Initial Thoughts on the 2012 Hugo Nominees

So, the Hugo Awards.  I have thoughts.  This isn't so much an argument with everyone griping or expressing basic satisfaction with the awards as it is my general thoughts based on what I've read and what I think.

The short version is that I'm generally satisfied with the lineup.  There are things I'd change (given that I did submit a nomination ballot), but as a whole it's solid.  I do think that, overall, the Nebula Awards has a more interesting shortlist, but this isn't bad.  I'll post more about some of the individual categories when I have the chance to read all of the nominees. 

Best Novel

• Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor)
• A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra)
• Deadline by Mira Grant (Orbit)
• Embassytown by China Miéville (Macmillan / Del Rey)
• Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Orbit)

The only one of the five nominees I’ve read is Among Others. It was my favorite novel published last year and I believe it is going to take something special to supplant it as my number one choice in a couple of months when I vote. The trouble for me here is that even though I’ve already read the first four novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, I had planned to do a gradual series re-read before stepping into A Dance With Dragons. Thus far, I’ve only re-read the first book. Do I want to push through A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast of Crows in the next three months just to read A Dance With Dragons? Or, do I want to go in fairly cold and deal with the novel with imperfect memories of what came before?

Likewise with Deadline, my plan is to read Feed first. I’ve already requested it. My opinion of Feed will definitely shape whether I wish to continue on with Deadline. I’ll step into the other two nominees as well.

Best Novella

• Countdown by Mira Grant (Orbit)
• “The Ice Owl” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction November/December 2011)
• “Kiss Me Twice” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s June 2011)
• “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s September/October 2011)
• “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” by Ken Liu (Panverse 3)
• Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

I haven’t read Countdown or “The Ice Owl”. For the rest, I think that “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” may be the strongest on the slate. Granting that I was left completely baffled by Catherynne Valente’s story, “The Man Who Ended History” is the most inventive story and is one of a series of excellent stories published by Ken Liu last year – it was excellent and would be a worthy winner, but it left me a touch cold even with the personal aspect of the documentary storytelling. I admire the craft of the story, but part of what I look for is a connection. I had that more with the consistently excellent Kij Johnson.

Best Novelette

• “The Copenhagen Interpretation” by Paul Cornell (Asimov’s July 2011)
• “Fields of Gold” by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
• “Ray of Light” by Brad R. Torgersen (Analog December 2011)
• “Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
• “What We Found” by Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2011)

I’ve raved about Charlie Jane Anders’ “Six Months, Three Days” and continue to recommend it. Go read it. Otherwise, I’ve only read Rachel Swirsky’s “Fields of Gold”. I liked it, but right now Charlie Jane Anders is going to be the class of the field. That was also the case in a strong Nebula category. Yes, I understand that I’m stating this while still needing to read three of the nominated stories.

Best Short Story

• “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld April 2011)
• “The Homecoming” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s April/May 2011)
• “Movement” by Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s March 2011)
• “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2011)
• “Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue” by John Scalzi (Tor.com)

I still need to read the Resnick and Scalzi. The other three nominees: excellent! Each of those were on my ballot for very good reason. Whether he pulls it off this year or not, Ken Liu is going to have to deal with the fact that very soon people are going to start throwing awards at him. I suggest plate mail as a viable defense. Or a force field. “The Paper Menagerie” is a heartfelt quiet story with regret and heartbreak and it’s a beautiful piece. The problem is that Nancy Fulda’s “Movement” is likewise beautiful that touches on the challenge of raising a child with a form of autism AND the hidden worlds of what may be going on in the mind of such a child and what occurs in those spaces between inadequate responses. E. Lily Yu’s “Cartographer Wasps…” is a powerful work of imagination and I really hope to see a lot more from Yu. I love this category.

Best Related Work

• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz)
• Jar Jar Binks Must Die… and Other Observations about Science Fiction Movies by Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books)
• The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image)
• Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire
• Writing Excuses, Season 6 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson

I have no idea. I’ll have the chance to browse through the Encyclopedia and listen to a few of the Writing Excuses podcasts, but I’m not at all familiar with.

Best Graphic Story

• Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
• Fables Vol 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
• Locke & Key Volume 4, Keys to the Kingdom written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
• Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)
• The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

Fables and Schlock Mercenary continue to be nominated for the fourth consecutive year. The Unwritten is on its second year and I wasn’t a fan of its first collection of comics. I’ve been a bit sketchy on how the eligibility cycle works and since I don’t read single issues, I can only consider collections as a single entity – which is fine, but I think the category is in a time of growing pains as readers try to figure out what they liked best out and recognize work for excellence. But, with such a limited nominating pool, if folks don’t read widely in comics, it’ll be all too easy to see the same ongoing series nominated and winning again and again and again (see the Doctor Who Award for Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form, or happily, the changing of the guard in the Locus Award for Best Semiprozine). Luckily, Girl Genius was not nominated this year – and whether they didn’t have an eligible collection or they declined the nomination, I don’t know. But four years of Girl Genius winning would be a bit much. And, admitting my bias, I don’t know that I really consider it to be the best work out there. But then, I could also read more widely.

And with all of this said – Locke and Key. That was an excellent book.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

• Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely, directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel)
• Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.)
• Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount)
• Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)

Can I just assume Game of Thrones? I think it’ll happen. Captain America wasn’t that good of a movie. Harry Potter 7.5 was fine, but far better than Captain America. Haven’t seen Hugo or Source Code. Or, as a whole, I don’t care about this category.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)

• “The Doctor’s Wife” (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)
• “The Drink Tank’s Hugo Acceptance Speech,” Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)
• “The Girl Who Waited” (Doctor Who), written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
• “A Good Man Goes to War” (Doctor Who), written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)
• “Remedial Chaos Theory” (Community), written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)

I need to double check a couple of Doctor Who episodes, but I think “The Girl Who Waited”. That was an excellent and moving episode. I’m not going to begin to get into the consistent nominating of Doctor Who to the near exclusion of everything else. I don’t watch enough SFF television. Hell, I watched an episode of Swamp People last night and despite my horror, I couldn’t look away. So maybe I’m to blame for this mess. The interesting nominee here is “The Drink Tank’s Hugo Acceptance Speech”, which has to be one of those most weirdly recursive nominations of all time. If you watch it (and you should, it’s really short), it’s obvious how meaningful that moment and that win was to Christopher Garcia. It’s a fantastic moment, though I’ll admit to being somewhat uncomfortable watching it. Should it have been nominated? I don’t know, but better that than a fourth episode of Doctor Who.

Best Semiprozine

• Apex Magazine edited by Catherynne M. Valente, Lynne M. Thomas, and Jason Sizemore
• Interzone edited by Andy Cox
• Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams
• Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.
• New York Review of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Dikeman, and Avram Grumer

Lightspeed had an excellent year, but I didn’t read Apex or Interzone last year (except for the one story Elizabeth Bear had published in Apex – good story, by the way). I don’t subscribe to Locus, though I find great value in its forthcoming fiction list. So, Lightspeed.

Best Fanzine

• Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
• The Drink Tank edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia
• File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
• Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, et al.
• SF Signal edited by John DeNardo

SF Signal! I think this is a very important nomination because I very firmly believe that blogs are where the heart of the modern fanzine lives today. There is still a small but strong community built around the old style mimeographed fanzines of yesteryear, the most prominent of which are still being published and launched online at e-fanzines (and possibly still existing in print), but so many more fans are gathering online and writing blogs, commenting on others, contributing, and engaging in meaningful conversations in a way that builds fandom. Yes, small islands exist in this online fandom, but I believe that small islands always existed with the old style fanzine.

If the fanzine category should exist (and why shouldn’t it), I think it should continue to grow and reflect the times of the day – which is what the inclusion of SF Signal reflects. I think and hope that we will see more blogs involved in this category. I’ve several in mind which I can see from my little island, but as fandom shifts and flows, we’ll likely see others nominated which I had never considered because I’m not part of that corner. That’s more than okay, it’s awesome.

I’ve read File 770 in the past and have enjoyed what Mike Glyer does. I’m not so familiar with Banana Wings, The Drink Tank, or Journey Planet. If they exist in an online format (beyond a PDF at e-fanzines), I’ll have to check them out.

Best Fancast

• The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
• Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
• SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester
• SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
• StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

I’m not at all part of this community and haven’t engaged with podcasts much at all, so I have nothing to say here.

Best Professional Editor — Long Form

• Lou Anders
• Liz Gorinsky
• Anne Lesley Groell
• Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• Betsy Wollheim

You know what I’d like to see? Some sort of centralized database or listing where you can look at an editor’s output for a given year. What did Lou Anders edit from the 2011 slate? Well, with Pyr, I believe it would be everything. But that’s not the case with Patrick Nielsen Hayden. Tor published a LOT in 2011. How much awesomeness was Liz Gorinsky responsible for? Honestly, if you’re not checking the editor of every book you read (assuming that information is even available inside the cover), making a list, and compiling it throughout the year – how do you really get a sense for it?

Best Professional Editor — Short Form

• John Joseph Adams
• Neil Clarke
• Stanley Schmidt
• Jonathan Strahan
• Sheila Williams

There are two ways to look at this category. 1) Find your favorite ‘zine and nominate the editor responsible for it (Ann Leckie at GigaNotoSaurus, I love what you’re doing even if you didn’t get nominated this year). 2) Look at who published some awesome anthologies and nominate accordingly. It’s a solid lineup this year, even if Ann Leckie wasn’t nominated. I don’t subscribe to Analog or Asimov’s and while I tend to appreciate Asimov’s nominated fiction, when I had previously subscribed to, I didn’t find Asimov’s to be a consistently engaging publication. The highs were high. Everything else was just okay but not enough to make me re-subscribe. This statement is based on a one year subscription from several years ago. For me, this is between John Joseph Adams and Jonathan Strahan. (And Ann Leckie!)

Best Professional Artist

• Dan dos Santos
• Bob Eggleton
• Michael Komarck
• Stephan Martiniere
• John Picacio

Due to various reasons, I didn’t engage with the genre art scene as much this year as I would have wanted to. I’ll spend some time working through the various catalogs of our nominees. I hope to do a much better job looking at and talking about the professional artists this year, even if I don’t know how to talk about it beyond instinctive response to a cover. Also – do we only consider cover art when we think of this category. If not, what do we consider?

Best Fan Artist

• Brad W. Foster
• Randall Munroe
• Spring Schoenhuth
• Maurine Starkey
• Steve Stiles
• Taral Wayne

I am not engaged at all in the fan art community. I have no idea what’s going on there.

Best Fan Writer 

• James Bacon
• Claire Brialey
• Christopher J Garcia
• Jim C. Hines
• Steven H Silver

Whenever someone links to Jim C. Hines I am always struck by how smart the man is and how well he thinks through his arguments. And yet, I still haven’t read his books. But, this is about his fan writing, not his professional writing. I’m not familiar with the others.

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

• Mur Lafferty
• Stina Leicht
• Karen Lord
• Brad R. Torgersen
• E. Lily Yu

E. Lily Yu! Actually, I haven’t read the other four, but it appears to be a strong lineup this year. By “strong lineup”, I mean to say that I’ve heard of the writers and, correspondingly, have heard good things.

2012 Hugo Award Nominees

(Via the Hugo Award Nominated SF Signal)

For a point of comparison, here is my nomination ballot.  A number of my nominations made the ballot (17.5, if my count is correct - I nominated Sean Wallace for Clarkesworld's fiction and not Neil Clarke for the whole thing), which is all sorts of awesome.

Best Novel

• Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor)
• A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra)
• Deadline by Mira Grant (Orbit)
• Embassytown by China Miéville (Macmillan / Del Rey)
• Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Orbit)

Best Novella

• Countdown by Mira Grant (Orbit)
• “The Ice Owl” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction November/December 2011)
• “Kiss Me Twice” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s June 2011)
• “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s September/October 2011)
• “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” by Ken Liu (Panverse 3)
• Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

Best Novelette

• “The Copenhagen Interpretation” by Paul Cornell (Asimov’s July 2011)
• “Fields of Gold” by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
• “Ray of Light” by Brad R. Torgersen (Analog December 2011)
• “Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
• “What We Found” by Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2011)

Best Short Story

• “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld April 2011)
• “The Homecoming” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s April/May 2011)
• “Movement” by Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s March 2011)
• “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2011)
• “Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue” by John Scalzi (Tor.com)

Best Related Work

• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz)
• Jar Jar Binks Must Die… and Other Observations about Science Fiction Movies by Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books)
• The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image)
• Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire
• Writing Excuses, Season 6 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story

• Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
• Fables Vol 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
• Locke & Key Volume 4, Keys to the Kingdom written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
• Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)
• The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. Written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

• Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely, directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel)
• Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.)
• Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount)
• Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)

• “The Doctor’s Wife” (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)
• “The Drink Tank’s Hugo Acceptance Speech,” Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)
• “The Girl Who Waited” (Doctor Who), written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
• “A Good Man Goes to War” (Doctor Who), written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)
• “Remedial Chaos Theory” (Community), written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)

Best Semiprozine

• Apex Magazine edited by Catherynne M. Valente, Lynne M. Thomas, and Jason Sizemore
• Interzone edited by Andy Cox
• Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams
• Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.
• New York Review of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Dikeman, and Avram Grumer

Best Fanzine

• Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
• The Drink Tank edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia
• File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
• Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, et al.
• SF Signal edited by John DeNardo

Best Fancast

• The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
• Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
• SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester
• SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
• StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

Best Professional Editor — Long Form

• Lou Anders
• Liz Gorinsky
• Anne Lesley Groell
• Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• Betsy Wollheim

Best Professional Editor — Short Form

• John Joseph Adams
• Neil Clarke
• Stanley Schmidt
• Jonathan Strahan
• Sheila Williams

Best Professional Artist

• Dan dos Santos
• Bob Eggleton
• Michael Komarck
• Stephan Martiniere
• John Picacio

Best Fan Artist

• Brad W. Foster
• Randall Munroe
• Spring Schoenhuth
• Maurine Starkey
• Steve Stiles
• Taral Wayne

Best Fan Writer 

• James Bacon
• Claire Brialey
• Christopher J Garcia
• Jim C. Hines
• Steven H Silver

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2010 or 2011, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award, * = 2nd year of eligibility).

• Mur Lafferty
• Stina Leicht
• Karen Lord *
• Brad R. Torgersen *
• E. Lily Yu

Congratulations to all the nominees, but I would like to offer up some extra congratulations to the following: Mary Robinette Kowal, Ken Liu (two excellent stories), E. Lily Yu, Rachel Swirsky, Charlie Jane Anders for what is probably my favorite story of the year - you're friggin awesome, John Scalzi for managing to have a well crafted April Fool's Joke get nominated - well done, sir, and John DeNardo at SF Signal - I am beyond happy to see that nomination.  I am absolutely thrilled. 

As I get the chance, I'll update this post with links to as many of the nominated stories as make it online.  A number of them are already.

ad eternum cover

Subterranean Press has revealed the cover to Elizabeth Bear's forthcoming novella ad eternum, which is likely to be the last of the Abby Irene novellas (though, giving the era for this one, we're unlikely to actually see Abby Irene - it's just how I think about the story series). 

Love the cover, can't wait to read it.  Though, I should really read The White City first. 

The cover art is by Patrick Arrasmith.  He's damn good.

Final 2012 Hugo Nomination Ballot

Below are my nominations for the 2012 Hugo Awards.  I did the best I could to read broadly the last couple of months, but because I was away for most of this year, there are some areas where I would have liked to have read more.  Regardless, I feel good about what is on my ballot.  I have omitted the categories in which I did not nominate.

Remember, if you wish to nominate, you must have at least purchased a supporting membership to Chicon by January 31. Nominations are due by March 11. If you don't have a supporting membership, it may be worth it to still purchase one. You'll be able to vote on the final ballot, nominate in 2013, and if there is a Hugo Voter's Packet again this year, you'll be able to get electronic copies of most of the final nominees - including the novels. Totally worth it, if you have the money to spare.


Novel

The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear
Among Others, by Jo Walton
Mechanique, by Genevieve Valentine
Harbinger of the Storm, by Aliette de Bodard
The Sacred Band, by David Anthony Durham


Novella

"The Small Dark Movie of Your Life", by Leah Bobet
"Water to Wine", by Mary Robinette Kowal
"Kiss Me Twice", by Mary Robinette Kowal
Gravity Dreams, by Stephen Baxter
"The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary", by Ken Liu

Novelette

"Six Months, Three Days", by Charlie Jane Anders
"Fields of Gold", by Rachel Swirsky
"The Migratory Pattern of Dancers", by Katherine Sparrow
"Work, with Occasional Molemen", by Jeremiah Tolbert
"The Nearest Thing", by Genevieve Valentine

Short Story

"Simulacrum", by Ken Liu
"Her Husband's Hands", by Adam-Troy Castro
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees", by E. Lily Yu
"Paper Menagerie", by Ken Liu
"Movement", by Nancy Fulda


Graphic Story

Chew: Flambe, by Jon Layman / Rob Guillory
American Vampire: Volume II, by Scott Snyder / Rafael Albuquerque
iZombie: uVampire, by Chris Roberson / Michael Allred
Locke and Key: Keys to the Kingdom, by Joe Hill / Gabriel Rodriguez
Kill Shakespeare: The Blast of War, by Conor McCreary / Andy Belanger


Editor (Short Form)

John Joseph Adams
George R. R. Martin
Sean Wallace (Clarkesworld)
Jonathan Strahan
Ann Leckie (Giganotosaurus)

Editor (Long Form)

Lou Anders
Ann Groell

Editor Long Form is the one category that I wish I had done significantly more research for.  

Professional Artist

Sparth
Jon Sullivan
Jon Foster
Jeremy Geddes
John Picacio

Professional Artist would be the other, but this is a solid lineup.

Semiprozine

Giganotosaurs
Lightspeed
Clarkesworld

Fanzine

The Wertzone
A Dribble of Ink
Asking the Wrong Questions
The Speculative Scotsman
SF Signal 

I have had issues with this category for years now and this is why.  Blogs tend to not be eligible because of "discreet issues", which is bullshit (but the rule).  Modern fanwriting is occurring in blogs and while there is plenty of garbage out there (welcome to my dungheap), that's the case with anything, including fanzines.  I think that blogs do exactly what fanzines used to do (and still do), only with greater accessibility.  Bah!  I could probably rant about this for a while.  I won't.


Fan Writer

Aidan Moher
Adam Whitehead
Niall Alexander
Larry Nolen

Shit.  I just realized I forgot to vote for Abigail Nussbaum.  

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

E Lily Yu
Silvia Moreno-Garcia

19 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2012

This is the fifth time I've attempted to put together a list of the books I am most looking forward to in the coming year.  I'm a little bit late on this one, but here you go. 

This is the first year I’ve posted one of these lists without including either a Wheel of Time novel or a George R. R. Martin book. Of course, the only reason for this is that A Memory of Light was pushed back from November 2012 to January 2013. But there it is. On the plus side, we’ve still got some Scott Lynch to look forward to. Maybe. 

More or less in order.  Sort of.

1. Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch: Oh, Gentleman Bastards, how I would like to read more of you. And yet, my real desire is for Scott Lynch’s health and well being. Take care of yourself, Scott. The book will come when it does.

2. Caine’s Law, by Matthew Stover (April): How in the world did I not know this was coming until just now? It’s a new Caine novel! You know, Heroes Die, Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife. asskicking awesome fantasy/ sci-fi blend. The usual stuff that you simply must read.

3. Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear (March): New Fantasy Series. Elizabeth Bear. I am there.

4. Touchstone, by Melanie Rawn (February): I have such high hopes for this book. Rawn is the author of the excellent Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies, but after beginning (and not finishing) her Exiles trilogy, Rawn took a long time off (for a very good reason), but returned to write two books in a now cancelled paranormal romance series. This (along with last year’s Golden Key prequel) marks her return to a more traditional epic fantasy series. Can’t wait!

5. The Coldest War, by Ian Tregillis (July): It’s about time that Tor got their stuff together and finally published this second volume of the Milkweed Triptych. Bitter Seeds was an excellent debut and The Coldest War had been on the shelf for waaaay too long.

6. Redshirts, by John Scalzi (June): New Scalzi.

7. Kitty Steals the Show, by Carrie Vaughn (August): Compulsively readable, Vaughn’s Kitty Norville novels are the ultimate summer crack. This is the 10th Kitty novel and Vaughn shows no sign of losing steam.

8. Arctic Rising, by Tobias Buckell (February): I’ve long been a fan of Buckell’s Xenowealth sequence and while he’s taken off quite a bit of time from that, here he delivers a near future climate-change novel.

9. Existence, by David Brin (July): New Brin! This sounds like it has touches of what made Earth such a cool and prescient novel.

10. ad eternum, by Elizabeth Bear (March): This is, presumably, the final Abby Irene novella from Bear.  I shall miss them.

11. Glamour in Glass, by Mary Robinette Kowal (April): It’s a mark of Kowal’s skill that I’m looking forward to the sequel to a book that could reasonably be pitched as “Jane Austen with magic”.

12. Wake of the Bloody Angel, by Alex Bledsoe (July): New Eddie LaCrosse novel.

13. Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie (November):Another tale told in the world of The First Law. All I really ask for is for some face-in-the-mud unpleasantness and battles as told with the evil snark of Joe Abercrombie. Is that too much to ask for? I don’t think that it is.

14. Inexplicable, by Cherie Priest (Fall): The fourth Clockwork Century novel. I need to read Ganymede, but more Cherie Priest is always a good thing.

15. Lowball, by George R. R. Martin (editor): I still need to catch up on Fort Freak and Books 9 – 17, but a new Wild Cards volume is a happy day for me.

16. Eclipse Five, by Jonathan Strahan (May): Strahan’s name on an anthology is enough to make me take a second look, but his Eclipse volumes are an automatic purchase. It’s a fantastic original anthology series and what I like best is that it’s unthemed.

17. Boneyards, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (January): I loved Diving into the Wreck and then somehow managed to not read City of Ruins (the sequel). Here is book three. I’d better get cracking.

18. Devils’s Wake, by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due: It’s an apocalyptic novel with aliens. And zombies, of sorts. I’m down with that.

19. After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, by Nancy Kress (April): I tend to enjoy what Nancy Kress writes and here you’ve got some interesting combination of a post apocalyptic world, aliens, and time travel.

I could probably make another list or three of all the books I'm looking forward to.  Here, I've mostly stuck with the SFF genre.  Step outside of the genre, and the list will grow exponentially.

So.  What do YOU want to read this year?

One Eyed Jacks

This is more of an acknowledgment than anything else. I read One Eyed Jacks over the summer and since I plan to start stepping back into the Wild Cards series, I want to at least mention this volume of one of my favorite series. You can also consider this part of my occasional posts covering what I read while in Texas. Very occasional posts, at that.

One Eyed Jacks is the eighth (out of 21, so far) novel in George R. R. Martin’s Wild Cards shared world milieu. Sadly, it is one of the least successful so far. While each book has something I don't care about (like the Ti Malice storyline of Down and Dirty), most are strengthened by some aspect that I adore. One Eyed Jacks is missing that bit of specialness.  Plus, One Eyed Jacks has more Tachyon and Blaise (not a good thing in my book). Also, jumpers. The jumpers are a group of aces who can “jump” their consciousness into the bodies of other people and completely take them over. Conceptually, it’s a fascinating idea because if you consider that they can also take over other aces and the accompanying powers, there’s a lot of damage these little bastards can do with minimal personal repercussions.

Thing is, there are repercussions because when the jumpers pick on the wrong aces or the wrong people, somebody is going to come looking for answers. In this case, Blaise. Yes, that damned Blaise – the sociopathic son of Dr. Tachyon and who perpetually has storylines I find intensely uninteresting. I’m sure others take nasty delight in the appearance of any Blaise storyline. Wild Cards has plenty to offer. While I enjoyed how aspects of the Jumper / Blaise story resolved, it’s just more Blaise with the suggestion that he will continue to take a prominent role in the coming volumes.

Other storylines in the novel feature Jerry Strauss, once The Projectionist who was trapped in the body of a giant ape, now Mr. Nobody, working as something of a private investigator in love with his brother’s wife; Dr. Tachyon’s new chief surgeon Dr. Cody Havero; and The Oddity. Stephen Leigh’s Oddity story “Sixteen Candles” is a poignant and painful story. It’s also damn good.

While I want to see how the jumper concept works itself out, One Eyed Jacks did not have me clamoring to pick up Jokertown Shuffle to get the next installment of the story.

Despite this, Wild Cards remains an impressive achievement of shared world collaboration. George R. R. Martin has done well to keep it going over the years, even if there is the occasional dip in quality. If you’re looking for a starting point for the series and shudder at the thought at starting with the first book and slogging through twenty more volumes, start with Inside Straight. It may be the eighteenth volume, but it serves as a reintroduction to the world with a new cast of characters and new story arcs. I highly recommend it (and the whole series).



Previous Wild Cards Reviews:
Wild Cards (bk 1)
Aces High (bk 2)
Jokers Wild (bk 3)
Aces Abroad (bk 4)
Down and Dirty (bk 5)
Ace in the Hole (bk 6)
Inside Straight (bk 18) 
Busted Flush (bk 19)

One Eyed Jack and the Suicide King: Sold!!!

Here's a hearty congratulations to Elizabeth Bear.  Her now forthcoming novel One Eyed Jack and the Suicide King has been sold to Prime Books and is tentatively slated for publication sometime in 2013.

Y'all, I don't think I can express how friggin excited I am by this news.  Now, you all know I like me some Bear.  This is understood. But, I love me some Promethean Age.  One Eyed Jack and the Suicide King is the fifth volume in Bear's Promethean Age series, which we have neither seen nor heard a peep of since 2008 as Roc, the previous publisher, declined to buy any more of these damned wonderful fantastic novels.

From Bear's livejournal, she writes

I should mention that this book takes place between Blood & Iron and Whiskey & Water, except the bits that take place long before either, and it's on the opposite coast. So it totally functions as a stand-alone novel.

Waaaay back in 2007, Subterranean Press published an excerpt.  Go take a gander.  

Can't. Friggin. Wait.  

Ken Liu's Sense of Wonder

Ken Liu is interviewed over at the Sense of Wonder blog.  Go check it out. 

I can't really turn around these days without running up against something about Liu.  It's not a bad thing.  He's already published several stories this year.  I'm holding off on those until I get closer to being done with the reading for my Hugo ballot.  By that point I expect another handful of Liu to be in the world.  The last year has been intensively prolific. Read him.

2011 Nebula Award Nominees

Via SF Signal

The nominees for the 2011 Nebula Awards have been announced by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association.

Novel

• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
• Embassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey; Subterranean Press)
• Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace Books)
• God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
• Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
• The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK) 

Novella

• “Kiss Me Twice” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2011)
• “Silently and Very Fast” by Catherynne M. Valente (WFSA Press; Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2011)
• “The Ice Owl” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2011)
• “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)
• “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” by Ken Liu (Panverse Three, Panverse Publishing)
• “With Unclean Hands” by Adam-Troy Castro (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2011) 

Novelette

• “Fields of Gold” by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4, Night Shade Books)
• “Ray of Light” by Brad R. Torgersen (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2011)
• “Sauerkraut Station” by Ferrett Steinmetz (Giganotosaurus, November 2011)
• “Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com, June 2011)
• “The Migratory Pattern of Dancers” by Katherine Sparrow (Giganotosaurus, July 2011)
• “The Old Equations” by Jake Kerr (Lightspeed Magazine, July 2011)
• “What We Found” by Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011) 

Short Story

• “Her Husband’s Hands” by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, October 2011)
• “Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son” by Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2011)
• “Movement” by Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2011)
• “Shipbirth” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2011)
• “The Axiom of Choice” by David W. Goldman (New Haven Review, Winter 2011)
• “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2011)
• “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011) 

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

• Attack the Block, Joe Cornish (writer/director) (Optimum Releasing; Screen Gems)
• Captain America: The First Avenger, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (writers), Joe Johnston (director) (Paramount)
• Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)
• Hugo, John Logan (writer), Martin Scorsese (director) (Paramount)
• Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen (writer/director) (Sony)
• Source Code, Ben Ripley (writer), Duncan Jones (director) (Summit)
• The Adjustment Bureau, George Nolfi (writer/director) (Universal) 

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

• Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Juvenile)
• Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial Books; Bloomsbury)
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Hodder & Stoughton)
• Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
• The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow Books)
• Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard Books; Carolrhoda Books) 

Congratulations to all of the nominees,  but I would like to give extra attention to Mary Robinette Kowal, Rachel Swirsky, Genevieve Valentine, Ken Liu, Katherine Sparrow, E Lily Yu, Charlie Jane Anders, and Aliette de Bodard. 

Changes at Strange Horizons

Though it may have been a couple of years since I've read Strange Horizons on a regular basis, but I wanted to note the changing of the guard over there.  Susan Marie Groppi, the long time fiction editor, is stepping down. 

Under her guidance, Strange Horizons has been nominated for the Hugo and Groppi herself was recognized with a World Fantasy Award.

The Missing: 2011

I posted a similar list last year, 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. 


The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie
The Dragon's Path, by Daniel Abraham
Daybreak Zero, by John Barnes
The Mostly True Story of Jack, by Kelly Barnhill
Leviathan Wakes, by James S. A. Corey
The Sacred Band, by David Anthony Durham
Raising Stony Mayhall, by Daryl Gregory
The Magician King, by Lev Grossman
God's War, by Kameron Hurley
The Kingdom of Gods, by N. K. Jemisin
11/22/63, by Stephen King
Of Blood and Honey, by Stina Leicht
A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin
Soft Apocalypse, by Will McIntosh
Embassytown, by China Mieville
The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
The Cold Commands, by Richard K. Morgan
The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
The Tiger’s Wife, by Tea Obreht
Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor
Ganymede, by Cherie Priest
The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn
City of Ruins, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan
Osama, by Lavie Tidhar
Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente
The Folded World, by Catherynne M. Valente
Zone One, by Colson Whitehead

And, finally, pretty much every awesome book published by Pyr and Night Shade Books.


Since I’ve posted this list almost two months later than usual, I have read Fuzzy Nation and The Heroes.  I’ve begun The Sacred Band and have God’s War and Soft Apocalypse at home from the library.  I own copies of Daybreak Zero, The Mostly True Story of Jack, A Dance With Dragons, The Tempering of Men, Ganymede, The Diviner, The Allow of Law, Eclipse Four, and Deathless.  None of this helps me consider these novels for the best I read last year. 

A Memory of Light Publication Date

If I had a 2013 calendar, it would be marked.  January 8, 2013.  A Memory of Light. 

I understand that there are individuals unhappy that the novel is being pushed back from Autumn 2012 to January 2013.  That’s right, people are complaining on the internet.  This is not one of those posts.  This is an expression of happiness and relief that I will be reading A Memory of Light in less than twelve months and that it will be given sufficient time to ensure that the novel is the best that it can possibly be.  Isn’t that what should be important*? 

January 15, 1990 – January 8, 2013

From start to finish, The Wheel of Time will have taken almost twenty three years to complete.  Longer, if you count the time Robert Jordan spent writing The Eye of the World before it was published.  But, let’s just go with 23 years based on publication date.

I started reading the series in 1993 when The Fires of Heaven was just being published.  I was fourteen years old.  I will be two months from my thirty fourth birthday when A Memory of Light is published.  Except for the most recent two novels, I have read and re-read each book in the series multiple times, more than that if we’re just talking about the first four.  I have shook my fist wondering who really did kill Asmodean and I have joked that Bela is actually the Creator.  I have marveled at The Cleansing, and been awestruck in wonder at the scenes of Rand going through the arches at Rhuidean.  I’ve dreamed of new trips through the Portal Stones and grew to appreciate Egwene’s handling of her captivity as one of the strongest storylines in the entire series. 

There is no pretending that I am at all neutral in how I feel about The Wheel of Time.  I am an unabashed fan.  Though I may have grumbled at the pacing in some of those middle / late novels, I was still right there on publication day picking up my copy and reading the book a second and third time.  Robert Jordan’s passing was heartbreaking and given my love of the series, I was okay if the last novels were never published if the man himself wasn’t around to write them.  I was apprehensive about how Brandon would do in finishing the series and relieved when I saw how good of a job Sanderson did. 

So the publication date has been bounced a couple of months from an expected October / November publication date?  I’ve been invested in this world for twenty years.  What’s two more months to get the book right, to nail the ending and ensure that we get the conclusion we’ve hoped for and that Robert Jordan’s series deserves? 

I want to be able to turn that last page, exhale, and whisper a thank you to Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Harriet, and everyone involved in making The Wheel of Time happen for those twenty three years.  Not just for ending it well, but for that first introduction to Lews Therin and Dragonmount to that last coda to A Memory of Light.  For the twenty years of enjoyment those books have given me.  But to do that, I think it matters that sufficient time is given to getting that last book right.  Two more months?  Take four. 


*Yes, I know that we can apply this argument to a wide variety of much delayed novels that readers have been anticipating for years.  I’m not going there right now.  We’ve blown the original expected publication date by maybe four months?  (Well, maybe a year and four months when it was announced we weren’t getting a 2011 release of AMOL) Brandon has done one hell of a job pushing out these three novels in a four year span and he’s kept a high level of quality.  Brandon and I?  We’re totally cool. 

The Top Nine Books Published in 2011

This list is so very late, to the point that someone else might consider not even posting it.  But hey, I like my lists.  I still have at least two more for last year that I want to post (one is a list of books that I didn't read.  The list is long, but distinguished...).  I'll try to get that one done before June.  That's a joke. 

As I’ve mentioned previously, compared to other years, the list of books I read last year is fairly thin. I wasn’t able to read as widely or deeply as I have in the past and the volume of new releases was greatly diminished. This does not take away from the quality of novels on this list, though. Had I read everything I wanted to, I believe a significant portion of this list would remain in place.


Some people do a top ten list, others do a top eleven, yet others may only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why? Partly to be a little bit different and partly because I want the tenth spot on my list to be reserved for that really great book which I simply did not get the chance to read during 2011. That really great book may also be something I have only heard whispers about and I may not discover for several more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m holding a spot for it on my list.

This Top Nine List is more or less in order. Ask me tomorrow and some titles may shift around a little bit. Whichever order the list is in, these are the nine novels published in 2011 which I feel were the strongest titles of the year, popularity be damned.



1. Among Others, by Jo Walton: Among Others is a novel which perfectly captures the childhood of a fifteen year old who is at a new school, feels isolated, and finds solace in the worlds and magic of books. There are hints and echoes of magic in the novel for the protagonist, Morwenna, but the real magic is in the story itself – that depiction of a childhood filled with the discovery of new worlds and how liberating that was, even as those school days are less inviting.

2. The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear: Oh, Bear, why must you continue to crush my heart? I wouldn’t have it any other way and the way you crush me time and again is a major reason why I keep coming back, but damn.

3. Mechanique, by Genevieve Valentine: I rather liked this strange tale of a traveling circus in a post apocalyptic, steampunk, slightly magical world. While this may seem like an odd thing to single out, but what I appreciated about Valentine’s writing was her use of repetition for effect. Every now and then, there was a phrase or an image or something that was repeated and it was more than just a stylistic quirk. It helped build the tone of the narrative and a piece of the world. Mechanique is Valentine’s first novel and I hope for many more.

4. Grail, by Elizabeth Bear: More Bear is always a good thing. Here she concludes the Jacob’s Ladder trilogy of a generation ship finally arriving at a home planet only to find another tribe of humanity already there with their own particular culture in place. Except that is a gross simplification of the complexity of Bear’s work and the shape of life and post-humans on the ship. In introducing sections on the humans on Fortune, the novel loses a bit of the claustrophobic tightness of Dust and Chill, but as a whole, Grail still satisfies.

5. Harbinger of the Storm, by Aliette de Bodard: One of the cooler bookish things I’ve discovered in the last couple of years is Aliette de Bodard’s Obsidian and Blood series. Aztec Murder Mysteries, with blood magic. Harbinger of the Storm is the second of three (so far, I hope) novels. They follow Acatl, the High Priest of the Dead, as he is pushed to investigate murders touching the highest levels of the empire. It’s good, interesting, and fresh.

6. Dark Jenny, by Alex Bledsoe: If you’re not reading Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse novels then you are missing out on some excellent sword and sorcery disguised as an old school private eye novel. If you’ve read Glen Cook’s Garrett PI books, you have an idea what to expect (if you haven’t, you should). Eddie LaCrosse is a “sword jockey” and a self-aware wisecracking investigator with a heart for the dames. Dark Jenny touches upon the Arthurian legends and is just a damn good read.

7. Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest: The first of the Cheshire Red novels, Bloodshot tells a different sort of vampire story. Raylene Pendle is a high end thief, stealing rare art and jewels. She is also a vampire. Bloodshot is chock full of government conspiracy, a drag queen, the supernatural, and a healthy amount of action. While I don’t think this quite measures up to her Clockwork Century novels (or the Eden Moore books), Bloodshot is still worth checking out.

8. Kitty’s Big Trouble, by Carrie Vaughn: It starts with some historical research on whether or not General William Tecumseh Sherman was a werewolf, touches on the possibility of Wyatt Earp as a vampire hunter, and then moves on to the larger story arc Vaughn has been teasing for much of this series: that of the “Long Game” played by Roman. Vaughn takes Kitty to San Francisco, introduces readers to yet more aspects of the supernatural (if some of it is true, why not all of it?), and as always, tells a heck of a good story. The Kitty Norville novels are like summer crack.

9. Kitty’s Greatest Hits, by Carrie Vaughn: While the Kitty Norville series stands on its own as complete novels that tell the full and necessary story, this collection of Kitty-verse tales fills in some of the gaps in what we know of the backstory. It enriches our understanding of the characters and the history involved. The focus here isn’t solely on Kitty. We get Rick and TJ and the story of what really happened to Cormac in prison (this perhaps sounds more salacious than it should). This is sort of like a disc of bonus footage that goes along with the main feature. They don’t really fit into the main narrative, but it’s a treat to get to see more.


Previous Best Ofs
2007
2008
2009
2010

Jason Sanford Recommendations

Jason Sanford has posted up his nominations for the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards.  I already agree with some of it, and hopefully will be able to track down other that I haven't read.  Unfortunately, there are a few stories that I probably won't be able to because they're published in print zines that don't let their fiction out for free (unless it has already been nominated and then only during the voting period).

Also, I'm not sure about the eligibility of Paolo Bacigalupi's The Alchemist.  Or, Tobias Buckell's The Executioness, for that matter (not on Sanford's ballot, but it's a linked story).  Sort of like Mary Robinette Kowal's "Water to Wine", they were first published in 2010 by Audible.com and then in print by Subterranean Press in 2011.  Like MRK's novella, absolutely worth nominating if you feel strongly about it.  Worst case, it gets enough votes and we get a ruling on cases like this. 

Preliminary Hugo Ballot

I've got some work to do and some stories and books to read (and some thinking to do on some categories), but here's what I'm thinking of right now.  I still need to read Eclipse Four and I'm hunting out some more stories of varying lengths.

• Best Novel (40,000 words or more)
  • The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear**
  • Grail, by Elizabeth Bear
  • Among Others, by Jo Walton**
  • Mechanique, by Genevieve Valentine
  • Harbinger of the Storm, by Aliette de Bodard
  • Dark Jenny, by Alex Bledsoe
    -Books I hope to get through in the next month: The Sacred Band, by David Anthony Durham, God's War, by Kameron Hurley, and Soft Apocalypse, by Will McIntosh.  I'm not sure I'll hit any other plausible novels.
• Best Novella (17,500 to 40,000 words)
  • “The Small Dark Movie of Your Life”, by Leah Bobet (Shadow Unit)
  • “Bulletproof”, by Emma Bull (Shadow Unit)
  • The White City, by Elizabeth Bear
  • “The Rat Race”, by Cherie Priest (Fort Freak
  • “Show Trial”, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Subterranean)
  • “Water to Wine”, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Subterranean)**
  • “Kiss Me Twice”, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov's June 11)
  • Gravity Dreams, by Stephen Baxter (PS Publishing)
    -To be fair, I need to read both The White City and "The Rat Race".  I feel that I will have strong feeling about The White City, just based on the previous Abby Irene novellas.  Not sure if I'll get through Fort Freak in time.  I won't nominate something I haven't read.  Just in case it needed saying.
• Best Novelette (7,500 to 17,500 words)
  • “Six Month, Three Days”, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)**
  • “The Taste of Promises”, by Rachel Swirsky (Life on Mars)
  • “Fields of Gold”, by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
  • “The Migratory Pattern of Dancers”, by Katherine Sparrow (GigaNotoSaurus)*
  • “House of Aunts”, by Zen Cho (GigaNotoSaurus)
  • “Work, With Occasional Molemen”, by Jeremiah Tolbert (GigaNotoSaurus)
  • “The Nearest Thing”, by Genevieve Valentine (Lightspeed)
• Best Short Story (up to 7,500 words)
  • “The Leavings of the Wolf”, by Elizabeth Bear (Apex, Nov)
  • “Simulacrum”, by Ken Liu (Lightspeed) **
  • “Her Husband’s Hands”, by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed) **
  • “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, by E. Lily Wu (Clarkesworld) *
  • “Demons, Your Body, and You”, by Genevieve Valentine (Subterranean) – Maybe
  • “Paper Menagerie”, by Ken Liu (F&SF)*
• Best Related Work
• Best Graphic Story *
• Best Dramatic Presentation "Long Form" (more than 90 minutes)
• Best Dramatic Presentation "Short Form" (less than 90 minutes)
• Best Editor Short Form
  • George R. R. Martin
• Best Editor Long Form
  • Anne Groell
• Best Professional Artist
  • Sparth
  • Jon Sullivan
  • John Picacio
  • Jeremy Geddes
  • Jon Foster
  • Rima Staines
• Best Semiprozine
• Best Fanzine
• Best Fan Writer
  • Larry Nolen
  • Aiden Moher
  • Adam Whitehead
• Best Fan Artist
  

coming soon to a home near me

To celebrate receiving my tax returns, I decided to treat myself to a little bit of frivolity: books!*

The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear: I highly recommend A Companion to Wolves and I’ve been looking forward to the follow up from the moment I turned the last page.


Death Draws Five, by John Jackson Miller: This is the long out of print Wild Cards novel which, I believe, only had some 600 copies out in the world before the publisher closed shop. Every now and then I ran some searches to see if a copy was available anywhere for $50 or less. The answer was always no, with some copies running well over $150. That’s a bit steep. But, as previously mentioned, Death Draws Five was reissued in a trade paperback format (with a trade paper price) and I finally pulled the trigger on it. Thus completes my collection of Wild Cards. I’ve got a full set. That said, if I happen to run across a copy of the novel at Uncle Hugo’s and it isn’t absurdly priced, I may still pick up the hardcover.

Machine, by Jennifer Pelland: I’ve been talking about her short stories for several years now and I’ve been anticipating Pelland’s debut novel since I first heard an inlking that it might one day happen. Now it has. I must read it.


*I also picked up Dragon Quest V for the DS and Modern Warfare 3 for the PS3. I’m still chipping my way through DQVI and I love the old school goodness that Dragon Quest offers me. I only need to pick up DQ II, III, IX and I’ll have everything that’s been released thus far. We won’t talk about the MMO aspects of the forthcoming DQ X. The only thing is that I keep getting distracted by Trauma Center: Under the Knife. Friggin awesome game, that one.


And MW3? Sometimes you just need to shoot some fools.

GigaNotoSaurus

As I work through recommended stories to nominate for the Hugo, I've run across a number from a publication called GigaNotoSaurus.  I hadn't heard of it before and was a little skeptical, but after reading three of the stories they published last year, I'm impressed. 

GigaNotoSaurus reminds me a bit of the excellent and defunct Lone Star Stories, except that I think GigaNotoSaurus might be even better.  I'll need to read more, but my Hugo reading is definitely recommending the zine. 

Oh, and the latest story published - it's by Ken Liu.  Of course.  I'll be following GigaNotoSaurus with interest this year.

Two MRK Novellas and Hugo Considerations

Mary Robinette Kowal has two novellas I would like to bring some attention to, especially since we're in the Hugo nominating period.

The first is "Kiss Me Twice", originally published in the June 2011 issue of Asimov's and now available on her website.  MRK has a great voice for the detective story and the use of the AI personality actually works here rather than seem an unnecessary anachronism as it might in other stories.  I like it.

The second is "Water to Wine".  I love this story.  It's not the first time Kowal has built a story around wine, and I don't drink wine or understand anything about it, but she does a fantastic job in telling this story that isn't really about wine.  This is a lock for my Hugo ballot.  There's just a big question about its eligibility.

See, "Water to Wine" was originally published in the audio anthology METAtropolis: Cascadia in November of 2010.  In the author's note for the print edition of the story on Subterranean, Kowal writes

Because I wrote the story specifically for audio, I had given “stage directions” for how I wanted lines to be read by the actress, Kate Mulgrew. For the Subterranean version, I went back through the story and wrote additional material to cover the emotional content that a narrator’s voice can deliver. The story is the same, but it is adapted for a different medium.

I couldn't find anything concrete regarding the eligibility status of the story (since fiction tends to go from print to audio, not the other way around), I reached out to Kevin Standlee, the former Hugo Administrator who can often be counted on to provide sage advice and clarification regarding details of the Hugo Awards. 

Unfortunately, I seem to have run into a grey area that won't / can't be answered unless it becomes an issue.

Well, I don't have a definite answer to this. It might be eligible, if the Administrator were to rule that the revisions were sufficient to make it a new work. Unfortunately, the Administrators are loathe to make rulings without a specific case before them. That means that they probably won't tell you in advance, and they won't rule at all unless the work receives enough nominations to appear on the short list.

As such, I'm just going to put the novella on my ballot, recommend "Water to Wine" to you for the same.  After all, it doesn't take many votes to get on the ballot.  I'd love to see a ruling on this (and that the ruling state that Kowal's story is eligible).  If it isn't, well,  you just got to read an awesome story.

Now, if only METAtropolis: Cascadia was available in a print edition like the original Metatropolis ended up being.  I'd totally buy that. 

Dear Subterranean Press: Make it happen.

Range of Ghosts Excerpt

Go head on over to Tor.com and check out an excerpt of Elizabeth Bear's forthcoming novel Range of Ghosts. 

I'm going to hold off, but that's only because I am absolutely, positively going to buy this upon publication and I want to be able to immerse myself and get the full experience.  But y'all know how I feel about Bear's fiction. 

"Six Months, Three Days", by Charlie Jane Anders

Thanks to Rachel Swirsky's novelette recommendations, I can now recommend to all of you "Six Months, Three Days". 

Swirsky says,

Two precognitives meet and fall in love. Their relationship is fraught by the fact that one of the precognitives is a determinist (seeing the future as a single stream) and the other believes in free will (and sees possibilities branching from most moments). The philosophical contrast and science fictional premise provide an intriguing philosophical flavor to the human romance; the two work exquisitely in synchrony.

She said it better and far more concisely than I was going to manage (clearly), but you all must read this story.  I wanted a little bit more from the ending, but that's only because I wasn't ready for the story to end.  Charlie Jane Anders did what she needed to with the story, but I was hooked and wanted more. 

If you want a preview of my Hugo ballot, know that it is rather likely to include this story.

Ken Liu at SF Signal

There is an interview with Ken Liu over at SF Signal.  Liu is a short story writer I expect to be talking a whole lot more about and one who I am convinced is a writer to watch. I'm glad that Charles Tan was able to get the interview and shine a bit of a spotlight on Liu.  This won't be the only spotlight.  Expect award nominations in the future, hopefully the near future.

Watch for him.  Seek out his stuff if you hear a whisper of his name. 

Story Recs

If you're wondering what I've been doing while I haven't been posting, I've been catching up on short stories.  See, I think that the only short fiction I've read this year was Kitty's Greatest Hits.  It was good, but not enough to fill up a nomination ballot for the Hugo Awards. 

Luckily for me, Rachel Swirsky has been posting her recommendations


Short Story
Novelette
Novella

I rather like what I've discovered from Ken Liu.  He's so very new to me, but he appears to have had an awesome year and I'll be seeking out his stuff throughout 2012.  I hope for an abundance. 

I've made solid progress through the short story list.  Don't think I'll read everything on it at once, but it's a great resource.  I plan to move on to the more prominent novelettes this week. 

I will, at the very least, post a preliminary ballot by the end of the month.  But, with any luck, I'll also start talking about some of the stories I like.  Besides Ken Liu - I recommend him now.

Hugo Nominees?

So, while I very gradually work on last year's Best Of lists and scarcely post otherwise, maybe my last reader who hasn't run away in frustration can help me out.

Hugo nominations are open until March 11.

I've got a decent set for novel, but I'm not sure I've read a single short story - novella that wasn't a part of Shadow Unit.  It's been an off year.

What should I be looking for?

What artists should I be considering?  I'm starting to compile that list based on what I know and some of my covers and comparing artist websites, but who do I absolutely need to look and what did they do?

Thanks!

The Top Nine Author Discoveries of 2011

2011 has come to an end and it’s time to reflect on all of the good stuff I’ve read in the last twelve months. This is going to come up again when I talk about the Best Books Published in 2011 (that I’ve read), but 2011 was something of an off year in regards to the number of books that I’ve read and also with the number of new books and authors I have encountered for the first time. There is a fairly obvious reason for this: seven months out of my year was spent in Texas (TEXAS!!) and due to the vagaries of training and a lack of access to the newest fiction, I had to take what I could get when I could get it. 

Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2011. In the spirit of acknowledging that there is always something or someone I’ve missed, either by a slip of memory or just lack of opportunity, the traditional tenth spot on my list remains blank.


1. Jo Walton: I've been reading Jo Walton for so long on Tor.com and have been aware of her fiction for even longer, that I have to remind myself that I've never actually read one of her novels until picking up Among Others. It was a revelation. Among Others is such a beautiful novel and I hope everyone reads it.

2. Sandra McDonald: The Outback Stars. Wonderful. I wrote that “The SF, military, and romantic elements of The Outback Stars all come together to tell a singular story which I really didn't want to end. Fantastic novel and one which I wish I didn't wait so long to read.” McDonald blends different elements into a seamless whole, and what I appreciated most was the deeply personal story of Lt. Jodenny Scott. McDonald hooked me early on and I'll be catching up on the two other novels in this sequence sooner, rather than later.

3. Anne Ursu: I blame Kelly Barnhill for this. I went to one of Kelly's readings to support her and to hear Kelly read from her debut novel (which, being a bad person, I still haven't read) and came out entranced by the other reader, Anne Ursu. Ursu read from her latest novel Breadcrumbs, but I'm still waiting on my library to deliver it to me. Impatient, I picked up one of her more adult novels, Spilling Clarence. I devoured it. Ursu also occasionally uses one of my favorite techniques: repetition.

4. Alastair Reynolds: I feel confident that I've read some of his short fiction before, and possibly blogged about it, but 2011 was the year which I read Revelation Space. It is excellent. It demands that I pick up the next two volumes in the trilogy. Quality science fiction and space opera. It gets a little heavy on the description, but is well worth checking out if you're one of the twelve people who haven't already read this.

5. Sara Zarr: Here's something else to blame that darned Barnhill woman for. I am 95% positive I ran across something she posted that praised up Sara Zarr's novel How to Save a Life. Being a sucker for books about broken and hurting people, I fell into the grief stricken recovery of Zarr's storytelling.

6. Dan Wells: So, you've got a boy who knows that he is a sociopath and believes he is destined to become a serial killer. Then, in his small town, there is a serial killer. The boy believes he may be the only one who can catch the killer, but if he does, will that let loose the “monster” he knows is deep inside himself? Really damned well done.

7. John Barnes: So, John Barnes has apparently written all sorts of novels before Directive 51. I thought he might have been a debut novelist before I looked him up for this entry. He's not. Barnes has more than 20 previous novels. Naturally. Directive 51 is a post-apocalyptic novel that begins just before a series of linked attacks using nanotechnology destabilize the industrial infrastructure of the world. I like that sort of thing and the novel is fascinating. There are two more books following this one and I plan to read them both.

8. Vince Flynn: Flynn writes political action thrillers. It's not really in the style of Tom Clancy because Clancy is more known for the intense amount of detail and jargon that laces his novels, even his best. Flynn writes with a much more aggressive sense of pace and even though I would suggest that he isn't a technically great prose writer, following Mitch Rapp's assault on terrorists and the political intrigue that goes along with it is an exciting ride.

9. David Gemmell: I feel uneasy about placing Gemmell here. Or, on the list at all. Part of the reason is that if I had the chance to read more widely this year, I know Gemmell wouldn't make the list. The other is that I didn't love Legend the way I hoped to. I see where Legend could be an influential novel, but I felt that it was a little too pat and simple.


 Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.