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Hugo Awards Announced (Live Blog)!
We are live at the 2012 Hugo Award ceremony, where the committee has reported a massive ballot turnout. As I write this, hundreds thousands of nerds are filing into the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in balmy Chicago in breathless anticipation. We’re live blogging the results, so refresh this post to get fresher and fresher results…that is, unless you decide you’d just as soon go get something to eat and then get your results all at once! Better yet, watch the live stream here. We are also tweeting results to all who follow @WWend.
8:16: I wasn’t sure how much I liked the 2012 trophies. All stacked together on the stage, however, they look great.
8:17: “We are diverse, and we are all in this together” - John Scalzi, this year’s MC (to great applause)
8:28 Scalzi presented David Kyle, who presented the “Big Heart” award Juanita Coulson, noted author and fan.
8:32: Best Fanzine goes to Robert (Bob) Weinberg.
8:36: A memorial for those who have died in the year since Renovation 2011, including the incomparable Ray Bradbury. Harry Harrison, Neil Armstrong, Anne Macaffrey, Sally Ride, Maurice Sendack and many authors, artists and fans, whom will surely be missed.
8:48: Analog Magazine editor, Stanley Schmidt (who received a standing ovation for lifelong career) is presenting the award for the John W. Campbell award for best new writer (not to be confused for the Campbell memorial award). The award goes to E. Lily Yu. Her reaction can be best described as shock. Jay Lake presented the diadem.
8:53: The base design for this year’s trophy (pictured above) is being explained by its creator, Deb Kosiba, who made each one by hand.
8:55: Scalzi’s stages of being nominated for a Hugo: elation, intimidation, bargaining, depression, nervousness. The nominees are currently experiencing number five. Personally, I think the story is dragging so as to intensify this stage for each of them.
9:00: The best fan artist award goes to Maureen Starkey.
9:04: The best fan writer award goes to Jim C. Hines. He said he isn’t used to being popular, as he first learned in high school: “It turns out that sewing a Star Trek patch onto your jean jacket isn’t the best way to get in with the cool kids.”
9:07: The best fancast (special category) award goes to SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente. That was NOT a surprise to me. Yes, there was much squeeing.
9:13 The best fanzine award goes to SF Signal edited by John DeNardo. We are spared the histrionics of Christopher J. Garcia. (Just kidding — I loved it last year)
9:20: The best semiprozine award goes to Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.
9:23: The best professional artist award goes to John Picacio (the crowd roars).
9:28: The best editor award (long form) goes to Betsy Wollheim.
9:33: The best editor award (short form) goes to Sheila Williams.
9:40: The best dramatic presentation (short form) award goes to “The Doctor’s Wife” (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales). Neal Gaiman accepted the award! Gaiman claims that Community is a Doctor Who spinoff, due to Inspector Spacetime’s presence on the show. Ha! Also “It would be the act of a fool or a madman to try to do it [write an ep] again. So I’m on my third draft.” (!)
9:53: The best dramatic presentation (long form) award goes to 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 (HBO). George R. R. Martin describes his original pitchmen as “mad fools” to think they could get his book on the small screen. He adds “sure, I wish we had two more hours every season.” He and I, both.
9:55: The best graphic novel award goes to Digger by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press). Scalzi, in the process of announcing the award, declares himself a sloppy fan of Neil Gaiman’s graphic work. Heh.
10:03: The best “related work” award goes to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz). Graham Sleight, accepting the award, says he thinks he might be dreaming. Scalzi promptly slaps him. “That,” Sleight responds, “is quality toastmastering.”
10:10: The best short story award, presented by Gardner Dozois, goes to “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March/April 2011).
10:12: “The novelette is the Goldilocks form of story. Not too short, not too long, just right” – Scalzi
10:14: The best novelette award goes to “Six Months, Three Days” by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com).
10:17: The best novella award goes to “The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s, September/October 2011).
And now for the big one….
10:21: The award for best novel goes to Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor). Ta Da!
Jo Walton’s story is a really great one for fans. She made the trip from fandom to authorship, and this award, I think, completes an extraordinary transition. I can’t wait to go back and read ALL five of her books.
10:24: Jo just said that she thinks the nominees are the important works (and so it doesn’t matter who wins). We agree, and this is EXACTLY why we list nominees so prominently in our tiled lists. We’re glad to see such a great author who thinks this way.
2012 World Fantasy Award Nominees
The nominees for the 2012 World Fantasy Award have been announced. The award will be presented at the World Fantasy Convention that takes place in Toronto, Canada, the weekend of November 1-4, 2012. The nominees in each category are:
Novel
• Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman (Ace)
• 11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
• A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
• Osama, Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
Novella
• ”Near Zennor”, Elizabeth Hand (A Book of Horrors)
• ”A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong”, K.J. Parker (Subterranean Winter 2011)
• ”Alice Through the Plastic Sheet”, Robert Shearman (A Book of Horrors)
• ”Rose Street Attractors”, Lucius Shepard (Ghosts by Gaslight)
• Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA Press; Clarkesworld)
Short Fiction
• ”X for Demetrious”, Steve Duffy (Blood and Other Cravings)
• ”Younger Women”, Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean Summer 2011)
• ”The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)
• ”A Journey of Only Two Paces”, Tim Powers (The Bible Repairman and Other Stories)
• ”The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld 4/11)
Anthology
• Blood and Other Cravings, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Tor)
• A Book of Horrors, Stephen Jones, ed. (Jo Fletcher Books)
• The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Harper Voyager US)
• The Weird, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Corvus; Tor, published May 2012)
• Gutshot, Conrad Williams, ed. (PS Publishing)
Collection
• Bluegrass Symphony, Lisa L. Hannett (Ticonderoga)
• Two Worlds and In Between, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press)
• After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer)
• Mrs Midnight and Other Stories, Reggie Oliver (Tartarus)
• The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, Tim Powers (Tachyon)
Artist
• John Coulthart
• Julie Dillon
• Jon Foster
• Kathleen Jennings
• John Picacio
Special Award Professional
• John Joseph Adams, for editing – anthology and magazine
• Jo Fletcher, for editing – Jo Fletcher Books
• Eric Lane, for publishing in translation – Dedalus books
• Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications
• Jeff VanderMeer & S.J. Chambers, for The Steampunk Bible
Special Award Non-Professional
• Kate Baker, Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
• Cat Rambo, for Fantasy
• Raymond Russell & Rosalie Parker, for Tartarus Press
• Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker blog
• Mark Valentine, for Wormwood
Congrats to all the nominees! Anything in this list surprise you? Among Others has now grabbed 5 award nominations including the 2011 Nebula win. Impressive.
2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Winners
The winners of the 2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award have been announced and we have a tie:
- The Islanders – Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
- The Highest Frontier – Joan Slonczewski (Tor Books)
The other nominees were:
- Embassytown (third place) – China Miéville (Ballantine Books/Del Rey)
- Osama (honorable mention) – Lavie Tidhar (PS Publishing)
- Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (Crown/Random House)
- This Shared Dream – Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor Books)
- Soft Apocalypse – Will McIntosh (Night Shade Books)
- Dancing with Bears – Michael Swanwick (Night Shade Books)
- Robopocalypse – Daniel H. Wilson (Simon & Schuster)
- Home Fires – Gene Wolfe (Tor Books)
- Seed – Rob Ziegler (Night Shade Books)
The award will be presented during the Campbell Conference and Awards Ceremony, July 5-8, 2012.
Congratulations to Joan Slonczewski and Christopher Priest and to all the nominees! What do you think of the results?
2012 Locus Award Winners Announced
Locus Magazine has announced the winners of the 2012 Locus Awards. The winners in the novel categories are:
- Science Fiction Novel: Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
- Fantasy Novel: A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
- Young Adult Novel: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends)
- First Novel: The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)
The complete list of all categories is available on the Locus web site. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees! So what do you think of the results?
2011 Nebula Award Winner
The 2011 Nebula Award winners were announced last night at the Forty-Seventh Nebula Awards Weekend ceremony in Arlington, Virginia. The winner for best novel is:
- Among Others – Jo Walton (Tor)
The other nominees in the novel category were:
- Embassytown – China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey; Subterranean Press)
- Firebird – Jack McDevitt (Ace Books)
- God’s War – Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
- Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti – Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
- The Kingdom of Gods – N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
See the complete list of winners in all categories on Locus Online.
Congrats to Jo Walton and all the nominees! What do you think of this result? Among Others is flying high with this win and still has 3 other nominations in the works. With 16 WWEnder ratings so far, it’s averaging 4 stars so you might want to check it out for yourself.
Graphic Stories, Unwrapped!
The fifth in our series of Hugo Voting articles (short story, novelette, novella, and related work preceding) is Best Graphic Story. Like Best Novel and Best Related Work, these books are rarely available online for free, but that is not without exception. Although the Hugo committee is likely to make novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories available for free for convention attendees and sponsors (a supporting membership is only $50), we do not believe graphic novels will be included in that reader packet. Consequently, you will need to find some online (two are free) and purchase/borrow/check out others, if you want to read them all.
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Digger, by Ursula Vernon is a webcomic, so may be read online for free. If you’d rather own the paper comic, each volume is about ten bucks, give or take, on Amazon.
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Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication is also online for free and begins here. Although dead tree versions of Schlock Mercenary are available, Force Multiplication does not seem to be in print, yet.
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Locke & Key Volume 4: Keys To The Kingdom, is in print, and the nominated volume 4 may be found at your local comic book shop or on Amazon or in electronic format on Comixology. If you’d like to start from the beginning, get volume 1.
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Fables Vol 15: Rose Red also does not appear to be available online. Volume 15 is $12, or you could start the whole series in dead tree or Kindle formats. The ebooks are formatted only for the Kindle Fire or Kindle for Android, however.
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The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan is also available in print and Kindle editions, but volume 4 (the volume that was nominated) is only available in print, so far.
If any more of these volumes become available for free online, we will update this post.
Links to all of the award winning novels are, as always, available through BookTrackr.
2012 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists
The Center for the Study of Science Fiction has announced the John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalists for 2012.
- Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (Crown/Random House)
- This Shared Dream – Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor Books)
- Soft Apocalypse – Will McIntosh (Night Shade Books)
- Embassytown – China Miéville (Ballantine Books/Del Rey)
- The Islanders – Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
- The Highest Frontier – Joan Slonczewski (Tor Books)
- Dancing with Bears – Michael Swanwick (Night Shade Books)
- Osama – Lavie Tidhar(PS Publishing)
- Robopocalypse – Daniel H. Wilson (Simon & Schuster)
- Home Fires – Gene Wolfe (Tor Books)
- Seed – Rob Ziegler (Night Shade Books)
The winner will be announced during the Campbell Conference, July 5-8, 2012.
Congratulations to all the nominees! What do you think of this list? Any surprises? With this nod, Embassytown, has garnered it’s 6th award nomination!
2012 British Fantasy Awards Shortlist
The British Fantasy Society has announced the shortlist for the 2012 British Fantasy Awards. This year there will be two awards in the best novel category: The August Derleth Award for best horror novel and The Robert Holdstock Award for best fantasy novel. The shortlist is:
- The Heroes – Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz)
- 11/22/63 – Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
- Cyber Circus – Kim Lakin-Smith (NewCon Press)
- A Dance with Dragons – George RR Martin (Harper Voyager)
- The Ritual – Adam Nevill (Pan)
- Among Others – Jo Walton (Tor Books)
See the official press release for the complete shortlist of all categories. Congratulations to all the nominees!
So what do you think of this lineup? How about the split between fantasy and horror? I think it’s pretty cool but only 6 novels made the list for 2 categories? Will it always be an even split between fantasy and horror in the shortlist? I can see this getting messey.
2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award Winner
The Testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers (Sandstone Press), has won the 2012 Arthur C. Clarke Award.
The announcement was made today at the SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival. For the win, Rogers received a check for £2012.00 and a commemorative engraved bookend trophy.
Congratulations to Jane Rogers on her win and to all the nominees:
- Hull Zero Three – Greg Bear (Gollancz)
- The End Specialist – Drew Magary (Harper Voyager)
- Embassytown – China Miéville (Macmillan)
- Rule 34 – Charles Stross (Orbit)
- The Waters Rising – Sheri S. Tepper (Gollancz)
2012 Locus Awards Finalists
Locus has announced the nominees for the 2012 Locus Awards. The winners will be announced at the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle, Washington with Master of Ceremonies, Connie Willis. The finalists in the novel categories are:
Science Fiction Novel
- Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- 11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
- Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
- Rule 34, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
- The Children of the Sky, Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Fantasy Novel
- A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
- Snuff, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)
- The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW; Gollancz)
- Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente (Tor)
- Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
First Novel
- Ready Player One, Ernest Cline (Crown; Century)
- God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade)
- Soft Apocalypse, Will McIntosh (Night Shade)
- The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)
- Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime)
Young Adult Book
- Planesrunner, Ian McDonald (Pyr)
- Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)
- Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs (Quirk)
- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends)
- Goliath, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK)
Visit Locus Online for the official press release and the complete list of finalists in all categories. Congrats to all the finalists and best of luck in June!
