Glasgow Worldcon, 2024, And Hugo Awards

 This year’s World Science Fiction Convention was held in Glasgow, Scotland. I wasn’t able to attend in person, alas, I’ve never been overseas for a Worldcon. The last time I was planning to do that was when it was being held in New Zealand, but that in-person convention had to be cancelled because of COVID. However, the organisers decided to have the con online, and there has been a virtual Worldcon ever since, which has meant I could attend, even if I had to stay up till 2.00 or 3.00 a.m! I usually lie in bed and watch on my iPad.

Last year’s Worldcon, in Chengdu, China, was the least well-organised. I did manage to get some of the shortlisted Hugo Award books, but not all, and I couldn’t watch a single panel.And I only got one reply to my inquiries. Not sure who was responsible, but it was a disappointment. At least the virtual membership was cheap. I gather there was a controversy over the Hugo shortlist. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/81st_World_Science_Fiction_Convention

This year’s was a pleasant surprise. Downloading the books was easy and smooth. I didn’t have to stay up late to watch the panels, because the ones that were available to watch online were put up very soon after the panels were over. And while I’m still catching up, I have till the end of the year. I want to catch up with the opening ceremony and Hugo Awards presentation. There was a controversy over that too, by the way. Someone paid for a lot of memberships so that the new members would vote for that book. They spent about $30,000 for that! We don’t know who it was, or what the book was, and the author may not even know about it, but they didn’t win anyway. I’m wondering if it was a publisher. Why else would it be worth that much money? Honestly, even being on the shortlist is amazing.

The only thing that did disappoint me is that quite a few panels I was interested in were not recorded. Ah, well, can’t have everything!

I have already given you the full shortlist here:

https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-hugo-awards-2024.html

Below are the winners. I’ll be interested to see whether you agree with them. 

There were some wonderful items in the Dramatic Presentations, short and long, and I haven’t seen either of those that won. I’m still reading the books, so I voted for those that I had read - and liked - at the time. I can never get through everything, but I don’t bother with those that only give you a sample. I mean, fine, I get it, that’s a few thousand copies the publishers of shortlisted books have to give, but I prefer to focus on those who gave me a full copy.

BEST NOVEL

• Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)

BEST NOVELLA

• Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK) 

BEST NOVELETTE  

• “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023) 

BEST SHORT STORY

• “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023) 

BEST SERIES  

• Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC  

• Saga, Vol. 11 written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

BEST RELATED WORK  

• A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith (Penguin Press; Particular Books)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM  

• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Michael Gilio, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Paramount Pictures)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

• The Last of Us: “Long, Long Time”, written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, directed by Peter Hoar (Naughty Dog / Sony Pictures)

BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK

• Baldur’s Gate 3, produced by Larian Studios

BEST EDITOR SHORT FORM

• Neil Clarke

BEST EDITOR LONG FORM

• Ruoxi Chen

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

• Rovina Cai

BEST SEMIPROZINE

• Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective 

BEST FANZINE

• Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla. 

BEST FANCAST  

• Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty 

BEST FAN WRITER

• Paul Weimer

BEST FAN ARTIST

• Laya Rose

LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YA BOOK

• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)

ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (sponsored by Dell Magazines)

• Xiran Jay Zhao