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
- All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Books / Titan Books) (excerpt)
- A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager US) (excerpt)
- Death’s End, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books / Head of Zeus) (excerpt)
- Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris Books) (excerpt)
- The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit Books) (excerpt)
- Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer (Tor Books) (excerpt)
Best Novella
- The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing) (excerpt)
- The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson (Tor.com Publishing) (excerpt)
- Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing) (excerpt)
- Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum Literary Agency) (excerpt)
- A Taste of Honey, by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing) (excerpt)
- This Census-Taker, by China Miéville (Del Rey / Picador) (excerpt)
Best Novelette
- “Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex”, by Stix Hiscock (self-published) (no excerpt)
- “The Art of Space Travel”, by Nina Allan (Tor.com, July 2016)
- “The Jewel and Her Lapidary”, by Fran Wilde (Tor.com Publishing, May 2016) (excerpt)
- “The Tomato Thief”, by Ursula Vernon (Apex Magazine, January 2016)
- “Touring with the Alien”, by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2016)
- “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay”, by Alyssa Wong (Uncanny Magazine, May 2016)
Best Short Story
- “The City Born Great”, by N. K. Jemisin (Tor.com, September 2016)
- “A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers”, by Alyssa Wong (Tor.com, March 2016)
- “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”, by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine, November 2016)
- “Seasons of Glass and Iron”, by Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
- “That Game We Played During the War”, by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com, March 2016)
- “An Unimaginable Light”, by John C. Wright (God, Robot, Castalia House) (no excerpt)
Best Related Work
- The Geek Feminist Revolution, by Kameron Hurley (Tor Books) (excerpt)
- The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher (Blue Rider Press) (excerpt)
- Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg, by Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood) (excerpt)
- The View From the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow / Harper Collins) (excerpt)
- The Women of Harry Potter posts, by Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)
- Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Small Beer) (excerpt)
Best Graphic Story
- Black Panther, Volume 1: A Nation Under Our Feet, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, illustrated by Brian Stelfreeze (Marvel) (sample)
- Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening, written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image) (sample)
- Ms. Marvel, Volume 5: Super Famous, written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa (Marvel) (sample)
- Paper Girls, Volume 1, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang, colored by Matthew Wilson, lettered by Jared Fletcher (Image) (sample)
- Saga, Volume 6, illustrated by Fiona Staples, written by Brian K. Vaughan, lettered by Fonografiks (Image) (sample)
- The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man, written by Tom King, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta (Marvel) (sample)
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)
- Black Mirror: “San Junipero”, written by Charlie Brooker, directed by Owen Harris (House of Tomorrow)
- Doctor Who: “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Ed Bazalgette (BBC Cymru Wales)
- The Expanse: “Leviathan Wakes”, written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, directed by Terry McDonough (SyFy)
- Game of Thrones: “Battle of the Bastards”, written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Miguel Sapochnik (HBO)
- Game of Thrones: “The Door”, written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Jack Bender (HBO)
- Splendor & Misery [album], by Clipping (Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes) (YouTube)
Best Editor – Short Form
- John Joseph Adams (What the #@&% Is That?: The Saga Anthology of the Monstrous and the Macabre [co-edited with Douglas Cohen], Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 [co-edited with Karen Joy Fowler], Lightspeed Magazine [11 issues], Lightspeed Podcasts [44], Nightmare Magazine [11 issues])
- Neil Clarke (The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 1, Clarkesworld: Year Eight [with Sean Wallace], Clarkesworld Magazine [12 issues], Clarkesworld Podcasts [84])
- Ellen Datlow (The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight, Children of Lovecraft, Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror)
- Jonathan Strahan (Drowned Worlds, Bridging Infinity, Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten)
- Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas (Uncanny Magazine [6 issues])
- Sheila Williams (Asimov’s Science Fiction [10 issues])
Best Editor – Long Form
- Vox Day (An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity, Iron Chamber of Memory, Ctrl-Alt-Revolt!, Loki’s Child)
- Sheila E. Gilbert (Once Broken Faith, The Gate to Futures Past, Revisionary, The Alchemy of Chaos)
- Liz Gorinsky (Ghost Talkers, Death’s End, Everfair, Hex)
- Devi Pillai (The Obelisk Gate, Wake of Vultures, Blood Mirror, Hope & Red)
- Miriam Weinberg (Company Town, A Gathering of Shadows, Cloudbound, All the Birds in the Sky [co-edited with Patrick Nielsen Hayden])
- Navah Wolfe (Borderline, The Mountain of Kept Memory, Icon, A Green and Ancient Light)
Best Professional Artist
Best Semiprozine
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor-in-chief and publisher Scott H. Andrews
- The Book Smugglers, edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James
- Cirsova Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, edited by P. Alexander
- GigaNotoSaurus, edited by Rashida J. Smith
- Strange Horizons, edited by Niall Harrison, Catherine Krahe, Vajra Chandrasekera, Vanessa Rose Phin, Li Chua, Aishwarya Subramanian, Tim Moore, Anaea Lay, and the Strange Horizons staff
- Uncanny Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, Julia Rios, and podcast produced by Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky
Best Fanzine
- Castalia House Blog, edited by Jeffro Johnson
- Journey Planet, (issues 28 through 32 are from 2016), edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Helena Nash, Errick Nunnally, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Chuck Serface, and Erin Underwood
- Lady Business, edited by Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
- nerds of a feather, flock together, edited by The G, Vance Kotrla, and Joe Sherry
- Rocket Stack Rank, edited by Greg Hullender and Eric Wong
- SF Bluestocking, edited by Bridget McKinney
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
- The Rageaholic, presented by RazörFist
- Tea and Jeopardy, presented by Emma Newman with Peter Newman
Best Fan Writer
Best Fan Artist
Best Series
- The Craft Sequence, by Max Gladstone (Tor Books) (excerpt from Four Roads Cross)
- The Expanse, by James S.A. Corey (Orbit US / Orbit UK) (excerpt from Babylon’s Ashes)
- The October Daye Books, by Seanan McGuire (DAW / Corsair) (excerpt from Once Broken Faith)
- The Peter Grant / Rivers of London series, by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz / Del Rey / DAW / Subterranean) (excerpt from The Hanging Tree, mouseover and click to turn pages)
- The Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Harper Voyager UK) (excerpt from League of Dragons, mouseover and click to turn pages)
- The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen) (excerpt from Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
- Sarah Gailey – “Bargain” (Mothership Zeta, December 2015)
- J. Mulrooney – An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity (Castalia House, November 2016) (no excerpt)
- Malka Older – Infomocracy (Tor.com Publishing, October 2016) (excerpt)
- Ada Palmer – Too Like the Lightning (Tor Books, May 2016) (excerpt)
- Laurie Penny – Everything Belongs to the Future (Tor.com Publishing, October 2016) (excerpt)
- Kelly Robson – “Waters of Versailles” (Tor.com, June 2016)
* if you encounter any invalid links, please let me know in the comments *
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@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!
Damn that Shoggoth!
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.
With The Ballad of Black Tom and The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe on the list, it’s perhaps a natural mistake.
@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!
The news broke widely on Saturday. Tomorrow’s Monday.
So we’ll see.
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). 🙂
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
@Kendall —
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!
I know, right? I was sad about this one as well.
And thanks for the additional audio info!
@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
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.)
@Kendall —
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).
No kidding!
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.
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.
@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.
@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
Highly recommend that analysis – particularly for the later part of the album.
Feeling quite gushy about Splendor & Misery now.
You don’t need to read Long Way to understand Orbit, but Orbit has some spoilers for Long Way.
Thanks, @David Goldfarb!
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.
@kathodus —
Huh. How odd.
You could always listen to it instead. I just checked, and it’s available on Audible for $5.28 .
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.
@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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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.
@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).
Random Penguin is giving away the full October Daye series plus a coffee mug and a pound of gourmet coffee. (U.S.-only promotion, sorry)
10 runners-up will each receive copies of books #1 and #2 in the series.
The 2016 Recommended SF/F Page up above ^ in the blog header now contains a permalink to this post. (Thanks, Mike!)
@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!
Is there any legal way to watch Stranger Things without Netflix? My internet connection cannot handle streaming video.
@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?
Some links for Steve Stiles now that he’s a finalist:
Tumblr: http://blogstevestiles.tumblr.com/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/111770252115023944853/posts
His official site (which doesn’t appear to have been updated in a while):
http://www.stevestiles.com
@Laura: Thanks! 🙂
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