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2020 Locus, Nebula, and Hugo lists
I was surprised looking at the novel categories as there are no fan favorites (Hugo and Nebula noms too) like A memory of empire, 10k doors to January and Gideon the Ninth. But then, I remember they have The First Novel category. I wonder if that category does not exist, would those three novels be included in the novel categories or not.
Sad that A Little Hatred and The Bird King did not make the cut.
Another list that ignores Tchaikovsky :(. But at least this one finally has Newitz and Thompson as nominees.
The Nebulas get announced this weekend don't they?
Yes - The Nebula Award ceremony starts on Saturday at 5pm PDT:https://events.sfwa.org/watch-the-neb...
This time I read two of the finalist story collections, Snow White Learns Witchcraft: Stories and Poems by Theodora Goss and Meet Me in the Future: Stories by Kameron Hurley and I liked them both and rated both 4,5 stars. I am also currently reading the anthology New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color by Nisi Shawl and tough it has impressed me less, my rating will be more towards 3,5-4 stars, it has a couple of good stories too.
The Nebula Award for Best Novel went to A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker.https://nebulas.sfwa.org/award-year/2...
Hugo voter packet is available to download.
Silvana wrote: "Hugo voter packet is available to download."Am currently downloading! :)
Leonie wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Hugo voter packet is available to download."Am currently downloading! :)"
:) My Kindle is overfloweth!
This year there are so many Netgalley links.
Chris wrote: "The Nebula Award for Best Novel went to A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker.https://nebulas.sfwa.org/award-year/2..."
That's really interesting, considering the timely premise. Anyone read it? What did you think?
I read it in February, so I can't really say how it would feel to read now, but I'd definitely recommend it!
Anna wrote: "I read it in February, so I can't really say how it would feel to read now, but I'd definitely recommend it!"I put it on my TBR right before all this happened, and then couldn't bring myself to read it afterwards. But I definitely will get around to it. I read one of her stories in Uncanny and enjoyed it a lot.
Kari wrote: "That's really interesting, considering the timely premise. Anyone read it? What did you think?"I've read it earlier this year in another group. I liked but not loved it. As for a debut novel it is quite strong, but I like her novellas more. My review can be found here - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Arthur C Clarke Award finalists have been announced. They are
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (Titan)
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot)
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (Tor)
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (Hogarth)
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Head of Zeus)
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington (Orbit)
My heart just leapt for joy seeing the nomination of "Cage of Souls". This novel is criminally unheeded and it is soooo good.And now I have to have a look at "The Old Drift". It sounds interesting, but it is shelved as history.
ETA: Just learned from Hank that "Cage of Soul" apparently isn't available in US. No wonder nobody talks about it ^^'.
I could buy the hardback in the US for $31 or the paperback for $17 but that seems a bit silly.
Hank wrote: "I could buy the hardback in the US for $31 or the paperback for $17 but that seems a bit silly."I lucked out and could get it with my remaining amazon.fr account for 1.29 euros. Maybe if Adrian Tchaikovsky has a website or a Facebook or Twitter account someone could ask him about it?
Gabi wrote: "My heart just leapt for joy seeing the nomination of "Cage of Souls". This novel is criminally unheeded and it is soooo good.And now I have to have a look at "The Old Drift". It sounds interestin..."
Oh, Gabi, that looks amazing! Is it a standalone or does he plan to do a series?
Hank wrote: "I could buy the hardback in the US for $31 or the paperback for $17 but that seems a bit silly."That is ridiculous indeed! Tchaikovsky is the only author I pay the higher novel price for novellas, but even there € 10 is my absolute limit. For novels I turn to the audiobook if they exceed the € 10.
Kari wrote: "Oh, Gabi, that looks amazing! Is it a standalone or does he plan to do a series? "
It is a standalone. Feels a bit steampunky even though it takes place far in the future.
The Old Drift is a fantastic read. I'm a sucker for novels by African writers, but this one really knocks it out of the park. Highly recommended.
The Locus Award winners were announced: https://locusmag.com/2020/06/locus-aw...Best Science Fiction Novel: The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders
Best Fantasy Novel: Middlegame, Seanan McGuire
Best First Novel: Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
Chris wrote: "The Locus Award winners were announced: https://locusmag.com/2020/06/locus-aw...Best Science Fiction Novel: The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders..."
So happy for Charlie Jane and Yoon Ha Lee.
Currently watching the video, the hosts were hilarious.
I must confess that I don't agree with many of the category winners... One that I'm happy to see winning tough is New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color
Damir wrote: "The Old Drift is a fantastic read. I'm a sucker for novels by African writers, but this one really knocks it out of the park. Highly recommended."Fantastic. It's in my TBR and the price is reasonable.
Mod
Best Novel:
I'm leaning Middlegame for my choice.
But I think Memory Called Empire will win.
Best Novella:
I think it should be Anxiety is Dizziness of Freedom
I predict This is How You Lose the F***ing Time War will win.
* (I added word to that one)
Novelette:
I think this one's anyone's guess. 3 really strong contenders and a couple others by big names. For my money, the real fight's between Emergency Skin and Omphalos.
Short stories were weakest this year. I'm leaning "As the Last I May Know"
Graphic Novel's gonna be Monstress, almost guaranteed.
I think Good Omens is gonna win long form dramatic. Short form will likely go to one of the Watchmen eps.
Lodestar...so, Deeplight is one of the best books I've read this year? But it's not really YA--it's for mature teens, doesn't have a romance, and follows basically none of the tropes of YA. So I think it deserves an award but maybe not a YA one? Next favorite was Minor Mage.
What do you all think?
I had my guesses (better say " hopes", cause I don't really understand what criteria work for the winners in most cases) in msg #39- City in the Middle of the Night
- Anxiety is ...
- Omphalos
- As the last I may know
Want to win:Gideon the Ninth
Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom
Omphalos
?
The wormwood trilogy
Think will win:
The City in the middle of the night
Anxiety
Emergency Skin
?
The expanse
When I said I hadn't read anything I forgot that Exhalation had a few nominated stories, so I'm hoping that those two do well.
I would love “ A Memory Called Empire” to win the Hugo!!’
Want to win:Novel: The City in the Middle of the Night/ The Light Brigade
Novella: Anxiety is Dizziness of Freedom
Novelette: "Away With the Wolves" by Sarah Gailey
Short story: “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, by Shiv Ramdas
Best series: Luna series
related work: Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood, by J. Michael Straczynski
graphic novel: LaGuardia, written by Nnedi Okorafor
long form: Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman
short form: The Good Place: “The Answer”
best editor short form: Neil Clarke
best editor long form: Sheila E. Gilbert
semiprozine: Strange Horizons
fancast: Galactic Suburbia
Astounding: Nibedita Sen
Still holding my opinion on fanzine, fan writer, all the artists and Lodestar.
The Hugo Awards will be streamed live for everyone to watch, more info here.New Zealand (NZST) Saturday 1 August 11:00
North American West Coast (PDT): Friday 31 July 16:00
North American East Coast (EDT): Friday 31 July 19:00
UK/Ireland (BST/IST): Saturday 1 August 00:00 (Midnight)
Western Europe (CEST): Saturday 1 August 01:00
Eastern Australia (AEST): Saturday 1 August 09:00
(Weird how that skips from Western Europe to Eastern Australia.)
Yeah, I wanted to watch ... but I think I'm not awake anymore at 1.00 h :(. It's so damn hot today and I'm already starting to doze off here at my keyboard.
Thank you Anna! Although I probably could have skipped Robert Silverberg rambling away.
I'm not watching, but I'm having a great time following the entertaining Hugo discussions on Twitter :D
the twitter discourse has been extraordinarily hostile towards GRRM. It's a little upsetting.
The Hugo Award for Best Novel went to A Memory Called Empire.See all winners at http://www.thehugoawards.org/2020/08/...
Coming from a big fan, George's hosting actually was frustrating. He talked way too much about himself and past stuff - including Campbell so many times (he already had two panels of nostalgia during the WorldCon), and also mispronouncing names of the winners (I believe the organizer already gave an instruction about this) especially women and/or POC. Last but not least, after rewatching, he also made a weird remark about his assistant Raya Golden (who was there beside him) being conceived at the Hugo. It was a cringeworthy moment. He will never ever host again, that's for sure. The organizer has issued an apology letter. https://twitter.com/CoNZealand/status...But, next year we will have Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz hosting so yay!
PS If you want to (re)watch it better focus on the speeches. Jeanette Ng, Neil Gaiman, Amal el-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, RF Kuang, Bogi Takács, they were wonderful.
Update: Somebody made an abridged version of the best bits: https://youtu.be/7yGPBIQvs0Y
I loved A Memory Called Empire. Don't know if it was the best for the year but obviously a lot of people did.
I enjoyed Memory Called Empire but Im not sure I’d put it up there with The Fifth Season or The Dispossesed
Mod
I've actually read all the winners in the first 4 categories, yeah!
Very happy with the Hugo winner. I haven’t read CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT yet but I thought A MEMORY OF EMPIRE was brilliant
Remember that if you want to vote in the Hugos, you can buy a supporting membership for WorldCon to enable you to.
Leonie wrote: "Remember that if you want to vote in the Hugos, you can buy a supporting membership for WorldCon to enable you to."I will do it for next year. Seems like I manage to read quite a few of the nominations to give an educated vote.
Gabi wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Remember that if you want to vote in the Hugos, you can buy a supporting membership for WorldCon to enable you to."I will do it for next year. Seems like I manage to read quite a f..."
Do it! The finalist packet was really good too, even though you probably already read some of it.
Gabi wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Remember that if you want to vote in the Hugos, you can buy a supporting membership for WorldCon to enable you to."I will do it for next year. Seems like I manage to read quite a f..."
Definitely do it! The finalist packet is excellent as Silvana said. It was great to appreciate work I might not otherwise have read.
I am sitting here, somewhat tired, after having sat at a computer screen for six (6!) and a half hours as a tiny part of the incredible production team for the Hugos. I now have an enormous appreciation for what it took to get things sorted completely online. (I was not a tech person, just a general do things person, however I have now mastered using two separate sets of audio input stuff at the same time...)
Thank you for your work, Leonie. I can imagine that it takes a lot of spirit and time to get everything working for such a convention - especially since it was the first time online which certainly presents new challenges for the team.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday (other topics)The Dragon Republic (other topics)
A Memory Called Empire (other topics)
The Old Drift (other topics)
New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Adrian Tchaikovsky (other topics)Ted Chiang (other topics)
Sarah Pinsker (other topics)
Nnedi Okorafor (other topics)
Emma Newman (other topics)
And I find it interesting the Black Leopard Red Wolf is listed under horror.