Hugo Nominations

[brigdh]

I bought a WorldCon membership this year, which means I can nominate people for the Hugo Awards (mainly because I hear you often get free copies of the nominees, and who does not want more books?). The deadline is this Sunday, so of course I only got around to actually looking at the ballot yesterday. Here's what I've nominate:

Best Novel:
Red Country - Joe Abercrombie
Banner of the Damned - Sherwood Smith
God's War - Kameron Hurley
Vessel - Sarah Beth Durst
Timeless - Gail Carriger
I haven't actually read too many books that were published in 2012, which made it hard to pick five. I did really love Red Country though; Abercrombie is probably my favorite current fantasy author, though I know a lot of people can't stand him.

Best Novella
Let Maps to Others - K.J. Parker
All the Flavors: A Tale of Guan Yu, the Chinese God of War, in America - Ken Liu
Both of these stories are so fantastic, though I have to give slight preference to Let Maps to Others, since it is about a historian.

Best Novelette
Swift, Brutal Retaliation - Meghan McCarron. Creepy ghost story about a family falling apart. I really love how the ghost works here.
In the Palace of the Jade Lion - Richard Parks. Another ghost story, but this one is light and happy, with almost the air of a fairy tale.
Deus Absconditus - J.M. Sidorova. I think this is the one science-fiction story I nominated (I tend to prefer fantasy), but I really liked the premise.
The King's Huntsman - Jennifer Mason-Black. Really excellent writing and plot, though hard to describe without spoilers. The king's huntsman is not who he seems.
Woman of the Sun, Woman of the Moon - Benjanun Sriduangkaew. A story with the feel of myth, set in a Chinese heaven - the goddess of archery and her wife.

Best Short Story
Cutting - Ken Liu. This is so short as to be almost a poem rather than a story, but I loved it.
The Three Feats of Agani - Christie Yant. Another story that reads like a myth, though as far as I know this one is not based on any real-world analogue. Really good.
Worth of Crows - Seth Dickinson. Really interesting mix of magic and physics in the world-building, and beautiful writing.
England Under the White Witch - Theodora Goss. This is so good and creepy! Plus, I am partial to any story where winter symbolizes death.
"The Ramayana as an American Reality Television Show: Internet Activity Following the Mutilation of Surpanakha" - Kuzhali Manickavel. (Published in Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana and not online anywhere, as far as I know.) Hilariously accurate to the internet.
Novella, Novelette, and Short Story are all hard categories to nominate, as I don't tend to hear about these publications much. That's really the main reason I wanted to make this post, so other people might read some of these; they're all excellent stories.

Best Related Work
Deborah Stanish and L.M. Myles - Chicks Unravel Time Mad
A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook - Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer
I couldn't think of much that fit into this category, so if there's something out there I should nominate, feel free to tell me!

Best Fancast
Boars, Gore, and Swords: A Game of Thrones podcast
Sword and Laser
Skeptoid
I didn't know there was a podcast award! I love podcasts beyond the telling of it. Most of the ones I listen to are not SF/F related, but 'Boars, Gore, and Swords' is possibly the funniest thing on the internet.

A lot of the categories I left blank, since i know nothing about best editors or best fan-artists. If any of you have recommendations, let me know! I can edit my ballot until Sunday.

Comments

[weirdquark]

Will you be at Worldcon then? I'm likely to be there with a subset of my a-cappella group, you should stop by!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I haven't decided yet; it'll depend on what other trips I have this year, and the guests, and who all I know is going, and etc. But if so, we should totally meet up!