UPDATED Hugo Nominations 2015

2nd UPDATE 5/2/2015 – My infant has stopped crying long enough for me to add an official comment policy.

UPDATED 5/2/2015 – Comment policy:
I have never had any aspirations to have a “popular” blog. The purpose of this blog is mainly to keep family and friends informed about my life and interests as well as to double as a personal journal (albeit one the entire world can read). As such, it has never been important to have any policy on allowed comments. Comments were either obviously legit or spam. However, given the controversy around the Hugo nominations this year and my discussion of them, some comments may stray into a gray area.

For those who are new to my blog please be aware that I will not allow comments I feel are abusive, upsetting, or off-topic and I am the sole decider of what constitutes abusive, upsetting, or off-topic. The internet is a lovely place that allows many forums for self-expression including setting up your own blog to disseminate your opinions if they are not allowed elsewhere. That being said, I do enjoy hearing a variety of opinions assuming the opinions can be expressed in a respectful manner.

Because my blog is not popular and most “comments” are spam, all users who have not previously commented go to moderation. This does not mean your comment will not appear, it just means that I have to find the time to manually approve them. These days I have a screaming infant so it may not be instantaneous but usually comments will be approved within 24 hrs.

Now back to the original post . . .

I am groggily looking up from postpartum land to consider the Hugo nominations. I have no intelligent commentary on them that hasn’t already been said better by someone else. Last year was my first year nominating and voting for the Hugos (via a supporting membership). It was a very interesting experience and I was exposed to a lot of material I would never have read otherwise.

This year my husband and I are contemplating going to Sasquan. However, we’re not entirely sure how well this will work out towing along a 6-year-old and an infant. Plus, the Hugos are obviously going to be weird this year which is very annoying. Regardless of whether or not we actually attend, I’m sure we’ll at least get supporting memberships again.

As far as voting, I’m going to read as much as I have time for and can easily get. I’ll certainly read all the novels and probably work my way down similar to last year. At least this time I don’t have any pressure to try to read an entire fourteen book series :) As far as using “No Award”, it’s a slippery slope. At this point I think I’m going to try to judge the works on their own merit and use No Award to signal when I don’t believe a particular work should get a Hugo. Probably not the perfect choice but I’m not sure there is a perfect choice this year.

I’m really hoping that the Hugo packet this year is fairly comprehensive as a lot of the shorter fiction isn’t easily available. With very rare exceptions, I only buy books after I’ve read and loved them so I won’t be buying anything simply to be able to read it before voting. For my reference, I’m linking to where I can borrow the various works that are available via the public library system.

Best Novel (1827 nominating ballots)

Best Novella (1083 nominating ballots)

  • Big Boys Don’t Cry by Tom Kratman (Castalia House)
  • “Flow” by Arlan Andrews, Sr. (Analog, Nov 2014)
  • One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright (Castalia House)
  • “Pale Realms of Shade” by John C. Wright (The Book of Feasts & Seasons, Castalia House)
  • “The Plural of Helen of Troy” by John C. Wright (City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis, Castalia House)

Best Novelette (1031 nominating ballots)

  • “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium” by Gray Rinehart (Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, May 2014)
  • “Championship B’tok” by Edward M. Lerner (Analog, Sept 2014)
  • The Day the World Turned Upside Down by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2014)
  • “The Journeyman: In the Stone House” by Michael F. Flynn (Analog, June 2014)
  • “The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale” by Rajnar Vajra (Analog, Jul/Aug 2014)

Best Short Story (1174 nominating ballots)

  • “Goodnight Stars” by Annie Bellet (The End is Now (Apocalypse Triptych Book 2), Broad Reach Publishing)
  • “On A Spiritual Plain” by Lou Antonelli (Sci Phi Journal #2, Nov 2014)
  • “The Parliament of Beasts and Birds” by John C. Wright (The Book of Feasts & Seasons, Castalia House)
  • “Totaled” by Kary English (Galaxy’s Edge Magazine, July 2014)
  • “Turncoat” by Steve Rzasa (Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House)
  • “A Single Samurai” by Steven Diamond (The Baen Big Book of Monsters, Baen Books) – Worldcat

Best Related Work (1150 nominating ballots)

  • “The Hot Equations: Thermodynamics and Military SF” by Ken Burnside (Riding the Red Horse, Castalia House)
  • Letters from Gardner by Lou Antonelli (The Merry Blacksmith Press) – Worldcat
  • Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth by John C. Wright (Castalia House)
  • “Why Science is Never Settled” by Tedd Roberts (Baen.com) – Part 1 and Part 2
  • Wisdom from My Internet by Michael Z. Williamson (Patriarchy Press)

Best Graphic Story (785 nominating ballots)

Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) (1285 nominating ballots)

  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, concept and story by Ed Brubaker, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Entertainment, Perception, Sony Pictures Imageworks) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat
  • Edge of Tomorrow screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, directed by Doug Liman (Village Roadshow, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment; Viz Productions) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat
  • Guardians of the Galaxy written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, directed by James Gunn (Marvel Studios, Moving Picture Company) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat
  • Interstellar screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, directed by Christopher Nolan (Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Lynda Obst Productions, Syncopy) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat
  • The Lego Movie written by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, story by Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, LEGO Systems A/S Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures, Warner Bros. Animation (as Warner Animation Group)) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat

    • Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) (938 nominating ballots)

    • Doctor Who: “Listen” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (BBC Television) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Worldcat
    • The Flash: “Pilot” teleplay by Andrew Kreisberg & Geoff Johns, story by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg & Geoff Johns, directed by David Nutter (The CW) (Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television)
    • Game of Thrones: “The Mountain and the Viper” written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by Alex Graves (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
    • Grimm: “Once We Were Gods”, written by Alan DiFiore, directed by Steven DePaul (NBC) (GK Productions, Hazy Mills Productions, Universal TV) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat
    • Orphan Black: “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried” written by Graham Manson, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions; Space/BBC America) – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat

    The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (851 nominating ballots)
    Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2013 or 2014, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

    • Wesley Chu* – High Plains Library District, Flatirons Library Consortium, Prospector, Worldcat
    • Jason Cordova – Worldcat (This is for what appears to be a self-published work in 2010. I’m not seeing anything more recent in Worldcat.)
    • Kary English*
    • Rolf Nelson
    • Eric S. Raymond – Libraries own his non-fiction but not his recent short story.

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