So what did I think of the results, and how did they compare to my own votes? Just some brief thoughts here:
| Category | What Won | Where I Ranked It | What I Ranked #1 | Where It Placed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Novel | Network Effect | 4th | Piranesi | 3rd |
| I am disappointed but not at all surprised by this outcome. It is, after all, the much beloved Murderbot. I wrote in my prediction post, "Clarke's book is good, but I think not quite in the core sensibility of the Hugo voter. So I will guess either Kowal or Wells." So I was right on that... thought Kowal's Relentless Moon was down in fifth, so I wasn't that accurate a predictor! Jemisin came in second, which kind of surprised me, but maybe shouldn't have. I had hoped Robinson's Ministry for the Future would make the ballot so I would have an excuse to read it, but looking at the nomination stats, it was down in ninth, and quite a ways off. Thankfully, we were spared Scalzi (down in eleventh). Novik's A Deadly Education (a finalist for the Lodestar) was twelfth for nominations in this category as well. In theory, a book can be a Lodestar finalist and a Hugo finalist, but it hasn't yet happened. Overall, I think it was kind of a weak year for Best Novel. | ||||
| Best Novella | The Empress of Salt and Fortune | 3rd | Riot Baby | 6th |
| I wrote I would happy see Empress win, even though I had it in third, so this was a satisfactory result... but my preferred novella was all the way down in sixth! It figures that the finalist that most feels like an actual sf novella would be the one not to the taste of Hugo voters. Looking at the nomination data, it looks like Tor.com novellas dominate the long list, taking not only the top six slots, but also seventh, tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteenth. None of the sixteen top finalists are from magazines (print or web) this year; they were all published as standalone books. | ||||
| Best Novelette | "Two Truths and a Lie" | 4th | "Helicopter Story" | 5th |
| This was a strong category this year, so no complaints about the winner... except that the fate of "Helicopter Story" is a great example of instant runoff voting... unfortunately. It had more first-place votes than any other finalist, but as lower-ranked items were eliminated from the ballot, their votes went to pretty much anything other than "Helicopter Story" until "Two Truths" achieved a majority. This was repeated in every round of voting until the fifth, indicating the presence of both a strong pro-"Helicopter Story" bloc and a strong anti-"Helicopter Story" bloc. Alas. Looking at the nominations data, though, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as it was sixth for nominations, and only made it onto the ballot by ~4 votes. Good thing I nominated it! | ||||
| Best Short Story | "Metal Like Blood in the Dark" | 1st | "Metal Like Blood in the Dark" | 1st |
| Happy with this outcome, of course! Also I wrote, "I would say that the Hugo electorate 1) always loves T. Kingfisher
(justifiably) and 2) always loves self-serving stories about how great
it is to be a fan (less justifiably). So I would guess either 'Metal
Like Blood' or 'Little Free Library.'" And indeed, "Little Free Library" came in second. | ||||
| Best Related Work | Beowulf: A New Translation | 1st | Beowulf: A New Translation | 1st |
| Whoo, two in a row! This category had three things I ranked below No Award: FIYAHCON (a convention), Natalie Luhrs's vitriolic blog entry about last year's Hugo ceremony, and the "CoNZealand Fringe" (supplemental programming to last year's Worldcon). FIYAHCON placed in third, but 257 voters ranked it below No Award; Luhrs placed in fourth (even though she had almost as many first-round votes as Beowulf), with 358 voters ranking it below No Award; and CoNZealand Fringe placed in sixth, with 265 voters ranking it below No Award. By contrast, fifth-place finisher The Last Bronycon had 211 voters rank No Award higher. This will have to wait until I do my No Award analysis for this year, but at first glance, it's probably the best showing for "Noah Ward" across all the categories. As I complained, there was only one book about science fiction finalist in the category, which is what I think the category ought to be for. Looking at the long list, there were some more of these, including Una McCormack's edited collection about Bujold (seventh, only ten nominations away from making the ballot), a book about Pratchett (eighth), and a book about disability in sf&f (twelfth). On the other hand, the long list also includes a facebook group and a spreadsheet. Let's just change this category back to "Best Nonfiction Book," please. | ||||
| Best Graphic Story or Comic | Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation | 4th | Ghost-Spider: Dog Days Are Over | 2nd |
| I never feel strongly about this category, so whatever. Ghost-Spider had the most first-round first-place votes, but fell to second on transfers: that reliable Seanan McGuire voting bloc always at it, but not quite making it here. Questionable Content was down in eleventh on the long list; I live in dread of it making the ballot someday. | ||||
| Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) | The Old Guard | 6th | Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga | 5th |
| The hell!? | ||||
| Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) | The Good Place: "Whenever You're Ready" | 1st | The Good Place: "Whenever You're Ready" | 1st |
| Up to three categories where my top choice matched the voters'. I predicted Good Place would pick up its fourth (and, presumably, final) Hugo this year, and I was correct. The long list this year has a pretty good showing from Star Trek; the Picard episode "Nepenthe" was just two nominations away from making the final ballot, and there were also Discovery episodes in ninth and tenth, and another Picard episode in fifteenth. But where's Lower Decks? | ||||
| Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book | A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking | 1st | A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking | 1st |
| And now, four of my first place picks actually won, which is a good success rate for me, not achieved since 2017. (In 2018, 2019, and 2020, only one of my picks won.) As I wrote, "Kingfisher/Vernon has been a finalist in this category before, but I
think it's her year to win it. If she doesn't, it'll be Novik." And, indeed, Novik's book came in second. Looking at the long list, thankfully we were spared Seanan McGuire's Victorian fairy tale pastiche, Over the Woodward Wall, languishing down in twelfth, thank goodness. | ||||
This was, of course, a pretty odd year for Hugo reading; with Worldcon postponed to December, I had six months instead of three... yet my reading was down to the wire more than I can remember ever happening before. I was just too leisurely early one, especially once the fall semester hit. Usually I don't read almost anything but Hugo finalists, but with the extra time, I also worked on my usual reading list. The other downside here is that I've only just finished... and in a couple months, it will be time to think about the 2022 Hugos!
This year was overall a weaker year, I think; not as many new, unexpected, interesting voices in Best Novel especially (everyone here was a repeat finalist), and the short fiction was its usual mixed bag. I think I need to be more selective with the Lodestar, and give up on books quicker that are not to my tastes. But as always I had fun, in what has turned out to be my fifth year of this!
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