The Hugo Awards 2020!

                                 Above is this year’s Hugo, designed by John Flower.

I managed to get to a few panels today, though hardly any yesterday, so, for the moment, we will just talk about the Hugo Awards, which were presented this morning. 

The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention. The professional awards, the Nebulas, are voted on by authors and are a separate thing. 

Usually, they are a spectacular ceremony on stage, with guest presenters and a Toastmaster as MC. This time, of course, it was all pre-recorded and online. It was 3 hours long and took up the entire morning, from 9.00 am onwards, Melbourne time. That would have been okay, except that my screen kept freezing. No wifi where I am, you see. The opening was about forty minutes of George R.R Martin, author of Game Of Thrones, reminiscing about his years in fandom and the awards he was shortlisted for. No offence, George, but it was just a little too long for me - and for others, judging by some of the comments on Twitter! 

The presenters of each award got about two minutes each to talk about the award they were presenting, then they announced the short list before it went back to George, who wore a different hat in each scene, to open the envelope, talking about his memories of the older awards. 

Each winner got a minute or two to make an acceptance speech. Unfortunately for me, that was exactly when my screen froze. I would really have liked to hear Neil Gaiman’s speech when his wonderful adaptation of Good Omens won the award for best long form dramatic presentation. I am hoping that we won’t have to wait too long for the re-play; I can skim the bits I have already heard. Three hours is just too long! Probably I’ll wait till after the con, when I get home and have wifi. 

I’m showing you the various shortlists, with the winner in bold font, followed by a link to the details of the voting. 

To be honest, I was disappointed with some of the choices - the winner of the short story award, for example, is one that I would probably have rejected if it turned up on the Andromeda Spaceways slushpile. Not that it was bad, but it went on and on and fizzled out. At the least, it could have done with some more editing. Ah, well. My first choice, “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, was a powerful piece of writing, which was centred around the wartime  famine in India, when the British took as much as they could of the Indians’ supplies for the war effort. It came third. 

But I was really angry with the choice for Best Related Work. It went to a two paragraph acceptance speech from last year’s awards, when there were some wonderful books and an amazing documentary about Ursula Le Guin, which took ten years to make. That, of course, was my first choice. It came second. If the winning entry had been one of the books, I would have merely been disappointed. I really don’t know what the voters were thinking when they chose that speech, but perhaps, with a precedent set, they can nominate Neil Gaiman’s speech next year! I hear it was wonderful.

I was pleased with Ellen Datlow for Best Editor Short Form and The Book Smugglers for best fanzine. 

Anyway, have a look and see what you think, then follow the link to the details.

Best Novel

• The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
• Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
• The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
• A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
• Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

Best Novella

• “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
• The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga Press/Gallery)
• The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
• In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
• This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)
• To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)

Best Novelette

• “The Archronology of Love”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, April 2019)
• “Away With the Wolves”, by Sarah Gailey (Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy Special Issue, September/October 2019)
• “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2019)
• Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))
• “For He Can Creep”, by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com, 10 July 2019)
• “Omphalos”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))

Best Short Story

• “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons, 9 September 2019)
• “As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)
• “Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, by Rivers Solomon (Tor.com, 24 July 2019)
• “A Catalog of Storms”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2019)
• “Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2019)
• “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, May 2019)

Best Series

• The Expanse, by James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• InCryptid, by Seanan McGuire (DAW)
• Luna, by Ian McDonald (Tor; Gollancz)
• Planetfall series, by Emma Newman (Ace; Gollancz)
• Winternight Trilogy, by Katherine Arden (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)
• The Wormwood Trilogy, by Tade Thompson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Best Related Work

• Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood, by J. Michael Straczynski (Harper Voyager US)
• Joanna Russ, by Gwyneth Jones (University of Illinois Press (Modern Masters of Science Fiction))
• The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick, by Mallory O’Meara (Hanover Square)
• The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, by Farah Mendlesohn (Unbound)
• “2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech”, by Jeannette Ng
• Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, produced and directed by Arwen Curry

Best Graphic Story or Comic

• Die, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image)
• LaGuardia, written by Nnedi Okorafor, art by Tana Ford, colours by James Devlin (Berger Books; Dark Horse)
• Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)
• Mooncakes, by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker, letters by Joamette Gil (Oni Press; Lion Forge)
• Paper Girls, Volume 6, written by Brian K. Vaughan, drawn by Cliff Chiang, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Jared K. Fletcher (Image)
• The Wicked + The Divine, Volume 9: “Okay”, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, colours by Matt Wilson, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Avengers: Endgame, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Studios)
• Captain Marvel, screenplay by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios/Animal Logic (Australia))
• Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios/Narrativia/The Blank Corporation)
• Russian Doll (Season One), created by Natasha Lyonne, Leslye Headland and Amy Poehler, directed by Leslye Headland, Jamie Babbit and Natasha Lyonne (3 Arts Entertainment/Jax Media/Netflix/Paper Kite Productions/Universal Television)
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, screenplay by Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams, directed by J.J. Abrams (Walt Disney Pictures/Lucasfilm/Bad Robot)
• Us, written and directed by Jordan Peele (Monkeypaw Productions/Universal Pictures)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• The Good Place: “The Answer”, written by Daniel Schofield, directed by Valeria Migliassi Collins (Fremulon/3 Arts Entertainment/Universal Television)
• The Expanse: “Cibola Burn”, written by Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck and Naren Shankar, directed by Breck Eisner (Amazon Prime Video)
• Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, written by Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof, directed by Nicole Kassell (HBO)
• The Mandalorian: “Redemption”, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Taika Waititi (Disney+)
• Doctor Who: “Resolution”, written by Chris Chibnall, directed by Wayne Yip (BBC)
• Watchmen: “This Extraordinary Being”, written by Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson, directed by Stephen Williams (HBO)

Best Editor, Short Form

• Neil Clarke
• Ellen Datlow
• C.C. Finlay
• Jonathan Strahan
• Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
• Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form

• Sheila E. Gilbert
• Brit Hvide
• Diana M. Pho
• Devi Pillai
• Miriam Weinberg
• Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

• Tommy Arnold
• Rovina Cai
• Galen Dara
• John Picacio
• Yuko Shimizu
• Alyssa Winans

Best Semiprozine

• Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
• Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, audio producers Adam Pracht and Summer Brooks, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart
• Fireside Magazine, editor Julia Rios, managing editor Elsa Sjunneson, copyeditor Chelle Parker, social coordinator Meg Frank, publisher & art director Pablo Defendini, founding editor Brian White
• FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editor Troy L. Wiggins, editors Eboni Dunbar, Brent Lambert, L.D. Lewis, Danny Lore, Brandon O’Brien and Kaleb Russell
• Strange Horizons, Vanessa Rose Phin, Catherine Krahe, AJ Odasso, Dan Hartland, Joyce Chng, Dante Luiz and the Strange Horizons staff
• Uncanny Magazine, editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, nonfiction/managing editor Michi Trota, managing editor Chimedum Ohaegbu, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky

Best Fanzine

• The Book Smugglers, editors Ana Grilo and Thea James
• Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice Marcus, senior writers Rosemary Benton, Lorelei Marcus and Victoria Silverwolf
• Journey Planet, editors James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Ann Gry, Chuck Serface, John Coxon and Steven H Silver
• nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, Vance Kotrla, and The G
• Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
• The Rec Center, editors Elizabeth Minkel and Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Best Fancast

• Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
• Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel, produced & presented by Claire Rousseau
• The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
• Galactic Suburbia, presented by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce and Tansy Rayner Roberts, producer Andrew Finch
• Our Opinions Are Correct, presented by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders
• The Skiffy and Fanty Show, presented by Jen Zink and Shaun Duke

Best Fan Writer

• Cora Buhlert
• James Davis Nicoll
• Alasdair Stuart
• Bogi Takács
• Paul Weimer
• Adam Whitehead

Best Fan Artist

• Iain Clark
• Sara Felix
• Grace P. Fong
• Meg Frank
• Ariela Housman
• Elise Matthesen

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)

• Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
• Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan)
• Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee (Disney/Hyperion)
• Minor Mage, by T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• Riverland, by Fran Wilde (Amulet)
• The Wicked King, by Holly Black (Little, Brown; Hot Key)

Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)

• Sam Hawke (2nd year of eligibility)
• R.F. Kuang (2nd year of eligibility)
• Jenn Lyons (1st year of eligibility)
• Nibedita Sen (2nd year of eligibility)
• Tasha Suri (2nd year of eligibility)
• Emily Tesh (1st year of eligibility)

And here are the details.

https://conzealand.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2020-Hugo-statistics.pdf?utm_source=CoNZealand&utm_campaign=2942cb0aef-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_31_10_48&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_76be2148cf-2942cb0aef-42248029