By JJ: This thread is for posts about 2016-published works, which people have read and recommend to other Filers.
There will be no tallying of recommendations done in this thread; its purpose is to provide a source of recommendations for people who want to find something to read which will be Hugo-eligible next year.
You don’t have to stop recommending works in Pixel Scrolls, please don’t! But it would be nice if you also post here, to capture the information for other readers.
The Suggested Format for posts is:
- Title, Author, Published by / Published in (Anthology, Collection, Website, or Magazine + Issue)
- Hugo Category: (Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Related Work, Graphic Novel, etc)
- link (if available to read/view online)
- optional “Brief, spoiler-free description of story premise:”
- optional “What I liked and didn’t like about it:”
There is a permalink to this thread in the blog header.
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The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin
Novel (second book in a trilogy)
After an apocalyptic catastrophe, a woman seeks answers, and her missing daughter.
(And, seriously, there’s only been one other mention of this here thus far? I figured I’d be late to the party …)
Another excellent work from Jemisin — gripping, stylistically unique, and full of great depictions of flawed, realistic characters.
It’s a bit hard to judge this one on its own, however, because it is very much the middle third of a story. Less happens from a plot perspective than did in the first book, and much more is revealed about what is going on and why. Of necessity, the narrative is also not as innovative in terms of storytelling technique, although it’s still hardly a conventionally written novel.
These are not flaws, however, as much as they are requirements of the story; this book is, in large part, set-up for the third and final book. But it’s a hell of a set-up, with unstoppable forces already in motion towards immovable objects, so to speak, and I have every expectation that there’s going to be a jaw-dropping finish when they hit.
The Guns of Empire, by Django Wexler
Novel (fourth book in a pentalogy)
The Vordani army, and our heroes along with it, presses its way into a chilly northern country, aiming for the real enemy.
Pros: Once again, Wexler’s secondary-world-riff on the Napoleonic wars is carried by propulsive writing and great characters. There are sweet character moments, visceral descriptions of an army on the march and in battle, and the stakes never stop going up. There’s also an acknowledgement, so rare in genre literature, that first teenage love need not necessarily be the One True Romance Of All Time.
Cons: My one complaint is that this novel was, from a plotting standpoint, more predictable to me than the previous ones in the series. This is the first time I was able to say things like, “They’re going to lose this battle. These two characters are going to hook up. That character is going to die soon.” I wasn’t able to predict every turn of the plot — there were certainly some surprises. But I was surprised to see an author who usually keeps me guessing fall into some more conventional novelistic patterns. It didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book, however, and I’m looking forward to the final installment.
Lurkertype’s Longlist:
I’ve got “The Dream-Quest of Vellit Boe”. Great characters, good world-building, and some passages I had to reread for their beauty. Does not need familiarity with Lovecraft to work, but that would probably add another dimension (heh). Lives up to HPL by having somewhat archaic words I had to look up — you can gather the idea in context, but there were some pretty cool nouns I didn’t know in there. Needless to say, not with the HPL racism and sexism.
In Graphic, I’m all about “Monstress”. The art is AMAZING; realistic, manga, and art nouveau all at once. Story’s fascinating, the world is interesting, and the characters are well-rounded, good, evil, and in-between. If you don’t love the little fox, there’s something wrong with you. Also, cats. Kind of a perfect blend of Western comics and manga. Volume #1 (issues 1-6) is out now. Not for kids — the violence isn’t prettied-up or signposted; teens OK.
The City of Woven Streets, by Emmi Itäranta
Novel (no translator — book was written simultaneously in Finnish and English by the author)
The appearance of a mysterious mute stranger leads a weaver into a web of conspiracies.
One of the best things about this book is the beautiful, poetic language it’s written in; that’s makes it a pleasure to read. It might be possible to argue that the plot depends too much on coincidence, but i think that’s intentional here; I choose to believe (and there are certainly elements of the book which make it plausible to believe) that the plot of the story moves with the logic of dream and myth; correspondences, half-glimpsed pieces, a journey to the underworld. The book is about dreams on a literal level; it’s an easy step to see it on the metaphorical level as well.
I’m going to put up a new short story that I hope everyone can enjoy.
RAW: RoboAnthroWar by Lowhim
it’s a snippet of a man who once fought the machines and how he’s now with the enemy, so to speak.
Four Roads Cross, by Max Gladstone
Novel (part of a sequence; likely requires reading at least one other novel in the sequence, Three Parts Dead, to get the full effect.)
Powerful magicians wage a potentially city-destroying battle with gods over an undisclosed financial liability issue.
Max Gladstone’s first fantasy novel, Three Parts Dead, hit the SFF world like a meteor, and with good reason; it was one of the most original, fascinating, well-written novels of the decade. His followups weren’t as good. They have, however, been gradually improving in quality. Two Serpents Rise was meh, Full Fathom Five was OK, and Last First Snow was quite good, although it still didn’t rise to the level of Three Parts Dead. So where does Four Roads Cross fit in there?
To give the short version: Good, but still not at the level of Three Parts Dead. There’s a lot to like about this novel. It’s pretty much a direct sequel to Three Parts Dead, and the first in the Craft Sequence where I’d say you have to read the other book first to understand it — the two basically comprise a duology. That means it’s a welcome return to Alt Coulomb and Gladstone’s best and most interesting set of characters — Tara, Abelard, and Cat. The character work in this story is well worth it, and I was more than happy to read about where these characters are, what they’re doing, and where they’re going.
So where does it not equal Three Parts Dead? The plot. It’s not a bad plot, by any means, but it’s surprisingly straightforward for a Gladstone novel. Although there are some interesting mysteries and twists, for the most part the sides and motivations are obvious from the beginning, the battle lines are clearly drawn, and things move forward largely as one would expect. There’s also one part that feels a bit shoehorned in.
I want to be clear: this is not a bad book. This is a good book. In comparison to *many* other SFF books, it would be a standout — bold world-building, great characters. Max Gladstone is simply faced with the difficulty of being compared to … himself.
I will second lurkertypes recommendation of Monstress. Wonderful drawings, compellong story.
Best Novel rec: Underground Airlines, by Ben H. Winters
This is a tricky book to recommend, because the basic premise is pretty triggery and requires the reader to have all their spoons in a row. Even me, and I’m usually not put off by such things. So: guvf vf na nygreangr uvfgbel jurer gur Pvivy Jne jnf arire sbhtug…orpnhfr Noenunz Yvapbya jnf nffnffvangrq va 1861. Va gur nsgrezngu, gur Pevggraqra Pbzcebzvfr jnf cnffrq, naq fgngrf’ evtugf gb ubyq fynirf jnf rafuevarq va gur Pbafgvghgvba, jvgu na nzraqzrag (“ab shgher nzraqzrag bs gur Pbafgvghgvba funyy nssrpg gur svir cerprqvat negvpyrf”) gung sbeonqr vgf rire orvat ercrnyrq. Fb va bhe zbqrea qnl, gurer ner sbhe fgngrf jurer fynirel fgvyy ervtaf. Nyfb, Znegva Yhgure Xvat qvq yvir va guvf gvzryvar, ohg orpnhfr YOW jnf qenttrq vagb, abg gur Ivrganz Jne, ohg na 11-lrne svtug gb xrrc Grknf sebz frprqvat, gur Pvivy Evtugf Npg jnf arire cnffrq.
I think this book is fantastic, and it’s going on my shortlist, but it’s a tough read. The prose is restrained, almost Hemingwayesque, to further drive home the horrors of the story. You need to be prepared.
Fan Writer
Here’s a set of suggestions for Fan Writer. Looking at the last few years longlists there are some excellent names around like Abigail Nussbaum, Liz Bourke, Natalie Luhrs, Mark Oshiro, James Nicoll, Foz Meadows, all of whom would be excellent choices. However, instead of talking about writers who are probably on people’s radar already, here are some entries from my RSS feed that I think might be of interest:
Cora Buhlert
As well as covering her own work, Cora writes some interesting pieces on fandom news, for example her comprehensive Hugo Awards roundups were really useful. This article – The Three Fractions of Speculative Fiction – was extremely thoughtful. She also does a “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month” feature and is part of a group blog at http://indiespecfic.blogspot.co.uk/
I like her work because whatever she produces is comprehensive, considered, and interesting.
(Cora also comments here a fair amount, and I’m generally avoiding reccing fellow filers due to a combination of my likely bias and that regular readers won’t need them mentioning, but I felt Cora’s work deserved the attention)
Bridget McKinney/SF Bluestocking
I first came across SF Bluestocking when she did an epic read of “Up and Coming: Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors” and somehow managed to get through the whole thing and give intelligent and useful comments for each one, rather than the 20% or so of the anthology I actually managed. She’s reading all the Tor.com novellas and other interesting books, and she also does TV reviews – her trenchant opinions on Game of Thrones are worth a look.
Ethan Mills/Examined Worlds
A philiosophy professor talks about SF, so you get things like: “Star Trek as Regulative Ideal: Reflections on the 50th Anniversary” and “Attack of the (Philosophical) Zombies! — Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer”
A really interesting and different viewpoint.
(Cont.)
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Charles Payseur/Quick Sip Reviews
This might be breaching my aims a bit because Payseur is probably known for work on Nerds of a Feather, but his own blog Quick Sip Reviews has gone from strength to strength this year. He reads an enormous amount of short SF and gives thoughtful and generous reviews to them all.
Memory Scarlett/In The Forest Of Stories
Lots of reviews of books and comics, the USP being that they are titled “Murchie Plus Books” and have photos of her dog Murchie posing with whatever is being reviewed (or possibly a photo of something else posing with the book, Murchie having got fed up and run away). While a lot of what she likes to concentrate on isn’t really my thing, the reviews are always interesting and prod me to try new things.
Adam Whitehead/The Wertzone
Probably better known than some other names here, for his A History of Epic Fantasy which he ended in Dec 2015. Since then I’ve been following his site for a nice mix of reviews and news, recent examples of which are Rick & Morty: Season 2 and Red Dwarf XI
Aww, thanks Mark. 🙂
I’d been wondering about a sudden influx of hits from File 770.
Related work: Geek Feminist Revolution (that’s 2016, right?). Also, from the eeevil cabal at Tor.com, Writing Women Characters Into Epic Fantasy Without Quotas by Kate Elliot.
Note that Gladstone’s Craft Sequence is eligible (for the first and last time) in Best Series, where I done put it.
Lists of 2016 non-fiction possibilities for Related Work can be found here:
https://file770.com/?p=31839&cpage=2#comment-503905
https://file770.com/?p=31839&cpage=2#comment-503926
Best Dramatic Presentation
Arrival. I just saw this, and I will squee to anyone and everyone about it. It’s a true SF movie, not a handwavey one, with a marvelous performance by Amy Adams, and in its own way it is as mind-twisty as 2001. This is definitely one to see in the theater more than once.
Rocket Stack Rank’s Year-to-Date page lists 23 short stories, novelettes, and novellas that I thought were award-worthy. The site includes links to other reviews, as well as information on how to get copies back issues of various magazines.
We’ll put together something like last year’s 2016 Hugo Awards page once all the stories for the year are done.
A couple from the anthology Drowned Worlds, ed Jonathan Strahan, which is a good quality anthology with some standout stories:
Short (c7000 words) Elves of Antarctica by Paul McAuley
Quite a lot of the stories in the anthology take the tack of imagining a future world then taking the reader on a guided tour without much of a story, and in a sense this story falls prey to that, but the interior journey of the character who travels a future Antarctica filled with sights and mysteries is strong enough to defeat that IMO.
Novelette (c8400 words) The Future is Blue by Catherynne M Valente
If the McAuley is like last year’s movie The Martian – a carefully constructed future with attention to detail – then this story is Mad Max, with a dystopian floating Garbagetown and a narrator with a strong voice and a story to tell.
Best Editor Short Form – Jonathan Strahan
I don’t think he really needs the rec, but with this anthology plus Bridging Infinity and Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 10 this is a strong year for him.
Mark: Best Editor Short Form – Jonathan Strahan
I don’t think he really needs the rec, but with this anthology plus Bridging Infinity and Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 10 this is a strong year for him.
Also, he was the acquirer/editor for Tor of WJW’s short Praxis novel Impersonations, so I totally second that recommendation.
Semiprozine
Mothership Zeta launched late last year and now has the necessary 4 issues for eligibility. A zine with the emphasis on stories being fun, it’s been a delight this year, with stories by turns funny, poignant, interesting, but always fun. They only publish some stories for free (archive) but for a taster you could try:
Nobody Puts Baby in a Chamber by Alexis A. Hunter
The Boy Who Made Flowers by S.B. Divya
The Elixir of the Not-So-Disgusting Death Smell, by Carlie St. George
Their non-fiction is also strong, for example a Story Doctor feature analysing one of the works in the issue.
ETA: @JJ, ah, good catch, that’s another excellent work for his list.
A Blade of Black Steel
Novel
Sequel to A Crown For Cold Silver. It might not be for everyone but I liked how the story has no clear protagonist and features interpersonal conflicts among characters, some petty and some personal, while there’s these huge overarching events going on and yet the arguments between characters are just as important and influence the outcome of events. A male character realizes he wasn’t put into the friend zone as much as he unfairly put expectations on another character that wasn’t reciprocated, and a love triangle becoming a love pyramid I guess(?) were highlights.
Medusa’s Web
Novel
It’s Tim Powers and there’s no one else like him out there so every book is a treasure. This one features 2 dimensional beings, time travel loops, and a family squabble over a will. Not my favorite Powers book but the way he writes so there there’s a whole system behind every thing he introduces to make it make it seem plausible but also in a way that builds up the story is great.
I agree with those who’ve said they feel that Brushwork is an award-worthy Novella. But I would like to point to another Novella by the same author:
The Arrival of Missives, by Aliya Whiteley (excerpt)
published by Unsung Stories, edited by George Sandison
cover art by Jana Heidersdorf, design by Martin Cox
Synopsis: A young woman, on the cusp of adulthood after World War I, learns that she has a much larger destiny than even her own high aspirations – but if she follows that destiny, it will mean giving up her own hopes and plans. On May Day, on the village green, she will have to make a choice that will affect her life forever… and change worlds.
What I thought: Well, Brushwork is indeed a powerful story – but I was absolutely blown away by this one. I’m still thinking about it, days later. This book will speak to everyone who has ever had to sacrifice something hugely important to themselves in order to do something hugely good for someone else (I would describe its theme as “The Lady Astronaut from Mars on speed”).
Right now the e-book is still rather expensive, but I encourage everyone to try to get access to it through the library, a loan from a friend (the Kindle version is loanable), or a purchase. I think you will be very glad you did. This is definitely going on my Hugo Novella ballot.
Further recommendations:
Sleeping Giants
Novel
Told in an interview and diary style account of finding large strange body parts in the ground and what that means. I don’t normally dig this style aside from WWZ but it was told well and was interesting almost the whole way through. Didn’t like the epilogue much but aside from that it was a really interesting story from a SF standpoint but also a what if? sort of mystery and about the emotional entanglements of the people involved
Emperor of the Eight Islands
Novel
The library says 2016 publication date. This is a fantasy novel set in feudal Japan, but with magic and a lot of mythology present mixed together with a web of various clans and loyalty. Samurai fantasy is genre that blends two things I like so I’m biased to enjoy this. A little dry and a lot of varying connected storylines but it’s a fun read.
Fellside
Novel
Came up in the Goodreads Horror category but I don’t think I’d classify it as such. I mean it’s dark, there’s a lot of things from suicide, manslaughter, rape, assault, prison life, mental anguish of many forms. However a lot of it is based around a clever ghost story that brings hope through the darkest stuff and the fantastical parts are woven into the narrative really well. It doesn’t attempt to deliver horror, it’s just that horrible things happen in it. If I had a top ten from this year it would be in my top three.
I really liked the premise of Sleeping Giants and enjoyed the book, but it didn’t quite make it into award territory for me. But I absolutely do recommend reading it, and I will definitely be picking up the sequel.
Novella rec: Found in my Facebook feed from Adam-Troy Castro, posted on Dropbox. “The Coward’s Option” was published in the March 2016 Analog. This is the latest Andrea Cort story, for those who have read her before. This story goes along a little better than average, until something halfway through bumps it to holy shit levels. Check it out.
I highly recommended After Atlas the other day and just realized I should post a link to my brief ramble here. BTW, you don’t need to have read Planetfall to read After Atlas (but you should! Planetfall was excellent as well).
Campbell/Best New Writer
K.B. Wagers, based on the novels Behind The Throne and After the Crown, both released this year.
These are fast-paced SF thrillers set in a space opera universe. Technically there’s lots of politics in the books, but it’s the sort of politics with more coups plots and assassinations than voteing and lobbying so I guess it’s action-packed politics?
The first book’s blurb is
The second book’s blurb is a bit spoilerific for the first.
Both books set a rattling pace, throwing you straight into the situation and then throwing in extra situations on top without much time for reflection. It’s actually a really interesting setting, with a matriarchal multi-system empire suffering an internal men’s equality movement plus external invaders plus ridiculous levels of hostile plotting, but you encounter all of this in real time, no info dumps allowed. This is what is both good and bad about the novels – they’re fast and full of characters, but there’s not much time to settle and establish the character relationships that drive it.
Overall, they don’t disturb my Novel shortlist, but between them they’re good enough to make my Best New Writer shortlist.
Cassandra Khaw
Her website has a handy list of works, but I’d point to the tor.com novella Hammers on Bone and Breathe in Clarkesworld. A lot of the other stories she writes are too far into the territory of creepy disturbing horror for my tastes, but I can see the quality.
Arkady Martine
A helpful list on her website, I’d point to When the Fall is All That’s Left, “How the God Auzh-Aravik Brought Order to the World Outside the World”, and “All the Colors You Thought Were Kings” as stories that impressed me.
Best Graphic Novel: Geis – A Matter of life and Death
This one was truly a wonder. Fantastic art work, like a scary childrens book. A sorceress calls to a contest for whom to be the next heir of the kingdom, but does not tell the price to be in the competition. Life and death in more ways than one. Only the first part, but I will absolutely – without doubt – continue with this one.
Best.. Graphic Novel? Short Story? Related work? I have no idea on what category would fit Nobody Likes A Goblin in, but I really loved that book. A childrens book for ages 3+. So sweetly painted, such a likeable Goblin (that nobody likes) and so much nostalgia for us role-players.
Yes, on my short-list. But I have no idea in what category.
Hampus Eckerman: Best.. Graphic Novel? Short Story? Related work? I have no idea on what category would fit Nobody Likes A Goblin in, but I really loved that book.
Those are indeed lovely illustrations. Hampus, you might send a note to the committee for the Golden Duck Awards (awards for children’s SF, also given at Worldcon every year) in the Picture Book Category as well — I suspect that it would have a much better chance in that venue.
Thank you, I will do that!
A Closed And Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers
Novel (second book in a series)
An AI struggles to adapt to new and very different circumstances.
This is a charming book, with all the empathy and warmth of The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, but with a more tightly focused, less episodic plot. It’s a look at the rights of artificial intelligences which by clear extension is a parable about rights in general, and how people treat each other and interact as groups and as individuals. Basically, if you liked TLWTASAP, you’re very likely to like this one as well.
Mother of Souls, by Heather Rose Jones
Novel (third book in a series)
As magical plots and counterplots begin building towards mysterious and ominous goals, two lonely women find a point of connection.
The series continues to be excellent. This is in some ways a transitional book, as certain elements seem to be gearing up towards Big Events without having reached them yet. This is not a flaw, however, as the books have always justifiably relied on the richness of the characters and their interpersonal relationships to carry the weight of the text. So the politics are relegated to the background while we watch the characters struggle to write an opera, found a women’s college, or simply find their place, and I as a reader was happy to follow along. HRJ also continues to find ways to keep the stories fresh, add new elements, and keep them from falling into formula.
I will second the rec for A Closed And Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers: I think this one is even better than Long Way. This is definitely a good book to read when your spirit could use a lift.
@Hampus Eckerman: Thanks for mentioning Nobody Likes A Goblin; that’s charming and I’ve ordered it. 🙂
Summer in Orcus, a novel serialized on the web, which just finished yesterday and so is eligible for this year’s Hugos. It’s on my short list. It’s very near the TOP of my short list. The link is to the entire novel. (Oh, and it’s by Our Wombat, which has nothing to do with why I’m nominating it, although it’s certainly why I started reading it. Folks, it’s just that good….)
I was looking over the books I’d read this year in preparation for an end-of-year post somewhere, and I noticed one I quite liked that I neglected to mention here at the time. On reflection, I think it just makes my “recommended” list:
This Savage Song, by V. E. Schwab
In a divided city beset by monsters, the scions to two warring factions connect with each other.
On the “pro” side, a very interesting setting and some great creepy atmospherics help carry this story; I liked it better than her well-regarded “Darker Shade of Magic” series, personally. I was engaged while reading it, and interested in the characters.
On the “con” side, the ending of the book fell kind of flat for me; the reveals of Who Was Behind It All were all so obvious as to be letdowns, and then one of the characters suddenly drives off into what appears to be an unrelated book. Still, I’m interested in how things will turn out in later books.
My goodness, let me offer on bended knee to host such a production! Or to link to it, wherever it goes!
Hardly a production! Just a quick summation with a few standouts singled out. But the file770 comments are as good a place as any for it, and better than most. 🙂 When I’ve gathered it all together, I’ll post it.
Campbell/Best New Writer
I believe Laurie Penny will be eligible as this appears to be her first year producing SF fiction despite being an established journalist. Look for the novella “Everything Belongs to the Future” from Tor.com Publishing, and the short story Your Orisons May Be Recorded on tor.com. The short is more amusing than anything else, but the novella shows she’s a really good writer.
Novel: The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar
Disclaimer: As I wanted to read this for Hugo eligibility purposes, I read it before getting to A Stranger in Olondria – from the synopsis of the earlier book, it looks like I missed background on the religious conflict that provides one of the pivotal elements of the later one, but that there is no significant character/plot overlap. That said, I did struggle initially with the denseness of some of the political, religious, genealogical and geographic information to begin with – perhaps not helped by the fact I started it on a day when I had a 4:40am flight, so was not at my sharpest.
Once I got a handle on what was going on and who was doing it, this became a fascinating read. Based around a war of secession and the events leading up to it, it tells the stories of four women who experience the political upheavals in very different ways. The characters all have distinct voices which reflect their lives and upbringings while challenging the assumption, in this world as in our own, that women’s lives are worth recording only in the most exceptional cases. And the worldbuilding, while initially overwhelming, is undoubtedly some of the best I’ve seen.
Clever, heartbreaking and well worth a read for anybody still filling out a 2016 longlist.
Novelette: “The Dancer on the Stairs” by Sarah Tolmie from Strange Horizons – a portal fantasy where a woman arrives in the enormous stone stairs of a palace-like structure, inhabited by a set of clans with a labyrinthine social structure (ok, maybe the metaphor is a bit obvious, but it’s good!) for who the stairs are a sort of liminal space. She has to learn their language and society just to have a chance of getting off the stairs. I found it all quite fascinating.
I note that Lois McMaster Bujold’s series The World of the Five Gods is eligible for the Best Series Hugo this year. It contains:
Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls (her best book ever, IMO)
The Hallowed Hunt
Penric’s Demon
Penric and the Shaman (published in 2016)
Penric’s Mission (published in 2016)
It’s published by Eos (Harper Collins) and Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc.
@ULTRAGOTHA Oh! Nice heads-up! I’ve been putting off starting Paladin for a while for the usual TBR-based reasons. Paladin of Souls is currently on sale for $3.99 on Amazon (Kindle version, of course). And Curse of Chalion is $2.00 They really rake you over the coals with the third book priced at $6.49, though, so warning…
Here’s another resource, JJ’s post — Best Series Hugo: Eligible Series.
Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form: Hyper-Reality.
A glimpse into the future of a fully gamified workday where all common day objects and persons are adorned with popups, point systems, advertisements and info boxes.
Best Series & Best Novel – Monster Hunter by Larry Correia, Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge (with John Ringo)
Why? Outstanding concept. Excellent addition to the series. Main character acts consistent with his view of the world. World building is excellent. We finally have an explanation for Valley Speak. Combat scenes are very well done and plausible in that universe. Excellent action and laugh out loud funny.
Downside to the nomination: Larry will withdraw from consideration immediately.
Best TV Series: Stranger Things
Excellent story line and building tension. All of the characters acted consistently with their world view and situation. Loved how the little kids viewed the world through D&D and good/evil. First TV series since Babylon 5 that completely captivated both my wife and I.
Best Long Drama: Deadpool
Why? First time I’ve seen a super hero movie done well about someone who is has become totally insane. Excellent villain that you really grew to hate. The supporting X-Men characters were excellent. You had the contrast between a totally good hero (Colossus) and an anti-hero (Deadpool).
Recommended to me yesterday at my FLCS: Superman: American Alien.
It’s so hard to do anything truly new with Superman, but I’m told this pulls it off. Waiting for it to come in.
I also want to point up the new Black Panther series.
The Power, by Naomi Alderman (Novel)
I … wow.
I think I have to make a last-minute change to my Hugo nominations list.
There are nits I could pick about some aspects, but this is a novel whose time has come.
@Kyra – not available in the US until 2017. I’m pretty sure. I’ve pre-ordered the Kindle version based on your recommendation, but I don’t think it’s eligible for the Hugo this year.
@kathodus: If it came out in 2016, it’s eligible. It’s eligible again when it comes out in the U.S., though. See the Hugo Awards site.
ETA: I’m referring to the “Country & Language of Publication” section.
(I don’t know if it came out in 2016 or not, but I presume so from Kyra’s rec.)
Kyra: The Power, by Naomi Alderman
kathodus: not available in the US until 2017. I’m pretty sure. I’ve pre-ordered the Kindle version based on your recommendation, but I don’t think it’s eligible for the Hugo this year.
Well, it would be eligible, but… I’m sure that, like The Invisible Library this year, it will stand a much better chance next year after it’s been released and more widely-read in the U.S.
And thanks for the heads-up, Kyra — I am now #46 on the waitlist for 5 copies (sigh).