I meant to post a bunch of reviews along the way as I did this year's Hugo reading, but the summer sort of got in the way. Oh, well. I still may write longer reviews for some of these and post them here (I did get to some of the novels in June), but since Hugo voting was due last night, I figured I'd just post my full ballot with a few general explanations while it's fresh in my mind. You can find short reviews for most of these on my 2025 Hugo Goodreads shelf.
Note that I didn't vote in all the categories. It's just too much (it's like taking on a part-time job!), and I don't feel all that qualified to judge some of the categories. Still, I managed to vote in most of the categories this year. See the Hugo website for the full list of categories and nominees.
As usual, I'm loosely following my principles of Hugo voting that I'm most interested in works that somehow break new ground in the genre, have some philosophical element, and/or are just plain enjoyable. Maybe other Hugo voters go on vibes, which are impossible to entirely eliminate, but I try reward things that are on the whole doing something new and interesting.
I'm thrilled to be attending Worldcon this year where I'll be on a panel and doing an academic track presentation as part of the Science Fiction and Philosophy Society. Maybe I will see you in Seattle at this year's Hugo ceremony on August 16!
Best Novel
This is generally considered the be the main event category, which is probably unfair to the other categories. Maybe it's just that for fans my age and older, seeing"Hugo Award Winner for Best Novel" used to carry a lot of weight on book covers as we browsed our local library's science fiction section.
I was thrilled to see not one, but two, Adrian Tchaikovsky novels on the list, and I loved both of them. Ultimately I decided to put Alien Clay at the #1 spot for the innovative way it blends both biological and political speculation, although I admit that the robot POV in Service Model was exceptionally well done and thought-provoking by an author who specializes in unique and thought-provoking POVs.
I guess I was leaning into my usual preference for science fiction over fantasy, because I put The Ministry of Time at #3. It honestly didn't quite live up to the hype for me, but I really appreciated the exploration of how one's time and culture shapes but doesn't entirely determine people.
I really enjoyed the three fantasy novels on the list, so ranking them lower in no way means they aren't good books. I put Someone You Can Build a Nest In at #4 because I'm not sure that "cozy horror-fantasy-romance" was a thing before this, but nobody could have done it like John Wiswell. The Tainted Cup is a really cool fantasy book with some unique elements (enhanced humans and kaiju!) and one of my favorite "absent-minded professor" characters; I will probably check out the sequel. I hope T. Kingfisher's enthusiastic fans won't hold it against me. I really did enjoy A Sorceress Comes to Call, but fun and well-done as it is, it doesn't feel to me like it's doing anything all that innovative, even compared to Kingfisher's other work.
1. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US, Tor UK)
2. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
3. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press, Sceptre)
4. Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (DAW)
5. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, Hodderscape UK)
6. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Tor)
Best Novella
I've really come to love novellas since I started voting for the Hugos in 2017--long enough to get something interesting, but not so long as to lose your attention. I put The Tusks of Extinction at #1 because it's the kind of thoughtful science fiction I tend to enjoy most that gets into the ethics of de-extinction and a fascinating human-animal hybrid POV. The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain is a deep exploration of a stratified society on a generation ship with social commentary for light years. The Butcher of the Forest is a solid fantasy entry from an author whose work I always enjoy. Navigational Entanglements is a fun space opera with some cool ideas and a nice love story. I do apologize again, Kingfisher fans, What Feasts at Night was a sequel that just didn't live up to the first one for me. I left The Brides of High Hill unranked; I've red a few others in this series, and I feel like I've gotten the idea and it's not my cup of tea. I hope that's not too unfair.
1. The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)
2. The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)
3. The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)
4. Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
5. What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)
Unranked: The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Best Novelette
Novelettes are basically longish short stories, and I enjoyed all of them this year (some I even listened to in podcast form on a long road trip). "Loneliness Universe" is an excellent treatment of, well, loneliness of the kind that gets a lot of attention these days due to pandemics, technology, capitalism, or whatever. “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” is a fantasy story from Premee Mohamed about the value of teaching and learning with a cool wizard protagonist. “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” is up to Naomi Kritzer's usual standards; even though the speculative element is slight, it's about academics overcoming the "two body problem," and other issues that I won't spoil. "Lake of Souls" is a fascinating exploration of two very different POVs, which I always appreciate for both literary and philosophical reasons. "Signs of Life" packs an emotional punch (as Pinsker always does), but the speculative element didn't work as well for me. I liked the idea of “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video" as a bibliophile who loves paper books, but something about it didn't click as well for me.
1. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
2. “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)
3. “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)
4. “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie in Lake of Souls (Orbit)
5. “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)
6. “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)
Best Short Story
I enjoyed all the short stories this year. There are some that push the boundaries of science fiction and any genre. My top three stories all play with format and ideas. Yoachim's story in particular is so bizarre it shouldn't work at all, but it does. As a person who greatly prefers reading fiction in visual text form, even I have to admit that this story may work better in audio format (check out the podcast version!). Martine also plays with the structure quite a bit, yielding some thoughts on art and resistance. "Five Views from Planet Tartarus" is almost flash fiction, but it packs a punch so artfully it's like being smacked by a ballet dancer.
I appreciate what Kim is doing in “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole,” which joins other recent responses to Le Guin's story (like one from N. K. Jemisin). The issue is that it's hard not to compare it to Le Guin; unfair though this may be, the response is much more explicit and self-referential, which is great but it's hard to escape Le Guin's shadow.
“Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” has a cool idea of sensing history through clothing, but didn't click for me. "Marginalia" is a fun fantasy story with giant snails, but it's hard to compete with the top few stories on this year's list.
1. “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed Magazine, May 2024 (Issue 168))
2. “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)
3. “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed Magazine, Jan 2024 (Issue 164))
4. “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, February 2024)
5. “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 57)
6. “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 56)
Best Series
This is a weird category. I'm sure some Hugo voters have read every series on this list, but my "part-time job" of Hugo reading would easily become "working three full time jobs while going to college full time" if I were to try to take all this on. Still, I loved Roanhorse's series, and I also liked the first VanderMeer book (I haven't gotten to the sequels yet). Given my love of Tchaikovsky's science fiction, I should probably check out his fantasy. I also seem to be the only nerd who hasn't read Brandon Sanderson, but I've been skittish about taking on any new sprawling fantasy epics since Sanderson's mentor Robert Jordan was cranking out 1000-page tomes every six months back in the 90's and early 2000's (I may finally finish Jordan and read Sanderson, but I await an epic fantasy mood to overtake me).
1. Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga Press)
2. Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Unranked: • The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri (Orbit) • InCryptid by Seanan McGuire (DAW) • The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books) • The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Ad Astra)
Best Related Work
This is one of my favorite categories, maybe become the closest possible universe in which I were nominated for a Hugo would likely be either here or Fan Writer, but I always seem to wait too long to get started on it. I did get through a good chunk of Speculative Whiteness, which is an excellent and readable (for an academic book) treatment of fascism, the "alt-right," and science fiction. Track Changes is a thorough collection of Abigail Nussbaum's excellent reviews.
I tend to prefer either scholarly or popular books in this category, but in recent years shorter works and other media have come into it. My 3 and 4 ranks are extremely relevant to the controversy surrounding the 2023 Hugo awards (Worldcon was in China that year, and basically there was either official tampering from the government or self-censorship from the Hugo administrators). Jenny Nicholson does deep and entertaining dives into fandom, this time with the ill-fated Star Wars hotel. I liked the bingo reading game, too. It looks like fun, but I admit it's a bit of an odd choice for this category. Maybe I should be more open-minded?
1. Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll (University of Minnesota Press)
2. Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum (Briardene Books)
3. “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford (Genre Grapevine and File770, February 14, 2024)
4. “Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones (File 770, February 22, 2024)
5. “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)
6. r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge (r/Fantasy on Reddit), presented by the r/Fantasy Bingo team: Alexandra Forrest (happy_book_bee), Lisa Richardson, Amanda E. (Lyrrael), Arka (RuinEleint), Ashley Rollins (oboist73), Christine Sandquist (eriophora), David H. (FarragutCircle), Diana Hufnagl, Pia Matei (Dianthaa), Dylan H. (RAAAImmaSunGod), Dylan Kilby (an_altar_of_plagues), Elsa (ullsi), Emma Surridge (PlantLady32), Gillian Gray (thequeensownfool), Kahlia (cubansombrero), Kevin James, Kopratic, Kristina (Cassandra_sanguine), Lauren Mulcahy (Valkhyrie), Megan, Megan Creemers (Megan_Dawn), Melissa S. (wishforagiraffe), Mike De Palatis (MikeOfThePalace), Para (improperly_paranoid), Sham, The_Real_JS, Abdellah L. (messi1045), AnnTickwittee, Chad Z. (shift_shaper), Emma Smiley (Merle), Rebecca (toughschmidt22), smartflutist661
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
This is often the category that I get "for free" in that I don't have to do any extra work. This year I had already seen all these movies before the Hugo nominees were announced. I LOVED Dune: Part Two (I saw it five times in theaters). So, no surprise it's my #1. Slightly more surprising is that I loved Flow so much that I had to think for a second about where to put it. And it is definitely science fiction (I think it takes place on another planet, what with those extreme tides and alien whales and whatnot). The Wild Robot was delightful as well, and Lupita Nyong'o's voice acting was phenomenal. Furiosa was a very different movie than Fury Road, which I adore, but it's an interesting exploration of that world and that character. I Saw the TV Glow is a great indie sci-fi horror movie, and I'm glad to see it on this list. Wicked was a lot of fun, even for someone like me who doesn't always love musicals, but it just can't compete with the other entries on this list.
1. Dune: Part Two, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Legendary Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures)
2. Flow, screenplay by Gints Zilbalodis and Matīss Kaža, directed by Gints Zilbalodis (Dream Well Studio)
3. The Wild Robot, screenplay by Chris Sanders and Peter Brown, directed by Chris Sanders (DreamWorks Animation)
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, screenplay by George Miller and Nick Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures)
5. I Saw the TV Glow, screenplay by Jane Schoenbrun, directed by Jane Schoenbrun (Fruit Tree / Smudge Films / A24)
6. Wicked, screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, directed by Jon M. Chu (Universal Pictures)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
This category never comes as easy for me as Long Form. If I didn't already watch a show, it feels weird to dip in to a single episode just vote for the Hugos. Maybe I should reconsider. I have been thinking of trying to catch up with Doctor Who, but talk about giving yourself a full-time job! I really do love Doctor Who, but it's a bit daunting to jump in after missing the last few doctors. I know I should also watch Fallout even though I haven't played the games and likely never will, but alas, one can only watch so much TV.
But I LOVE Lower Decks so much! A half-hour animated Star Trek comedy about the non-officers in Starfleet where the jokes are actually showing love to Star Trek? What an awesome idea! I was thrilled to see a couple episodes here. I also really enjoyed Agatha All Along, and not just because one of my cats is named Agatha, but because it's a spinoff of Wandavision, which is probably still my favorite of the Marvel TV shows.
1. Star Trek: Lower Decks: “The New Next Generation” created and written by Mike McMahan, based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Megan Lloyd (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)
2. Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Fissure Quest” created by Mike McMahan and written by Lauren McGuire based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Brandon Williams (CBS Eye Animation Productions for Paramount+)
3. Agatha All Along: “Death’s Hand in Mine” written by Gia King & Cameron Squires, directed by Jac Schaeffer (Marvel, Disney+)
Unranked: • Fallout: “The Beginning” written by Gursimran Sandhu, directed by Wayne Che Yip (Amazon Prime Video) • Doctor Who: “Dot and Bubble” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+) • Doctor Who: “73 Yards” written by Russell T Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams (BBC, Disney+)
Best Semiprozine
What's a "semiprozine"? I've never completely understood, but it has something to do with how much they pay writers. Anyway, I did work for Escape Pod as a first reader for a bit a couple years ago, so I may be biased there. Still, I think they do great work (maybe even better since I stepped down due to lack of time). But Uncanny continues to knock it out of the park (and those "space unicorns" do a great job of nominating their stories for Hugos). FIYAH is doing great and important work, too. I had never heard of The Deadlands, but it's great to see a magazine here that delves more into horror and the darker corners of speculative fiction. Honestly, all the magazines here seem to be doing great work, so rankings are maybe a bit fuzzier than I would like.
1. Uncanny Magazine, publishers and editors-in-chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas; managing editor Monte Lin; poetry editor Betsy Aoki, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
2. Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and Valerie Valdes, assistant editors Premee Mohamed and Kevin Wabaunsee, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht; and the entire Escape Pod team
3. FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher and executive editor DaVaun Sanders, poetry editor B. Sharise Moore, art director Christian Ivey, acquiring editors Rebecca McGee, Kerine Wint, Egbiameje Omole, Emmalia Harrington, Genine Tyson, Tonya R. Moore, sponsor coordinator Nelson Rolon
4. The Deadlands, publisher Sean Markey; editors E. Catherine Tobler, Nicasio Andres Reed, David Gilmore, Laura Blackwell, Annika Barranti Klein; proofreader Josephine Stewart; columnist Amanda Downum; art and design Cory Skerry, Christine M. Scott; social media Felicia Martínez; assistant Shana Du Bois.
5. Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective
6. khōréō, produced by Zhui Ning Chang, Aleksandra Hill, Danai Christopoulou, Isabella Kestermann, Kanika Agrawal, Sachiko Ragosta, Lian Xia Rose, Jenelle DeCosta, Melissa Ren, Elaine Ho, Ambi Sun, Cyrus Chin, Nivair H. Gabriel, Jeané Ridges, Lilivette Domínguez, Isaree Thatchaichawalit, Jei D. Marcade, M. L. Krishnan, Ysabella Maglanque, Aaron Voigt, Adialyz Del Valle Berríos, Adil Mian, Akilah White, Alexandra Millatmal, Anselma Widha Prihandita, E. Broderick, K. S. Walker, Katarzyna Nowacka, Katie McIvor, Kelsea Yu, Lynn D. Jung, Madeleine Vigneron, Marie Croke, Merulai Femi, Phoebe Low, S. R. Westvik, Sanjna Bhartiya, Sara Messenger, Sophia Uy, Tina Zhu, Yuvashri Harish, Zohar Jacobs
Best Fanzine
A fanzine isn't necessarily like a "zine" from back int he day, but they all show how much more work and genius other fans have than I do. The dedication here is just breathtaking. As with Semiprozine, I appload all the nominees, and it's hard to really rank them. I was familiar with most of these at least a little bit before, but maybe I was just going on vibes by the time I got to ranking this category. Sorry.
1. Black Nerd Problems, editors William Evans and Omar Holmon
2. Ancillary Review of Books, editors Jake Casella Brookins, Zachary Gillan, Lane Gillespie, Misha Grifka Wander, Gareth A. Reeves, Bianca Skrinyár, Cynthia Zhang
3. Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, editors Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk
4. Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice L. Newman, associate writers Cora Buhlert, Jessica Holmes, Kerrie Dougherty, Kris Vyas-Myall, and Natalie Devitt, and the rest of the Journey team
5. The Full Lid, written by Alasdair Stuart and edited by Marguerite Kenner
6. Journey Planet, edited by Allison Hartman Adams, Amanda Wakaruk, Ann Gry, Jean Martin, Sara Felix, Sarah Gulde, Chuck Serface, David Ferguson, Olav Rokne, Paul Weimer, Steven H Silver, Christopher J. Garcia and James Bacon
Best Fancast
This is a category I often skip, but with that long road trip I mentioned, I figured, why not download some episodes of these podcasts for Hugo purposes? So I did! I'm impressed by the work that goes into all of these podcasts, so I don't mean to slight anyone with this ranking. But Hugo, Girl! was the most fun for me, while Hugos There and A Meal of Thorns probably helped me think about some of the other Hugo categories. But again, I salute all the podcasters here.
1. Hugo, Girl!, presented by Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson
2. Hugos There, presented by Seth Heasley
3. The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, producer Jonathan Strahan
4. A Meal of Thorns, presented by Jake Casella Brookins
5. Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Marshall Ryan Maresca, Cass Morris and Natania Barron
6. Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, presented by Emily Tesh and Rebecca Fraimow
Best Fan Writer
This category always makes me feel inadequate, but in a good way! It's just that this humble blog could never hold a candle to the brilliance and hard work of these fan writers. I mean, technically I'm a "fan writer," too, but these champions of fan writing are in a whole other universe. I bow to you in reverence, O Monarchs of Fan Writing!
1. Abigail Nussbaum
2. Alasdair Stuart
3. Camestros Felapton
4. Jason Sanford
5. Roseanna Pendlebury
6. Örjan Westin
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