Hugolicious!

The Hugo nominations are out today! And the big news for me is that not only has Galactic Suburbia received a nomination for Best Fancast (for the second year running, giving us a perfect score for this category) but I’ve also been nominated (for the first ever time) in my own right as Best Fan Writer.

Seriously, I was so freaked out when I read that second piece of news, I had to go stand in a room other than the room my computer was in while I dealt with it. BIG. But thank you to everyone who has congratulated me today, it’s really a genuine and surprising honour to be on this list.

I’m so delighted for many of my friends, respected and colleagues and those famous people I like to fangirl from afar, who are on this year’s ballot. Hooray for you all & extra special hoorays for those of you who are on there for the first time (I KNOW, RIGHT?) or like me, eyeing a brand new category with trepidation and occasional skepticism. (ARE YOU SURE YOU MEANT ME?)

For those of you who have dropped by the blog to find out who this random person on the Hugo ballot you’ve never heard of is, Hi! *waves* I’m Tansy and I write about stuff.

Here are some of the fan writing pieces I’m most proud of:

Historically Authenticated Sexism in Fantasy: Let’s Unpack That. This was undoubtedly the piece from my blog that made the greatest splash in 2012, forming part of a wider dialogue about the use of “realistic” history in fantasy fiction. It was even crossposted on Tor.com and gathered over 250 comments adding to the conversation in (mostly) constructive ways. Hooray!

I also wrote pieces on Motherhood in Disney’s Brave, Gender & Sex in Season One of Game of Thrones, and why What Geek Girls Wear is None of Your Business.

Then there’s the Doctor Who writing. I do a LOT of that. In particular:

Domesticating the Doctor, a series of essays looking at the Doctor’s conflicted relationship with the domestic sphere. Only the first four essays in this series were written in 2012 (first published over at Doctor Her, then republished on my blog this January):

Domesticating the Doctor I: Cocoa, Test-tubes and the Classic Years

Domesticating the Doctor II: The Missus, the Ex and the Mothers-in-Law

Domesticating the Doctor III – John Smith’s Human Nature

Domesticating the Doctor IV: Marrying the Ponds

I started my Doctor Who anniversary blog series ‘WHO-50′ in 2012, covering 1963-1969. I think my favourite of these is the one for 1964, Barbara Wright at the Brink.

The other big essay series I began in 2012 was my Where The Wonder Women Are series looking at the awesome and interesting female superheroes that are out there (or have been out there) over the years at DC and Marvel, and the highs and lows of how these women have been written and drawn. I wrote, um. Thirty four of these in 2012. I’ll highlight Batgirl and Supergirl as two of my personal favourites, though.

My Pratchett’s Women series included several essays in 2012: Pole Dancers, Goblin Girls, and the Family Man, A Wonderful Personality and Good Hair, Has Scythe, Will Teach School and The Truth Has Got Her Boots On.

If you get through all that, you’re probably okay to navigate the rest on your own. Happy sailing!