Where to Find the 2017 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.

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 Related Work

Best Graphic Story

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

  • Arrival, screenplay by Eric Heisserer based on a short story by Ted Chiang, directed by Denis Villeneuve (21 Laps Entertainment/FilmNation Entertainment/Lava Bear Films) (trailer)
  • Deadpool, screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, directed by Tim Miller (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Marvel Entertainment/Kinberg Genre/The Donners’ Company/TSG Entertainment) (trailer)
  • Ghostbusters, screenplay by Katie Dippold & Paul Feig, directed by Paul Feig (Columbia Pictures/LStar Capital/Village Roadshow Pictures/Pascal Pictures/Feigco Entertainment/Ghostcorps/The Montecito Picture Company) (trailer)
  • Hidden Figures, screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, directed by Theodore Melfi (Fox 2000 Pictures/Chernin Entertainment/Levantine Films/TSG Entertainment) (trailer)
  • Rogue One, screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, directed by Gareth Edwards (Lucasfilm/Allison Shearmur Productions/Black Hangar Studios/Stereo D/Walt Disney Pictures) (trailer)
  • Stranger Things, Season One, created by the Duffer Brothers (21 Laps Entertainment/Monkey Massacre) (trailer)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)

Best Editor – Short Form

Best Editor – Long Form

Best Professional Artist

Best Semiprozine

Best Fanzine

Best Fancast

Best Fan Writer

Best Fan Artist

Best Series

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

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

84 thoughts on “Where to Find the 2017 Hugo Finalists For Free Online

  1. @Kathodus

    You must have wandered into one of the timelines where everyone voted the way I wanted. Do let me know if you find an entrance back!

  2. With a couple of exceptions where the functionality does not seem to exist, Semiprozine, Fanzine, Fancast, Fan Writer, and Pro Artist have now all been updated to point to archives of 2016-only work. Thanks to Mike for making the changes.

  3. Oh crap. I could’ve sworn it was on the list. Well, it’s too late to stop reading it now!

    With The Ballad of Black Tom and The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe on the list, it’s perhaps a natural mistake.

  4. @kathodus re. Artist Inserting Hate: What the ever-loving hell! 🙁 I’d fire the artist, if it were up to me.

    @kathodus & @Kurt Busiek: Lovecraft Country was 5th (!) on the Filer “what did you nominate?” list/straw poll, so, it’s even more understandable!

  5. What the ever-loving hell! ? I’d fire the artist, if it were up to me.

    The news broke widely on Saturday. Tomorrow’s Monday.

    So we’ll see.

  6. I just finished an audiobook Friday and an ebook today, so now it’s time to jump into some Hugo reading & listening. Woo-hoo!

    Thanks again to @JJ (All The Work), @Various (All The Corrections), and @Mike Glyer (All The Updates). Imma start with the free stuff & things I already own (or can get free, like “Stranger Things” on Netflix), plus something in audio (not sure which). 🙂

  7. Speaking of audio:

    “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” is read by Erika Ensign in Uncanny’s podcast 13A, in case anyone prefers audio. Her reading is excellent, BTW. Uncanny buries the info/link at the bottom (granted, it’s a very short story) – not sure why. Strange Horizons put the audio link for “Touring With the Alien” at the top, so it’s clear there is an audio version.

    I didn’t notice any other free short story or novelette audio links at the magazines, but “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” has an inexpensive audiobook. (It’s cheap enough that it would be a waste to spend an Audible credit on it, IMHO, if you’re an Audible member.)

    Of course, all the novels & most of the novellas have audiobooks for sale. Sadly, Tor.com still hasn’t done an audio version of “A Taste of Honey,” because they hate me. I mean, for some no-doubt-logical reason. Of the four I haven’t heard/read, it’s the one on the list I’d most like audio of, however. The audio for the first in the series was very good! Oh well. 😉

    #AudioRamble

  8. @Kendall —

    Imma start with the free stuff & things I already own (or can get free, like “Stranger Things” on Netflix), plus something in audio (not sure which). 🙂

    If you haven’t read Too Like the Lightning yet, I highly recommend the audio version — the narrator (Jefferson Mays) is wonderful. Tragically, they switched narrators for Seven Surrenders, and I can’t STAND that narrator — I had to dnf it until I get time to read it eyes-on-the-page.

    Robin Miles is also excellent narrating The Obelisk Gate.

    For the others —

    All the Birds in the Sky — adequate narrator, with some very odd word pronunciations occasionally.

    A Closed and Common Orbit — merely acceptable narrator, not objectionable but didn’t do much with voicing or accents

    Ninefox Gambit — just acceptable. Narrator did no accents, but they weren’t really called for. Character voicing adequate. Delivery occasionally overwrought but mostly okay.

    Not that you asked! But I do almost all my sff “reading” through audio, so I’ve listened to a ton of different narrators over the years!

    Sadly, Tor.com still hasn’t done an audio version of “A Taste of Honey,” because they hate me. I mean, for some no-doubt-logical reason. Of the four I haven’t heard/read, it’s the one on the list I’d most like audio of, however. The audio for the first in the series was very good! Oh well. 😉

    I know, right? I was sad about this one as well.

    And thanks for the additional audio info!

  9. @Contrarius: Thanks for the comments on the Best Novel narrators, and I agree, Robin Miles is excellent! The Obelisk Gate is the only finalist I’ve heard or read so far; I loved Miles in this and the previous book.

    I listened to a minute or two of samples of the others a day or two ago, and my opinions from those short samples fell in the order of yours, roughly. The narrator for TLTL sounded good, the narrator for “NineFox” sounded pretty good, and I wasn’t sure what I thought of the “Birds” narrator. Depending on what’s in the packet, I’ll go back and listen to the full samples. I remember I tried the sample for Chambers’s first novel but didn’t care for it, so I got that in print.

    ETA: But I need to read the first Chambers before getting the next one, eek!

    I like the narrator for Death’s End a lot (will probably get that); he was superb with Waypoint Kangaroo.

    I used to nearly only use audiobooks for “rereads,” but now I’m using it more and more for books I haven’t read.

    #AudioListenersUnite

  10. Oh yeah, and P.J. Ochlan (narrator for Death’s End and Waypoint Kangaroo) also did a great job narrating “The Last Witness” by K.J. Parker. 🙂

    In fact (click, click), how did I not notice that I could filter a narrator’s list of audiobooks by SF&F?! 🙂 Thanks, Audible!

    (Sorry, I’m ranging pretty off topic now.)

  11. @Kendall —

    used to nearly only use audiobooks for “rereads,” but now I’m using it more and more for books I haven’t read.

    I do pretty much the opposite. Almost all my sff “reading” is audio. Then if I truly love the book, I’ll sometimes buy the text and read it eyes-on-the-page. I’ve got just a few series where I’ve done that for the entire series (Potter, Dresden, Vorkosigan), and a few other assorted books like TLTL (haven’t actually read that one eyes-on-the-page yet).

    #AudioListenersUnite

    No kidding!

    ETA: But I need to read the first Chambers before getting the next one, eek!

    You really don’t. Book #2 is standalone. Only two characters carry over, and you learn everything you need to know about them and about the universe within the book.

    Oh yeah, and P.J. Ochlan (narrator for Death’s End and Waypoint Kangaroo) also did a great job narrating “The Last Witness” by K.J. Parker. ?

    That was one series I was glad to see a change of narrator on. Luke Daniels is fine for stuff like modern American UF (e.g. the Iron Druid books), but he’s much too limited for stuff like Liu’s books.

  12. @Kendall

    Ditto what Contrarius says re Chambers. I’ve just finished it, and although I had a quick check on what had happened at the end of the last book, it’s pretty much standalone.

  13. @Contrarius & @Mark (Kitteh): Thanks for letting me know. I kinda hate reading out of order anyway* (and don’t always find that someone else’s “stands alone” is the same for me), but I’ll take that under advisement and give it a whirl when the Hugo Packet comes out. (And I’ll cross my fingers that it’s in there, though really, ACACO was on my list to pick up anyway, as I expect to enjoy the first based on the sample & All The Praise.) 🙂

    Of course, if I can manage to squeeze the previous book in first, then so much the better. But as slow as I read, that seems unlikely.

    * Things like the Craft Sequence or the Vorkosigan series make my brain hurt, LOL. I know in those cases it mostly doesn’t matter, as long as I try to read any internal arcs in sequence. IIRC only two books in the Craft Sequence are really a “these two go together” pairing, from what I read in an interview with Gladstone.

    /ramble

  14. JJ on April 8, 2017 at 9:26 pm said:

    In another thread, Filer Eli has pointed to this 3-part, detailed analysis of Clipping’s Splendor & Misery, which I think I will find quite helpful and enlightening, since what little I’ve sampled of the music does not do much for me:

    Clipping’s Splendor & Misery, Part I: All Black Everything

    Highly recommend that analysis – particularly for the later part of the album.
    Feeling quite gushy about Splendor & Misery now.

  15. You don’t need to read Long Way to understand Orbit, but Orbit has some spoilers for Long Way.

  16. I’m working my way through the shorter fiction right now. Has anyone else noticed that “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” is not available at Amazon because it is under review? At first I thought this could be Puppy-related, but other nominated Tor titles don’t seem to have that problem.

  17. @kathodus —

    I’m working my way through the shorter fiction right now. Has anyone else noticed that “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” is not available at Amazon because it is under review? At first I thought this could be Puppy-related, but other nominated Tor titles don’t seem to have that problem.

    Huh. How odd.

    You could always listen to it instead. I just checked, and it’s available on Audible for $5.28 .

  18. I looked into the Audible option, but I don’t have Audible, and it’s $$ after a free trial, so I figure I’ll wait until the issue is resolved, or I can find it elsewhere, or I’ve read everything else on the shortlist and time is running short.

    Finished my short story reading, aside from JCW’s work, which will hopefully be in the packet. Finished Novelette, aside from the aforementioned missing item. I think I have all the novellas ready to read. I’m going from shortest to longest.

  19. @Kathodus

    Huh, it’s unavailable on Amazon UK as well, citing quality problems with the file. As I’ve already purchased it and read it without seeing any problems I can only imagine it’s some sort of bad report.

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  21. kathodus: I’m working my way through the shorter fiction right now. Has anyone else noticed that “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” is not available at Amazon because it is under review?

    Tor/Macmillan have been pretty generous with their fiction in past Hugo packets. You could hang out for a month and see if it’s in the packet.

  22. @kathodus: “The Jewel and Her Lapidary” has no unusual message when I look at Amazon.com or Kobo (though I see the message on Amazon.co.uk). Tor titles are all DRM-free, so you could buy it elsewhere and side-load it to your Kindle, if you know how (I don’t have one, so I don’t know how). Though if you don’t own a Kindle (or don’t require reading on it), that simplifies things.

    I did find this t-shirt (Lapidary Is My Therapy) when searching on Amazon, BTW. 😉

    Anyway, @JJ read my mind. Tor put the whole freaking Wheel of Time into the packet; I doubt they’ll blink at a novelette. They’ve been generous in past Hugo packets and personally, I will wait and see. Not just in their case! But then, I have plenty to read (e.g., started listening to the first “Peter Grant” novel today, which I’d bought pre-Hugo-finalist-announcement anyway; I almost forgot I had that!) and I am not a fast reader.

    Just my unasked-for two cents (apologies if it’s too much).

  23. @JJ: Thanks, I can take the books and the mug, and give the coffee to someone who will appreciate it. I love the smell (OMG best smell ever), but don’t really care for coffee as a drink. ::signing on the dotted sweepstakes line::

    ETA: Cool-looking mug, too!

  24. Is there any legal way to watch Stranger Things without Netflix? My internet connection cannot handle streaming video.

  25. @Chris

    I don’t think it’s made it to DVD yet, but if it helps Netflix now allows you to download some shows for offline viewing (android, iOS, win 10 apps only), and ST is one of those shows. You could use a free trial and download episodes overnight or something?

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