2026 Hugo Ballot!

 

The Hugo Award Ceremony is happening next week on Sunday, August 30! Sadly, I won't be traveling to Los Angeles for this year's Worldcon. I did plenty of conference travel in the last year (I maxed out my 25-26 travel budget to go to last year's Worldcon in Seattle and then went through a lot to fund a trip to India in May). Also, this year's Worldcon also happens after school starts, which makes it even trickier for me than usual.

Despite these excuses, I bought a supporting membership, which entitles me to vote. I've been voting for the Hugos since 2017, and it's always a fun experience. I usually discover some things I may not have experienced otherwise, which was especially true this year. 

Back in 2017, I figured out Three Principles of Hugo Voting (riffing on Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics):

1. Works that are more ground breaking in the field in their construction, plot, characters, setting, ideas, etc. are to be preferred as are works that are neither sequels nor works by authors who have won Hugos in recent years.
2. Works that delve more deeply into philosophical content are to be preferred.
3. Works that are just plain fun and enjoyable are to be preferred as long as such preference does not conflict with the first or second principles.

I don't know if I've ever consistently applied these principles any more than Asimov's robots ever consistently apply the three laws (maybe my "zeroth law' is "just have fun with it"). Still, I do have these principles in the back of my mind when I vote. I do find myself leaning more into my general preference for science fiction over fantasy as of late. Is that fair? I don't know, but we do seem to be tipping back toward an ascendance of fantasy the last few years, so maybe I'm trying to maintain a balance in the force of my fellow nerds.

I've already posted reviews of this year's Hugo nominees for Best Novel as well as Best Novella, Novelette, and Short Story. But inquiring minds like yours want to know: how did I vote? See below in my full Hugo ballot! I'll find out if I picked any winners on August 30!

Best Novel

This is the most important category, or at least the most prestigious. Okorafor's work has impressed me for a long time, and I thought Death of the Author was one of the most original books I've ever read, so it was easy to rank it #1 (indeed, the most ground you can break in a science fiction award is to write a book that makes people wonder what genre it's in!). I always love Adrian Tchaikovsky, and he continues to do some interesting work on the border between wonky hard SF and social commentary. The Everlasting and The Incandescent were excellent examples of why I love reading the Hugo nominees: I didn't expect to particularly like either book, but I loved both of them.  A Drop of Corruption is a solid follow-up to last year's Best Novel, which I enjoyed a lot, just not as much as some of the others (the dead Kaiju-based human enhancements are cool!). The Raven Scholar is a solid, enjoyable fantasy, but it didn't seem to be breaking as much ground as the others on this list (it was also a bit longer than I felt it needed to be).

• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz): 1
• Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US): 2
• The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK): 3
• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK): 4
• A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape): 5
• The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape): 6

Best Novella

I say this every year, but it's still true: novellas are great! Not too long, but long enough to sink your teeth into. Speaking of sinking your teeth into something, July was my pick for my local speculative fiction book club. I chose the "cozy sci-fi" Automatic Noodle, which we discussed at a local noodle restaurant! A fulfilling time was had by all, although I think our noodles were made by humans (or at least more human-looking robots than those in the novella). What Stalks the Deep is the third, and probably my favorite, of T. Kingfisher's Sworn Soldier series of novellas. It's nice to see some horror on the list, especially when it's done this well. The River Has Roots is beautifully written; I enjoyed reading it even if I didn't entirely follow what was happening. Murder by Memory became a counter-example to my general preference for sci-fi (a murder mystery on a generation ship is a great concept, but it didn't entirely come together for me). Cinder House and The Summer War, on the other hand, were good examples of fantasies that don't work as well for me (your mileage--or magical fairy dust--may vary, of course).

• Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom): 1
• What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK): 2
• The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK): 3
• Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom): 4
• Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK): 5
• The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK): 6

Best Novelette

Novelettes (aka, "longish short stories) make for an interesting category, and there were some really good ones this year! "Kaiju Agonistes" reminds us that Kaiju are cool giant monsters, but they may also have a message for us. "The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For" is a great clone-based exploration of personal identity (one of my favorite philosophical issues, or at least some versions of "me" anyway). "When He Calls Your Name" is another great horror entry with a riff on a popular song. The other three are all pretty good, but just didn't grab my as much as the first three. The Wells story is a Murderbot story without Murderbot, so it's fine, but no Murderbot. I listened to "Never Eaten Vegetables" on a road trip and I meant to read it again with my eyes (how I prefer to read) to see if that was part of why I didn't connect to it as much (one of my increasingly unpopular preferences is that I don't really like audiobooks--yes, I know your favorite narrator is awesome...).

• “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62): 1
• “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025): 2
• “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65): 3
• “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67): 4
• “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220): 5
• “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025): 6

Best Short Story

Don't tell the other categories, but I think Short Story was the strongest category overall for me. Every story was excellent this year (in my opinion, anyway). The timeless fascist dystopia of "In My Country" was as well-crafted as it was disturbing. "Missing Helen" asks a fun question, "What if your ex married your clone?" and gets into some heavy personal identity topics from there. "Laser Eyes Ain't Everything" is a fun super hero (and super villain) riff on disability. "Six People to Revise You" and "10 Visions of the Future" are both intriguing bits of reflection on self and society, while "Wire Mother" is a great exploration of AI anxiety. Ranking these was definitely more a question of "how excellent do I think it is relative to the others" rather than "good or bad."

• “In My Country” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, Issue 223): 1
• “Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro (Clarkesworld, Issue 226): 2
• “Laser Eyes Ain't Everything” by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots, May 16, 2025): 3
• “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62): 4
• “Wire Mother” by Isabel J. Kim (Clarkesworld, Issue 229): 5
• “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 63): 6

Best Related Work

As someone who writes about fiction more than I write fiction, I really like this category. I don't always get very far into reading the nominees, but I try to at least read a bit of each one before I vote. Somehow not finishing each one feels like like a betrayal than it does with the fiction categories (academia will do that to you, I guess). Was it a foregone conclusion that I would pick the book about Octavia Butler as my #1 pick? Maybe, but I did get through a couple chapters and enjoyed it quite a bit. Colourfields is a great collection of short reviews and essays (the kind of thing I could conceivably do with some of this blog if I were a great deal more organized and dedicated). The podcast was pretty cool! I think that's here because it's not a regular ongoing thing like the Fancast category. I see why Inventing the Renaissance is in this category (a lot of fantasy is based heavily on European history), but it still feels a bit weird here. The Last War in Albion seems like a solid bit of scholarship. While the spreadheet is helpful, it does feel even odder to put a spreadsheet here than the other works. Maybe that's unfair? Maybe the diversity of media types is a strength of this category? Food for thought for next year, I guess.

• Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris (Amistad): 1
• Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid (Briardene Books): 2
• “Ragnarök vs the Long Night” by Ashaya and Aziz (History of Westeros Podcast, August 10, 2025): 3
• Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer (University of Chicago Press US, Head of Zeus UK): 4
• Last War in Albion: "The Cuddled Little Vice (Sandman)" by Elizabeth Sandifer (Eruditorum Press): 5
• The Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom, maintained by Renay (Google Spreadsheet): 6

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

I tend to see a lot of movies (I love a couple hours in a dark room with a soda and snack!). This category often comes pretty easy for me in terms of workload. I LOVED Sinners, so it was inevitable that this category would be Sinners... and then everything else. Andor is excellent, of course (although I don't think all Star Wars should be this serious). I wouldn't be surprised if it wins. I love the novel and the cultural phenomenon of Frankenstein, so it was great to see what a director I like as much as Guillermo del Toro would do with this story. Mickey 17 was a really interesting exercise in personal identity with some great performances and satire. I was the only person who didn't watch K-Pop Demon Hunters last year, so I did have to watch that. It was fun, although I admit I enjoyed the demon hunting more than the K-Pop. I really liked Superman (and Krypto the Super Dog!); that something I liked so much is at the bottom of the list shows how great a list this is this year.

• Sinners, screenplay by Ryan Coogler, directed by Ryan Coogler (Proximity Media, Warner Bros. Pictures): 1
• Andor (Season 2), written by Tom Bissell, Dan Gilroy, Tony Gilroy, and Beau Willimon, directed by Ariel Kleiman, Janus Metz, Alonso Ruizpalacios (Disney+): 2
• Frankenstein, screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, directed by Guillermo del Toro (Netflix): 3
• Mickey 17, screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, directed by Bong Joon Ho (Warner Bros. Pictures): 4
• KPop Demon Hunters, screenplay by Danya Jimenez & Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans; directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans (Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix): 5
• Superman, screenplay by James Gunn, directed by James Gunn (DC Studios): 6

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

I love Doctor Who, I really do, but I just can't keep up. Otherwise, I did watch everything on this list. There was some really great sci-fi and fantasy TV last year! I put Pluribus first, just because I thought it was a unique concept for a TV show. I loved how wild and confusing the first episode is. I'm picking up some of the Wheel of Time books after almost 30 years, mostly because of the show. I'm sad it got canceled, because the episode nominated here was some excellent TV (the Big Picture concept of the series is so cool, but I do wish both the books and the show would spend more time with it and less on the main character's love life and generic Tolkien fanboying). Severence is another great show, probably the best example of personal fission out there. The Murderbot show is done really well. I'll keep watching it.

• Pluribus: “We Is Us”, written and directed by Vince Gilligan (Apple TV): 1
• The Wheel of Time: “The Road to the Spear”, written by Rafe Lee Judkins, directed by Thomas Napper, based on the book The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (Amazon Prime Video): 2
• Severance: “Cold Harbor”, written by Dan Erickson, directed by Ben Stiller (Apple TV): 3
• Murderbot: “All Systems Red”, written by Paul Weitz & Chris Weitz, directed by Roseanne Liang, based on the book All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Apple TV): 4
• Murderbot: “The Perimeter”, written by Chris Weitz & Paul Weitz, directed by Paul Weitz, based on the book All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Apple TV): 5
• Doctor Who: “The Story & the Engine”, written by Inua Ellams, directed by Makalla McPherson (BBC One, Disney +): Unranked

Best Semiprozine

I still don't know what a "semiprozine" is, but I do enjoy reading their stuff (or at least small percentage of it that I do read). A couple years ago I actually worked for Escape Pod as a first reader (aka, "slush reader"). It was a fun experience, but more work than I could handle. This year I decided that I'd give this to the newer ones on the list, or at least those that haven't won  or been nominated as often. Hence, the following rankings. I think On Spec is a new nominee and they seem to be doing good work. The Deadlands may not be entirely new, but still not as established as the others (which are also doing excellent work, but I figured I'd vote to give others a chance at this category).

• On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic, published by the Copper Pig Writers’ Society; managing editor/art director Diane L. Walton; poetry editors Colleen Anderson and Bob Stallworthy; fiction editors Barb Galler-Smith, Ann Marston, Virginia O’Dine, Constantine Kaoukakis, Susan MacGregor, Alyssa Kulchisky, Amanda Wells, Ashley Alton, Lorina Stephens, Lareina Abbott, Matthew Stobie Jackman, Cheryl Merkel, Dan Gyoba, Ethan Zou, Jade Mah-Vierling, Jessica Zdril, Kathleen Phul, Krystle McGrath, Thomas Schwarz, and William Thompson; interviewers Roberta Laurie and Cat McDonald; proofreaders Ashlin McCartney, Isaac Calon, and Mya Colwell: 1
• The Deadlands, publisher Sean Markey, editor in chief E. Catherine Tobler, poetry editor Nicasio Andres Reed, nonfiction editor David Gilmore, necromancer Amanda Downum, art director Cory Skerry, copy editors Laura Blackwell and Annika Barranti Klein, proofreader Josephine Stewart, designer Christine M. Scott, and social media skeleton Felicia Martínez: 2
• khōréō magazine, by team khōréō (publisher Aleksandra Hill; editor-in-chief Zhui Ning Chang; editors Kanika Agrawal, Isabella Kestermann, Danai Christopoulou; audio Lian Xia Rose, Jenelle DeCosta, Grayson Norman, Aaron Kling, E.B.; marketing M.L. Krishnan, Ashley Thompson; art Ambi Sun; copyeditors Jeané Ridges, Eleanor Glewwe, Derek Yen, Ariya Bandy; proofreader Cyrus Chin; first readers Adialyz Del Valle Berríos, Sanjna Bhartiya, Kelsey Costa, Merulai Femi, A.R. Frederiksen, Yuvashri Harish, Zohar Jacobs, Lynn D. Jung, Phoebe Low, Katie McIvor, Adil Mian, Katarzyna Nowacka, A.W. Prihandita, Helena Ramsaroop, Jin Hui Saw, Aditya Sundararajan, Sophia Uy, Madeleine Vigneron, Aaron Voigt, K.S. Walker, Akilah White, MJ Woods, Kelsea Yu, Lilia Zhang, Tina Zhu): 3
• Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and Valerie Valdes, assistant editors Kevin Wabaunsee and Phoebe Barton, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht, and associate editors Marcus Tsong, Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko, Ewen Ma, Christine Amsden, Rick Danforth, Michael A. Pepin, EA Crawley, Abhijeet Sathe, Sarah Loch, Phoenix Alexander and Casey Lawrence: 4
• Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective: 5
• Uncanny Magazine, publisher and editor-in-chief: Michael Damian Thomas; managing editor Monte Lin; poetry editor Betsy Aoki, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky: 6

Best Fanzine

A fanzine is like a semiprozine, but more... fannish? And usually produced by one or a few people for absolutely no money (as opposed to very little money). Anyway, I always enjoy checking these out when I vote for the Hugos. Some of them I even try to follow the rest of the year. I'm genuinely impressed by the hard work, dedication, and obvious love for the genre that all of these people have. Good work, everyone!

• An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, editors Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk: 1
• Journey Planet, edited by Allison Hartman Adams, Jean Martin, Steven H Silver, Christopher J. Garcia, James Bacon: 2
• Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus, editor Janice L. Newman, staff David Levinson, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Tam Phan, Andi Dukleth: 3
• Intergalactic Mixtape, edited by Renay: 4
• Ancillary Review of Books, editors Jake Casella Brookins, Misha Grifka Wander, Bianca Skrinyár, Zachary Gillan, Cynthia Zhang, Lyz Bush-Peel: 5
• nerds of a feather, flock together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla: 6

Best Fancast

Several years ago I realized that I tend to do some big road trips every summer, so why don't I just listen to some of these along with some of the short stories and novelettes? And so I did! As with the zines, I decided to give preference to the newer nominees. I appreciated the careful depth of A Meal of Thorns, and the concept of Eating the Fantastic is, well, fantastic (an interview while eating a restaurant with fancy equipment to block out most of the ambient restaurant noise). The others I had heard before, but I appreciate all of them. They entertained me through a lot of Midwestern cornfields this year.

• A Meal of Thorns, presented by Jake Casella Brookins: 1
• Eating the Fantastic, hosted by Scott Edelman: 2
• Hugo, Girl!, presented by Haley Zapal, Amy Salley, Lori Anderson, and Kevin Anderson: 3
• Octothorpe, presented by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty: 4
• The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe: 5
• Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Marshall Ryan Maresca, Cass Morris, and Natania Barron: 6

Best Fan Writer

I guess I'm also a fan writer, but these fan writers are doing much better work than I am. I'm in awe of their dedication to fandom! As for the rankings, I used similar ctieria as the zines and fancast categories, trying to give newer nominees a chance. Great job, fan writers!

• Alex Brown: 1
• Jason Sanford: 2
• Jay Brantner (a.k.a “Tar Vol”): 3
• Roseanna Pendlebury: 4
• James Davis Nicoll: 5
• Örjan Westin: 6

Unranked Conclusions

I left Best Series and Best Graphic Story unranked. I really don't know what to do with Best Series... do I have to read dozens of books to vote on this one? Do I go on vibes? Why is this a category? I'm not sure. I deeply respect graphic stories and comics, but I don't really keep up with them. I did visit a comic shop with my sister this summer, so maybe I'll do better next year. But then again, one can't do everything.

I also skipped the categories for games, editing, artists, and poetry this year, leaving them all "unranked." I occasionally enjoy video games, but I'm just so bad most at them that they aren't that much fun for me and I lose interest quickly. It gives me more time for movies and books, I guess.

I honestly don't really know how to judge an editing award. I've voted for these categories in the past, but it felt like I'd need to be far more connected to the business side of the genre than I am to be a competent judge. 

I can look at the art and say "cool," which I have done in other years, but I don't know how good of a judge I'd be. I feel similarly about the poetry category; I enjoy poetry, but I find it hard to rank poems. 

For that matter, I increasingly find it hard to rank anything,. If you think about it, everything has something you can enjoy from some perspective! It seems like a better way to live my life, anyway. I also think a lot of "criticism" or "discourse" about art of all kinds these days confuses surface-level pedantic nitpicking for sophisticated, deep appreciation... but that's an axe I'm grinding much more widely than just with my fun little exercise of voting for the Hugos (a blog post on this general topic is in the works, dear reader).

Here's the part where I say I will start my Hugo reading earlier next year, knowing full well that I will not. Still, I'm proud to say I did read all the fiction categories this year, which I haven't always been able to say. And I skipped categories I didn't feel as confident about. I think I was a moderately responsible Hugo voter this year. 

Congrats to all the nominees! 

Now I'll look forward to the results next week... and then seeing what gets nominated in 2027!