2016 Hugo Award Nominees

Here are this year’s nominees.

I was hoping that last year’s kerfuffle would bring some changes to the process. I was wrong. Some of the titles (and authors) nominated are repugnant and represent the very worst in fandom.

Best Novel (3695 nominating ballots)

  • Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
  • The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
  • The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
  • Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
  • Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Best Novella (2416 nominating ballots)

  • Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
  • The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
  • Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
  • Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
  • Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)

Best Novelette (1975 nominating ballots)

  • “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb 2015)
  • “Flashpoint: Titan” by CHEAH Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
  • “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)
  • “Obits” by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)
  • “What Price Humanity?” by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)

Best Short Story (2451 nominating ballots)

  • “Asymmetrical Warfare” by S. R. Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)
  • The Commuter by Thomas A. Mays (Stealth)
  • “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015)
  • “Seven Kill Tiger” by Charles Shao (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
  • Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services)

Best Related Work (2080 nominating ballots)

  • Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986 by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
  • “The First Draft of My Appendix N Book” by Jeffro Johnson (jeffro.wordpress.com)
  • “Safe Space as Rape Room” by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
  • SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)
  • “The Story of Moira Greyland” by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)

Best Graphic Story (1838 nominating ballots)

  • The Divine written by Boaz Lavie, art by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka (First Second)
  • Erin Dies Alone written by Grey Carter, art by Cory Rydell (dyingalone.net)
  • Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams (ffn.nodwick.com)
  • Invisible Republic Vol 1 written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, art by Gabriel Hardman (Image Comics)
  • The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (2904 nominating ballots)

  • Avengers: Age of Ultron written and directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
  • Ex Machina written and directed by Alex Garland (Film4; DNA Films; Universal Pictures)
  • Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures; Kennedy Miller Mitchell; RatPac-Dune Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures)
  • The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm Ltd.; Bad Robot Productions; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form (2219 nominating ballots)

  • Doctor Who: “Heaven Sent” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay (BBC Television)
  • Grimm: “Headache” written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, directed by Jim Kouf (Universal Television; GK Productions; Hazy Mills Productions; Open 4 Business Productions; NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
  • Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile” written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television; ABC Studios; Tall Girls Productions;Netflix)
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: “The Cutie Map” Parts 1 and 2 written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller (DHX Media/Vancouver; Hasbro Studios)
  • Supernatural: “Just My Imagination” written by Jenny Klein, directed by Richard Speight Jr. (Kripke Enterprises; Wonderland Sound and Vision; Warner Bros. Television)

Best Editor, Short Form (1891 nominating ballots)

  • John Joseph Adams
  • Neil Clarke
  • Ellen Datlow
  • Jerry Pournelle
  • Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form (1764 nominating ballots)

  • Vox Day
  • Sheila E. Gilbert
  • Liz Gorinsky
  • Jim Minz
  • Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist (1481 nominating ballots)

  • Lars Braad Andersen
  • Larry Elmore
  • Abigail Larson
  • Michal Karcz
  • Larry Rostant

Best Semiprozine (1457 nominating ballots)

  • Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews, Nicole Lavigne, and Kate Marshall
  • Daily Science Fiction edited by Michele-Lee Barasso and Jonathan Laden
  • Sci Phi Journal edited by Jason Rennie
  • Strange Horizons edited by Catherine Krahe, Julia Rios, A. J. Odasso, Vanessa Rose Phin, Maureen Kincaid Speller, and the Strange Horizons staff
  • Uncanny Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky

Best Fanzine (1455 nominating ballots)

  • Black Gate edited by John O’Neill
  • Castalia House Blog edited by Jeffro Johnson
  • File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
  • Superversive SF edited by Jason Rennie
  • Tangent Online edited by Dave Truesdale

Best Fancast (1267 nominating ballots)

  • 8-4 Play, Mark MacDonald, John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson
  • Cane and Rinse, Cane and Rinse
  • HelloGreedo, HelloGreedo
  • The Rageaholic, RazörFist
  • Tales to Terrify, Stephen Kilpatrick

Best Fan Writer (1568 nominating ballots)

  • Douglas Ernst
  • Mike Glyer
  • Morgan Holmes
  • Jeffro Johnson
  • Shamus Young

Best Fan Artist (1073 nominating ballots)

  • Matthew Callahan
  • Christian Quinot
  • disse86
  • Kukuruyo
  • Steve Stiles

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (1922 nominating ballots)
Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2013 or 2014, sponsored by Dell Magazines. (Not a Hugo Award, but administered along with the Hugo Awards.)

  • Pierce Brown *
  • Sebastien de Castell *
  • Brian Niemeier
  • Andy Weir *
  • Alyssa Wong *

* Finalists in their 2nd year of eligibility.

5 replies on “2016 Hugo Award Nominees”

  1. But overall much better than last year. The majors are dominated by material that would have been nominated, and only “Best Related Work” (so far as I can determine) drifts into troll-territory.

    The Hugos have always been a mixed lot.

  2. What changes were you hoping for? It looks like the number of nominations is way up. This is great for a fan selected award.

    Oh, wait, are those wrongfans making those nominations? You’d rather have fewer trufans picking more correct nominations, is that it?

    Tough. I am a Libertarian free speech absolutist (don’t shut anybody up anytime). I know, I know, the Hugo’s are a organization and aren’t completely bound by the concept of free speech…… However, how would that jibe with their desire to represent SF fandom? They are reaping a windfall in memberships (and money) for nominating and voting, and I’m sure will have record numbers voting this year too.

    If you don’t like your fellow SF fans and if you don’t like their nomination choices, well that’s too bad.

    The Hugos have a chance to acknowledge the choices of all of fandom and choose winners from among those that were nominated, or..OR they could have another huge tantrum hissy fit and offer “No Awards” again, oh and also pass out backhanded insults to the nominees.

    So, we’ll see what happens. Believers that there are wrongfans and badfans and that fans that don’t hold to certain narratives are not welcome, can diminish SF and SF fandom if they want, or maybe the could realize that all fans have a voice and maybe there are more people who don’t believe lockstep thoughts like the trufans demand.

    And yes to be honest “If you were an Award, my Love” is biting, insulting, crass, satire (had to step away and read it before posting). But you know what, if awards weren’t handed out to drivel like the short story being parodied purely because of its political message (yes I read the original too and it is godawful literature), then this satire is being asked for. I’ll agree with you and hope it doesn’t win, because it itself is a pure political message piece itself, but satire is a thing because of this whole “only this political view is acceptable type of thinking”, its been that way since Jonathon Swift.

    The Hugos could ride a wave of new involvement and new notoriety and swelling fandom, and deal with things winning awards that they Hugo organizers do not like, or they can fight tooth and nail to destroy the relevance of the award just so they don’t have to shake hands with and hand the award to an author who doesn’t think like them….

    • Yes, the controversy has been simplified– by pretty much everyone. Yes, I would agree it’s good nominations are up. And yes, IMO, some of “Best Related” is more than a little problematic.

      And I don’t see why “No Award” shouldn’t be considered a valid vote, assuming a voter feels nothing nominated deserves the award.

      • The problem with “No Award” is that the Hugos may end up in a situation where the Rabid Puppies and the “establishment” folks are all voting it, and it becomes truly unbeatable in many categories. This does severe damage to the award’s relevance.

        In this scenario both the Rabid Puppies and the rabid trufans will get what they want. Trufans take their ball and go home, and the Rabid Puppies get to watch the Hugos burn. Do not think for a minute that Vox Day would not love that outcome.

        But it is the worst outcome for ALL the other fans (Sad Puppies, and more down to earth fans not so concerned about social signaling are all included in this bunch).

        It comes back to “can’t we all just get along”. Well I guess we’re going to see.

        Frankly I am sick to death of SF fandom being split into fractional camps, and I’m really sick to death of that happening to my country.

        This damn virtue signaling crap (And yes the related works category here is virtue signaling the Other way) has got to fucking stop. Can’t I just not have to even tell you, let alone have to defend my opinions on this thing that thing or the other thing. Believe it or not there actually things I really don’t actually give a shit about, so don’t make me (and everyone else) pick sides for every damn thing.

  3. Apparently, the nomination I’m most excited about (Tales to Terrify) is the result of a Puppies slate. I’ve narrated stories for them and was psyched to see them on the list.

    Even the editors debated pulling their name so as not to be associated with that group. But in the end, they let it stand as they feel they’ve warranted a nomination in their own right.

    Damned if you do…

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