Hugo Award Nominations 2014


For those unaware, the Hugo Awards are probably the most prodigious set of awards given to the best SciFi and Fantasy works and/or achievements of the previous year. The nominations for the 72nd annual Hugos are as follows. My personal preference in categories I have a say in are highlighted like so. Any notes I may make on the nominations are written like so. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Who do you think deserves to win? Remember, the Hugo’s shouldn’t be a popularity vote, but a vote on the due merits of a given work.

BEST NOVEL (1595 ballots)

  • Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
  • Neptune’s Brood by Charles Stross (Ace / Orbit UK)
  • Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
  • Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia (Baen Books)
  • The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books)
The Wheel of Time is a fantasy series of 14 novels (and a prequel novel) by acclaimed author Robert Jordan (and finished by Brandon Sanderson). It is being qualified together as one work. Not familiar with the other novels.

BEST NOVELLA (847 ballots)

  • The Butcher of Khardov by Dan Wells (Privateer Press)
  • The Chaplain’s Legacy” by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jul-Aug 2013)
  • Equoid” by Charles Stross (Tor.com, 09-2013)
  • Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Press)
  • Wakulla Springs” by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages (Tor.com, 10-2013)
Having not experienced any of the nominations for myself I have no vote.

BEST NOVELETTE (728 ballots)

  • The Exchange Officers” by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jan-Feb 2013)
  • The Lady Astronaut of Mars” by Mary Robinette Kowal (maryrobinettekowal.com/Tor.com, 09-2013)
  • Opera Vita Aeterna” by Vox Day (The Last Witchking, Marcher Lord Hinterlands)
  • The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” by Ted Chiang (Subterranean, Fall 2013)
  • The Waiting Stars” by Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky, Candlemark & Gleam)
Having not experienced any of the nominations for myself I have no vote.

BEST SHORT STORY (865 ballots)

  • If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky (Apex Magazine, Mar-2013)
  • The Ink Readers of Doi Saket” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com, 04-2013)
  • Selkie Stories Are for Losers” by Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons, Jan-2013)
  • The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” by John Chu (Tor.com, 02-2013)

Note: category has 4 nominees due to a 5% requirement under Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution. Having not experienced any of the nominations for myself I have no vote.

BEST RELATED WORK (752 ballots)

  • Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It Edited by Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damian Thomas (Mad Norwegian Press)
  • Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary by Justin Landon & Jared Shurin (Jurassic London)
  • We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative” by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
  • Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer, with Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image)
  • Writing Excuses Season 8 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Jordan Sanderson
Having not experienced any of the nominations for myself I have no vote.

BEST GRAPHIC STORY (552 ballots)

  • Girl Genius, Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne & The Sleeping City written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
  • The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who” written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Jimmy Broxton (Doctor Who Special 2013, IDW)
  • The Meathouse Man adapted from the story by George R.R. Martin and illustrated by Raya Golden (Jet City Comics)
  • Saga, Volume 2 written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
  • Time” by Randall Munroe (XKCD)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG FORM) (995 ballots)

  • Frozen screenplay by Jennifer Lee, directed by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee (Walt Disney Studios)
  • Gravity written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Esperanto Filmoj; Heyday Films; Warner Bros.)
  • The Hunger Games: Catching Fire screenplay by Simon Beaufoy & Michael Arndt, directed by Francis Lawrence (Color Force; Lionsgate)
  • Iron Man 3 screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black, directed by Shane Black (Marvel Studios; DMG Entertainment; Paramount Pictures)
  • Pacific Rim screenplay by Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, directed by Guillermo del Toro (Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros., Disney Double Dare You)
Being one of the few humans left on the planet who hasn’t seen Frozen, I can’t give it my vote. And although Iron Man 3 is my favorite of the 5, the film that deserves the nomination most is, in my opinion, Gravity. It won my vote after seeing just the first ten minutes. Both Catching Fire and Pacific Rim underwhelmed me.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM) (760 ballots)

  • An Adventure in Space and Time written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Terry McDonough (BBC Television)
  • Doctor Who: “The Day of the Doctor” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Television)
  • Doctor Who: “The Name of the Doctor” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Television)
  • The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot written and directed by Peter Davison (BBC Television)
  • Game of Thrones: “The Rains of Castamere” written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
  • Orphan Black: “Variations under Domestication” written by Will Pascoe, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions; Space/BBC America)

Note: category has 6 nominees due to a tie for 5th place. Doctor Who (which I can’t stress enough is my favorite television program) once again dominates in this category with 4 out of the 6 nominations. All of which were great. But for those who know me personally they may remember that under another moniker (untempered_schism on Instagram or Ood on the Loo on GallifreyBase) that I received the Doctor Who: Series 7, Part 2 Blu-Ray a week earlier than the season actually finished (probably the highest point in my geek life). Seeing The Name of the Doctor earlier than most of the world and having to hold in the secret of John Hurt for A WHOLE WEEK emphasized the fact that this was a very important episode. At least to me. I’d have to give The Rains of Castamere second highest praise as it’s being the only thing I was literally mad at for being so good.

BEST EDITOR – SHORT FORM (656 ballots)

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Jonathan Strahan
  • Sheila Williams
Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

BEST EDITOR – LONG FORM (632 ballots)

  • Ginjer Buchanan
  • Sheila Gilbert
  • Liz Gorinsky
  • Lee Harris
  • Toni Weisskopf
Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST (624 ballots)

  • Galen Dara
  • Julie Dillon
  • Daniel Dos Santos
  • John Harris
  • John Picacio
  • Fiona Staples

Note: category has 6 nominees due to a tie for 5th place. Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

BEST SEMIPROZINE (411 ballots)

  • Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore, and Michael Damian Thomas
  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
  • Interzone edited by Andy Cox
  • Lightspeed Magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton, and Stefan Rudnicki
  • Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Sonya Taaffe, Abigail Nussbaum, Rebecca Cross, Anaea Lay, and Shane Gavin
Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

BEST FANZINE (478 ballots)

  • The Book Smugglers edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James
  • A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher
  • Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
  • Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Lynda E. Rucker, Pete Young, Colin Harris, and Helen J. Montgomery
  • Pornokitsch edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin
Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

BEST FANCAST (396 ballots)

  • The Coode Street Podcast Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
  • Galactic Suburbia Podcast Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
  • SF Signal Podcast Patrick Hester
  • The Skiffy and Fanty Show Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Julia Rios, Paul Weimer, David Annandale, Mike Underwood, and Stina Leicht
  • Tea and Jeopardy Emma Newman
  • Verity! Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • The Writer and the Critic Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond

Note: category has 7 nominees due to a tie for 5th place. The Verity! podcast is by far not my favorite Doctor Who podcast, but it’s the only podcast of the 7 I’m familiar with.

BEST FAN WRITER (521 ballots)

  • Liz Bourke
  • Kameron Hurle
  • Foz Meadows
  • Abigail Nussbaum
  • Mark Oshiro
Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

BEST FAN ARTIST (316 ballots)

  • Brad W. Foster
  • Mandie Manzano
  • Spring Schoenhuth
  • Steve Stiles
  • Sarah Webb
Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (767 ballots)

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2012 or 2013, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

  • Wesley Chu
  • Max Gladstone *
  • Ramez Naam *
  • Sofia Samatar *
  • Benjanun Sriduangkaew

*Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility. Having no knowledge of this area I refrain from opinion.

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