This is an obvious one, being a discrete and single tale over seven hours.
I wish people would nominate whole seasons of TV more in this category. Consider this my one outright recommendation – nominate Undertale for a Hugo. Although his selections are an underwhelming set of mediocrities, it’s a good idea, and 2015 did bring us a SF/F game whose contributions to storytelling are going to be remembered and discussed for decades a game that’s already been voted the greatest ever. Hat tip to Vox Day for the realization/reminder that video games are eligible for Best Dramatic Presentation. Beautiful and intelligent and vibrantly 2015, and also I just have no idea which of the three volumes of Ms. Marvel off, this is Warren Ellis tackling accelerationism, with a direct parody of the CCRU from which Nick Land emerged. He gave us one anyway.Ī late addition that caused me to regretfully nudge Ms. This is not a category where I’m comfortable saying I have a clear frontrunner – these are just too good a set of five – this is certainly the one I am most invested in seeing on the ballot.Ī properly surprising Alan Moore comic, in that I don’t think anyone expected a fiercely intelligent, genuinely terrifying sci-fi/zombie story from him in 2015. It’s WicDiv easily my favorite comic series.īitch Planet Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine (Kelly Sue DeConnick and Vallentine De Landro) The Wicked + The Divine Vol 2: Fandemonium (Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) Marvel, XKCD, Digger, and Saga would make me happy. Probably.ĭoesn’t look like there was a new print collection of this, so it would just be for the 2015 strips, but it’s been a consistently amazing comic, and a list that includes it, Ms. I probably enjoyed the Ellis more, but in a category long on my own idiosyncrasies due to my two self-noms I decided to err on the side of popular taste. In a quantum superposition with Warren Ellis’s Cunning Plans. You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Felicia Day) The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings (Philip and Carol Zaleski) That said, the Hugos are, by design, a popularity contest, and I doubt I’m popular enough. I won’t lie, I think both of them are the equal of anything that’s won in this category in recent memory. Guided by the Beauty of Their Weapons (Phil Sandifer) It’s About Ethics in Revolution (Kameron Hurley) It doesn’t matter this is one of her best. You can fairly complain that Vernon has written this exact story before.
Valente)Īnother category with a clear and unquestionable frontrunner for me, this is one of my favorite authors at her best. The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild (Catherynne M. Stumbled on this late while trawling the Hugo Nominees Wikia for a fifth choice, and was absolutely blown away by it. The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps (Kai Ashante Wilson) I went looking for some compelling afrofuturism, because this seemed like a really good year to honor it. What more could they possibly want?Īs a Paul Cornell fan who eagerly awaited the release of No Future, it’s thrilling to see him killing it in the mainstream.
The failure of the Puppies to nominate Phyl-Undhu last year is really the best demonstration available of how, much like “Men’s Rights Advocates” do not actually advocate for the rights of men so much as attack women, they do not actually advocate for a right-wing literature so much as complain that people enjoy different books than them. More interesting and compelling right-wing science fiction than literally anything on the ballot last year. Still, a Hugo ballot without it feels unimaginable to me. I admit this as a ridiculously sentimental pick that would not be on my ballot were it not the author’s last book.
I’ve been switching this and Seveneves back and forth repeatedly, and may continue to do so as the voting deadline approaches. This is a genuine masterpiece with a last line almost as astonishing as its first.īetter than the first volume, as I’ve said, and the first volume was a perfectly acceptable Hugo winner.
Really hoping Patreon backers pick it for a bonus essay. Retro Hugos will be done another day.Įasily the best of the pack here. And probably beyond that, because frankly, it’s just a good idea to have a public conversation so that more casual fans who want to play the Game of Rockets can do so. That said, I maintain my position that talking openly about our Hugo preferences and thoughts is the best way to combat attempts to hijack the Hugos while we wait for E Pluribus Hugo to pass in August. If you submit a Hugo ballot that looks exactly like this you are a deeply lame human being who should feel bad about yourself. Let me start by making something as clear as I possibly can.