2016 Hugo Award Nominees

Below are the finalists for the 2016 Hugo Awards. Congratulations to all the nominees

Update 5/6/2015: Two nominees on the final ballot declined their nominations. MidAmericonII has replaced them on the ballot.

Best Novel (3695 Ballots)
The Aeronauts Windlass, by Jim Butcher (Roc)
Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
Uprooted, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Best Novella (2416 Ballots)
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
The Builders, by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com Publishing)
Penric's Demon, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
Perfect State, by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)

Best Novelette (1975 Ballots)
“And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead”, by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed 2/15)
“Folding Beijing”, by Hao Jingfang, (Uncanny 1-2/15)
“Obits”, by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams)
“What Price Humanity?”, by David VanDyke (There Will Be War: Volume X)
“Flashpoint: Titan”, by Cheah Kai Wai (There Will Be War: Volume X)

Best Short Story (2451 Ballots)
“Asymmetrical Warfare”, by S. R. Algernon (Nature 3/15)
"Cat Pictures Please", by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 1/15)
The Commuter, by Thomas A. Mays (Stealth)
“Seven Kill Tiger”, by Charles Shao (There Will Be War: Volume X)
“If You Were an Award, My Love”, by Juan Tabo & S. Harris (voxday.blogspot.com 6/15)
Space Raptor Butt Invasion, by Chuck Tingle (self-published)

Thomas A. Mays declined his nomination. Naomi Kritzer's "Cat Pictures Please" has been added to the final ballot.

Best Related Work (2080 Ballots)
Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986, by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police, by Vox Day (Castalia House)
“Safe Space as Rape Room”, by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
“The Story of Moira Greyland”, by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)
“The First Draft of My Appendix N Book”, by Jeffro Johnson (castaliahouse.com)

Best Graphic Story (1838 Ballots)
The Divine, written by Boaz Lavie, art by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka
Erin Dies Alone, written by Grey Carter, art by Cory Rydell
Full Frontal Nerdity, by Aaron Williams
Invisible Republic: Volume 1, written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, art by Gabriel Hardman
The Sandman: Overture, written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H, Williams III

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form (2904 Ballots)
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form (2219 Ballots)
Doctor Who: Heaven Sent
Grimm: Headache
Jessica Jones: aka Smile
My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: The Cutie Map
Supernatural: Just My Imagination

Best Editor: Short Form (1891 Ballots)
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Ellen Datlow
Jerry Pournelle
Sheila Williams

Best Editor: Long Form (1764 Ballots)
Vox Day
Sheila E. Gilbert
Liz Gorinsky
Jim Minz
Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist (1481 Ballots)
Lars Braad Anderson
Larry Elmore
Abigail Larson
Michal Karcz
Larry Rostant

Best Semiprozine (1457 Ballots)
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Daily Science Fiction
Sci Phi Journal
Strange Horizons
Uncanny Magazine

Best Fanzine (1455 Ballots)
Black Gate
Castalia House Blog
File 770
Lady Business
Subversive SF
Tangent Online

The editors of Black Gate have declined their nomination. Lady Business has been added to the final ballot.

Best Fancast (1267 Ballots)
8-4 Play
Cane and Rinse
HelloGreedo
The Rageaholic
Tales to Terrify

Best Fan Writer (1568 Ballots)
Douglas Ernst
Mike Glyer
Morgan Holmes (Castalia House Blog, Sundays)
Jeffro Johnson
Shamus Young

Best Fan Artist (1073 Ballots)
Matthew Callahan
disse86
Kukuruyo
Christian Quinot
Steve Stiles

John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer (1922 Ballots)
Pierce Brown
Sebastiel De Castell
Brian Neimeier
Andy Weir
Alyssa Wong


As a side note, I expect to have some of my preliminary thoughts up in the next couple of days, either here or at Nerds of a Feather.

Books Read: March 2016

Now that we're done with March, let's take a look at the books I read last month.

1. Bands of Mourning, by Brandon Sanderson
2. The Story of My Teeth, by Valeria Luiselli
3. The Warrior's Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold
4. Bats of the Republic, by Zachary Thomas Dodson
5. Wings of Sorrow and Bone, by Beth Cato
6. Envy of Angels, by Matt Wallace
7. Domnall and the Borrowed Child, by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley
8. Patchwerk, by David Tallerman
9. Ban en Banlieue, by Bhanu Kapil
10. Of Sorrow and Such, by Angela Slatter
11. The Last Witness, by KJ Parker
12. Perfect State, by Brandon Sanderson
13. The Sellout, by Paul Beatty (unfinished)
14. The Absconded Ambassador, by Michael R. Underwood
15. Lustlocked, by Matt Wallace
16. All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
17. Meeting Infinity, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)
18. Forest of Memory, by Mary Robinette Kowal
19. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, by Lois McMaster Bujold


Best Book of the Month: Even though I did not read the reviews, I could not avoid seeing the massive hype for Charlie Jane Anders' debut novel All the Birds in the Sky. I was convinced there was no way it could live up to that hype. The deeper I read into the novel, the more impressed I was and the more I wanted to see how Anders could possibly wrap it up. She stuck the landing.

Disappointment of the Month: My disappointment is for the collective of this year's Tournament of Books. While I've enjoyed reading the various judgments and playing along at home with my wife, there have been far fewer books this year which I've enjoyed or even appreciated.

Discovery of the Month: Matt Wallace's novellas are batshit insane and absolutely fantastic. Everyone should be reading his Sin du Jour. Start with Envy of Angels, then don't stop.

Worth Noting: This month's count is bolstered by a whole lot of novellas. If you're wondering how I count books, if it is published as an independent volume, I count it as a book I've read (see, Tor.com Publishing's novella line or Brandon Sanderson's Perfect State). However, if it is only available as part of a collection or in a magazine, it doesn't count as a distinct book even if the page count is just as long as those published on its own. I have to draw the line somewhere.

Gender Breakdown: March was a reasonably strong month, with 9 out of 19 books written by women. This brings my total to 26 / 51, or 50.98%.  It's a small drop, but it's also a small sample amount. The numbers should solidify in the coming months. While I do not a have specific goal this year to read more books written by women than those written by men, I would like to at least keep the breakdown near a 50/50 split. Thus far I am on track to accomplish that.



Previous Reads
January
February 

My 2016 Hugo Nomination Ballot

Now that the nominations window has closed, here is my ballot for the 2016 Hugo Awards. I'm sure that you have all been clamoring to see how I nominated.

Novel
Black Wolves, by Kate Elliott (Orbit)
The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
Uprooted, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)

Novella
“Ur”, by Stephen King (Bazaar of Bad Dreams)
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
The Builders, by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com Publishing)
Slow Bullets, by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)
Envy of Angels, by Matt Wallace (Tor.com Publishing)

Novelette
“And the Balance in Blood”, by Elizabeth Bear (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 7, November 2015)
“The Heart’s Filthy Lesson”, by Elizabeth Bear (Old Venus)
“The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss”, by David Brin (Old Venus)
“Obits”, by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams)
“Our Lady of the Open Road”, by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s, June 2015)

Short Story
“The Light Brigade”, by Kameron Hurley (Lightspeed, November 2015) – published on Patreon 2015
“Cat Pictures Please”, by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)
“Hello, Hello”, by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions, 2015)
“Eyes I Dare Not Meet in Dreams”, by Sunny Moraine (Cyborgology, June 2, 2015)
“Tear Tracks”, by Malka Older (Tor.com, October 21, 2015)

Graphic Story
Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine (Vol 1), by Kelly Sue DeConnick
The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud
Lazarus: Conclave (Vol 3), by Greg Rucka
Lumberjanes: Friendship to the Max (Vol 2), by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Brooke Allen
Stand Still. Stay Silent, by Minna Sundberg

Related Work
You’re Never Weird on the Internet, by Felicia Day
Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual Dictionary, by Michael Klastorin
Rocket Talk Podcast, hosted by Justin Landon
A History of Epic Fantasy, by Adam Whitehead
Speculative Fiction 2014, by Renay Williams and Shaun Duke (editors)

Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Game of Thrones: “Hardhome”
Prune – iOS game by Joel McDonald
“Traveler”, directed by Simon Brown

Editor, Short Form
John Joseph Adams (Lightspeed, Nightmare)
Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld)
Jonathan Strahan (Meeting Infinity)
Lynne M. Thomas (Uncanny)
Ann VanderMeer (Tor.Com, Sisters of the Revolution)

Editor, Long Form
Anne Lesley Groell (Fool’s Quest, Uprooted)
Lee Harris (Tor.com Publishing)
Will Hinton (Ancillary Mercy, Nemesis Game)
Devi Pillai (Black Wolves, Autumn Republic, The Fifth Season)

Professional Artist
Richard Anderson (Empire Ascendant)
Shan Jian (Illustrated Man in the High Castle)
David Palumbo (Binti)
Cynthia Sheppard (Karen Memory)
Sam Weber (Illustrated Dune)

Fan Artist
Megan Lara
Orisoni / Ariel
Gabriel Picolo
Sarah Webb

Semiprozine
Uncanny Magazine

Fanzine
Chaos Horizon
Lady Business
Nerds of a feather, flock together
SF Bluestocking
SF Mistressworks

Fan Writer
Brandon Kempner
Bridget McKinney
Abigail Nussbaum
Adam Whitehead
Renay Williams

Fancast
Cabbages and Kings
Fan Girl Happy Hour
Speculate!

John W. Campbell Award
Becky Chambers
Kat Howard
Malka Older
Kelly Robson
Andy Weir