2016 Hugo Award Finalists

The finalists for this year’s Hugo Awards and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer were announced on Tuesday, April 26.

There were 4032 valid nominating ballots (4015 electronic and 17 paper) received and counted from the members of Sasquan, MidAmeriCon II, and Worldcon 75.

Updated 05/07/2016: ** Indicates an addition to the Hugo ballot made on May 6 to replace a nominee that was withdrawn. (The items withdrawn are lined through.)

BEST NOVEL (3695 ballots)

  • Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
  • The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
  • The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
  • Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
  • Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

BEST NOVELLA (2416 ballots)

  • Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
  • The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
  • Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
  • Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
  • Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)

BEST NOVELETTE (1975 ballots)

  • “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb 2015)
  • “Flashpoint: Titan” by CHEAH Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
  • “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan?Feb 2015)
  • “Obits” by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)
  • “What Price Humanity?” by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)

BEST SHORT STORY (2451 ballots)

  • “Asymmetrical Warfare” by S. R. Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)
  • “Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)**
  • The Commuter by Thomas A. Mays (Stealth)
  • “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015)
  • “Seven Kill Tiger” by Charles Shao (There Will Be WarVolume X, Castalia House)
  • Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services)

BEST RELATED WORK (2080 ballots)

  • Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986 by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
  • “The First Draft of My Appendix N Book” by Jeffro Johnson (jeffro.wordpress.com)
  • “Safe Space as Rape Room” by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
  • SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)
  • “The Story of Moira Greyland” by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY (1838 ballots)

  • The Divine written by Boaz Lavie, art by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka (First Second)
  • Erin Dies Alone written by Grey Carter, art by Cory Rydell (dyingalone.net)
  • Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams (ffn.nodwick.com)
  • Invisible Republic Vol 1 written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, art by Gabriel Hardman (Image Comics)
  • The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG FORM) (2904 ballots)

  • Avengers: Age of Ultron written and directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
  • Ex Machina written and directed by Alex Garland (Film4; DNA Films; Universal Pictures)
  • Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures; Kennedy Miller Mitchell; RatPac?Dune Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures)
  • The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm Ltd.; Bad Robot Productions; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM) (2219 ballots)

  • Doctor Who: “Heaven Sent” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay (BBC Television)
  • Grimm: “Headache” written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, directed by Jim Kouf (Universal Television; GK Productions; Hazy Mills Productions; Open 4 Business Productions; NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
  • Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile” written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television; ABC Studios; Tall Girls Productions; Netflix)
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: “The Cutie Map” Parts 1 and 2 written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller (DHX Media/Vancouver; Hasbro Studios)
  • Supernatural: “Just My Imagination” written by Jenny Klein, directed by Richard Speight Jr. (Kripke Enterprises; Wonderland Sound and Vision; Warner Bros. Television)

BEST EDITOR  – SHORT FORM (1891 ballots)

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Jerry Pournelle
  • Sheila Williams

BEST EDITOR – LONG FORM (1764 ballots)

  • Vox Day
  • Sheila E. Gilbert
  • Liz Gorinsky
  • Jim Minz
  • Toni Weisskopf

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST (1481 ballots)

  • Lars Braad Andersen
  • Larry Elmore
  • Abigail Larson
  • Michal Karcz
  • Larry Rostant

BEST SEMIPROZINE (1457 ballots)

  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews, Nicole Lavigne, and Kate Marshall
  • Daily Science Fiction edited by Michele?Lee Barasso and Jonathan Laden
  • Sci Phi Journal edited by Jason Rennie
  • Strange Horizons edited by Catherine Krahe, Julia Rios, A. J. Odasso, Vanessa Rose Phin, Maureen Kincaid Speller, and the Strange Horizons staff
  • Uncanny Magazine edited by Edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

BEST FANZINE (1455 ballots)

  • Black Gate edited by John O’Neill
  • Castalia House Blog edited by Jeffro Johnson
  • File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
  • Lady Business edited by Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan **
  • Superversive SF edited by Jason Rennie
  • Tangent Online edited by Dave Truesdale

BEST FANCAST (1267 ballots)

  • 8-4 Play, Mark MacDonald, John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson
  • Cane and Rinse, Cane and Rinse
  • HelloGreedo, HelloGreedo
  • The Rageaholic, RazörFist
  • Tales to Terrify, Stephen Kilpatrick

BEST FAN WRITER (1568 ballots)

  • Douglas Ernst
  • Mike Glyer
  • Morgan Holmes
  • Jeffro Johnson
  • Shamus Young

BEST FAN ARTIST (1073 ballots)

  • Matthew Callahan
  • disse86
  • Kukuruyo
  • Christian Quinot
  • Steve Stiles

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (1922 ballots)

  • Pierce Brown *
  • Sebastien de Castell *
  • Brian Niemeier
  • Andy Weir *
  • Alyssa Wong *

* Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility

71 thoughts on “2016 Hugo Award Finalists

  1. Mike’s attempt to fix the Hugos by going back in time and killing Baby Hitler was ingenious, if also overly violent and lacking a clear link between desired result and key activities.

  2. Jim Henley: Mike’s attempt to fix the Hugos by going back in time and killing Baby Hitler was ingenious, if also overly violent and lacking a clear link between desired result and key activities.

    Everyone but JJ, Aaron, RedWombat, and John King Tarpinian leave the room!

    (I’m about to have my subtitled meltdown.)

  3. @Mike

    Knowing the internets, I expect a version of that particular video will be out by tomorrow?

  4. How are “Erid Dies Alone” and “Full Frontal Nerdity” eligible? These are ongoing series. How is the Castalia House blog eligible? It is a professional magazine.

  5. z: How are “Erid Dies Alone” and “Full Frontal Nerdity” eligible? These are ongoing series. How is the Castalia House blog eligible? It is a professional magazine.

    I encourage you to send an e-mail challenging these entries to the Hugo Award Administrators. They try to do due diligence as best as they can, but they are not all-knowing, and they’re swamped with all kinds of duties of which due diligence is just one smaller item.

  6. File 770;s back? Yay!

    I read all the puppy noms last year. I don’t think I’ll bother this year: life’s too short to plow through the Castalia House entries.

  7. …Oh, everyone except those guys? I’m sorry, I misunderstood. I’ll just sidle out now…. Uh, sorry, the door’s locked, could you…? Thanks, really. Sorry….

  8. Yay, I’m back on File770.com! Thanks, @Mike Glyer!!!

    @z & @JJ: Re. Best Graphic Story, this came up in past Pixel Scroll comment threads; my understanding was that you can nominate the work from the year in question for an ongoing comic. It doesn’t have to be an issue, a collection, a book, etc. Granted, it would be nice if it actually said the 2015 work for those strips in the nom list, but that’s sorta implied, no? Anyway, after hearing this was valid, by IIRC someone super-Hugo-savvy here, I nominated the 2015 sequence of a particular web comic. (It didn’t make the finalists, of course.) My other Graphic Story nominations all went to a particular chapter or (in one case) an entire series that finished in 2015.

    But the Castalia House blog – yeah, that doesn’t seem eligible! (I suspect it’d go below No Award anyway on many ballots, but it would be nice to have a valid nominee in the list….)

  9. Kendall: Re. Best Graphic Story, this came up in past Pixel Scroll comment threads; my understanding was that you can nominate the work from the year in question for an ongoing comic. It doesn’t have to be an issue, a collection, a book, etc.

    That surprises me — because what happens if they later publish a volume which partly consists of this year’s entries? I thought that the series had to reach some sort of finishing point or end-of-this-storyline benchmark in the current year in order to qualify.

    I’d ask someone to find the comment, but it’s probably been lost. 🙁

  10. I’d like to congratulate Noah Ward, who is about to become the must successful creator in SF history.

  11. THanks to the rabid puppies, this may be the year Steve Stiles stops being the Susan Lucci of the fan artist category.

    And I’m fine with that. I’ve nominated and voted for him every year I’ve been eligible to vote. And I own 3 pieces of his original art.

    I’m sorry Letters to Tiptree isn’t a finalist in Best Related Work. I’d really hoped that enough people liked it that it would overcome puppy block voting.

    Once the stats list comes out post the Hugo ceremony, I suspect the thing that will annoy me the most will be that as with the late Eugie Foster last year, David Hartwell will turn out to be right below the puppy line.

  12. I’d like to congratulate Noah Ward, who is about to become the must successful creator in SF history.

    That is, of course, David Gerrold’s registered pen name. He could host the ceremonies again, but he regrets that he has but one asterisk for his country.

  13. On one hand, I must respect Thomas A. Mays for choosing to withdraw. On the other, his explanation is for why he accepted the nomination in the first place feels rather weak to me. He was not an innocent bystander – he knew what TB is out for in the Hugos, and he admits that he hoped that the rapid slating would have some effect but not too much.

    Much like hoping that the sucky mud would only be ankle-deep this year, except of hip-deep like it was last year, and it ended up to be this year as well.

  14. There is more joy in heaven when one sinner repenteth etc.

    So we might get something good in the Short Story category? Yay.

    So does anyone know if John C. Wrong decided he’d been humiliated enough and withdrew, or do even the puppies hate him?

  15. Technical question: do we get high/low nomination counts per category, like last year?

  16. Standback: I was told they wouldn’t release the ranges til they put out the rest of the stats in August.

  17. @Mike: Thanks, good to know.

    Is there a reason for the difference? Is this something that’s up to each year’s administrators?

  18. It’s actually better that Mays withdraws now than that he withdrew when he was first put on the puppy slate. This way a legitimate nominee will get a spot.

  19. Standback: Is there a reason for the difference? Is this something that’s up to each year’s administrators?

    Releasing ranges along with the final ballot is a decision of the administrator, it’s not required.

    The administrators’ reasons may not necessarily be the ones I’d guess. However, my guess is they observed last year the way people were able to infer how many nominating votes a few nominees had received based on the changing ranges when higher-ranked nominees dropped out. They were prepared for the possibility people might drop out post-announcement. And they’d rather not allow any numbers out before August, even by inference.

  20. @Mike: Thanks. That makes a lot of sense, and that is indeed exactly the kind of reasoning I’d guess is behind the decision.

  21. Speaking of Annie Bellet, the compilation of her first three “Twenty-Sided Sorceress” books is on sale for 99 cents at present. In addition, I found out yesterday that Princess Jones’s Super is not merely the first of a series (trilogy plus a short, I think), but that the price of the first book has dropped and the whole thing’s been collected into an $8 box set. I haven’t read it yet, but it looks interesting – and I’ve replaced Book One with the collection on my tracking list.

    Just, y’know, trying to pass along some solid book news.

  22. The one nominee that no-one has mentioned is Marc Aramini’s book of analysis of the works of Gene Wolfe. He has the misfortune or bad judgement to be published by Castalia press. This is probably the only book published by Vox Day that I am tempted to buy, but I can’t bring myself to support him.

    Anyone interested in sampling Marc’s detailed and probably obsessive examination of all of Wolfe’s short stories can check them out on the Urth newsgroup.

  23. I sure picked the wrong day to saunter back in to the comment threads.

    Ah, well. It’s not as if I had said anything particularly insightful. Congratulations to the nominees. May EPH be passed, for the sake of us all.

  24. And in entirely unrelated Oh, who an I kidding, news I have just bought supporting membership for MAC.
    Hoped I wouldn’t need to.

  25. If soneone buys a supporting membership to MidAmericon can they vote for EPH online or do you have to attend the Con to have your vote count on proposed rule changes?

    Asking for a friend…

  26. @mad
    All Rules changes are voted for in person at the Business meeting.

  27. @Mad Professah: You have to actually be physically present at the business meeting in order to vote on proposed rule changes.

  28. Jim Henley on April 26, 2016 at 10:29 pm said:
    Mike’s attempt to fix the Hugos by going back in time and killing Baby Hitler was ingenious, if also overly violent and lacking a clear link between desired result and key activities.

    Obligatory link to Wikihistory:

    http://www.tor.com/2011/08/31/wikihistory/

  29. As a person who felt that neither 4/6 nor EPH would really be necessary (though I was in favor of passing them and sorting it all out this year in case I was wrong) due to higher numbers of nominators, I will say now that I was in fact wrong.

    I still prefer 4/6 to EPH, but I’m willing to be swayed by Bruce Schneier and Jameson Quinn’s analysis.

    The burning questions on my mind now are:

    1) Does John Scalzi still want to take credit for any increased publicity for the Hugos this year?

    2) Does Kate Paulk still want to take credit for the increase in nominators this year?

  30. @Soon Lee: That sucks for Thomas A. Mays, but he’s earned my respect for his very tough decision to withdraw. And so it begins; I’d be surprised if there weren’t one or two others.

    @quebbal: That would be bad judgement; one’s publisher is hardly determined by random chance.

    @Peace Is My Middle Name: Welcome back! 😉 I hope you don’t regret it.

    @NickPhease: Welcome to the dark side of supporting membership!

  31. It’s a pretty gruesome list, though there are things one can vote on.
    Sigh, here again.

  32. Wow, I had really hoped that the increased number of nominators this year would be able to counter the rabids but no such luck. The only good thing is that it will probably make it that much easier to pass EPH since people won’t be able to argue that last year was a fluke.

    I am also curious about the lack of JCW since VD said he wasn’t removing anyone. I guess maybe he turned down nominations? If that’s the case it’s even more depressing because my first thought was, well at least we had enough votes to keep them from completely rolling the top categories but if the non-VD picks got in because Wright or someone else declined, that is not the case. Sigh.

    So. Gonna dig change out of the couch cushions and join up again this year. One of my own nominees made it thru in almost every category even if it did so because it was also a strategically slated Rabid pick, so I have something to vote for in just about every category. My overall policy is going to be to again try to read everything EXCEPT anything originating directly from VD himself including Castalia House publications. I read work from most of those last year and did not enjoy it at all so I have no problem with a blanket boycott of his vanity publishing project. Any of those go below No Award as far down as I can put them.

    If something would have been a real contender without RP participation I have no problem considering it with any other nominee. I refuse to give in to the double-triple-super strategy to get people to deny legit contenders by slating them or otherwise be able to claim VD got them their Hugo. If something like Folding Beijing or Andy Weir is my favourite in the category I will vote for it, in spite of the slate. If they win VD can claim whatever he likes; people will know the real truth just like they do no matter how many times he calls Scalzi a rapist or explains how he wasn’t really kicked out of SFWA.

    The ones in the middle ground — probably would not have made the cut if not for the RPs but not directly allied with VD–I will read and consider and also watch their online interactions in this years version of the Kerfuffling. But if they only made the cut because of slating I will most likely put them below no award. If their work appeals I will look for more of it, buy their stuff and keep them in mind for future years.

    Congrats to Mike tho, it is well deserved and I’m glad you and File 770 were nominated.

    My biggest bummer is that Aelexandra Erin was shut out. Both her book reviews and her parody of SJWs Always Lie were awesome and fully deserved to be in the running.

  33. Last year, many people were saying increased participation would eliminate slate voting. I guess we can discard that idea.

  34. Anyone interested in sampling Marc’s detailed and probably obsessive examination of all of Wolfe’s short stories can check them out on the Urth newsgroup.

    It’s a mailing list, not a newsgroup. (And since the archive isn’t working at the moment, I’m afraid you would have to subscribe to it.)

  35. @quebbal: Aramini is in the comments on the latest Making Light post, saying that he thinks literally no one else would ever have published his book.

  36. It seems to me that increased participation has, plausibly, had an appreciable effect in Best Novel. Although last year we ended up with three non-slate nominees there, that was due to withdrawals. This year we seem to have three from the start. Since the two slate nominees are the two most likely to have outside support, that suggests the slate didn’t get any spots by its raw strength. In any case, ‘beating the slate’ can’t for practical purposes mean eliminating it entirely; while I think it is in principle unfair for slates to get any votes at all, other than coincidentally, no system known to gods or mortals can actually prevent it. The slate was beaten as far it can practically be.

    There may have been withdrawals here again, of course, but I doubt it. Wright presumably would not withdraw. Pierce Brown has not withdrawn from the Campbell, so I wouldn’t expect him to withdraw here either. Don’t know about the Imperium person.

    In the other categories, apart from the Dramatic Presentations, there were not enough votes to beat the slate. (I’m assuming some of the non-slate results are the result of withdrawals, and anyway getting one non-slate finalist can’t be considered beating it.) I’ve always been doubtful about the idea of a vast untapped pool of nominators; in some categories the number of people who are familiar with the works is in any case quite small. But since in Novel it’s possible to get a slate-beating result even with the current system, this may raise the chances of getting one with EPH in other categories.

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