2018 Hugo Ballot, Part Four (Artists, Zines, Campbell Award, Etc.)

Voting for the Hugos can be a bit exhausting, but I think it's worth it.  If you want to get in on the action, you have until tomorrow (July 31) to do so (see here for details).  Every time I tell myself that next time I will leave myself more time, but I always run out of time.  Where does the time go?  Maybe I need a time machine.  Oh, well.  I guess I'll get started.  (It's about time.)


You can see the previous three installments of my Hugo ballot here, here, and here.  You can see the full list of categories here. I forgot to note before that this year's finalists are remarkably Puppy-free, probably because of the new voting methods that reduce the effects of slate voting.  Or maybe the Puppies just got bored and directed their yapping elsewhere.

I decided not to vote for the editor categories, although I feel bad about it because editors work very hard for little recognition.  So I say to all the finalists:  You all did such a great job I can't possibly rank you!

I'm also not going to vote for Best Fancast.  I do listen to some podcasts, but somehow the ones I listen to never end up on this list and I never get to the category in time to vote for it.  Oh, well.  Maybe next year.  (He says for the third year in a row, raising podcasters' suspicions...)

I love the idea of the Retro Hugos, but I just don't have the time.  I also won't take on the YA category this time.  If you like YA stuff, that's cool.  I tend not to read it for lame personal reasons (YA stuff brings me too close to what I felt like between the ages of 13 and 18, a feeling I am personally much happier leaving in the past).

Which categories am I voting on?  I'm glad you asked!

Best Professional Artist

Always a fun category. Pretty pictures! Cool!

1. Sana Takeda
2. Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
3. Victo Ngai
4. Galen Dara
5. John Picacio
6. Kathleen Jennings

Best Semiprozine

What's a "semiprozine"? A prescription drug for Crohn's disease? A city in Kyrgyzstan? Find the answer on the official Hugo website.

1. Uncanny Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Julia Rios; podcast produced by Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky
2. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor-in-chief and publisher Scott H. Andrews
3. Strange Horizons, edited by Kate Dollarhyde, Gautam Bhatia, A.J. Odasso, Lila Garrott, Heather McDougal, Ciro Faienza, Tahlia Day, Vanessa Rose Phin, and the Strange Horizons staff
4. The Book Smugglers, edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James
5. Escape Pod, edited by Mur Lafferty, S.B. Divya, and Norm Sherman, with assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney
6. Fireside Magazine, edited by Brian White and Julia Rios; managing editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry; special feature editor Mikki Kendall; publisher & art director Pablo Defendini

Best Fanzine

The fans are strong with this one.  File 770 is my go-to source for science fiction news (they've even linked to this blog a few times).  I occasionally check out some of the others, too.  Galactic Journey is a fun concept.

1. File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
2. nerds of a feather, flock together, edited by The G, Vance Kotrla, and Joe Sherry
3. Galactic Journey, edited by Gideon Marcus
4. Rocket Stack Rank, edited by Greg Hullender and Eric Wong
5. SF Bluestocking, edited by Bridget McKinney
6. Journey Planet, edited by Team Journey Planet

Best Fan Writer

I really like everybody in this category (maybe it's because I guess I'm a fan writer myself).  The finalists here are all doing great work.  It pains me to rank them, but I tried to do so by depth and novelty of the work.  I'm only putting Mike Glyer at the bottom because he's won before and I ranked File 770 #1 in the previous category.

1. Foz Meadows
2. Sarah Gailey
3. Bogi Takács
4. Charles Payseur
5. Camestros Felapton
6. Mike Glyer

Best Fan Artist

More pretty pictures (and jewelry)!

1. Grace P. Fong
2. Geneva Benton
3. Maya Hahto
4. Likhain (M. Sereno)
5. Steve Stiles
6. Spring Schoenhuth

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

This one is not technically a Hugo award, but you always get to vote for it if you vote for the Hugos.  Also, due to running out of time I decided only to vote for the writers whose work I've read already.

1. Rebecca Roanhorse
2. Vina Jie-Min Prasad

Not including on my ballot (although I'm sure they're all great! Sorry!)

• Katherine Arden
• Sarah Kuhn
• Jeannette Ng
• Rivers Solomon

And there you have it!  Whew!  I'll be excited to see how it all turns out in San José!  Now it's time to get back to my regularly scheduled reading and to get ready for the fall semester.  Until next year, Hugo voting!