It is Hugo Award nomination time again - 2023

10 months ago

last modified: 10 months ago

I'm really struggling with the Hugo nominations this year. They are being held in China and there seem to be a lot of electronic communication problems. I've tried to register but it doesn't seem to be working. That is, I've registered, and they are acting as though I am registered, but I never paid my fee (voting for the Hugos requires an annual membership subsctiption). I keep trying, and usually my emails fail to deliver. When they go through, I do not get a reply. So I don't actually know whether I will be able to vote this year or not. I will try.

Meanwhile, there are the nominations for Best Novel this year, just announced today.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

I was a bit disappointed that there are no Chinese authors here, given that the Hugos take place in China this year. There are some superb Chinese authors of SF, the most noted being Cixin Liu, author of the Three Body Problem.

Nothing here looks like an obvious winner to me, and there is nothing I am personally excited about. I have read three of them. John Scalzi writes clever, adventurous, tradtional science fiction, and there is nothing wrong with that. He is a popular writer and I enjoy his books (The Old Man's War, Red Shirts). I liked his novel and would not be at all sorry to see it win. T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite writers, and I would also be pleased to see her win, though I wish she had been nominated for one of her earlier books. Nettle & Bone is an enjoyable novel, and I would recommend it without reservation; it's just that I liked some of her earlier work better. As for Legends & Lattes, I did not actually dislike it. but I didn't think it was all that wonderful. No particular literary brilliance, groundbreaking ideas, or even narrative tension. I would never bother to read it a second time. It does seem to be quite popular though, so who knows?

Now for the three I have not yet read. Tamsyn Muir does venture into non-tradtional territory. Unfortunately I found her first novel distinctly unpleasant and have not read any of the follow-ups, of which I believe this is one. Moreno-Garcia's earler SF novel Mexican Gothic was nominated for the other major SF award, the Nebula. I found the blend of Gothic novel and SF unconvincing and never actually finished reading it. I'll give this one a try to see if I like it better. As for Mary Robonette Kowal, I have actually disliked several of her novels since to me they felt like Harlequin romances wrapped up in SF or fantasy costume. However, her most recent one The Relentless Moon was actually quite good. Again, I will give this book a try.

I'm not sure how much time I will actually put into this year's reading beyond the Best Novel category (novella, novelette, short story, series, and YA), since I am not sure if my voting will actully go through. I'm concerned they will discover that I am not really registered at the last minute when it is too late to correct it. And I don't want to vote if I am not qualified. We'll see how this develops. I'm still hoping that one of my messages to them actually provokes a response.

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Comments (3)

sheri_z6
9 months ago
Rosefolly, that's an interesting list. I agree with your assessment of Legends & Lattes, it seems like such a lightweight book for a Hugo nomination. I enjoyed it, but it certainly wasn't substantive. I did really enjoy Nettle & Bone and as I read through her backlist T. Kingfisher has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

I'm struggling through The Three Body Problem right now, still completely at sea as to what the heck is going on plot-wise while trying to keep the unfamiliar Chinese names straight in my head. My son assures me all will be made clear - he loved the series.

I have almost bought several John Scalzi books over the years, but to date have not read any. I may need to correct that.

Good luck getting your registration straightened out!
Rosefolly
Original Author
7 months ago
last modified: 7 months ago
I have given up on registering for the Hugo Awards this year. I'm assuming there is some kind of intermittent firewall that is not allowing registration. Maybe I am wrong, but several attempts have left me in a state of failure. I will resume my voting nest year, but meanwhile, here is my assemement from a note I posted elsewhere:

Some of you may know that I have been reading science fiction since childhood and began voting in the Hugo Awards in recent years. This year I was unable to register to vote despite several attempts. There seem to be technical issues.

In any case, I cannot seem to keep my opinions to myself, so I thought I'd share my opinions of the Best Novel category here. Please note these are personal opinions only, a reflection of how I would have voted if the registration had worked. In my opinion, this is not a strong year. There are a couple of books I quite liked, a couple I enjoyed but did not get excited about, and a couple I could not even finish. I prefer years when there are books of dazzling excellence. Unfortunately I did not find this to be one of them. Even the two I liked best, definitely well worth reading, were not my favorite works by those particular authors. (Still enjoyable though.)

Here are the nominees, and my comments:
- The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - This is much admired author. I have not been able to get through any of her books. A kind of turgid gothic version of SF, and it simply does not work for me. YMMV
- The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi - I like this guy. He reminds me of the better qualities of Heinlein, updated, and without the weirdness that crept into Heinlein's later work. Had I been able to vote, this was one of the two I might have chosen. (Since I did not get to choose, I never made the final choice.)
- Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree - This book got a lot of attention. I read it, and it was fun. Not wonderful, but genuinely fun.
- Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom) - I have never been able to finish one of Muir's books. They remind me of Gormanghast. I hated Gormenghast.
- Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher - I love T. Kingfisher. I even like her when she writes genres I don't normally read. This is the other novel I might have voted for had I been able to successfullly register.
- The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal - Along with Baldree's book, this fell into my readable but not remarkable category. Glad I read it, not award-worthy. A Nick and Nora knockoff.
  
  If you are a SF&F reader, and have an opinion, feel free to share it!
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Rosefolly
Original Author
6 months ago
The winner was Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, IMO a solid choice.

It is Hugo Award nomination time again - 2023

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sheri_z6

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It is Hugo Award nomination time again - 2023

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sheri_z6

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