RogerBW's Blog

2015 Hugo Awards: final thoughts 31 July 2015

This is my final ballot for this year's Hugos, with some thoughts on the categories for which I haven't written full reviews.

Best Novel

  1. Ancillary Sword Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
  2. The Goblin Emperor Katherine Addison (Tor Books)
  3. Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books)
  4. No Award

I've reviewed these individually (see the end of this post for links to related posts).

Best Novella

  1. No Award

No non-slate nominees.

Best Novelette

  1. No Award
  2. "The Day the World Turned Upside Down" Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Lightspeed, April 2014)

Reviewed individually. I don't think this deserves a Hugo Award.

Best Short Story

  1. No Award

No non-slate nominees.

Best Related Work

  1. No Award

No non-slate nominees.

Best Graphic Story

  1. Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick written by Matt Fraction, art by Chip Zdarsky (Image Comics)
  2. Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery written by Kurtis J. Weibe, art by Roc Upchurch (Image Comics)
  3. Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt (Marvel Comics)
  4. Saga Volume 3 written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
  5. No Award

Reviewed elsewhere.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

  1. Edge of Tomorrow screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, directed by Doug Liman (Village Roadshow, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment; Viz Productions)
  2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, concept and story by Ed Brubaker, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Entertainment, Perception, Sony Pictures Imageworks)
  3. No Award

Edge of Tomorrow was probably one of the last big non-franchise films we'll see for a while. Tie-ins and sequels just make more money.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)

  1. Orphan Black: "By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried" written by Graham Manson, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions; Space/BBC America)
  2. No Award
  3. Doctor Who: "Listen" written by Steven Moffat, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (BBC Television)

The Who was one of the worse episodes of a nearly-unwatchable series. Time to shoot this one in the head and leave it for another twenty years. Orphan Black is trying to do something interesting, and sometimes succeeding.

Best Professional Editor (Short Form)

  1. No Award

No non-slate nominees.

Best Professional Editor (Long Form)

  1. No Award

No non-slate nominees.

Best Professional Artist

  1. Julie Dillon
  2. No Award

Only one non-slate nominee. And the work's all right.

Best Semiprozine

  1. No Award
  2. Lightspeed Magazine John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Rich Horton, Wendy N. Wagner, and Christie Yant
  3. Beneath Ceaseless Skies Scott H. Andrews
  4. Strange Horizons Niall Harrison

Reviewed elsewhere. I wasn't hugely impressed by any of these, but Strange Horizons couldn't be bothered to put a sample in the packet, which shows contempt for people who don't already read it.

Best Fanzine

  1. No Award
  2. Journey Planet James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Colin Harris and Helen Montgomery

It's all about Doctor Who. Except it's not, really – a lot of it is about fannish engagement with Doctor Who and people's personal experiences discovering and watching the show, fannish engagement with other fans, or side issues like the covers of the novelisations. Might well be terribly interesting to people other than me. Hugo-worthy? Not in my book.

Best Fancast

  1. No Award
  2. Galactic Suburbia Podcast Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)
  3. Tea and Jeopardy Emma Newman & Peter Newman

No enthusiasm for this at all, but I'll put the two non-slate nominees above the others.

Best Fan Writer

  1. Laura J. Mixon
  2. No Award

Only one non-slate nominee. But I'd read both the sample pieces before even though I don't normally read Mixon's blog, and appreciated them.

Best Fan Artist

  1. Elizabeth Leggett
  2. Spring Schoenhuth
  3. Steve Stiles
  4. Brad Foster
  5. Ninni Aalto

Leggett: you are a Real Artist, and should probably be doing this professionally. (Actually, it seems, you are. So why are you nominated here? Oh well.)

Schoenhuth: good to see something other than 2-d stuff-on-paper in this category.

Stiles: decent cartoon style, solid work if not really for me.

Foster: workmanlike stuff, but doesn't inspire.

Aalto: meh.

The John W. Campbell Award (not a Hugo)

  1. No Award
  2. Wesley Chu

He's going to win it for not being on the slate, but the included book was truly awful.

See also:
Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison
Thoughts on the 2015 Hugo Awards
The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin
Hugo 2015: Novelette
Hugo 2015: Lightspeed 44, John Joseph Adams
Hugo 2015: Beneath Ceaseless Skies 157, Scott H. Andrews

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