George RR Martin hands out his own “Alphie” awards at the Hugo Losers Party, August 23, 2015.
Tobias Buckell posted this compilation of the Hugo nominees that would have been if the nomination process hadn’t been hijacked with slate voting.
One of the most unfair things about the use of slates this year, is that many stories that deserved a Hugo-nom boost in visibilty and readership, were bumped off the list by the use of slate voting.
So here is the list again, but with links to all the stories I could find online, in order to facilitate reading. In the case of the novels and some of the novellas, I link to the books’ Amazon pages. I’ve also added “Goodnight Stars” to the short story list, for the reasons explained in my previous post.
Best Novel
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Lock In by John Scalzi
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson BennetBest Novella
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Pat Rothfuss
The Regular by Ken Liu (epub, mobi/Kindle).
Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress (Excerpt)
Grand Jete by Rachel Swirsky
The Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary RickertBest Novelette
The Day the World Turned Upside Down by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Each to Each by Seanan McGuire
The Devil in America by Kai Ashante Wilson
The Litany of Earth by Ruthann Emrys
The Magician and Laplace’s Demon by Tom CrosshillBest Short Story
The Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon
The Breath of War by Aliette de Bodard
The Truth About Owls by Amal El-Mohtar
When It Ends, He Catches Her by Eugie Foster*
A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone
Goodnight Stars by Annie Bellet
Apart from the novels, I’ve read three of these so far – Grand Jete, The Jackalope Wives, and The Mothers of Voorhisville – and they were all excellent. Oh, and The Day the World Turned Upside Down – which I read because it was Hugo-nominated – which I thought was okay, it had some nice bits, and I liked what an awful person the protagonist was, but overall not a memorable story.
Which have you read?
I’ve been reading David Weber’s Honor series, because my wife enjoyed them and I wanted more points of reference/discussion in our fiction.
I liked the first book, On Basilisk Station, quite a bit. It had some flaws, but she reports that some of them smooth out as the series continues, so I’m reading on.
I really liked Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach, and will be picking up the rest of the trilogy soon. Falling Sky by Rajan Khanna was less exciting, probably because of the zombies–I’m a bit burned out by them. But he sketched out several authentic characters, so if you’re not tired of zombies, it might be good for you.
I’ve read City of Stairs. I enjoyed the world-building, but I will admit that the characters didn’t stick with me all that long after I finished it. That may have been because I was the only person I knew reading it at the time, and wasn’t able to talk about it with anyone. I’ll certainly read Bennet’s next book.
“Jackalope Wives” is great. If I remember correctly, it was in sixth place on the ballot after the Puppy nominees. “When It Ends, He Catches Her,” by Eugie Foster, is absolutely wonderful, and her omission from the ballot is heartbreaking–that was her last story, published just before she died. It’s unforgivable that the Puppy shenanigans cost her a chance for a Hugo.
I don’t read modern SF really – I just mainly read my copious library of old stuff and the books my husband buys which are mainly fantasy. So, the only one I’ve even heard of, let alone read, is The Slow Regard of Silent Things. This is the kind of book/story I would like more of, as its not really a story, its just a telling of a short period of the life of someone very strange who sees the world a different way. But there’s not an adventure or anything. It’s just her life, albeit a strange one.
Plus, I would love to explore that place, or any place, free to do as I please.
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