Welcome to the fourth and final installment of the Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together 2018 Hugo Awards Longlist! (Parts 1, 2, and 3.)
This time we are looking at what are, for lack of a better term, the
"nonfiction and institutional categories": Best Related Work, Best
Semiprozine, Best Fanzine and Best Fancast. Now, those who follow this
blog know how cranky The G can get on the subject of certain categories and
their bizarre eligibility guidelines--and we've got two of them today
(Best Semiprozine and Best Fancast). Nevertheless, I will do my best to
stay calm and stick to the rules, frustrating as they can be. I reserve
the right, will, however, get a little snarky and passive-aggressive in
the process.
There are, however, some sticky issues that made putting this list
together a bit difficult. Knowing what does or does not constitute a
"fanzine" in the era of blogs, for example--and given that we may
already be on the downward slide of that era, it only promises to get
more difficult as time passes. Nevertheless, we have tried to create
clear and consistent guidelines for inclusion in this category. Thus, to
qualify, a fanzine: (1) must be a fan venture (i.e. must not generate a
significant amount of money, or pay professional rates for work); (2)
must publish a lot of content in a given year; and (3) must publish
"award worthy" content. We did not discount single-author blogs from
consideration, but criterion #2 makes it difficult for most
single-author blogs to merit consideration. Consequently, while a
couple made it, most did not--including some very good ones.
I also feel obliged to mention that 'nerds of a feather, flock together'
is eligible in this category, but whether we belong on anyone's list
(short, long, good or bad) is another story, and part of a conversation
we aren't inclined to join. We'd much rather talk about all the other
sites we like to read (and which meet the criteria outlined above).
The category Best Fancast also presented issues, namely, on the
question of whether podcasts hosted by profit-making websites were still
fancasts. The issue here comes down to whether the podcasts qualify
(given token-level payment for the podcasts themselves) or do not (given
that the parent companies can employ at least some people full-time).
There were internal disagreements on this question, but in the end we
decided to include the podcasts in question, but make note that they may
not meet the eligibility requirements. I personally encourage you to
vote them in that category--both because they belong there and,
consequently, because a rule that keeps them out is dumb. But that's
just me. It is also worth noting that in the past 8-4 Play was a finalist
for Fancast, and 8-4 Play is hosted by 8-4, a professional video game
localization company. If 8-4 Play is eligible, and passed the vetting
process of the Hugo committee, than so should most everything else. But that's just our opinion.
Before moving on to the recommendations, a gentle reminder that this
list is not and does not intend to be a comprehensive survey of genre or
fandom. Rather, these are recommendations we suggest you consider
alongside whatever other candidates you have in mind. - G & Joe
Related Work
Archive Of Our Own
Crash Override, by Zoe Quinn
Endurance: A Year In Space, a Lifetime of Discovery, by Scott Kelly
Food and Horror, by Octavia Cade (Book Smuggler)
Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler, by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal, eds
Semiprozine
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
The Book Smugglers
The Dark
Fiyah Literary Magazine
Fireside Fiction
GigaNotoSaurus
Pornokitsch
Strange Horizons
Uncanny
Fanzine
Lady Business (Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, Susan, eds.)
SF Bluestocking (Bridget McKinney
SF in Translation (Rachel Cordasco)
SFFReviews (Sara Uckelman)
SFFWorld (Dag Rambruat, Rob Bedford, Mark Yon, and Nila White, eds.)
Quick Sip Reviews (Charles Payseur)
Women Write About Comics (Kayleigh Hearn, Kat Overland, Claire Napier, Kate Tanski, Wendy Browne, eds.)
Fancast
Cabbages and Kings (Jonah Sutton-Morse)
Ditch Diggers (Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace)
Fangirl Happy Hour (Ana Grilo and Renay Williams)
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men (Jay Edidon and Miles Stokes)
Skiffy and Fanty (Alex Acks, David Annandale, Shaun Duke, Julia Rios, Mike Underwood, Paul Weimer, Jennifer Zink
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.
Friday, February 2, 2018
2018 Nerds of a Feather Hugo Awards Longlist, Part 4: Institutional Categories
Labels:
Hugo Awards,
Joe,
Reading the Hugos