2017 Hugo nominations - a rough cut

Here's my first draft of Hugo nominations, at least the ones I care about (read - the fan stuff, because as far as I'm concerned the saving grace of the Hugos is getting to cheer on the people who've made me a better reader).  I haven't yet gone through & reviewed the linkposts I did intermittently this year, the 25 or so links I have saved for future linkposts, or really looked at the Hugo Nom spreadsheet of Doom or Wiki (though I'll try to add some things to them soon, pending move and life and whatnot), so I reserve the right to change these.  I am, however, going to try to stick to 5, in the spirit of how Hugos actually work.

(This is technically also an award eligibility post, since I am nominating myself for the thing* I am eligible for)

Fancast -
Storyological is the best genre podcast out there.  The short story discussions are excellent, Chris and E. G. have great banter while staying close the the topic & getting in and out quickly.  I love it.

Fangirl Happy Hour is appointment listening for me, and I think Renay & Ana have hit their stride this year.  Their chemistry is great, I'm often surprised by the topics they come up with, and I am always delighted by the discussions.  Whether talking about a movie I half-remember, a comic I'm only vaguely aware of, or engaging with a book or story I've read (yes, these are my favorite segments, but I'm glad that they're sprinkled among many others, because I've learned to love and examine what I love by listening to Renay & Ana love and examine what they love), I genuinely enjoy their discussions.  The fangirls are enthusiastic about what they enjoy, honest and thoughtful in their criticism, and willing to examine their own biases.  I aspire to do half as well.

Flash Forward has been a little bit uneven this year as Rose Eveleth got herself a real job making other really good podcasts, but also it's an excellent podcast that shows why she got a real job making really good podcasts.  The imagined futures each episode are delightful & thought-provoking, and Rose always finds guests and angles that I wouldn't have expected to examine further implications.

Cabbages & Kings.  I'm pretty proud of my podcast this year, even if I didn't get out as many episodes as I'd hoped (sorry!).  I'd recommend the Clarke Award discussions, and my interview with Jenn Brissett, in which you can hear her explaining her book to me & me saying "oohhh ... now I get it!" right in the midst of the interview, because I'm a fan, not a professional.  What're your favorites?

Midnight in Karachi - Mahvesh remains the best author interviewer I've listened to.  Her discussion with Indra Das was excellent, if you need a place to start.  (Also, listen to Mahvesh be excited about interviewing Margaret freaking Atwood!) (Hugo neepery - as this is affiliated with tordotcom, it may not be eligible as a "fan" thing.  I think it should qualify, and I'm nominating it.  The judges can correct me if they'd like) (Further neepery - I'm *pretty sure* that the plain meaning** of fancast precludes fiction podcasts.  The community has seemed to agree in the past.  But last year a fiction podcast made the five finalists.  So maybe Podcastle & whatnot should be included and fancast can become a weird second best-editor-short-fiction category, since I'm sure the fiction podcasts would swamp anything else I've mentioned)

A few notes - I have a tendency to look at recommendation lists as white as this with a jaundiced eye, and wonder what wonders the recommender simply ignores.   I'm aware of at least three genres of fancasts that I'm more or less unaware of.  There are a bunch of blerd podcasts - I've enjoyed Nerds of Prey when I listened.  In general, these tend to be a bit longer & heavier on the "friends hanging out" dynamic than *I* like, which is why I don't stick with them.  Your mileage may vary, and I'd suggest trying them.  I don't watch youtube book review people (BookTubers, I think they call themselves), because really if you're watching TV it should be science experiments with kids, DS9 or Gilmore Girls, amirite?  I'm aware of Claire Rousseau and SFF180 because they are also on Twitter, you could start there.  I also don't really do TV recap/discussion shows, so no Down and Safe, no Game of Thrones or Westworld fan theories, no Star Trek discussions for me.  Again, if that's your cup of tea, I am a bad recommender.

Fan Writer -
Vajra Chandrasekara remains excellent.  Here are reviews of Binti & Ballad of Black Tom.

Abigail Nussbaum is also excellent (I'll *read* reviews of TV shows, just not listen).  Here's her reviews of the Clarke shortlist.

Megan of CouchToMoon is my favorite writer out there now, and definitely in the "fan" category.  Her reviews are biting where she's critical, thoughtful where warranted, and she's very good at picking out what she does like.  Plus, she's inspiring me to read much farther afield than I would have otherwise.  (And yes, that's exactly why I invited her on the podcast)

Charles Payseur does excellent and copious short fiction reviews (again, why I invited him to contribute to Cabbages & Kings), and is another who I think sits firmly & deservedly in the "Fan" category

OJ Cade - I'm recommending her based on the Food & Horror series (about which more below).  This may change, but that series was excellent, and I'd be delighted to nominate her on its strength alone.

Fanzine -
LadyBusiness is the best blog going right now.  They've got a strong group of contributors, regular installments that I appreciate, and individual essays and series that pop up & generally delight me.

Nerds of a Feather is also good, and seems to fall well within the "fan zine" intended meaning.

SF In Translation from Rachel Cordasco popped up this year, and I'm finding it really useful as I try to stretch my reading.  There's an essay from Linda Holmes that I think about frequently about what you build and how that can be seen in who and what come out of it.  A host of regular contributors to SFSignal have gone on to other great things, and this is one that I've been particularly pleased to see grow.

I dunno, what else? (I object to File770 for various reasons that have been litigated plenty on Twitter, but otherwise I'm open to suggestions)

Best Related Work -
Speculative Blackness took my understanding of what Science Fiction is, how black authors and artists fit within it, and turned it at a sharp angle in a really helpful way.  Plus, it demonstrated really useful reading techniques that I'm still trying to incorporate into my own thoughts.  I need to reread this and follow up both on the art professor Carrington recommended and the reading methods he encourages.

Modern Masters of Science Fiction: Octavia E Butler.  Gerry Canavan's book is excellent. It's readable, and follows Butler's biography and bibliography, along with insights from the copious journals, rough drafts, and revisions newly available at the Huntington Library.  Nuanced without ever feeling voyeuristic, this made me re-evaluate my picture of Butler and her works, as well as inspiring me to read those I haven't encountered yet.

Food and Horror: This sequence at Book Smugglers by OJ Cade was amazing.  Thorough and thoughtful, Cade has inspired me to want to read horror, and to bring a clearer understanding of the impact of the stories.

Nothing Beside Remains - Jonathon McCalmont's history of the New Weird is really interesting even as I'm mostly oblivious to what the New Weird is/was.  I'd particularly recommend the conclusion, and his ideas about what it means to identify literary movements either in hindsight or as they coalesce.

I'm undecided beyond that.  Maybe Kate Elliott's "Writing Women Characters into Epic Fantasy Without Quotas" or Sarah Gailey's series at tordotcom, or Jared & Mahvesh's reread of Dragonlance? Help me out here people - there must be something better!

I'm still hopelessly at sea for fiction.  "One Way Out", the blog entry is going in my short story ballot.  Ballad of Black Tom, A Taste of Honey, and Bethany will probably all be on my novella ballot.  (briefly on Bethany - it's Adam Roberts writing about traveling back to the time of Christ.  If you're familiar with Adam Roberts, that will tell you whether you'll enjoy this immensely as I did.  If you've not read him yet, I can personally vouch for Jack Glass, and have heard only good things about The Thing Itself).  I liked Obelisk Gate and Wall of Storms.  Neither quite as much as their predecessors, but both of those were on my ballot last year, and these probably will be this year, and I'd guess Everfair will join them.  I didn't read all that many 2016 novels.  Here's my reading log so far if you're so inclined.

Strange Horizons will be on my semiprozine ballot.

I'll leave graphic novels, movies, and TV shows to other people.  I'd nominate series if any of the series that I'm following were long enough, but until then, I'll ignore the category because that's far too much effort to invest for Hugo nomination purposes. I also reserve the right to change everything up there as I'm reminded of or pointed to other good works.  Leave me a note in the comments, or stop by the Cabbages & Kings Imzy page to discuss further!

*I am technically eligible in fanzine because I have text - namely the transcripts, and as a fan writer because I wrote words about SFF in the last year, but whatever nominations I get'll be in fancast. Last year I did not make the longlist of nominated podcasts, a result I don't expect to change, but that's mostly beside the point.

**Section 3.3.13 of the constitution which I can only find here as an ugly PDF says "and that does not qualify as a dramatic presentation." and 3.3.7 & 3.3.8 specify Dramatic Presentation as "Any television program or other production, with a complete running time of 90 minutes or less, in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects" which I think should exclude fiction podcasts, except Tales to Terrify was a finalist, so what do I know?

Best Fancast

I've been reminded that in 2 weeks, Kansas City hosts WorldCon, an annual Science Fiction/Fantasy convention where (among other things), the Hugo awards will be handed out.  During WorldCon, the WSFSBM (World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting) will happen, and among other things, the group will decide whether or not to retain the Best Fancast category for the Hugo awards.  (This is small potatoes compared to other business, but I care a little bit about podcasts because I listen to them a lot and make one).

tl;dr - There are a lot of good fancasts worth of being recognized.  I'm not sure the award text, admins, or community are well suited to doing that, but that's par for the course with the Hugos.

I've had a little rant about Best Fancast building for a while, so I'm just going to spit it out here rather than clogging Twitter timelines.  I have a bit of a dog in the fight, since I host a podcast (apologies for the summer hiatus) that is eligible for Best Fancast, but I think the odds of being nominated are pretty slim, and I'll be happy with Cabbages & Kings with or without a Hugo nod.

So - on its surface I think that Best Fancast is a remarkably excellent and forward-looking award.  We're possibly in the midst of a podcast boom, and there are still niches being carved out specifically oriented around speculative fiction: there's the old guard - some SFF-focused friends sitting and chatting (last year's winners Galactic Suburbia, The Cooode St Podcast, and Fangirl Happy Hour, among others), the person or people interviewing guests (often authors on book tour, but we'll try not to hold that against them) (Skiffy & Fanty, Cooking the Books, and Tea & Jeopardy come to mind, along with Midnight in Karachi, which to my mind is the best of the bunch) (Cabbages & Kings kind of fits here), there are comics-adjacent friends chatting, and a whole slew of blerd podcasts that often touch on SFF stuff (shout out to Nerds of Prey, though I admit that in general these are too rambly for my tastes).  There are some difficult to categorize podcasts finding their own way (Flash Forward pod is the best, but also Imaginary Worlds, a part of the Panoply network), and I don't even know about Booktube, the various show recap/discussion podcasts, behemoths like The Incomparable network, and I'm sure many others.  It's a good time for fan podcasts, broadly defined.

But ... (of course there's a but, actually a few).

Here's the text of the amendment:

3.3.14: Best Fancast. Any generally available non-professional audio or video periodical devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that by the close of the previous calendar year has released four (4) or more episodes, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, and that does not qualify as a dramatic presentation.

The fan community has generally assumed that "does not qualify as a dramatic presentation" means no fiction podcasts (no Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, or Uncanny, to name a few magazines that are often up for Hugos in one way or another).  This means that many of the podcasts that people love to listen to (the above, plus things like Black Tapes, Limetown, Escape Pod, or Glittership) are out.  Which kinda makes sense in terms of not awarding the same thing many times, but doesn't make a lot of sense in terms of how people think about podcasts.  Lots of podcast fans listen to fiction podcasts.  Many listen only to fiction podcasts.  And then they can't nominate their favorite podcasts, which is dumb.  Especially since this year's nominees include Tales to Terrify, which seems to be a fiction podcast.  Maybe next year Lightspeed, Clarkesworld and Uncanny can duke it out here, too.  Or maybe the admins just made a mistake?

Then there's the "non-professional", which I think was an attempt to make sure that Geeks Guide to the Galaxy didn't win everything (have you listened? their production values are not professional), but then ends up (maybe? probably? no way to ask the admins) excluding Writing Excuses, Rocket Talk (which is often interested in fandom writ large), and one of my favorites Midnight in Karachi.  It's not clear to me that there are professional podcasts with an unfair advantage in the Hugos that need excluding.  It's pretty clear that there are some which seem to be pretty fannish that seem to be excluded.

So the award text isn't great.  And I'm not sure it's being administered well.  Then there's the actual people nominating for hugos.  Even setting aside the current puppy debacle, it's not clear that the big exciting picture I painted of new podcasts and genres popping up is being seen by the folks who nominate for hugos.  I try to keep my ear out for good new podcasts, and while I see a lot of interest in various fiction podcasts that appear, I don't see a lot of nonfiction/discussion podcasts being mentioned.  Or YouTube channels being cheered.  It's not clear to me that the community that's voting for their favorite blogs & best novels/short stories has enough overlap with podcast listeners to meaningfully award this category.  It's dumb when because of their voting community Locus puts up "best of" award nominees that look like men write SF, women write fantasy, and Joe Abercrombie writes YA.  If the Hugo voting group isn't interested enough in the variety of speculative fiction podcasts out there to come up with a good list of nominees, then maybe the award isn't well served by the fans.  The Parsecs exist, after all. (Though I know very little about them)

Every objection there (that the category is not well-defined to meet the actual way people are consuming media these days, that the administration doesn't seem clear, and that the voting community might not know enough to hand out a representative award) could almost certainly be applied to just about every other Hugo Award category, of course.

So in two weeks, the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting will vote (among other things), on whether to keep best Fancast.  I honestly don't much care which way they vote, and I'm not sure which way I'd vote if I were there.  A feature of the Hugos is that the award categories are such that they can be endlessly argued.  Might as well keep around one more to argue about, I guess? Or maybe this should be the hill to die on where fans valiantly take a stand and say an award's not worth handing out if we can't do it pretty well?  (Though I think YA is the category that keeps ending up on that hill, and I think the gendered aspects of that market explain that pretty damn well).

Rachel Acks will probably be liveblogging.  Galen Charlton may be tweeting again.  I'll be paying attention.  Yay impending WSFSBM!