, and I was right; if you look at the full vote breakdown, it's a clear favorite. Incidentally, Alien Stripper Boned from Behind by the T-Rex came in below No Award, but 45 people voted for it to come in first, which I guess tells you how many people are just voting to troll. | ||||
| Best Short Story | "Seasons of Glass and Iron" | 1st | "Seasons of Glass and Iron" | 1st |
| Again, the Hugo voters and I were in clear alignment. A well-deserved win. "Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies," one of two stories in this category I voted below No Award, didn't place below it, but did come in second-last place. For me, both novelette and short story were categories with one clear best and then many good-ish/so-so stories, so I was glad the one I pegged as best was also seen as such by the community. | ||||
| Best Related Work | Words Are My Matter | 1st | Words Are My Matter | 1st |
| Three for five for groupmind alignment! Interestingly, if you look at the full breakdown, Words Are My Matter actually received the third-highest amount of first place votes, but the Hugo's instant runoff voting meant that it ended up taking first place as its competitors were eliminated. I find it somewhat inexplicable that The Princess Diarist landed in second, though, and I was surprised Neil Gaiman was down in fourth (though, I guess I had him in third). | ||||
| Best Graphic Story | Monstress: Awakening | 5th | The Vision: Little Worse than a Man | 6th |
| This was a very strong category, so I have no complaints with a work I ranked fifth coming in first, as I thought my top five "ranged from very good to great." But I am utterly baffled that The Vision came in last, and quite definitively so (it only got 149 first place votes, compared to Monstress's 517). To me, its quality seemed so obvious. At least my second-place choice of Ms. Marvel came in second. What's wrong with you people? | ||||
| Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) | Arrival | 1st | Arrival | 1st |
| I had no doubt, and indeed, 1278 of 2885 votes cast were for Arrival-- I haven't checked systematically, but I think it must be the best showing in the whole 2017 Hugos. I was surprised to see Stranger Things (which I ranked second) down in fourth though. | ||||
| Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) | The Expanse: "Leviathan Wakes" | 2nd | Black Mirror: "San Junipero" | 2nd |
| As you can see, me and the voters ended up not really far off from one another. I was sad that Splendor & Misery finished last, though. Surely more interesting stuff was going on in here than in Doctor Who or Game of Thrones? Though I guess I oughtn't be surprised that sf fans didn't vote for a hip-hop album. Not that I have many stones to throw. | ||||
I didn't vote in Best Series, but I had a strong suspicion that the Vorkosigan saga would crush it, and I was right. Ninety-three people voted for No Award in Best Series, as I did, but the World Science Fiction Society business meeting ratified the category permanently going forward.
Overall, I really enjoyed this experience. It's nice to really be on top of contemporary sf for once (though many of the books I read have sequels out now that I need to read!); a lot of these books I intended to read someday, but I got to read them now (I always like excuses to ignore my self-imposed reading list sequence). I also liked feeling like part of a community. I mean, I don't know if anyone was reading my comments, but I was reading lots of other people's as I went, which I always enjoy. Plus, I got to make lists, and we all know how much I like lists.
Hopefully I can do it again next year. And maybe someday I could even go to a Worldcon. 2019 in Ireland sounds fun!
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