Award Eligibility for the Current Year
Twenty sixteen! Neighbors. Probably the less said about that at this point, the better.
But now that we’re all safely ensconced in a postapocalyptic Billy Joel song, let me take a moment to talk about awards. You still have a few days to register for Helsinki Worldcon and nominate for the Hugo Awards! Here’s my eligible work for this year, and I’d be honored if you’d consider nominating.
Short Fiction
Big Thrull and the Askin’ Man, Uncanny Magazine – Troll folk hero vs. foreign businessman attempting to warp Trollish social norms for his own game. (Soon to be translated into Polish!)
The Iron Man, Grimm Future Anthology – A boy tries to reach manhood without being turned into a weapon.
Giants in the Sky, The Starlit Wood anthology – Jack in the Beanstalk x Space Elevators x Bastard Operator from Hell x Peridot
Novellette
Any episode of Bookburners or The Witch Who Came in from the Cold will do, honestly, but I’m most partial to Bookburners Season 2, Episode 13, “The End of the Day.”
Novel
The big one!
Four Roads Cross fills in the last timeline hole in the Craft Sequence, and is a hell of a story if I do say so myself.
Best Series
Emergency edit
There’s an even *bigger* one!
This year, nominations are open for a Best Series Hugo—a Hugo to be awarded to the best series published last year, no book of which has ever won a Hugo before. Since this is the first year, there are a lot of series to catch up on, not to mention fantastic newcomers like The Grace of Kings, but I think the Craft Sequence is pretty fantastic, and I hope you agree.
What I’m Nominating
I need to give a lot more thought to this. I loved most of the stories from Starlit Wood. Charlie Jane Anders’ All the Birds in the Sky and Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning were both fantastic; it’s hard for me to evaluate how TLtL stands alone, apart from Seven Surrenders (which I’ve also read, hah), but it’s also on my short list. Did Infomocracy come out last year, too? Also amazing. Frankly, I have a lot of catching up to do—last year was a blur for me, and I read for pleasure far more than to stay current.
I feel mildly sorry for whoever else is nominated for Best Dramatic-Long Form against the Thunderdome matchup of Hidden Figures and The Arrival, but I’m not too sorry, because all those people make Hollywood money and never show up to collect their awards anyway.
Oh, and I expect my Best Dramatic-Short Form this year will be a list of five Steven Universe episodes again. (Though I have some catchup viewing coming in TV, too.)
What are you nominating?