Rosemary Kirstein

I find it impossible to believe that you haven’t already seen the list of this year’s Hugo Award winners somewhere else… It’s all over the Internet, of course.  However, just in case this is your only contact with the world of SF/F fandom and publishing, here are the winners:

Best Novel : The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

Best Novella : All Systems Red, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

Best Novelette: The Secret Life of Bots,” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, September 2017)

Best Short Story: Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex, August 2017)

Best Series: World of the Five Gods, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Harper Voyager / Spectrum Literary Agency)

Best Related Work: No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Best Graphic Story: Monstress, Volume 2: The Blood, written by Marjorie M. Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Wonder Woman, screenplay by Allan Heinberg, story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, directed by Patty Jenkins (DC Films / Warner Brothers)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: “The Trolley Problem,” written by Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan, directed by Dean Holland (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television)

Best Editor, Short Form: Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas

Best Editor, Long Form: Sheila E. Gilbert

Best Professional Artist: Sana Takeda

Best Semiprozine: Uncanny Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Julia Rios; podcast produced by Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

Best Fanzine: File 770, edited by Mike Glyer

Best Fancast: Ditch Diggers, presented by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace

Best Fan Writer: Sarah Gailey

Best Fan Artist: Geneva Benton

And the non-Hugo Awards also presented at the ceremony:

Award for Best Young Adult Book: Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Rebecca Roanhorse

For a list that includes all the nominees, head over to the official Hugo Awards website where they also have a link to the detailed voting results.

Or you could pop over to Tor.com, where the comments stream also has some interesting info.

And as you probably also already know (but just in case you don’t) N.K. Jemisin just made history by being the first person to ever win the Hugo for Best Novel three years in a row.

And here’s her acceptance speech, which made me cry:

 

I had planned to watch a live stream of the Hugo ceremony on Sunday, but  forgot to set an alarm.  Somewhere along about 2AM I looked up from my work and said, “Wait — did I miss it?”  And yes, I had.

On the one hand, alas; on the other (as Ms. Jemisin states most definitely, above) the way to get ahead is to work your ass off.  So, I regret nothing.  Well, I do, a bit.  But it was a good night of work, so it was worth it.

And I should get back to it.  I’m going to be at a four-day social event starting on Friday, and I need to rack up enough word-count to justify the inevitable resulting word non-count.

 

 

Still on the home version of a writing retreat. Sort of like house arrest, but with writing.  Plus, at my office instead of at home.

No blogging, I am hard at work! But as consolation, here are Some Things possibly of interest:

1. Cool video! You should go full-screen.

 

2. Articles by Jo Walton on Tor.com about her Thessaly Series.

The Baroque Inspiration

The Platonic Inspiration

The Original Inspiration

3. Couldn’t make it to WorldCon?  You can watch the entire Hugo Awards Ceremony on UStream.
Live Streaming Api (The Campbell award, with first bonus astronaut, is at 34:00.  Best Dramatic Presentation, long form, with second bonus astronaut, is at about 1:08.  Hey, I like astronauts. Fiction awards start at about 1:24.)

That’s it for now.  Must put post-its on whiteboard, draw connecting lines, and muse further.

 

Hooray!

I was worried that I’d waited too long sending in my request to be a program participant — but nope, I just got confirmation that they want me.  So happy!  It’s been a few years since I’ve been on the program at a Worldcon.

Do you not know what Worldcon is?  I know that my longtime readers do know, but I think I acquired a slew of new readers in the last year  — at least, that’s what my sales figures suggest.  (Unless some of you are buying multiple copies of the books, which would be nice, but odd…)

It’s the World Science Fiction Convention, science fiction and fantasy’s annual meet & schmooze & learn-new-stuff-about-SF&F & party & shop & greet event.  It’s a blast.  It’s also the event at which the Hugo Awards are given out, always exciting.  Well, to me.   Some people skip the awards ceremony and just party instead.

This year it’s being held in Kansas City, Missouri, a place I have never been.   An awful lot of my travels have been centered around Worldcon.   I’ve been to Boston, Chicago, San Antonio.   Toronto, Winnipeg!   Atlanta, San Jose, Orlando, Philadelphia, Denver.  And Glasgow!  I missed London, alas, couldn’t be helped.  Last year in Spokane, I didn’t get on the program, so I was there purely as an attendee (which did serve to remind me that it’s especially enjoyable to be at Worldcon when you have no responsibilities).

If you’ve never been, you should really try it.   And if you’re local to Kansas City, Missouri, you can pop in for a day (easier on the budget).   At least once in your lifetime, go to a Worldcon.  And if it turns out that you like it — there’s one every year.

Also, people who have signed up as members get to vote on the Hugo Awards.   The finalists have been selected, and the voting starts May 15th.

You can check out the list of finalists at the Worldcon website here.

(Last year there was a certain amount of — how shall I put it — fuss and bother about the Hugo voting.   And some of that has spilled over into this year.   But the simple thing to do is read the nominated works and vote for the ones you think actually deserve an award. )

In other news:  This weekend there’s a reunion of my former writer’s group, The Fabulous Genrettes.   Can’t wait!

 

 

Back from Worldcon, having arrived home at an ungodly hour on Monday night while needing to get up mere hours later for the Day Job, at which I had a full week of work already waiting for me, while the current week’s work did not pause in rolling in.  I have not been able to catch up at all, in tasks or in sleep.

Well: hooray weekend.   (I intended to put an exclamation point at the end of that, but I’m too tired to back-arrow and fix it.)  I plan to sleep lots, enabling me to be up at the peculiar hours of the night that coincide with my best writing time.

I’ll say more tomorrow…

Preview:

Hugos: very interesting indeed, and well worth being there.

Readings attended: Jo Walton, Ada Palmer, Pat Cadigan, & more.

Panels: glad I went.

Music at Jo Walton’s party: So much fun, with Ada Palmer and Lauren Schiller of Sassafrass there, plus Patrick Neilsen Hayden, with surprise performance by me.

Music not at Jo Walton’s party: Astonishing stuff onstage from Ada and Lauren and Patrick.

Spokane: lots of smoke.  Lovely town, not usually this smoky (all those wildfires you hear about on TV?  Yeah.  There were very nearby).

Loved the park.

 

 

 

 

I’m using my fave Laphroaig. Use your own fave whatever ya got.

I was able to follow the awards ceremony on Twitter. Next best thing to live. So, I got the scoop!

The Hugo winners:

for Best Novel: Among Others by Jo Walton

for Best Novella: “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s, September/October 2011)

for Best Novelette: “Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)

Best Short Story: “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

Best Related Work: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight

Best Graphic Story: Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form): Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): “The Doctor’s Wife” (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (Three of the five nominated works were Doctor Who episodes)

Best Editor, short form: Sheila Williams (She edits Asimov’s Magazine)

Best Editor, long form: Betsy Wollheim

Best Professional Artist: John Picacio

Best Semiprozine: Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al — this is the first time they’ve won since Charles Brown passed away.

Best Fanzine: SF Signal edited by John DeNardo

Best Fan Writer: Jim C. Hines

Best Fan Artist: Maurine Starkey

Best Fancast -this is a brand new category, for podcasts: winner is SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente

The John W. Campbell Award for the best new writer: E. Lily Yu I feel I must rush out and read this woman’s work.

PS: Our Beloved President (of SFWA) John Scalzi was a charming host (until the minions of hell cut him off). I’ve always enjoyed his blogs and books; it’s nice to see he’s as likeable live as he seems in print. He was obviously THRILLED to be toastmaster and MC, and brought more than an occasional tear to my jaded eyes.