Hugo-related things

[cahn]

Most time-critical: if you want to nominate for the Hugos and you don't have a Worldcon membership from last year (or, I think, the year before??) then today is the last day to register to be able to nominate for the Hugos. The cost is $50 for a supporting membership if you're not attending Worldcon (if you are, you probably don't need this post) and also comes with a packet containing copies of -- most? -- of the nominees. Nominations themselves are open until March.

Anyone know of any good Related Work I can check out? I'm so mad that last year there was so much good stuff, and this year I don't really know of anything except anti-Puppy stuff, which I don't want to put on my ballot.

Any novels I should read in the next month? Here is what I've read, or attempted to read, that was published in 2015, in order of how much I liked them:

Uprooted (...I will be super surprised if this doesn't win at least one of the Hugo or Nebula)
Ancillary Mercy
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Sorcerer to the Crown

The Library at Mount Char
The Buried Giant
Aurora (DNF) (probably not Robinson's fault; just wasn't in the mood)
Karen Memory (DNF)
The Grace of Kings (DNF)

I'm planning to read The Just City and maaaaybe The Dark Forest, but if there's something else I should be checking out, I'm willing to do that too.

Comments

[rymenhild]

N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season is another novel that you might consider for Best Novel.

[cahn]

Ahh, right! I shall put it on the list. (I did bounce off 100k Kingdoms, but that was a while ago.)

[luzula]

Do read The Just City! I'd love to hear what you think about it.

[cahn]

I read the Kindle sample and liked it! Library loan should be in pretty soon, I hope...

[seekingferret]

Best new SF novel I've read this year is still Chris Beckett's Mother of Eden, even though I think it has little chance of winning a Hugo as a sequel that hasn't gotten a lot of attention in the States. But I think you'd really enjoy the series- classic SF colonization story with heavy Biblical overtones and great characterization.

[seekingferret]

Also, I didn't know you'd read The Buried Giant. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

[cahn]

Hmm. I may post on this at some point at more length, but briefly: I didn't like it very much when I first read it, but it's grown on me since then. It's got a lot of interesting ideas, and I can kind of see what he's trying to do, but I'm not sure I quite thought he landed the execution, at least not in a way that was compelling to me. (There, I've used up most of my comma allotment for the day.)

[cahn]

Oh, I didn't realize this was Hugo-eligible! It did sound from your DW post like something I'd really like. *puts it on list*

[seekingferret]

FWIW, the full list of Hugo eligible novels I've read and reviewed is here: http://seekingferret.dreamwidth.org/tag/worldcon

At the moment my novel nominees remain the same- Mother of Eden, Uprooted, the Grace of Kings. Am debating adding Baru Cormorant and/or Ancillary Mercy.

[cahn]

*nods* Mine are currently the four up there -- Uprooted, Sorcerer to the Crown, Baru Cormorant, and Ancillary Mercy. ...and Dark Eden just came in at the library!

[forestofglory]

For Best Related work:

I really enjoyed Letters to Tiptree, which is as says a bunch of letters to James Tiptree, Jr. and various related persona. Lots of personal reading reactions and interesting thoughts on gender.

Invisible 2: Personal Essays on Representation in SF/F ed Jim C. Hines is bunch of personal essays on what it is like to not see yourself reflected in fiction.

Speculative Fiction 2014 ed Renay Williams and Shaun Duke is collection of stuff from the internet about SFF. Lots of good stuff in there.

I'm also thinking of nominating this essay. Not only because I really liked it but also because I thought it started some important conversions.

If you like epic fantasy you might try Black Wolves by Kate Elliot.

[cahn]

Oh, excellent. This gives me something to work off of :) Thanks!

[snickfic]

It is my understanding that Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge will be eligible (due to "not published in US until 2015" rule), and I rec that one really hard. It was my favorite novel of 2015 that I've read. I did also quite enjoy The Just City.

I anti-rec Seveneves, by Stevenson. Really, really not worth the time investment it would take to even check it out.

[cahn]

OH! I totally forgot Cuckoo Song was eligible! I too have read that and really liked it. (I have a weird relationship with Hardinge, though, where I read her books and they're clearly really good, but they don't necessarily resonate with me the way I think they do with other people.)

Heh. I was thinking of checking out Seveneves, and thought... eh, nah. Sounds like that was the right call :)