very brief Hugo thoughts

[cahn]

Argh, it's almost the end of nomination time and I was totally going to make a post and never did!

Best Novel
A Memory Called Empire (Martine)
Ninth House (Bardugo)
Raven Tower (Leckie)
...that's all I can think of right now, any other thoughts?

Best Novelette
For He Can Creep (Carroll) (I expected the title to only be tangentially related but I was happily surprised!) (thanks ambyr)
Dave's Head (Palmer) - I always love Palmer's short work, and this one I think is her best yet. (Also, for anyone who has read or will read this, I would like to talk about what is going on. (I think I have figured out most of what's going on except what exactly IS in the things.) (from psocoptera)

Best Short Story
Compassionate Simulation (Swirsky, Lee). Content note: abuse. ...This one hit me really hard. (I think this one is from psocoptera)

Best Related Work
hamsterwoman pointed out that we can nominate the article about John M. Ford in Slate by which I of course mean not only the article but the work described in that article of bringing together people so that his stuff can be republished! What a great idea!!

Comments

[sophia_sol]

Ooh yeah I loved a lot of what you listed in this post. In fact every single one of the works I've read that you list I thought was amazing. Please talk to me about Dave's Head! I definitely don't think I understood everything that was going on, though it was neat how well it worked as a story without being explicit about stuff.

Some other good stories from 2019 that come to mind:

Short story
The King's Mirror
Truth Plus
Gephyrophobia
Many-Hearted Dog and Heron who Stepped Past Time

Novella
To Be Taught, If Fortunate - Becky Chambers
Silver in the Wood - Emily Tesh

Novel
The True Queen - Zen Cho
A Choir of Lies - Alexandra Rowland
(really though A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE forever!!!!)

[cahn]

Oooooh thank you for the links! And HOW could I forget about Silver in the Wood, yes, that is going on my ballot too.

Ahhhhhhh I didn't realize the Rowland was eligible, I haven't gotten around to it yet but it is totally on my list as it sounds like I would really love it!

Dave's Head:
Okay, gonna ROT-13 this:
BX, fb, Pnffvr'f zbz jnf va anabgrpu, naq fur znqr fbzr xvaq bs gval anabgrpu guvat naq chg vg va gur ivnyf -- guvf vf gur cneg V qba'g xabj, ohg gur anabgrpu jvyy fbzrubj punatr gur jbeyq? znxr rirelbar rdhny?? naq Pnffvr'f qnq qbrfa'g yvxr gung orpnhfr vg jvyy qrfgnovyvmr uvf svanapvny rzcver naq vf gelvat gb trg vg (gur ivnyf) sebz ure. Ohg jung Pnffvr vf npghnyyl qbvat vf chggvat gur pbagragf bs gur ivny, yvggyr ol yvggyr, va ure unaq fnavgvmre, naq fur jbexf nf n terrgre ng gur nvecbeg fb rirel gvzr fur "fnavgvmrf" ure unaqf naq funxrf fbzrbar'f unaq fur fraqf gur yvggyr anabobgf (be jungrire gurl ner, lbh pna frr jul V jnag fbzrbar gb gryy zr jung gurl ner!) bss jvgu nabgure crefba gb punatr gur jbeyq yvggyr ol yvggyr.

[sophia_sol]

Glad I could remind you of Silver in the Wood and let you know that A Choir of Lies is eligible! :D

Dave's Head: V guvax lbh'er evtug nobhg gur anabobgf, V qvqa'g pngpu gung ersrerapr svefg gvzr guebhtu ohg gung znxrf frafr! Jung V zbfg jnag gb xabj vf JUNG gur anabobgf (be jungrire) ner tbvat gb qb gb svk guvatf gubhtu, naq V qba'g guvax gurer ner rabhtu uvagf gb grnfr gung bhg. Nynf!

[cahn]

Yeeeeeah I want to know what the effect is too!! I was wondering whether she'd left clues to it in the story but I certainly didn't catch it at the time if she did. I may try to reread later with that in mind.

[sophia_sol]

When I reread yesterday I didn't manage to pick up on any clues about the effect but I might still be missing something. Let me know if you do catch anything more in a reread!

[snickfic]

Now that I've read it, I agree with your rot13. And yeah, I don't think there's anything in there about what the effect is. I really enjoyed the story, though - I loved all three of the characters, and Cassie's such a fun narrator. I was SO pleased when I realized the narrator was a "green-haired skinny chick."

[cahn]

Grr, that's rather irritating -- I think the story would have been better if she'd put in *some* clue as to that, even a very slight one. But yay, I'm glad you liked the story! I really liked it.

[cahn]

Wow, these short stories were *excellent*. The only one I didn't absolutely adore was "Many-Hearted Dog," and I think that was a stylistic thing. The others are definitely going on my ballot, thanks!

[sophia_sol]

yessss, I'm delighted you enjoyed these stories! Many-Hearted Dog is actually arguably my favourite of the bunch, lol, but different people can definitely have very different reactions to the same story and I do adore the others too

[cahn]

hahahaha yes just because we agree on 90% of our noms doesn't mean we can't differ on 10%, that's probaly good so we don't get flagged as a slate nom anyway, hee.

[sophia_sol]

I'm actually not a nominating member so no slate worries here! :P It's reading your post that made me realise, oh hey, these days I can afford to be a Hugo member, I should sign up! But it was too late for noms, I can only vote this year, alas.