Wednesday, January 31, 2018

2018 Nerds of a Feather Hugo Awards Longlist, Part 3: Individual Categories

Welcome to the third part of our presentation of the Nerds of a Feather 2018 Hugo Award Longlist (see parts 1 & 2). Today we take a look at the categories recognizing individuals for their body of work during 2017:  Editor (Short and Long Form), Professional Artist, Fan Artist, Fan Writer, and the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer

As before, we here at 'nerds of a feather, flock together' are presenting a collective longlist of potential Hugo nominees that we think are worthy of your consideration. These selections represent the spectrum of tastes, tendencies, and predilections found among our group of 13 writers.

As a reminder, this list should not at all be considered comprehensive. There are some truly outstanding editors, writers, and artists who will not make our longlist because they did not produce enough work for non-paying / non-professional venues, did not write enough genre focused work, or for the very simple reason that we are not just familiar with what work they did produce during 2017. We encourage you to think of this as a list of candidates to consider alongside works which you are already familiar, nothing more and nothing less. 

In an effort at brevity (you may scoff) and perhaps at propriety, for these categories we have decided to simply list the individuals we are collectively recommending as part of the longlist, rather than detailing why each person listed below is awesome.

Finally, in the interests of being transparent, while it may worth noting that we, the writers of Nerds of a Feather are individually eligible for the Fan Writer category; because it is a conflict of interest, it would not appropriate to include any of us on our formal longlist. However, we would like to make a note of the work our own departing Charles Payseur has done both here as well at Quick Sip Reviews. Because of that conflict of interest, we are not including him on our list, but we do encourage anyone so inclined to take a look at his work and decide for themselves. If you are so inclined, a sample of his work is available here.

Editor: Short Form

John Joseph Adams (Lightspeed, Nightmare, Cosmic Power)
Scott H. Andrews (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld)
Jane Crowley and Kate Dollarhyde (Strange Horizons)
Lee Harris (Tor.com / Tor.com Publishing)
Rashida J. Smith (GigaNotoSaurus)
Jonathan Strahan (Infinity Wars, Passing Strange, Tor.com,  etc)
Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damien Thomas (Uncanny)
Ann VanderMeer (The Big Book of Science Fiction)
Wendy Wagner (Lightspeed, Nightmare)
Sean Wallace & Silvia Moreno-Garcia (The Dark)


Editor: Long Form
Nobody. But, we recommend that when you put together your final nominating ballot that you also look at who the editors were for your Best Novel selections and consider them for nomination for Editor, Long Form


Professional Artist
Galen Dara (portfolio, includes 2017 works)
Julie Dillon (portfolio, includes 2017 works)
Kirbi Fagan (site)
Jeff Lemire (Royal City)
Victo Ngai (Amberlough)
John Picacio (Loteria and other Selected Works)
Gabriel Rodriguez (Sword of Ages)
Fiona Staples (Saga)


Fan Artist
Geneva Benton (site)
Hayley Gilmore (A Woman's Place is in the Resistance)
Ariela Housman (site)
Stephanie Law (site)
Likhain (more) (site)
Kristina Tsenova (some)


Fan Writer
Nina Allan
Megan AM
Rob Bedford
Cora Buhlert 
Rachel Cordasco 
Natalie Luhrs
Bridget McKinney
Maureen Kincaid-Speller
Aidan Moher 
Abigail Nussbaum
Mark Oshiro
Bogi Takács
Adam Whitehead
Renay Williams


John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer*
*(Not a Hugo, but Totally a Hugo) 

 
Nicky Drayden
Sarah Gailey
Sarah Kuhn
S. Qiouyi Lu
Jeannette Ng
Brandon O'Brien
Rivers Solomon
Wole Talabi
K.B. Wagers



POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 2017 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Writer / Editor of the mostly defunct Adventures in Reading since 2004. Minnesotan.  

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

2018 Nerds of a Feather Hugo Awards Longlist, Part 2: Visual Work Categories


Welcome to our continuing presentation of the Nerds of a Feather 2018 Hugo Award Longlist (see part 1 here). Today will look at Graphic Story and the two Dramatic Presentation categories. 

As before, we here at 'nerds of a feather, flock together' are presenting a collective longlist of potential Hugo nominees that we think are worthy of your consideration. These selections represent the spectrum of tastes, tendencies, and predilections found among our group of 13 writers.

As a reminder, this list should not at all be considered comprehensive. Some outstanding works will not make our longlist for the simple reason that we have not seen or read it. We encourage you to think of this as a list of candidates to consider alongside works which you are already familiar, nothing more and nothing less. 





Graphic Story 

Bitch Planet: Volume 2: President Bitch, by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Lazarus: Volume 5: Cull, by Greg Rucka
Lumberjanes: Volume 6: Sink or Swim, by Shannon Waters and Kat Leyh
Lumberjanes: Volume 7: A Bird's-Eye View, by Shannon Waters and Kat Leyh
Monstress: Volume 2: The Blood, by Marjorie Liu
Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred, by Damien Duffy and John Jennings
Paper Girls: Volume 3, by Brian K. Vaughan
Saga: Volume 7, by Brian K. Vaughan
Victor LaValle's Destroyer, by Victor Lavalle






Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve [Columbia Pictures]
Coco, directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina [Pixar]
Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele [Universal Pictures]
Gone Podcast, created by Sunny Moraine
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2, directed by James Gunn [Disney]
The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson [Disney]
Spider-Man: Homecoming, directed by Jon Watts [Columbia]
Steal the Stars Podcast, created by Mac Rogers
Thor: Ragnarok, directed by Taika Waititi [Disney]
Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins [Warner Brothers]





Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: Season Two, created by Max Landis [BBC, 2017]
Recommended Episode: S2E1 "Space Rabbit"

The Expanse: Season Two, created by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, [Syfy, 2017]
Recommended Episode: S2E13 "Caliban's War"

The Orville: Season One, created by Seth MacFarlane [Fox, 2017]
Recommended Episode: S1E3 "About a Girl"

Orphan Black: Season Five, created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett [BBC, 2017]
Recommended Episode: S5E10 "To Right the Wrongs of Many"

People of Earth: Season Two, created by David Jenkins [TBS, 2017]
Recommended Episode: S2E7 "Bee Kind"

Star Trek Discovery: Season One, created by Brian Fuller and Alex Kurtzman [CBS, 2017]
Recommended Episodes: S1E6 "Lethe"

Stranger Things: Season Two, created by the Duffer Brothers [Netflix, 2017]
Recommended Episodes: S2E2 "Trick or Treat, Freak", S2E9 "The Gate"


POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 2017 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Writer / Editor of the mostly defunct Adventures in Reading since 2004. Minnesotan. 

Monday, January 29, 2018

2018 Nerds of a Feather Hugo Awards Longlist, Part 1: Fiction Categories

Several years ago our erstwhile founding editor The G asked the flock here at Nerds of a Feather if we would come together to put out a longlist of works we would recommend for Hugo consideration. Flock Together we did.

The rules for inclusion were simple--just: (a) meet the eligibility criteria; and (b) be "award worthy" (i.e. good). Given the subjectivity of the latter, it should come as no surprise that the selections on our longlist reflect the spectrum of tastes, tendencies and predilections found among our group of writers. You'll find selections ranging from the obscure and literary to the unabashedly popular and commercial, and from all corners and subdivisions of the genresphere.

That said, this is not nor intends to be a comprehensive survey of the field. Some books that are undoubtedly "award worthy," for example, are absent for the simple reason that we haven't read them yet. Thus we encourage you to think of this as a list of candidates to consider--alongside others. 

Given the vast number of Hugo categories, we've also made the decision to split the longlist up into multiple posts. Today we look at the fiction categories (Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette and Best Short Story). For fiction that is available free of charge, we've embedded a direct link to the story. For novels and works of short fiction that are not available for free, the embedded link redirects to a review. 

In the interest of being transparent, it is worth noting that several of our writers have published fiction in 2017. Because it would be a conflict of interest, we are not including them on our longlist, but would still invite anyone interested to take a look at their work. Charles has a list of his eligible fiction here and Chloe has her list of fiction here.









Novel
Alderman, Naomi. The Power [Penguin] - this may not be eligible
Bear, Elizabeth. The Stone in the Skull [Tor]
Bennett, Robert Jackson. City of Miracles [Broadway]
Brust, Steven. Vallista [Tor]
Corey, James SA. Persepolis Rising [Orbit]
Donnelly, Lara Elena. Amberlough [Tor]
Emrys, Ruthanna. Winter Tide [Tor.com Publishing]
Grant, Mira. Into the Drowning Deep [Orbit]
Hobb, Robin. Assassin's Fate [Del Rey]
Howard, Kat. An Unkindness of Magicians [Saga]
Howry, Meg. The Wanderers [Random House]
Hurley, Kameron. The Stars Are Legion [Saga]
Jemisin, N.K. The Stone Sky [Orbit]
Lafferty, Mur. Six Wakes [Orbit]
Nagata, Linda. The Last Good Man [Mythic Island]
Sapkowski, Andrzej. The Lady of the Lake [Orbit/Gollancz]
Scalzi, John. The Collapsing Empire [Tor]
Solomon, Rivers. An Unkindness of Ghosts [Akashic]
VanderMeer, Jeff. Borne [FSG]







Novella
Berger, Michele Tracy. Reenu-You [Book Smugglers]
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Penric's Mission [Spectrum Literary Agency]
Gailey, Sarah. River of Teeth [Tor.com Publishing]
Klages, Ellen. Passing Strange [Tor.com Publishing]
Lemberg, Rose. "A Portrait of the Desert in Personages of Power" [Beneath Ceaseless Skies]
McGuire, Seanan. Down Among the Sticks and Bones [Tor.com Publishing]
McGuire, Seanan. Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day [Tor.com Publishing]
Pinsker, Sarah. "And Then There Were (N-One)" [Uncanny]
Thompson, Tade. The Murders of Molly Southbourne [Tor.com Publishing]
Wallace, Matt. Greedy Pigs [Tor.com Publishing]
Wallace, Matt. Idle Ingredients [Tor.com Publishing]
Wallace, Matt. Gluttony Bay [Tor.com Publishing
Wells, Martha. All Systems Red [Tor.com Publishing]


Novelette
Barber, Jess and Sara Saab "Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics" [Clarkesworld]
Durrani, Haris A. "Champollion's Foot" [Mithila Review]
Gailey, Sarah. "Fisher of Bones" [Fireside Fiction] 
Kayembe, Kathleen. "You Will Always Have Family: A Triptych" [Nightmare]
Lamb, Sacha. “Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live" [Book Smugglers]
Lewis, L.D. "Chesirah" [Fiyah]
McHugh,  Ian. "The Wanderers" [GigaNotoSaurus]
Miller, Sam J and Lara Elena Donnelly "Making Us Monsters" [Uncanny]
Robson, Kelly. "A Human Stain" [Tor.com]
Rustad, A. Merc. "Later, Let's Tear Up the Inner Sanctum" [Lightspeed]
Szpara, K.M. "Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time" [Uncanny]
Tang, Andrea. "Hungry Demigods" [GigaNotoSaurus]
Theodoridou, Natalia. "The Birding: A Fairy Tale" [Strange Horizons]
Watts, Peter. "ZeroeS" [Infinity Wars, Solaris]
Xen. "Cracks" [Fiyah]
Yang, JY. "Waiting on a Bright Moon" [Tor.com]


Short Story
Bigelow, Susan Jane. "The Heart's Cartography" [Lightspeed]
Bright, Matthew. “The Library of Lost Things" [Tor.com]
Cahill, Martin. “Bear Language" [Fireside Fiction]
Chan, L. "The Sound of His Voice Like the Colour of Salt" [The Dark]
Divya, S.B. "An Unexpected Boon" [Apex]
Dorman, Nerine. “On The Other Side of the Sea" [Omenana]
Edelstein, Jonathan. “Of Letters They Are Made" [Beneath Ceaseless Skies]
Hawksmoor, Cae. “Requiem for the Unchained" [Beneath Ceaseless Skies]
Jackson, Jessi Cole. “The Waters and Wild of Winter Street" [Book Smugglers]
Kress, Nancy. "Dear Sarah" [Infinity Wars, Solaris]
Lowachee, Karin. "The Summer Mask" [Nightmare]
Little Badger, Darcie. “Owl vs. The Neighborhood Watch" [Strange Horizons]
Matheson, Michael. “And in That Sheltered Sea, a Colossus" [Shimmer]
Mills, Allison. “If a Bird Can Be a Ghost" [Apex]
Mitchell, Lia Swope. "Mag, the Habitat and We" [Apex]
O'Brien, Brandon. “They Will Take You From You" [Strange Horizons]
Ogden, Aimee. "The Cold, Lonely Waters" [Shimmer]
Okungbowa, Suyi Davies. "Can Anything Good Come" [The Dark]
Phettaplace, Dominica "Oracle" [Infinity Wars, Solaris]
Prasad, Vina Jie-Min. “Fandom for Robots" [Uncanny]
Saab, Sara. "Suddenwall" [Beneath Ceaseless Skies]
Sanchez, Jasper. “Stories We Carry On The Back Of The Night" [Mithila Review]
Seiner, Hanuš, translated by Julie Nováková"Terra Nullius" [Strange Horizons]
Shawl, Nisi. "Queen of Dirt" [Apex]
Smith, Dayna K. "A Pestilence Come for Old Ma Salt" [Lackington's]
St. George, Carli. "If We Survive the Night" [The Dark]
Sundar, Naru Dames. “The Weight of Sentience” [Shimmer]
Takács, Bogi. "Some Remarks on the Reproductive Strategy of the Common Octopus" [Clarkesworld]
Tanafon, Morris. “The Last Spell of the Raven" [Glittership]
Wahls, Jamie. “Utopia, LOL?" [Strange Horizons]
Yoachim, Caroline M. “Carnival Nine" [Beneath Ceaseless Skies]





Series
The Broken Earth, by N.K. Jemisin
The Demon Cycle, by Peter V. Brett
The Divine Cities, by Robert Jackson Bennett
Fitz and the Fool, by Robin Hobb
Kitty Norville, by Carrie Vaughn
Lightless, by C.A. Higgins
The Imager Portfolio, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr
The Indranan War, by K.B. Wagers
The Memoirs of Lady Trent, by Marie Brennan
Sin du Jour, by Matt Wallace (there is a good chance this has not met the 240,000 word count and is not eligible this year,  but it remains awesome and you should all go read it)
Vlad Taltos, by Steven Brust
White Trash Zombie, by Diana Rowland
Wild Cards, by George R. R. Martin


YA Novel 
No Recommendations at this time


POSTED BY: Joe Sherry - Co-editor of Nerds of a Feather, 2017 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Fanzine. Writer / Editor of the mostly defunct Adventures in Reading since 2004. Minnesotan.