Adam Rakunas's Blog, page 3

A Brief Note About Awards

I’ve been busy moving boxes around (a bunch of people are going to show up next week with jackhammers to tear up our basement in order to keep it from flooding), so I haven’t had time to sit down and write this: HOLY CRAP, MY BOOK GOT NOMINATED FOR THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD!!!

It really is an honor to be nominated, especially since I’m in such good company. Congratulations to Brenda, Mez, Douglas, PJ, and Marguerite. Thank you to the judges. Thank you to the orbiting intelligence that is simulating Philip K. Dick’s alien hivemind. It was very cool to get the email and to have my phone ping all morning with lovely notes from lovely people.

Now, this brings us around to the Hugo Awards. WINDSWEPT is absolutely, completely, totally eligible for this year’s Hugo Award for Best Novel. If you read it and really think it was the best novel you read in 2015, and if you’re a member of MidAmericon II or Sasquan, you can nominate my book. I would be really happy if you did.

What am I going to nominate? I haven’t read as much as I should have this past year, but there are some stories and books I really, really liked.

BEST NOVEL

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older

BEST SHORT STORY

La Bestia by Stephen Blackmoore

Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers by Alyssa Wong

Marcie’s Waffles Are The Best In Town by Sunil Patel

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – SHORT FORM

Blackstar by David Bowie. Yes, that David Bowie.

I would be even happier if you looked at and nominated the works that are in this spreadsheet and on this wiki. I’m going to do my best to fill in the many, many blanks in my ballot because a) good work should be read and recognized, and b) slates suck. They suck so, so hard. If you’re thinking of adding my book to a slate, please don’t. Add it because you like it, not because you want to stick it to somebody or counter-stick it to somebody who wants to stick it to you. Also, buy twenty-seven copies.

Epic Confusion – It’s not just for people who see art movies

I can’t remember who told me about the Epic Confusion convention in Detroit, but I do remember that person and everyone else who said “Dude, you have to come!” or some variation of those words. And I’m talking about young, jaded pros, the kinds of people who see science fiction conventions as an obligation, not something to look at with enthusiasm. I was in.

And now I get to go and do what pros do, which is sit on panels with other pros and talk about stuff. And this stuff looks exciting! If you’re going to be in Detroit next weekend, look for me here or at the Angry Robot Books table.

Friday 5:00pm

How Many Genders?

What does “gender” mean in today’s LGBTQ community – politically, biologically, socially? Now stretch your imagination—ever since Amok Time” we’ve dreamed about the sex lives of SF characters. With alien biologies, what genders might we encounter among the stars?

Mari Brighe, Julie Lesnik, Sean Martin (M), Stina Leicht, Adam Rakunas

Saturday 2:00pm

Seeing the World Through Different Eyes

Fiction should imagine the entire breadth of human experience. Too often though, it only embraces neurotypical characters. Not every brain works the same. What is neurodiversity? How does it impact story? Who’s doing it well?

Megan E. O’Keefe, Adam Rakunas, Lawrence Schoen, Mari Brighe (M), Stina Leicht

Saturday 5:00pm

LOLCats, Wols, and Watch Me: Pop Culture in SFF?

Pop-culture is ever evolving and fiction often hides behind a desire to be “timeless”. However, pop-culture is an increasing influence on our lives, particularly among young people. How can these modern phenomena be used to make science fiction and fantasy more relevant to today’s readers? Why don’t we see more created popular culture within invented worlds?

Ferrett Steinmetz, Amy Sundberg, Michael Damian Thomas, Sunil Patel, Adam Rakunas

Sunday 12:00pm

Repudiating the Replicator

Driven, perhaps, by Star Trek’s replicator and the utilitarian mush of NASA space travel, food in a science fictional setting has been criminally overlooked and underdeveloped. Why has this become the dominant narrative? How should food be used to world build a science fiction story? What stories have used food effectively?

Lawrence Schoen, Elizabeth Shack (M), Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ann Leckie, Adam Rakunas

Two Cities, Seven Days, Too Much Fun

Well. That was a good time.

Granted, it was probably not smart of me to plan a book launch, a tour stop, and then decide to, you know, pack up and move eleven hundred miles in between these two events. But, that’s how it all worked out. I threw the book launch for Windswept on one Sunday, drove my family to Seattle the following morning, then had a Welcome-To-Seattle-Please-Buy-My-Book party the following Sunday. I think everyone had a great time, but I wouldn’t recommend this tactic for your book launch, Dear Reader.

Let’s start with the obvious question: why didn’t you do these things at a book store?

First, it’s because the bookstore where I really, really wanted to do a book launch is no longer there. I was so stoked when Mysterious Galaxy opened a second store in Redondo Beach because, like every writer, I had dreams. One of them was to read from my book to a bunch of people who would probably want to buy my book in a bookstore that catered to books like mine. It was a bold dream, one that was crushed by the reality that not enough people went to that store. Mysterious Galaxy is still a force to be reckoned with in San Diego, but in Redondo Beach? Not so much. The store closed. I was bereft.

And then something cool happened: Sunny Blue opened a second store.

“Sunny Blue?” I hear you say. “Isn’t that the place on Main Street that sells those stuffed rice balls you’re always talking about? Also, wait, what, you moved?”

I’ll get to that part, Dear Reader. First, let’s talk about Sunny Blue. You know. That place on Main Street that sells those stuffed rice balls I’m always talking about.

When Grace was around two years old, she did an art class at Joslyn Park, and it always ended around lunch time. Once, rather than pack a lunch or rely on riding home straight away, I consulted my phone and found a place nearby that had omusubi (or onigiri, if you call them that). You scoop rice in your hand. You put some stuff in there, like salmon or pickles or both, then you press the rice into a ball. They’re a great snack, but Sunny Blue makes them to a meal. Three words, friends: chicken curry omusubi. Oh, so good. The food and the friendly welcome from Ian Foster, the manager, were enough to turn us into regulars.

Flash forward a few years, and Ian told us they were opening a second store in Culver City. We went to the opening, and it was serendipity, because this place had room. There was a patio. Thanks to the magic of zoning codes, the place had a driveway and a parking space that was being used by tables and chairs and hungry customers. I took one look at it and thought, I will have the launch party for Windswept here. Not only because it was a cool space, and not only because the food would be awesome, but because food and awesome spaces were important to Padma Mehta. After a career of being crammed into starships and ingesting NutriFood™, Padma embraced the dining and spacial possibilities of Santee Anchorage, Windswept’s setting.

That was also the reason why I wanted to do a mini-tour that took place in bars and restaurants and distilleries. How we eat is an important part of being human, which is an important part of Windswept. I wanted to celebrate the world of my book in a way that would have made sense to its characters: at places where people gather for good food, good drink, and good company. I asked Ian and Keiko, Sunny Blue’s owner, if they were open to the idea, and they enthusiastically said yes.

Somewhere in there, my friend Leo connected me to Jim Romdall, who runs a rum bar in Seattle. Bingo! I now had two awesome venues, plus an excuse to visit the Great Wet North. Throw in my visit to Sasquan and an invitation to read at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, and bam! Book tour!

Then we moved.

For those of you who are new readers to this web site, I have lived in Santa Monica for nineteen years (I no longer count that one year in Big Bear as a residency. Let’s face it: in my heart, I never left Santa Monica during that time, and I had the worn tires to prove it). I have lived in Southern California my entire life. But a whole lot of things happened at once, and my family had an opportunity to move somewhere else that was affordable, livable, and wet. The drought and global warming have me seriously freaked out, and the State of California’s responses to both left me worried about my family’s future. There were a lot of places we could go, but Seattle was always high on our list. In late July, we decided to make it happen. Labor Day was the day we could start the drive.

Labor Day, aka the day after the book launch party.

I don’t recommend the compressed packing-and-moving timeline we used. It was stressful. It was crazy. It meant we still have stuff strewn about our old garage that we’ll have to take care of in the next few weeks. However, there is something liberating about going through nineteen years of stuff and realizing that a lot of it can go, either to the Assistance League or to the trash. Old furniture, old clothes, embarrassing comic books: all gone. We threw a farewell party in our backyard on Saturday, we threw a book launch on Sunday, and then we took off at the crack of dawn on Monday.

Our entry into Seattle has been relatively smooth, though we had some bumps, thanks to the recent teachers’ strike. But even those bumps were smoothed, thanks to the amazing family and friends we have up here. There will still be adjustments as we settle, but I’m feeling good about our new home. It helped that the book event at Rumba turned into a Hi-We’ve-Just-Moved-Here party, with old friends showing up and chowing down on tacos and empanadas alongside the people who came in off the street (including Paul Constant from the Seattle Review of Books, though I did invite him so it wasn’t totally random. But, still! Thank you for coming!) to hear me read from the first chapter of WINDSWEPT, thanks to the power of my voice and Periscope.

“Wait, what?” you’re saying. “Periscope?”

Yeah. I couldn’t use my mini-PA in Rumba, so I had to improvise. I stuck my lapel mic in my phone and started broadcasting via Periscope. Everyone gathered around the place had my Periscope broadcast running on their phones. I walked around, reading to small groups, trying to forget that I had a phone in my hand. I haven’t watched the archive broadcast, mostly because I know it’s going to be video of the floor, but what the hell. I have a new tool in the kit for the next time I do this.

Reading in person and on the internet. Used courtesy of Mark Teppo.

Some quick notes about the book launch:

1) Holy crap, am I lucky to have such awesome friends. People packed the back patio at Sunny Blue, and they packed the mezzanine at Rumba. They bought books. They drank beers and ate omusubi and empanadas (and rum punch). They laughed at the funny bits. Thank you, everyone, for coming. Even though things did get a little awkward toward the end of the day.

2) Holy crap, am I lucky to have met some awesome booksellers. Mysterious Galaxy and Elliott Bay Book Company were on hand with copies of WINDSWEPT. While they didn’t completely sell out, they sold enough to make it worthwhile. You should buy books from them. ALL THE BOOKS.

3) Holy crap, am I lucky to know people who run such awesome restaurants. Thank you Keiko and Ian at Sunny Blue and Jim and Kate at Rumba. You should eat there. ALL THE FOOD.

And now I’m getting ready to hop on a plane to San Diego so I can eat tacos with Fran Wilde and Greg Van Eekhout. At some point, all the fun will slow down, and we’ll be in the day-to-day rhythm of our new home. I miss Santa Monica, and I still feel the need to write about leaving and what I learned from living there, but not yet. Why? ‘Cause I still have WINDSWEPT: BOOK 2: TITLE TBD to finish (though I know that Sam and I are happy with the new working title WHICH I CANNOT REVEAL YET BECAUSE MARKETING). That part of the job goes with me wherever I am, and I want to keep this job. WINDSWEPT was the interview for that gig. With your help, I think I’ll get to keep it. Thank you.

WINDSWEPT: It will keep your neck warm. Used courtesy of Jeff Urban at JUrban Photos.

Look for the Union Label…right on your face.

In the world of Windswept, people sign long contracts with conglomerates to become Indentures. Part of that contract is that you have a tattoo on your cheek denoting your field of expertise. These tattoos are fashionable, flattering, and they hurt like hell when applied.

When people Breach their Indenture and sign up with the Universal Freelancer’s Union, they get another tattoo, one of the Union’s logo, a clenched fist. It’s a reminder that an injury to one is an injury to all, and that all will pound the bejeezus out of anyone who starts something.

When I first started Windswept, I had a general idea what that fist would look like. However, I have the artistic skills of a frog, so whatever I drew would look horrible. Fortunately, Jessica Smith, who made the cover for Windswept, is mighty in the arts department, and she agreed to make a mighty logo. And, wow, did she ever. Take a look.

This is going to appear on Official Windswept Schwag, including (but not limited to) bookmarks, t-shirts, temporary tattoos, and stainless steel flasks. Some of these things I’m going to give away on The Tour. Others (like the flasks and the Premium Official Windswept Schwag) will go to people who enter (and win!) one of these contests*:

TURN THE OTHER CHEEK. How would you look with a Union fist on your face? If you trust your drawing hand, you can take a pen to your cheek. Or you can print out a logo and make your own temporary tattoo. OR you can find me on the Windswept Tour and get a tattoo by telling me the magic words, “Padma Mehta sent me.” Whatever you do, take a picture of your face adorned with a Union fist and send it to me via the contest form. Please don’t send me anything obscene; I’ll just throw those entries out and shake my head. Really. What would your parents think?

JUDGE A RUM BY ITS LABEL. I have a pretty good idea of what the label for Old Windswept Rum looks like. If you read this excerpt from Chapter Two, you can see what I what I came up with. But what would it look like in real life? Make a label for Old Windswept and send it in, using the contest form. Same thing about the obscene stuff. Like, if you’d see it on the squickier bits of 4Chan or Reddit, don’t send it to me. Come on.

LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL. Yes, Windswept is set in the future, but there’s still stuff like posters, art, and graffiti**. In fact, all of these are valuable tools to recruit people into the Union. But what would that look like? Make some Union art and submit it via the contest form.
FORGET THE ARTY STUFF; I BOUGHT YOUR DAMN BOOK. This one is easy. Send me a picture or a screencap of your receipt for Windswept via the contest form, and you’re in the contest. Entrants who send a receipt from an independent bookstore are entered into the contest twice. So, really, your best bet is to buy multiple copies of Windswept from an independent bookstore.

*Rules for the contests, because I don’t want to get in trouble.

T
his contest is open to everyone around the world. Kids, get your parents’ or guardians’ permission first because I just don’t have time for dealing with angry letters about how I’m corrupting youth with my screwball noir politics or some such garbage.
All entrants will receive a Union fist temporary tattoo and an autographed bookmark if they want one. Yes, even you. Enter your mailing address in the message box in the entry form.
The winner of each contest will receive an autographed copy of Windswept, a 6-oz stainless steel flask laser-engraved with the Union Fist, a temporary tattoo, and an autographed bookmark.
To enter, submit a photo via the contest form and choose the appropriate message subject from the form’s menu.
Entries are due by 11:59pm Pacific on September 30, 2015.
All entries will be posted on this website and on Twitter. Hey, if I can put out a book, you can put out some art.
Winners will be chosen by random at 12pm Pacific on October 1, 2015. Winners will be announced on 12pm on October 2, 2015. If you do not want the world to know you won, please tell me and I’ll keep it between us.
Prize packages will be mailed no later than 5pm Pacific on October 7, 2015.
Entrants may submit as many unique entries as they want for each contest, especially for the FORGET THE ARTY STUFF; I BOUGHT YOUR DAMN BOOK contest. Go nuts with that one, gang. But don’t buy the book once and send me the same receipt over and over. I WILL KNOW.
Entries must be in jpg, jpeg, gif, pdf, or png formats. I know the contest form says it will take docs and txts, but pulling pictures of Word is a pain, so help me out, please.
By entering, you agree to grant me the right to post your entry on this website. You can do whatever you want with your entry provided you a) don’t use it for commercial purposes, b) give credit for the logo’s design to Jessica Smith, and c) say that you’re using it with the permission of Adam Rakunas (that’s me. Hi!). If you want to do something commercial using the logo, talk to me first using this form, not the contest form.
In order to collect a flask, winners must be of legal drinking age for winner’s country of residence, which means you’ll have to tell me your age and your country of residence when you enter. Seriously, gang, I don’t want to get in trouble for contributing to the delinquency of a minor or whatever it’s called where you live. If you don’t want a flask or you’re not of legal drinking age, leave these fields blank upon entry.
I will pay postage for sending your prize package. Upon winning, I will contact you via the email address in your entry so I can get a mailing address for you.

**A quick word about graffiti. I dig me some well-thought, well-drawn street art, especially if it’s done with the consent of whoever’s responsible for the care and upkeep of said graffiti’s canvas. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get permission from that person if you’re going to make some Union graffiti. I would like not to get an angry letter from someone complaining about a giant fist that appeared on the side of his house. Unless that someone were, say, Donald Trump***. BUT YOU DIDN’T HEAR THAT FROM ME.

***No, really, don’t paint up any of that jerkwad’s properties, even though he’s a jerky jerkwad. Some maintenance worker will have to deal with the clean-up, and that’s not fair.

The Union Fist

Behold! The symbol of the Universal Freelancer’s Union!

The Union Fist was designed by Jessica Smith, who is awesome. I’m releasing it under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. That means you can do whatever you want with it as long as you a) credit Jessica Smith as the creator of the logo, b) credit Adam Rakunas (that’s me) with giving you permission to use it, and c) don’t make any money off whatever you do with the logo. If you want to make money, contact me and we’ll talk.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The Windswept Contest Contact Form

Hey, do you want to win some Official Windswept Schwag? Then you're in the right place! Do you want to know how the contest works? Click here!




* indicates required field






Name:*










Email:*










Subject:*



Turn the other cheek.
Judge a rum by its label
Show me the Union label
Forget the arty stuff; I bought your damn book








Message:










Your entry:*




Acceptable file types: doc,pdf,txt,gif,jpg,jpeg,png.
Maximum file size: 1mb.







Country of residence (required if you want to win a flask):










Age (required if you want to win a flask):




















CAPTCHA Code:*

Powered by Fast Secure Contact Form

The Windswept Tour! Coming to a city near you, provided it’s one of the cities on the tour.

Stuff is happening, people.

First, Windswept is back from the printer, as you can see here.

Printed copies of Andy Remic’s “The Dragon Engine” and my book. WHEEE!

There it is, sitting next to Andy Remic‘s The Dragon Engine, a copy of which I just got. A box of books is winging its way here. A box of my book. Which I wrote. I did. I’m very excited and have no idea what I’m going to do with this box of books. Maybe I’ll make a fort.

Second, this means I have to sell this book, and that means going on a book tour. Actually, it doesn’t, but going on a book tour is a great excuse to travel and see people. If you come to these events and say the magic words “Padma Mehta sent me,” I will have things for you. Free things. Free physical things. Not some ridiculous virtual goods. I’m talking stuff you can put in your hot little hands.

So! Here’s where I will be in the next forty-four days:

August 20-23, Spokane, WA: Sasquan, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention

I’m not on any official programming, but I’ll be leading an unofficial event on August 21st at 8am with Mur Lafferty called Wrun With Writers. Think of it as Strolling With The Stars, only faster. We’re handing out ribbons, so please RSVP to reserve yours. Also, my cybernetic overlords at Angry Robot Books will have a booth, and I will likely be loitering there, handing out Windswept schwag, provided you say the magic words (see above).
September 6, 3-6pm, Culver City, CA: Rice and Rum – The Official Launch! Oh, yes. We’ll be at Sunny Blue, one of my favorite eateries, and there will be omusubi for all. Mysterious Galaxy Books will be on hand to sell copies of Windswept . It’ll be a PG-13 reading, so feel free to bring your kids. Please RSVP by September 1 so we know how many to expect.
September 13, 5-7pm, Seattle, WA: Wrumba And Writers! I’m going to be in Seattle for a family event, so why not pop into the local rum bar and do a reading? Plus, I’m buying empanadas, so please RSVP by September 6 so I know how many to get. Windswept will be on sale from a vendor to be announced, but it will be a real vendor, not just my brother selling books out of the back of a ’72 Buick Skylark. (Note to my brother: you should totally get a ’72 Skylark for future book events.)
September 19, 2-3pm, San Diego, CA: Tacos and Tecate! The nice people at Mysterious Galaxy invited me to read and sign with Greg Van Eekhout and Fran Wilde. Greg’s new book Dragon Coast and Fran’s new book Updraft will be available, as will the aforementioned Tecate and tacos. Oh, and Windswept , too. No need to RSVP, so just show up!
November 5-8, Saratoga Springs, NY: The 2015 World Fantasy Convention. No official programming for me, but, really, WFC is all about the bar. I will be bringing a suitcase full of interesting snacks and handing out schwag. The snacks are free, but for the schwag, you gotta say the magic words.

Future dates to be announced as I book them. Remember the magic words!

It’s a book! Almost!

In early June, Mike Underwood from Angry Robot Books sent me a picture. It was the rough draft of the cover to Windswept. That’s when it hit me: it’s really happening.

Now, it was really happening when I signed my contract with AR. It was happening even more when the check cleared. But I’m weird, in that I don’t think something’s going to happen until I see the thing itself. And, while I don’t have the real, physical book in my hands, that rough sketch was a concrete step toward publication.

It took a few weeks of back-and-forth until AR came back with a draft that everyone agreed on. I opened the email and saw my cover. Then I had to wait until the public unveiling, which happened yesterday. Click on the picture below to look at a bigger version (and, as a bonus, the first chapter).

Art by Jessica Smith. Find her at http://artofjess.com/

Isn’t that cool? Jessica Smith is the artist, and I’m really happy with the way she captured Padma, the Ghosts, and Santee City. Plus I got a cool blurb from my friend Daryl Gregory.

There’s still work to do. There are edits and marketing plans and convincing a few bar owners to let me and a bunch of people show up so I can read and sell books. And there’s the fun of the actual release (which you can help by pre-ordering a copy). But, for now, I got a cover. Soon, I’ll have a book.

Bugrit.

I hope you’ve never read Terry Pratchett.

I hope you look at Twitter and Facebook and see all the encomiums to Terry Pratchett and ask yourself, “What’s the deal? Why is everyone getting worked up over one English guy with a giant hat?”

I hope that curiosity sends you to the library or your bookstore (preferably the dusty, musty second-hand kind that sells books by the pound and has a cat that wanders around until it finds a nice stack for a nap), and you browse the section set aside just for Terry Pratchett.

I hope you pull down a book (my first taste of his writing was Good Omens, and I only read it because I loved Neil Gaiman and consumed everything he wrote. My first book of his that he wrote on his own The Light Fantastic, read that miserable year Up The Mountain when the library was my only true friend. I laughed. I needed the laughs. Then there was a giant gap until 2010 when I had bought a smartphone and discovered that his books were available on iBooks; I inhaled every book about the Watch. I made sure to get Grace a copy of Where’s My Cow?, and I still get teary-eyed at the last page. I’m sure I’ll openly weep now), and I hope you start reading. If you don’t laugh within the first few pages, that’s okay. Pull down another book. During his long career, Sir Terry Pratchett wrote a lot of books. One of them is for you.

I hope when you find the Terry Pratchett book that he wrote for you that you love it. And I hope it makes you decide to read the rest of his books, because you’ll likely find things in there that you’ll love. There are terrible, terrible puns. There’s comedy and tragedy and gentle prods at our human foibles and sharp stabs at the horrible things we do. There is such a marvel of work that I hope you discover something that speaks to you and makes you laugh.

I hope you’ve never read Terry Pratchett, because, once you do, your outlook on the world and writing and death all change. Especially death. I’m angry at Death right now for taking Terry Pratchett, just like I’m angry at a mind like Terry Pratchett’s was struck with something as cruel as Alzheimer’s. I know that will pass. I know it will take a long time for it to pass for his family and friends. I’m just a fan, just another scribbler whose own mind has had some bits flipped thanks to my time in Discworld. I’m sad I never had a chance to thank him in person.

I hope you’ve never read Terry Pratchett, because, once you have, I think you’ll feel this same stupid weight of mourning that I do. And then we can have a drink and talk about our favorite quotes and remember how fucking lucky we were that we’re alive at a time when Terry Pratchett wrote.

Stuff I Read And Saw Last Year And Liked Enough To Nominate For A Hugo

I feel like I read and watched and listened a lot last year. In retrospect, a lot of that was older, but them’s the breaks when you uncouple yourself from things like broadcast listing and publishing schedules and the mad crush of getting a steel rocketship as validation of one’s career choices.

(Granted, I think it would be cool to win one of those rocketships one day, but I think it would be much, much cooler if many tens of thousands of people bought my books. That way, I could buy a lot of tacos and pretend they’re rocketships on a one-way trip to the gaping maw of my open, hungry mouth. I am Rakunas, Devourer of Worlds. I mean, Tacos.)

Something else: since I get to read a lot of friends’ work before it’s published, seeing the actual objets d’art is a pleasant surprise, like finding twenty bucks in your pocket after doing the laundry. “Oh, that book I really liked? It’s out? And it’s eligible for stuff? Well, that’s cool!”

So, here’s what I consumed and put on my ballot.

Best Novel

Afterparty by Daryl Gregory, Tor

California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout, Tor

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley, Angry Robot

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennet, Broadway Books

(A brief note about City of Stairs: this has been on my to-read pile because a) it sounds awesome and b) Robert Jackson Bennet said on Twitter that he’ll eat an entire pint of mayonnaise if his book is nominated. I don’t know Mr. Bennet, but I’m always down to witness foolhardy stunts involving food. I’m sure this is exactly what our nerd forebears had in mind when the Hugos were founded.)

Best Novella

We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory, Tachyon

Grand Jeté by Rachel Swirsky, Subterranean Press

Best Novelette

The End of the End of Everything by Dale Bailey, Tor.com

The Devil in America by Kai Ashante Wilson, Tor.com

Best Short Story

Videoville by Christopher East, Asimov’s

When It Ends, He Catches Her by Eugie Foster, Daily Science Fiction

A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone, Tor.com

The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family by Usman Malik, Qualia Nous

The Fisher Queen by Alyssa Wong, F&SF

Best Graphic Story

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson/Adrian Alphona, Marvel

Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe/Roc Upchurch, Image

Lazarus: Lift by Greg Rucka/Michael Lark, Image

Sex Criminals, Vol. 1: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction/ Chip Zdarsky, Image

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Jesus Christ, anything but Doctor Who