Hugo Award Nominee Recommendations

Does anyone know if podcasts are eligible for best fanzine (or even semi-prozine)? If so, I'd love to nominate Starship Sofa's Aural Delights as best fanzine. Would Escape Pod be eligible for best semi-prozine?

Kathryn Linge - www.flickr.com/photos/kathrynlinge

Lisa Rye - www.lisa-rye.com

Category -- Novella
Author -- Paul Haines

Down here in Australia Paul Haines' novella "Wives" has been creating quite a bit of a stir.  Last month it picked up an Aurealis Award in the best horror short story category, although in my opinion it is more SF.  It's set in a near future post-apocalyptic Australia where woman are a scarce commodity and tells the tale of the lengths that men go to to get married.  Although that quick summary doesn't do the wonder and down right wickedness of the story justice.  It's been variously described as ugly, brutal, horrifying, compelling, brilliant and a masterpiece.  The reactions to it have been pretty varied, but all in a "I've just been blown away" kind of style.  It is an excellent story. 

It was published in the anthology "X6" by Coeur De Lion in Melbourne.  But given that a lot of people coming to Aussiecon 4 wouldn't otherwise get to read it, Paul has permission from his publisher to make "Wives" available online.  www.paulhaines.com/consider_wives.html

There is also another of Paul's stories which picked up an Aurealis Award last month: "Slice of Life -- A Spot of Liver".  It can also be accessed on the link, but in my opinion "Wives" is the standout. 

"Red Planet Noir" by D.B. Grady is a hard-boiled detective novel - written in the pulp tradition of the 1930s - but set on Mars.  The writing is excellent.  The lead characters are rich, the plot moves along quickly, the science makes sense and is realistic, and the sarcastic dialogue is funny as all heck.  Altogether, a very original mix.  This is Grady's first novel, but I think this could end-up being a recurring series.  The novel is getting fantastic reviews on Amazon, though, admittedly there aren't that many reviewers (yet).  He has the first chapter posted free online: http://bit.ly/aerSsq

Recommendation for Best Artist - Billy Tackett

There are several reasons he should be considered:  1) Over 200 commissioned book covers and illustrations to his credit in a 13 year professional art career.  This doesn't even include the CD's, DVD covers, movie posters, logo designs, and various other work he has done over the years.  2) He is a highly sought after Artist Guest of Honor for dozens of conventions / events yearly.  3) His artbook, For the Love of Monster's is scheduled for release in 2010.  4) Creator of Dead, White, & Blue characters and upcoming graphic novel (also scheduled for release in 2010).  5)  In addition to all his notoriety in the horror / science fiction / fantasy genre, he is also a unique and extremely talented Fine Artist.

www.billytackett.com
http://billytackett.com/fineart/

Although nominations for this year's Hugo Awards are open until March 13, if you were not a member of Anticipation (last year's Worldcon in Montreal), you have until the end of January to join Aussiecon 4 as at least a supporting member in order to be eligible to nominate this year. And because of the time-zone difference, if you're in North America, you effectively should join today (Saturday as I write this) if you plan on participating.

Remember, you don't have to buy an attending membership or go to Australia to nominate or vote. A supporting membership is $50 and gives you nominating and voting rights this year (as well as nominating rights for next year).

If you join A4 after the end of January, you will still be able to vote on the final ballot and nominate next year, but you will not be able to nominate this year.

Category: Best Graphic Story
"Death Of A Hero," The Brave And The Bold #27, November 2009
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Jesus Saiz

As you probably know, Straczynski became the regular writer on Brave & Bold last year. This was his first issue as writer, and it can best be summarized in just three words:

He gets it.

All of it.

He understands the concept of the title, and he nailed it right out of the starting gate.

Hugo Voting on the Cheap at The Feminist Science Fiction Blog.

Has general discussion of the awards, how to vote, suggested eligible women, and some information on ways of getting access to eligible works for free.

Just really love his covers for Interzone, thought I'd throw his name out there for those folks who haven't heard of him. Found a link to some of his art here.

I've just finished Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry," and it's going to make my list for the nomination ballot. This second novel from Niffenegger is a strong follow up to 2003's "The Time Traveler's Wife," although a very different book.

In "Symmetry," Niffenegger offers a compelling Gothic ghost story set in modern London and, in particular, London's Highgate Cemetery. (This book has certainly encouraged me to visit Highgate on my next trip to London!) Many of the central characters are extraordinary -- two generations of very troubled identical twins, one of whom appears throughout virtually the entire book as a ghost, and the charming upstairs neighbor with incapacitating obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yet just as she did with the involuntary time traveler in her first novel, Niffenegger carries off the difficult trick of making her readers identify and sympathize with these far-from-everyday people and the increasingly surreal choices they make.

Niffenegger's work has been embraced as mainstream literature and thus isn't generally marketed to SF&F fans, but don't let that steer you away from this great read.

John Pomeranz

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was absolutely the best genre novel I read this year.  Interesting, mysterious, fast-paced, absorbing, disturbing, different  -  and above all, entertaining.  The kind of story you hate seeing come to an end.  I hope we see more of this from Paul, or maybe a screenplay.

Last year "Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal" took a Hugo for Best Semiprozine, but I haven't seen Ann's name mentioned here before as a candidate for Editor Short.

Her work on Weird Tales the last 2 years has been incredible (see www.weirdtales.net), and is worthy of consideration.  Also, an interesting 5 minute interview with Ann on NPR.

Since I wasn't sure if I could rec more than one at a time last post. Some of these are also available as printed comics, but the advantage with the web is you can check it out without leaving the house :)

• Girl Genius: steampunk mad inventors!
  
• Gunnerkrigg Court Atmospheric science fantasy comic set in a mysterious school. The individual stories are great, but it's slowly building to something even better as an overall arc.
  
• Order of the Stick Characters in a DnD type world. Both very funny and a genuinely good fantasy story.
  
• Dresden Codak A mix of stand alone and plotty comics, surreal and clever and gorgeous.
  
• Platinum Grit Hilarious and bizarre Australian comic, I can't even describe it.
  
• Digger Beautiful funny moving story of a wombat who accidentally digs somewhere very strange
  
• Family Man Werewolves and academics in the 18th century. Slow and beautiful.
  

Ooku: The Inner Chambers is an alternate-history series in which a plague struck Japan in the 1600s and permanently reduced the male population to a small fraction of the female one.

Volume 1 is set in the early 1700s, when society has adjusted to the new gender ratio, and women have taken over most traditionally male jobs, including the ruling of the country. It follows the story of a man recruited into the imperial harem (the "inner chambers" of the title) just as a new, forward-looking shogun takes power.

Volume 2 jumps back to the time of the plague with a much darker story, showing how some of the customs encountered in volume 1 evolved, as the imperial court attempts to keep things functioning while covering up the fact that the last male shogun is already dead.

Both volumes are self-contained stories; I plan to nominate them as separate entities. There are footnotes provided in each explaining the historical and cultural references.

In the category of Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form, I would like to recommend "Saturday Morning Watchmen." This was a video that was posted to YouTube the same day that the Watchmen film premiered.

I've been trying to figure out the right way to describe SMW, but so far I haven't been able to come with anything better than "the Watchmen meet the Super Friends." Maybe the best thing to do is to watch the video for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w

I've heard Watchmen described as a deconstruction of the superhero genre. If that's the case, then "Saturday Morning Watchmen" is a deconstruction of the deconstruction.

I just finished this a few days ago. It's science fiction, unrelated to Carey's Kushiel's Legacy fantasy novels, and takes place in a relatively near-future military buffer zone (a place formerly in Texas) between the U.S. and Mexico.

This novel made me think in new ways about hope and legends, and more impressively, it made me really enjoy reading about boxing, which is something I never thought I'd say. Sort of like Nicola Griffith's Slow River made me enjoy reading about garbage.

I read this novel twice in 2009, and will definitely be nominating it. It's especially enjoyable for those who long for the magic from their favorite childhood books to exist -- but who know deep down it wouldn't necessarily make life any better or easier.

There is one particular chapter in this book that is quite possibly my all-time favorite single chapter of fiction. For anyone who has read the book, I mean the chapter that's about the "south".

Dave Howell is the Seattle based artist who designed Anticipation’s Hugo Base, and it is take-your-breath-away gorgeous. A photo of the award can be seen here, but bear in mind that, as beautiful as it looks, the photo doesn’t truly do it justice. The way the maple leaf flame motif reflects back in the Hugo rocket and the effect of the iridescent paint when the light catches it really emphasize how lovely it is. Try and see one if you can.

John Scalzi has said “artist Dave Howell has every right to be immensely proud of his design this year; he’s made the Hugo that future awards are going to find themselves matched against.”

So please consider Dave Howell when nominating for Best Fan Artist, his work deserves recognition.

I recommend 2009's Representations of Technology in Science Fiction for Young People by Noga Applebaum, which is quite well done. Applebaum argues that an anti-technological bias exists within contemporary YA SF, and that such technophobic literature can disempower young readers (and strengthen the existing adult-child hierarchy) by suggesting that the technologies of the future are inherently dangerous, while neglecting to appreciate young peoples’s complex and even positive interactions with technology today. She backs up her compelling argument with very detailed case studies. It's well worth reading, and a significant contribution to scholarship on YA SF, especially YA dystopian fiction.

I'm a bit confused about the rules: are we only supposed to rec one work per post? Or only one type of work? Also the userinfo seems to be missing the graphic story category, though the tags aren't.

Anyway!

I made a post Webcomics for the Hugos with a list of webcomics I think are worth checking out.

If I have to pick one in particular for this post it's Freak Angels, a cracking and beautiful post apocalyptic graphic novel by Warren Ellis. I suck at summaries, so from Wikipedia:

Freakangels is set in a time after London has been flooded. A group, called the Freakangels, live in Whitechapel and their life encounters a dramatic bump when a girl called Alice arrives one day, bearing a shotgun and a grievance against one of their number. Ellis' synopsis of the plot involves characters "living in a post-flood London that they might possibly have had something to do with.