2016 Hugo Voter Packet Released by MidAmeriCon II

Members of MidAmeriCon II can begin downloading the sample work provided by 2016 Hugo Award nominees.

All five Best Novel nominees are represented. Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves is complete. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is labeled an excerpt, though there are 449 pages of story here, and the file is 500 pages (of what Amazon lists as a 512-page book), so without taking time to read the text one can say it’s at least a very generous portion of the whole. There are excerpts from Ancillary Mercy and Uprooted. And although not flagged as an excerpt, the Jim Butcher file ends on page 116, of what Amazon lists as a 640-page novel, QED.

From my quick inspection, it appeared all the novellas, novelettes and short stories are present. (The text of Cheah Kai Wai’s novelette is in the collection There Will Be War, vol. 10., part of the Best Editor, Short Form packet.) [Update] However, “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris, published on Vox Popoli, about which some objections have been raised, is not part of the download. [Update] The committee states that the story was not submitted to the packet.

The related works section excludes Safe Space as Rape Room – there is a statement with a link to the online text, as previously announced.

The graphic novels are represented by Invisible Republic, Sandman Overture, and The Divine. (Not present are Erin Dies Alone and Full Frontal Nerdity.

Best Editor (Long Form) nominees Jim Minz, Liz Gorinsky, and Sheila Gilbert provided lists of the books they worked on in 2015. There is no entry from Toni Weisskopf. Vox Day’s editorial production for Castalia House is represented by books in the Related Works section. Sheila Gilbert’s statement says she was “including excerpts from one novel written by each author whose work I published in 2015.” I didn’t find any excerpts in what I downloaded, and have written to the committee asking for clarification.

Best Editor (Short Form), in addition to Jerry Pournelle’s book, has a sample issue of Asimov’s edited by Sheila Williams, links to works edited by Ellen Datlow for Tor.com, Clarkesworld issue 100 edited by Neal Clarke (plus links to additional issues and stories), and from John Joseph Adams all the fiction published by Lightspeed in 2015.

There are portfolios from four Best Professional Artist nominees, Abigail Larson, Larry Rostant, Lars Braad Andersen and Michal Karcz. (None from Larry Elmore.)

The Best Semiprozine section has Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #183, a 71-page sampler from Sci Phi Journal, Strange Horizons’ Fund Drive Special 2015 (with an introductory comment disclaiming the Rabid Puppies slate, where it was an unwilling entry), and The Best of Uncanny 2015. Daily Science Fiction provided a link to its site.

The Best Fanzine category has samplers from four nominees (no submission from Superversive SF.)  Three Best Fancast nominees compiled links to eligible works on their sites (Cane and Rinse, HelloGreedo, and Tales to Terrify.) All five Best Fan Writer nominees furnished samplers. The Best Fan Artist packet has work from Ku Kuru Yo, Matthew Callahan and Steve Stiles.

John W. Campbell nominees Alyssa Wong, Brian Niemeier and Sebastien de Castell provided copies of their short fiction or novels.

It is possible more samples will be added later — that has occurred in other years.

Update 05/28/2016: Corrected to show that one short story nominee is not accounted for. The committee says it was not submitted to the packet.

60 thoughts on “2016 Hugo Voter Packet Released by MidAmeriCon II

  1. Thanks for the run-down, Mike!

    Obligatory parody title: If you were in the Hugo Packet, my love.

    Fan Artist: Anyone wanting to see Christian Quinot’s work, there’s a link, but the first page says it’s all copyright 2016. It’s probably not all 2016 work, but who knows. Also, disse86 has a DeviantArt gallery. Their artwork’s good, IMHO; it’s a shame they’re only on there due to slating.

  2. @Kendall: I also like Matthew Callahan’s Star Wars work. He has a good eye for lighting.

    Quinot and disse86 are too far along the horror spectrum for me to say I like their work, exactly, but it looks competent.

  3. I contacted MACII and Tammy Coxen explained that “If You Were an Award My Love” was not submitted for the packet.

  4. Mike Glyer on May 28, 2016 at 4:54 pm said:

    I contacted MACII and Tammy Coxen explained that “If You Were an Award My Love” was not submitted for the packet.

    Curious, but the packet is better off without it so I shan’t spend too much time thinking about why Vox didn’t submit it.

  5. @Camestros:

    Maybe he didn’t submit it because he wants it in context, ugly comments and all. Besides, it drives traffic to his blog.

  6. Anyone getting odd messages from Chrome :John_W_Campbell.zip is not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous.”? Never seen that before…

  7. Anyone have a link? I can’t find it from their website and have yet to receive an email.

  8. Do I get to appertain a beverage if I suggest the packet probably had an excerpt from Ancillary Mercy rather than Ancillary Sword?

  9. @Chris S: At least one other Filer has mentioned it. That file doesn’t have any of the usual suspects for triggering that message.

    I used Opera for the downloads with no error messages.

  10. @Chris S: I got the “not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous” message on most of the downloads, but I selected “Keep” anyway and haven’t experienced any problems yet.

  11. @Rail: Agreed re. the lighting, and some of the composition, in fact. It’s not the type of work I think of when I think of for Hugo Artist, even Hugo Fan Artist, though.

    BTW I’m not super into horror either (disse86’s was more horror-themed, IIRC?), but I like their style, if not some of their subject matter, if that makes sense.

  12. @Chris S

    Yes, I got the same message from most of the downloads. I have seen Chrome give false alarm warnings before though.

  13. The Fifth Season seems to be the complete novel. At least it seems to have the beginning and the end. It also has a chapter from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms in the extras section.

  14. bloodstone75:

    Yay for Weisskopf’s consistency?

    Seems like she did even less this year? Last year she had a note saying all their books were team-edited, right? This year nothing at all? Next year she’ll include a quiz where members have to fill in their guesses as to what books she worked on. The year after that she’ll change her name to a glyph and all Baen titles will be published in ROT13. The following year she will include an animated GIF in which she holds up a lotus flower and then announces:

    “The book has been edited.”

  15. LOL @Jim Henley & @bloodstone75! In Soviet Baen, book edits Weisskopf.

    Funny how one of her editors managed to include something in the packet. Just sayin’.

  16. Mike, your entry in the packet is great. You did File 770 proud.

    You had best be prepared for many more people commenting here, I think.

  17. Weisskopf must still be trying to run for the Best Publisher award.

    Assuming that it isn’t an error.

  18. Full Frontal Nerdity is available in its still-updating entirety as a webcomic. This link is to the first comic of 2015. http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=1342
    While I’m sure VD threw it in as a human shield, and the strip is often meta-jokes about table top gaming, it’s one of the ones on my regular check list, and I’ve picked up a copy of the print compilation once that was available too.

  19. @Alice Bentley: Thanks for the direct link to the start of the 2015 stuff.

  20. Jim Henley: Seems like [Weisskopf} did even less this year? Last year she had a note saying all their books were team-edited, right? This year nothing at all? Next year she’ll include a quiz where members have to fill in their guesses as to what books she worked on. The year after that she’ll change her name to a glyph and all Baen titles will be published in ROT13. The following year she will include an animated GIF in which she holds up a lotus flower and then announces: “The book has been edited.”

    *snort*

  21. Well, I’ve downloaded and unzipped. A few entries were immediately sent to the recycle bin.

  22. GRRRR at the novels being PDFs only, rather than EPUBs or MOBI files. That’s minus several dozen points for usability right there.

  23. @Kendall:

    Agreed re. the lighting, and some of the composition, in fact. It’s not the type of work I think of when I think of for Hugo Artist, even Hugo Fan Artist, though.

    True, but the captions suggest a Star Wars fanfic of some sort.

    I’ve been playing with some of the same postwork tools he’s using for these. I quite like what he’s accomplished with them.

    I’m also impressed that I’ve done a couple of double takes, wondering if they’re really toys or some of the more sophisticated 3D dolls. I do need to find a good composition study guide, though. The composition analyses of Fury Road have been educational.

    BTW I’m not super into horror either (disse86’s was more horror-themed, IIRC?), but I like their style, if not some of their subject matter, if that makes sense.

    Perfect sense. For me, it’s more that I don’t like horror enough to evaluate it in context, so all I can say is that the art side of it isn’t amateurish.

  24. Correct me if I am wrong, but there appears to be a grave error in the Hugo packet. It would appear that the version of SJW’s Always Lie in the packet has merely a single chapter 5! How am I supposed to judge the award worthiness of a work if I am not offered the published version of that work? Especially for a Finalist who is up for one of the best editor prizes? How are those who would cite to this magnificent tome know which chapter (and which truths contained within) they are referencing?

    Doubtless this is the work of a sinister cabal meant to deceive the public. Indeed, what are the ethics, the all-important ethics so beloved of many of this great Finalist’s followers, of submitting a work to the Hugo packet that does not reflect what was sold to the public? After all, the public’s book buying tastes are far more important than the highfalutin literary standards of the Worldcon membership, who demand silly things like but a single chapter five.

  25. The updated, single chapter 5, version of SJWs Always Lie has been for sale for quite a while (w/in 2 weeks of original publication). I believe an Amazon update was/is available. The change was made very shortly after filers mocked the two chapter 5s. I ended up with the single chapter 5 version when curiosity got the better of me.

  26. Pingback: NEWS FROM FANDOM: 5/29/16 - Amazing Stories

  27. There is supposed to be a separate packet for the Retro Hugo, but as of now they say

    the Hugo voter packet has been delayed, pending final authorization for content distribution.

  28. “The Sandman: Overture” has issues 1 to 3 of 6 included in the Hugo Voter Pack version.

  29. I intend to give SJWs Always Lie a fair shake, but honestly don’t see much hope for it, given that its founding principle – there is always room for another 5 – has been edited out by some thoughtless buffoon unable to grasp the complexity of Voxman’s arguments.

  30. One can presumably work out what Weisskopf edited by subtracting Minz’s contribution. Possibly not the most efficient way to convey information, it is true..

  31. GRRRR at the novels being PDFs only, rather than EPUBs or MOBI files.

    Gah. Calibre plus sigil session coming up…

  32. GRRRR at the novels being PDFs only, rather than EPUBs or MOBI files.

    This is why God created Inter-Library Loan. I am more inconvenienced by the short works as PDFs.

  33. We’ve been spoiled in past years by publishers and/or authors including multiple ebook versions (PDF, ePub, mobi) of their works.

  34. @Bruce

    Thanks — I was just going to ask about Sandman: Overture. I thought it looked too short. I’ve put the print copy on hold with my library.

    Anyone know if the other two graphic novels are complete? At a glance, they seem to be.

  35. “Anyone know if the other two graphic novels are complete? At a glance, they seem to be.”

    I’m buying them tomorrow. I’ll check then, if no one else has done it before.

  36. Calibre does not translate the offered PDFs too well. Luckily, the los Angeles l library has most of the novel’s available in ecopy.

  37. @Tasha Turner: I’m saddened to think you didn’t get the full, rich, two-chapter-fives experience! 😉 (Neither did I, since I never bought it.)

  38. @Kendall
    I don’t think 2-chapter 5s would have helped the book any. It was a small bad life decision. Reading SSaRR was a much worse decision. I don’t know why I haven’t learned not to read the malicious crud some of the SP/RP have written and/or slated. I guess it’s to stay educated on what’s going on but it’s not good for my mental health.

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