After taking a year or so off, I am going to participate in the Hugo Awards again this year. So, this post is the first of several which will allow me to publicly work through my thoughts on who I would like to nominate for a Hugo Award. Unlike previous years I have nominated, I have been much less involved in the short fiction scene, so I'm going to actively seek out recommendations for the short fiction categories.
This is a start and is currently in no particular order. My next post on this will start to narrow. This is just what I am thinking about right now before doing more serious work to narrow down the categories.
Novel
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Mirror Empire, by Kameron Hurley
The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison
Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer
The Eternal Sky Trilogy, by Elizabeth Bear
Graphic Story
Saga, Vol 3
Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega
Related Work
Rocket Talk Podcast
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Mockingjay: Part I
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Fanzine
A Dribble of Ink
Lady Business
SF Mistressworks
Chaos Horizon
The Wertzone
Fan Writer
Justin Landon
Abigail Nussbaum
Brandon Kempner
Adam Whitehead
Categories I just have no idea about yet but will do research to feel good about.
Novella / Novelette / Short Story
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Semiprozine
Fancast
Professional Artist (there is a great Hugo Eligible Artists blog to help me out)
Editor: Short Form / Long Form
Fan Artist
John W. Campbell Award
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Books Read: December 2014
My intention was to get this post up immediately following all of my Year's Best and Looking Forward posts, which led to a good run of posting at very end of December and four posts in the first six days of January. That final post was scheduled for and posted on January 6.
The reason we didn't get this post up on January 7 was that on January 6, my very pregnant wife's water broke in the wee hours of the morning and we spent the rest of the day in the hospital waiting for the arrival of our son. Our first child. Andrew decided to make an appearance at 11:49 pm. He's doing great, and so is my wife. But what this has meant in terms of posting is that we spent a couple of days in the hospital and then have been working on figuring this parenting thing out for the last 8 days. By no means do we have it figured out, but I have some spare time while the rest of my family is napping. You could argue that I should be, too.
There are no reviews to link to.
1. Grace's Guide, by Grace Helbig
2. Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
3. Prince of Dogs, by Kate Elliott
4. Hawk, by Steven Brust
5. Revival, by Stephen King
6. Allana, by Tamora Pierce
7. The Art of Asking, by Amanda Palmer
8. The Last Man, by Vince Flynn
9. Unexpected Stories, by Octavia Butler
10. The Deaths of Tao, by Wesley Chu
11. The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, by Matthew Inman
12. Steles of the Sky, by Elizabeth Bear
Best Book of the Month: Based on how I listed stuff on my list of the Top Nine Books Published in 2014, I have to go with Hawk. This was Steven Brust in full form and completely delivering a top notch Vlad Taltos novel.
Disappointment of the Month: You generally know what you're getting with a Vince Flynn novel (action, a touch of jingoism, and a lot of ass kicking of terrorists and those who obstruct the safety of the United States). You get an angry Mitch Rapp, which has generally been a solid if flawed ride. The Last Man was Vince Flynn's last published novel and it was written while he was battling the cancer which ultimately took his life. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to the standard of the rest of the series. I have some thoughts on that, but in the end, it doesn't matter. A husband and a father lost his life, and I feel so much more for his family than I care about how this particular novel turned out. I've enjoyed Flynn's work in the past and we have a couple of his books up at the cabin if we need to quickly dive in to something. As a side note, it was recently announced that Kyle Mills will be continuing the Mitch Rapp series. The Survivor (a book Flynn started) may come out in 2015.
Discovery of the Month: I have mentioned this elsewhere, but I really wish I had discovered Tamora Pierce when I was twelve. I liked it at 35, I would have loved it then and would have devoured everything Pierce wrote back then. Allana was fantastic.
Worth Noting: With Steles of the Sky, Elizabeth Bear concluded her superb Eternal Sky trilogy, a "silk road" fantasy with far more eastern than western influences. It is a beautiful and brutal novel and series, and it should be held up as one of the top fantasy series in recent years.
Gender Breakdown: Of the twelve books I read last month, seven were written by women. This marks two consecutive months which I have read more books written by women than by men. This brings my total to 62/135 for the year (45.92%), which is the greatest percentage of female authored books I have ever read in a given year as long as I have been keeping track of this sort of thing. So, that's good, right? It's a start. I have a different and longer post in mind to talk about my year in reading as it relates to gender (a sequel to this one), so I won't bury it all here, but this is nothing more than a start.
Previous Months
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
The reason we didn't get this post up on January 7 was that on January 6, my very pregnant wife's water broke in the wee hours of the morning and we spent the rest of the day in the hospital waiting for the arrival of our son. Our first child. Andrew decided to make an appearance at 11:49 pm. He's doing great, and so is my wife. But what this has meant in terms of posting is that we spent a couple of days in the hospital and then have been working on figuring this parenting thing out for the last 8 days. By no means do we have it figured out, but I have some spare time while the rest of my family is napping. You could argue that I should be, too.
There are no reviews to link to.
1. Grace's Guide, by Grace Helbig
2. Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
3. Prince of Dogs, by Kate Elliott
4. Hawk, by Steven Brust
5. Revival, by Stephen King
6. Allana, by Tamora Pierce
7. The Art of Asking, by Amanda Palmer
8. The Last Man, by Vince Flynn
9. Unexpected Stories, by Octavia Butler
10. The Deaths of Tao, by Wesley Chu
11. The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, by Matthew Inman
12. Steles of the Sky, by Elizabeth Bear
Best Book of the Month: Based on how I listed stuff on my list of the Top Nine Books Published in 2014, I have to go with Hawk. This was Steven Brust in full form and completely delivering a top notch Vlad Taltos novel.
Disappointment of the Month: You generally know what you're getting with a Vince Flynn novel (action, a touch of jingoism, and a lot of ass kicking of terrorists and those who obstruct the safety of the United States). You get an angry Mitch Rapp, which has generally been a solid if flawed ride. The Last Man was Vince Flynn's last published novel and it was written while he was battling the cancer which ultimately took his life. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to the standard of the rest of the series. I have some thoughts on that, but in the end, it doesn't matter. A husband and a father lost his life, and I feel so much more for his family than I care about how this particular novel turned out. I've enjoyed Flynn's work in the past and we have a couple of his books up at the cabin if we need to quickly dive in to something. As a side note, it was recently announced that Kyle Mills will be continuing the Mitch Rapp series. The Survivor (a book Flynn started) may come out in 2015.
Discovery of the Month: I have mentioned this elsewhere, but I really wish I had discovered Tamora Pierce when I was twelve. I liked it at 35, I would have loved it then and would have devoured everything Pierce wrote back then. Allana was fantastic.
Worth Noting: With Steles of the Sky, Elizabeth Bear concluded her superb Eternal Sky trilogy, a "silk road" fantasy with far more eastern than western influences. It is a beautiful and brutal novel and series, and it should be held up as one of the top fantasy series in recent years.
Gender Breakdown: Of the twelve books I read last month, seven were written by women. This marks two consecutive months which I have read more books written by women than by men. This brings my total to 62/135 for the year (45.92%), which is the greatest percentage of female authored books I have ever read in a given year as long as I have been keeping track of this sort of thing. So, that's good, right? It's a start. I have a different and longer post in mind to talk about my year in reading as it relates to gender (a sequel to this one), so I won't bury it all here, but this is nothing more than a start.
Previous Months
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Less New Books I'm Looking Forward to Maybe Reading in 2015
Besides my most anticipated 2015 books I'm also anticipating the books from 2014, 2013, 2012 etc that I haven't gotten around to reading yet
— Kate Elliott (@KateElliottSFF) January 4, 2015
Inspired by Kate Elliott, I would like to consider some books published in the last several years which I would like to read. I'm putting this together with a quick scan of the Locus Forthcoming Lists. Some of these will be later books in a series where I haven't read all of the earlier books, but they do hold some interest for me.
I am also quite certain that there are many more books than these for any given year that I'd like to read, these are just the ones jumping out at me today.
2013
MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood
American Elsewhere, by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Daylight War, by Peter V. Brett
The Incrementalists, by Steven Brust and Skyler White
The Bitter Kingdom, by Rae Carson
Abaddon's Gate, by James S. A. Corey
Blood of Dragons, by Robin Hobb
Without a Summer, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Best of All Possible Worlds, by Karen Lord
Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch
Limits of Power, by Elizabeth Moon
A Matter of Blood, by Sarah Pinborough
Fiddlehead, by Cherie Priest
Necessary Evil, by Ian Tregillis
2012
Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed
Iron Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill
Shoggoths in Bloom, by Elizabeth Bear
Rapture, by Kameron Hurley
The Shadowed Sun, by N. K. Jemisin
Crucible of Gold, by Naomi Novik
The Serpent Sea, by Martha Wells
Worldsoul, by Liz Williams
2011
Cold Fire, by Kate Elliott
Raising Stony Mayhall, by Daryl Gregory
Infidel, by Kameron Hurley
The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn
The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
City of Ruins, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
And also some random books from earlier years but which are on my "read sooner rather than later list":
Stretto, by L. Timmel Duchamp
The Burning Stone, by Kate Elliott
The Temporal Void, by Peter F. Hamilton
Fool's Fate, by Robin Hobb
Darkspell, by Katherine Kerr
The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon
Surrender None, by Elizabeth Moon
Maelstrom, by Peter Watts
The Killing of Worlds, by Scott Westerfeld
Monday, January 05, 2015
14 Books I Want to Read to in 2015
So, I gave a quick look through the LocusForthcoming List, a quick search on stuff I have saved on Goodreads, and voila!
We have list!
As such, this isn’t exhaustive or authoritative. This is just a list of 14 books, in presumed
publication order, that I’d like to read this year. I’m sure I missed something awesome. Maybe many somethings awesome.
1. The Just City, by Jo Walton (Jan): I haven’t read much
from Jo Walton, but after reading Among Others a couple years back, I am
sold. Doesn’t matter what this is, I
want to read it.
2. Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear (Feb): New Elizabeth Bear. Does it matter what this is about? It does not.
3. Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse, by John Joseph Adams (editor) (Feb): I adored JJA's previous Wastelands anthology (my review), so what can possibly be wrong with Wastelands II? Nothing, I tell you, nothing.
4. Persona, by Genevieve Valentine (Mar): Political thriller with celebrity culture. Also, written by Genevieve Valentine.
5. The Rebirths of Tao, by Wesley Chu (Apr): Oh, Tao, how I enjoy reading about thee.
6. The Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Jul): Now that I'm digging into her Crown of Stars series, I want to read all of the Kate Elliott
3. Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse, by John Joseph Adams (editor) (Feb): I adored JJA's previous Wastelands anthology (my review), so what can possibly be wrong with Wastelands II? Nothing, I tell you, nothing.
4. Persona, by Genevieve Valentine (Mar): Political thriller with celebrity culture. Also, written by Genevieve Valentine.
5. The Rebirths of Tao, by Wesley Chu (Apr): Oh, Tao, how I enjoy reading about thee.
6. The Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Jul): Now that I'm digging into her Crown of Stars series, I want to read all of the Kate Elliott
7. The End of All Things, by John Scalzi (Aug): New Scalzi, set in the Old Man's War universe. It's another linked story collection like The Human Division. Good stuff.
8. Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente (Aug): I'm really not sure what this means: "Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own"
8. Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente (Aug): I'm really not sure what this means: "Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own"
9. Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb (Aug): I expect to finish the Tawny Man trilogy in the next couple of months, but since I know that I would then want to read the Rain Wilds books before starting this, I don't expect to hit this series until 2016 at best. But, because I continue to be impressed by each book I read of Hobb's, this should be acknowleded.
10. The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch (Sep): Gentleman
Bastards Book 4. I still need to read
Republic of Thieves, but this is must read fantasy for me.
11. The Empire Ascendent, by Kameron Hurley (Oct): The Mirror Empire was one of my top books of 2014. I expect The Empire Ascendent to be one of my top books of 2015.
12. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Oct): If you like science fiction and you're not reading Ann Leckie's novels, you're doing it wrong.
13: Mistborn: Shadows of Self, by Brandon Sanderson (Oct): More Mistborn, following up on Alloy of Law.
11. The Empire Ascendent, by Kameron Hurley (Oct): The Mirror Empire was one of my top books of 2014. I expect The Empire Ascendent to be one of my top books of 2015.
12. Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Oct): If you like science fiction and you're not reading Ann Leckie's novels, you're doing it wrong.
13: Mistborn: Shadows of Self, by Brandon Sanderson (Oct): More Mistborn, following up on Alloy of Law.
14. The Winds of Winter, by George R. R. Martin (???): I'm not sure I really expect this to come out in 2015, but it's the annual GRRM watch, so let's keep on hoping.
Friday, January 02, 2015
Final Catch Up with the 2014 To-Read List
Back in February I posted a list of 19 books
I wanted to read this year, the list ordered by presumed publication
date. I ran an update to that post back in September, and now that we're into 2015 it is time to run the final update.
I have read 12 of the 19 books from the list. This probably one of the better results from making a to-read list at the beginning of the year. Things happen, publication dates get pushed back. Feist's King of Ashes and Lynch's Thorn of Emberlain were pushed to 2015, so I'm really at 12 of 17 books published in 2014.
If I'm being completely honest, I haven't read Symbiont yet, but I have a copy from the library and I'm going to start it this weekend. So, it's a preemptive count. On the other hand, I own a copy of One-Eyed Jack, but I know I'm not going to start it in the next couple of days, so I'm not counting it as read. I'm nothing if not inconsistent.
There is no reason why I didn't get to One-Eyed Jack or My Real Children.
I'm behind on the Glamourist Histories series from Mary Robinette Kowal, so I was never getting to Valour and Vanity this year. Same with Cibola Burn, though I will be getting Abaddon's Gate from the library in the next week, so I'll have a chance to catch up to the series before Nemesis Games is published.
Finally, Going Gray was self published by Karen Traviss and since my book buying budget is limited these days, I don't expect to be able to purchase it anytime soon and my library may not get it. There is a listing for the book, but I think it is back to when Going Gray had a traditional publisher and I'm not convinced the library will pull the trigger on it as a self published novel. So, one day. I hope Traviss has enormous success with the book, though. Her Wess'har Wars were fantastic, and she has easily been my favorite Star Wars author when she was writing in that universe. I haven't read her Gears of War or Halo novels, but that's entirely due to lack of universe familiarity.
12 out of 19, with two books not published. That's not bad.
I have read 12 of the 19 books from the list. This probably one of the better results from making a to-read list at the beginning of the year. Things happen, publication dates get pushed back. Feist's King of Ashes and Lynch's Thorn of Emberlain were pushed to 2015, so I'm really at 12 of 17 books published in 2014.
If I'm being completely honest, I haven't read Symbiont yet, but I have a copy from the library and I'm going to start it this weekend. So, it's a preemptive count. On the other hand, I own a copy of One-Eyed Jack, but I know I'm not going to start it in the next couple of days, so I'm not counting it as read. I'm nothing if not inconsistent.
There is no reason why I didn't get to One-Eyed Jack or My Real Children.
I'm behind on the Glamourist Histories series from Mary Robinette Kowal, so I was never getting to Valour and Vanity this year. Same with Cibola Burn, though I will be getting Abaddon's Gate from the library in the next week, so I'll have a chance to catch up to the series before Nemesis Games is published.
Finally, Going Gray was self published by Karen Traviss and since my book buying budget is limited these days, I don't expect to be able to purchase it anytime soon and my library may not get it. There is a listing for the book, but I think it is back to when Going Gray had a traditional publisher and I'm not convinced the library will pull the trigger on it as a self published novel. So, one day. I hope Traviss has enormous success with the book, though. Her Wess'har Wars were fantastic, and she has easily been my favorite Star Wars author when she was writing in that universe. I haven't read her Gears of War or Halo novels, but that's entirely due to lack of universe familiarity.
12 out of 19, with two books not published. That's not bad.
1. Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer (Feb)
2. Locke and Key: Alpha and Omega, by Joe Hill (Feb)
3. Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson (Mar)
4. Steles of the Sky, by Elizabeth Bear (Apr)
5. Valour and Vanity, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Apr)
6. King of Ashes, by Raymond E. Feist (May)
7. Cyador’s Heirs, by L. E. Modesitt, Jr (May)
8. Defenders, by Will McIntosh (May)
9. My Real Children, by Jo Walton (May)
10. Cibola Burn, by James S. A. Corey (Jun)
11. Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King (Jun)
12. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, by Genevieve Valentine
(Jun)
13. One-Eyed Jack, by Elizabeth Bear (Aug)
14. Lock In, by John Scalzi (Aug)
15. Hawk, by Steven Brust (Sep)
16. Maplecroft, by Cherie Priest (Sep)
17. The Thorn of Emberlain, by Scott Lynch (Nov)
18. Symbiont, by Mira Grant (Nov)
19. Going Gray, by Karen Traviss (Dec)
Thursday, January 01, 2015
The Missing: 2014
I posted a similar list in the past,
and I think it is worth posting a number of the books I didn't read in
2011. Now, the actual list is absurdly long, but this is a decent
representation of books I would have liked to have read and, for various
reasons, never did.
For the sake of keeping this list manageable, I limited it to genre books. If I browsed through listings of LitFic and Nonfiction, well, the list would be absurd. Even strictly genre, I could probably grow triple this list with ease. Let's just say that reading 135 books in a year doesn't get you as far as you might think, even if all you read were books published that year (which I didn't)
Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie
The Widow's House, by Daniel Abraham
Dead Man's Hand, by John Joseph Adams
One-Eyed Jack, by Elizabeth Bear
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
Cibola Burn, by James S. A. Corey
Afterparty, by Daryl Gregory
We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory
The Magician's Land, by Lev Grossman
Fool's Assassin, by Robin Hobb
Valour and Vanity, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The King's Deryni, by Katherine Kurtz
Prince of Fools, by Mark Lawrence
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
The Galaxy Game, by Karen Lord
The Three, by Sarah Lotz
Station Eleven, by Emily Mandel
Crown of Renewal, by Elizabeth Moon
The Adjacent, by Christopher Priest
The Causal Angel, by Hannu Rajaniemi
On the Steel Breeze, by Alastair Reynolds
The Memory Garden, by Mary Rickert
The Emperor's Blades, by Brian Staveley
Fish Tales, by Sheri Tepper
My Real Children, by Jo Walton
Echopraxia, by Peter Watts
The Martian, by Andy Weir
For the sake of keeping this list manageable, I limited it to genre books. If I browsed through listings of LitFic and Nonfiction, well, the list would be absurd. Even strictly genre, I could probably grow triple this list with ease. Let's just say that reading 135 books in a year doesn't get you as far as you might think, even if all you read were books published that year (which I didn't)
Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie
The Widow's House, by Daniel Abraham
Dead Man's Hand, by John Joseph Adams
One-Eyed Jack, by Elizabeth Bear
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
Cibola Burn, by James S. A. Corey
Afterparty, by Daryl Gregory
We Are All Completely Fine, by Daryl Gregory
The Magician's Land, by Lev Grossman
Fool's Assassin, by Robin Hobb
Valour and Vanity, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The King's Deryni, by Katherine Kurtz
Prince of Fools, by Mark Lawrence
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
The Galaxy Game, by Karen Lord
The Three, by Sarah Lotz
Station Eleven, by Emily Mandel
Crown of Renewal, by Elizabeth Moon
The Adjacent, by Christopher Priest
The Causal Angel, by Hannu Rajaniemi
On the Steel Breeze, by Alastair Reynolds
The Memory Garden, by Mary Rickert
The Emperor's Blades, by Brian Staveley
Fish Tales, by Sheri Tepper
My Real Children, by Jo Walton
Echopraxia, by Peter Watts
The Martian, by Andy Weir
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