Another year, another season of Hugo reading over with. This year was my tenth year doing it, which means I've been doing it a quarter of my life! As always, I am going to wrap up by giving you my overview on what actually won, and how it compared to what I wanted to win.
| Category | What Won | Where I Ranked It | What I Ranked #1 | Where It Placed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Novel | The Everlasting | 2nd | The Incandescent | 2nd |
| I can't complain about this; I wrote of The Everlasting, it "isn't to say I don't want to see it win—I think it's very good." And Emily Tesh has already won the Best Novel Hugo whereas Alix E. Harrow has not, and certainly we know around here that I'm not very big on perennial winners. I predicted, however, that Drop of Corruption would win, and it placed in 3rd. I did correctly identify that Everlasting was very popular, though. Looking at the full nominations list, I'm bummed Ray Nayler can't quite break through here; What the Axe is Buried was in 11th. | ||||
| Best Novella | The River Has Roots | 5th | Cinder House | 3rd |
| Well... at least it wasn't Automatic Noodle! Though that did place in 2nd, despite me putting it under No Award. I liked Cinder House, but I did find this a weak category overall, so I can't get too fussed. Clearly the Hugo electorate and I have very different novella tastes (i.e., they love Tordotcom and I do not). I made no prediction in this category. I think if I had I would have been wrong! The longlist reveals, though, that thankfully we were spared another Nghi Vo novella and another Seanan McGuire one. | ||||
| Best Novelette | “Never Eaten Vegetables” | 1st | “Never Eaten Vegetables” | 1st |
| I called this the "clear and obvious standout" in this category, and obviously everyone else agreed! It had over a hundred more first-round preferences than its nearest competitor. It's a great story in a weak-ish category. I can't believe that the excruciatingly awful Murderbot story tied for 4th, though. It had the most nominations, validating the r/Fantasy commentator who said it felt like it was nominated by people who don't otherwise read short fiction. I was one nomination short of having to read something by John Scalzi. Thank God! | ||||
| Best Short Story | “In My Country” | 3rd | “Wire Mother” | 2nd |
| Though the bottom half of this category was so-so, the top half was quite strong, and I would have been happy to see any my of top three win. And my top three were indeed the voters' top three. And my bottom two were the voters' bottom two. Stay tuned for a forthcoming interview with Thomas Ha in Studies in the Fantastic! | ||||
| Best Graphic Story or Comic | A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel | 2nd | The Invisible Parade | 4th |
| Another year, another indication that the Hugo voters have no understanding of good comics. Paul Cornell's Who Killed Nessie? was two nominations away from the ballot; I haven't read it but I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more than A Girl and Her Fed. | ||||
| Best Related Work | Inventing the Renaissance | 4th | Last War in Albion: “The Cuddled Little Vice (Sandman)” | 5th |
| I can't believe this won! (I should note that "Best Related Work" is the category where the highest percentage of voters placed No Award not in 1st, but still above the eventual winner, making it the most controversial of the winners.) Moreover, I can't believe "The Cuddled Little Vice" landed all the way down in 5th, only beating out the boring Game of Thrones podcast. What is wrong with people? Yet again, there's a piece about the Hugos themselves on the longlist, but thankfully all the way down in 9th. | ||||
| Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) | Sinners | 4th | Mickey 17 | 6th |
| What is wrong with people!? (Sinners is good, but I am surprised it won against the Andor juggernaut, and I'm surprised so many people ranked Mickey 17 so low; it was a very decisive last place.) Plur1bus was one nomination away from its entire first season making the ballot as a single work. | ||||
| Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) | Murderbot: “All Systems Red” | 4th | Doctor Who: “The Story & the Engine” | 5th |
| This is disappointing, but unlike the above two categories, not surprising. Weak field this year. There were three different Strange New Worlds episodes on the longlist; I'm guessing none of them were quite standout enough to be a clear focal point for nominations. The disqualifications in this category (three episodes of Andor and one of Murderbot) mean that Wheel of Time got on the ballot even though it was in 10th! It quite decisively came in last. | ||||
| Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book | Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe | 5th | Sunrise on the Reaping | 4th |
| Sunrise on the Reaping actually had more first-round preference than any other finalist, but very much lost out on transfers, and so ended up all the way down in fourth. I guess some people really liked it... and I guess some people really did not. But Coffeeshop is not a worthy winner. They Bloom at Night was robbed! C'mon, if you're going to give to a queer Asian-American love story, give it to the good one! | ||||
Still, fun year as always, though near the end of it I was getting tired and needed a break! My favorites across the board (in no particular order) were probably The Incandescent, The Everlasting, "Wire Mother," "Never Eaten Vegetables," "The Cuddled Little Vice," A Drop of Corruption, Mickey 17, Sunrise on the Reaping, They Bloom at Night, "In My Country," and "Missing Helen." There's lot's of good sf&f out there, and I'm as usual thankful to the Hugos for exposing me to it.
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