Hugo Nominations for 2009 Wanted

Well, it's getting to that time of the year again!  Hugo nominations are due March 13th.  If there's anything I ought to read in order to nominate it, now is the time to tell me.

As usual, last year I read all sorts of stuff (much of which was discussed here, findable via the Books category filter) that doesn't qualify either because it wasn't published in 2009 or because it wasn't F&SF.  So my first pass at nominations is pretty short:

I'm definitely nominating Palimpsest for Best Novel and Watchmen in DP-Long Form.  I will also nominate the opening montage of Watchmen in DP-Short Form, though I don't expect that to get anywhere.  But I thought it stood by itself and was absolutely fantastic -- more consistently so than the movie as a whole.  I am undecided as to whether to nominate Star Trek in DP-LF.  I loved it with happy nostalgic Trekkie love, but in many ways it was a terribly silly movie.

I'm probably nominating Seanan McGuire (Rosemary and Rue) for the Campbell (Not A Hugo) Award for best new writer.

I'm inclined to wait to nominate Terry Moore's Echo until the story is complete and then nominate the work as a whole if it ends strongly.

And then I'm coming up empty.  That's not a crisis; I don't always nominate much, if anything, though lately I'm making a point of reading all the fiction nominees once they're determined.  But if there's any work published in 2009 that anyone feels passionately about, please suggest it in the comments so I have time to locate and read it before the deadline.

I'll take suggestions in other categories as well, but since I'm not likely to watch any additional DPs and none of the other categories require as much lead time as the fiction ones, those are somewhat less urgent.

Comments

[Serge]

In the media section, I might nominate "Sherlock Holmes" and Star Trek's "Blood and Fire".

In the graphic section, "Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time", definitely, and not just because it features Carl Sagan using a ray gun to wipe out a lovecraftian horror.

In the prose section... Does anything from Asimov's January issue qualify? After all, the mag came out in December.

[Serge]

Note to myself... Anthology "Ravens in the Library"

[Susan de Guardiola]

I wouldn't call Sherlock Holmes fantasy or science fiction.

Magazine eligibility goes by the cover date, so the January issue is a 2010 issue, regardless of when it actually appeared.

Anthologies are not eligible as a whole; you can nominate a story (or stories), or the editor in Editor-Short Form.

[Neil W]

I am almost certain that Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold is eligible. Mostly due to my reading habits, I can't think of anything else that I've read that was published in the relevant time period* that I think ought to be considered. I liked it a lot, although you have to be willing to allow Abercrombie to play with your expectations... I can't say more without spoiling an especially good scene.

* Possibly Paul J McAuley's The Quiet War but if so it's due to some technicality of US publication dates.

[Serge]

Susan... Good idea, to nominate the editor of that anthology. As for Holmes, well, the plot at the end sort-of hinges on a certain device. On the other hand, Tesla had already discovered radio waves by then so it's not an SF machine.

[Marilee J. Layman]

I'm almost always about eight years behind, unless something just came out that I needed to read, so I'm no help.

[Serge]

Marilee... I'm in the same position, where novels are concerned, especially nowadays with so many of them first coming out in hardcover. Have I ever mentionned that I dislike hardcovers?
("many times, Serge, many times.")
Heheheh

[Michael A. Burstein]

There's a few things out there I would recommend, but as always, I'd like to take this opportunity to be self-serving. :-)

Last year, I had an audio play produced by The Chronic Rift podcast, an adaptation of my short story "Decisions." It would be eligible in Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, if anyone is so inclined.

There's a link on the right side of my blog page to the mp3 for anyone who wants to download and listen to it.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Neil,
I've ordered Best Served Cold.

Michael,
Tell me the other people's stuff too -- I have oodles of space on my ballot.

[Serge]

You want suggestions, Susan?
Come up right here.

[Michael A. Burstein]

I'll try to put together my list soon; I often get it done at the last minute. But a few novels from last year I enjoyed were "Time Travelers Never Die" by Jack McDevitt, "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman, "WWW: Wake" by Robert J. Sawyer, and "Marsbound" by Joe Haldeman.

Also, I've got Susan de Guardiola listed under Fan Writer. :-)

[Michael A. Burstein]

By the way, for some reason I don't get the comment box in Safari. I had to open Firefox to reply...

[Susan de Guardiola]

Aw, geez, you guys are making me blush. I do not really rate on the fan writer scale.

Michael,
No clue on the browser issue, alas. It works for me from either one.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Michael,
My last experience with a Sawyer novel did not impel me to try another one unless it actually makes the ballot. Let me see which of the others I can get to before the 13th. I should have started this project a month earlier.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Abercrombie, Haldeman, McDevitt, Grossman ordered.

Shorter fiction recs are also useful, since I don't know how many novels I can slurp down in the next three weeks -- I also have dance gigs and research to juggle, plus two books to read and review for PW with early March deadlines.

[Serge]

Susan... I do not really rate on the fan writer scale

We will be the judges of that.
:-)

[Neil W]

I'd second Serge's suggestion of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet:Relentless, except for the fact that it's book 5 of a (probably - I guess we find out for sure in April when the next book is published) 6 book series and it doesn't really standalone; I hesitate to add 5 books to the list when the odds are that voters will have the same reaction.

I'm not sure it's brilliant or groundbreaking space opera, but it's good solid and interesting work with some useful commentary about the morality of war.

[Serge]

Neil W...

I agree on all counts, but it's the only way I can do my bit to put out there the name of the only author of military SF I enjoy. It's not ground-breaking, but it entertains while asking questions, and that kind of story should be recognized. Not that I expect Campbell (aka John Hemry) to make it to the final ballot.

By the way, what would you nominate if you could?

[Marilee J. Layman]

Oh, I always read McDevitt when his arrive, so I read Time Travelers Never Die, but I thought it was really awful and I'm wondering what the next one will be like.

[Allison]

I didn't read enough this past year to be much help (I was still catching up on 2008 and 2007) but I did like "Implied Spaces" by Walter Jon Williams and "Shades of Grey" by Jasper Fforde. I think Kage Baker (may she RIP) has a couple of short stories eligible but I'm not sure how to track them down.

[Neil W]

Mostly I read stuff in paperback (for reasons poised somewhere between Serge's dislike of Hardbacks and a backlog, which although not of Susan or Marilee proportions, could certainly be used to block up a doorway) so I'd probably nominate half of last years shortlist.

Maybe Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus for Dp - Long, if only because it is so completely and fractally wrong and stupid, ranging from movie science montages that don't actually address any of the issues in the film (and why are they mixing chemicals when they're trying to work out where the monsters will strike next?) to a destroyer being represented by either a model or stock footage* of a big-gun battleship, which then attempts to engage an underwater monster with surface guns (rather than, for example, treating it as a submarine attack).

Then there's this scene which is so brilliant it's awful. But I can't endorse it for an award because what if it won?

* Or possibly stock footage of a model

[Serge]

Neil W... The local SF club gives the Green Slime Award to such movies at their August con. (I haven't watched it yet, but the coming attraction looked quite... ah... impressive.) As for myself, I wish the Skiffy Channel made a movie in which Robin Hood is off to the Crusade and,in the process of chasing a bunch of Saracens into the desert, finds a forgotten Egyptian Temple, after which he has to ally himself with Saladin to fight off the mummies thus unleashed.

[Marilee J. Layman]

Allison, look at http://www.isfdb.org.

[AJ]

Serge, perhaps you should write in and suggest that after they finish Sharktopus.

I don't think I read a lot of books in 2009 that were actually published in 2009... I think The Strain was published last year, but it's definitely more eligible for some sort of Green Slime.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I just realized that Kim Stanley Robinson's Galileo's Dream is a 2009 pub date. I think my novel list may have maxed out.

[Allison]

I know you've already got a favorite for Best First Novel but I'll just toss in there that "Soulless" by Gail Carriger was a lot of silly steam-punk fun...

And Marilee, thank you for the suggestion - the problem is that I can't log into the database from here. Hoping Susan can.

[Serge]

AJ... The Strain was that bad? As for movies, I'm still hoping the Skiffy Channel will one day make Womantis or the Blondster.

[AJ]

Serge, allow me to present my review: http://www.collectortimes.com/2009_11/Books.html

Yes, it really was that bad.

[Serge]

AJ...

"...the main character whose one flaw is that he's a former alcoholic who now thirst for . . . milk..."

Well, milk does a body good.

Now I remember your mentionning the book elsewhere. I think I'll pass. Speaking of vampires, you might want to check the comic-book "Atomic Robo and the Revenge of the Vampire Dimension". Not only is it supposed to be silly, but a science nerd saves the day.

One last thing... The villain being called Eldritch Palmer is a homage (or is it?) to Philip K Dick's "Palmer Eldritch".

[Michael A. Burstein]

Susan, I also enjoyed "The Unincorporated Man" by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin. That's another novel on my ballot, and I put Dani and Eytan as one writer on my list of Campbell nominations.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I am now officially Full Up on suggestions for novels; I won't be able to read more than five before the deadline, and those will be the Abercrombie, Haldeman, McDevitt, Grossman, and Robinson novels mentioned upthread. Next year I will try to start thinking about nominations around the beginning of the year.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Michael:
Marsbound is a 2008 novel! Arrgh!

I read it and discussed it here, and it wouldn't have made my Hugo ballot anyway, but I wish I'd noticed this before I read it -- I'm tight on time to read before the deadline and could have put it off until later.

[Marilee J. Layman]

You don't have to put in all five nominees. In fact, if you'd rather your first won, put only that one in. Australian voting makes a better result, and you can give items more importance by limiting the number of items you put up.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Marilee,
Oh, I know, and I don't generally nominate many things since my reading is never up to date. But I am reading these five novels with intent to nominate if worthy, and since that's going to take all my reading time this week I'd rather not divert to anything else. The deadline is well-timed for me; immediately after it I go into the novel judging for the ABNA contest (five more novels).

I'm hoping to finish The Magicians tonight.

[Serge]

The list of Hugo nominees has come out, and not one of my nominees made it. Bah humbug! I know that tastes are subjective, but I can't believe who got the most nominations in the short-story category.

[Susan de Guardiola]

They don't release who got the most nominations in any category yet, just the names. The details don't come out until after the ceremony.

[Serge]

I eventually realized that stories were listed in alphabetical order of story titles. Kind of a silly way to do things. Anyway, what do you think of the finalists?

[Marilee J. Layman]

This is the first year in nine that Charlie didn't have a novel up, but his new novel this year is the fifth book of a series. However, he has a novella and a novellette up! And James Nicoll is up for Best Fan Writer!

[Marilee J. Layman]

Oh, and you can read Charlie's: Palimpsest and "Overtime".