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.