Where To Find The 2018 Hugo Finalists For Free Online

By JJ: Since the Hugo Voter’s packet has not yet arrived, if you’d like to get a head start on your reading, you can use this handy guide to find material which is available for free online. Where available in their entirety, works are linked (most of the Novelettes and Short Stories are free, as are the Pro and Fan Artist images, and many of the Semiprozines and Fanzines).

If not available for free, an Amazon link is provided. If a free excerpt is available online, it has been linked. Excerpts are web pages, except where otherwise indicated. Overdrive excerpts are usually longer than web excerpts, and are read by clicking the right side of the page or swiping right-to-left to advance pages.

Fair notice: All Amazon links are referrer URLs which benefit fan site Worlds Without End.

Best Novel

Best Novella

Best Novelette

Best Short Story

 Best Series

Best Related Work

Best Graphic Story

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

  • Blade Runner 2049, written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Alcon Entertainment / Bud Yorkin Productions / Torridon Films / Columbia Pictures) (trailer 1) (trailer 2)
  • Get Out, written and directed by Jordan Peele (Blumhouse Productions / Monkeypaw Productions / QC Entertainment) (trailer)
  • The Shape of Water, written by Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, directed by Guillermo del Toro (TSG Entertainment / Double Dare You / Fox Searchlight Pictures) (trailer)
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi, written and directed by Rian Johnson (Lucasfilm, Ltd.) (supercut trailer)
  • Thor: Ragnarok, written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost; directed by Taika Waititi (Marvel Studios) (trailer compilation
  • Wonder Woman, screenplay by Allan Heinberg, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, directed by Patty Jenkins (DC Films / Warner Brothers) (trailer 1) (trailer 2)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)

Best Editor – Long Form

Best Editor – Short Form

Best Professional Artist (with galleries of selected 2017 works)

Best Semiprozine

  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor-in-chief and publisher Scott H. Andrews
  • The Book Smugglers, edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James
  • Escape Pod, edited by Mur Lafferty, S.B. Divya, and Norm Sherman, with assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney
  • Fireside Magazine, edited by Brian White and Julia Rios; managing editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry; special feature editor Mikki Kendall; publisher & art director Pablo Defendini
  • Strange Horizons, edited by Kate Dollarhyde, Gautam Bhatia, A.J. Odasso, Lila Garrott, Heather McDougal, Ciro Faienza, Tahlia Day, Vanessa Rose Phin, and the Strange Horizons staff
  • Uncanny Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Julia Rios; podcast produced by Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

Best Fanzine

Best Fancast

  • The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Gary K. Wolfe and Jonathan Strahan
  • Ditch Diggers, presented by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace
  • Fangirl Happy Hour, presented by Ana Grilo and Renay Williams
  • Galactic Suburbia, presented by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce and Tansy Rayner Roberts, produced by Andrew Finch
  • Sword and Laser, presented by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt
  • Verity!, presented by Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts

Best Fan Writer

Best Fan Artist

 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

The World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) Award for Best Young Adult Book

* if you encounter any invalid links, please let me know in the comments *

43 thoughts on “Where To Find The 2018 Hugo Finalists For Free Online

  1. JJ, these posts are always greatly appreciated, and I got an extra laugh out of the File 770-ception in the fanzine and fanwriter categories 🙂 thank you!

  2. WOW! That is alooooot of work! Thank you JJ for using your time to create this tool. I appreciate it.

  3. *bookmarks*

    JJ, thank you thank you. Especially for showing what books were edited in Long Form. I’ve looked for that info in the past and never knew where to find it.

  4. Bonnie McDaniel: Especially for showing what books were edited in Long Form. I’ve looked for that info in the past and never knew where to find it.

    I find it really helpful too, so for the last 15 months, I’ve been scouring the Copyright pages and Acknowledgments of every 2017 book I read (plus many others) looking for Artist and Editor names, and ended up with a spreadsheet of 270 works with editors and 340 works with artists.

  5. J.J. This is massively helpful for those of us who want to get an early start! (I was reading right up to the last minute for 2017.) Many thanks!

  6. Mike has placed a link to this thread on the “2018 Recommended SF/F Page” permalinked at the top of File 770, so you can always find it by clicking on that.

  7. Good grief… so much to read, and I’ve got to read up for the 1964 Hugos, TOO!

    Well, quality problems, as they say. Thanks to all who put us on the ballot, and congratulations to all our colleagues. See you in San Jose!

  8. Rich Lynch: You can find both The Collapsing Empire and New York 2140 for free download loan from Cloud Library.

    I think the Cloud Library only allows you to access books available from libraries for which you have a library card, is that not the case?

  9. JJ, this is great. Thanks.
    What a great list. Voting will be pleasantly tough this year.

  10. Thank you so much, JJ! The list of works for the editors is especially helpful.

  11. I just noticed one mistake. You have Ninni Aalto listed as a fan artist finalists, even though she isn’t a finalist this year.

  12. @Audiobook Fans: In case anyone misses the links (I frequently miss things right in front of me, it seems), the Novelettes and Short Stories below have free audio versions linked from the story pages JJ linked to above. I’m linking directly to the separate pages for the first three. For the last two, since the embedded player is on the page JJ linked to (so, use those links if you want that!), I linked to the MP3 directly (right-click to download, or just click to play in your browser). I forget, but I believe the ones with separate pages have audio download links as well (not just an embedded player).

    “The Secret Life of Bots”
    “A Series of Steaks”
    “Carnival Nine”
    “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand”[MP3]
    “Sun, Moon, Dust” [MP3]

    Thanks again @JJ!

  13. TFW I click “Post Comment” and a split second later, remember I didn’t check the box.

    /HugoStalk!

  14. Regarding the sample for The Way of Kings, FWIW it’s more like 11 chapters, since they skipped chapters 7, 8, and 10 “to focus on Kaladin’s storyline for the preview.” Not a problem! Just FYI.

    Also, chapters 4, 5, and 6 are only in audio. That may be a bit weird, going back and forth between print and audio, but a nice way to give a feel for the two narrators. And of course, this only matters to someone who plans to use the (generously long!) sample at Tor.com to see if they even like it. Knowing Tor/Tor.com, I suspect it’ll be in the packet (but I won’t presume that’s a definite).

    I just remembered I got The Way of Kings at some point when it was absurdly cheap (or free?! I forget) from iBooks. No wonder my iPad feels so heavy! 😉

  15. Thank you. This is very helpful, especially the long-form editor information. I always try to figure that out and it’s really hard.

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  17. I am flabbergasted that Episode 5 of Season 2 of The Expanse was not nominated for Drama short form. Gee, The Expanse is the best TV space opera being done right now and at least one episode from season 2 should have been nominated. I know I did a nomination.

  18. Comment added: The Expanse as visual narrative space opera is the best homage to the sophisticated SF space opera of the 1940s and 1950s I have ever seen.

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