Hugo noms you wish you could make?

[netmouse]

As a member of the last Worldcon, I have the right to nominate for the Hugo awards. I've started scanning the usual lists and publications for pieces I missed during the year, but so far Not the much stuff has struck me as something I must nominate.

How about you? What was your favorite art, fan art, fanwriting, editing, novel, graphic story, artist, dramatic presentation, short story, novella, related book, semiprozine, novelette or fanzine of 2011?

Tell me and I shall seriously consider nominating it.

Thanks!

Comments

[rose-lemberg.livejournal.com]

Prezzey has a list here: http://www.prezzey.net/2012/hugo-ballot-2012-part-1/

This more or less overlaps with my own list (except that mine wouldn't include my own work, heh). Ken Liu's Simulacrum (Lightspeed), and Shweta Narayan's the River's Children (Expanded Horizons) were on my ballot in the short story category, and Catherynne M. Valente's Silently and Very Fast on my novella ballot.

Novels of the year for me were Jo Walton's Among Others, and Delia Sherman's Freedom Maze (YA).

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I'm liking David A. Kirby's book Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema for Best Related Work. It's about science advisors to movies, and it's mighty good.

[jojomojo.livejournal.com]

I'd throw in a vote for

http://www.amazon.com/Rule-34-Charles-Stross/dp/0441020348

:)

[alicebentley]

Graphic story has my highest interest this year, much because that's what I've been reading, and some because that's the industry I've been playing in recently.

I very much hope that Ursula Vernon's excellent Digger makes it on to the ballot. It's been running as a webcomic (and you can still read the whole thing for free there) since 2007, but 2011 is when the story concluded, both on the web and in print.

The other slots have been more of a quandary for me, but I'm going with Schlock Mercenary, Starslip, Gunnerkrigg Court and almost unknown but I like it Interstellar Tea House which has no possible chance of making it on to the final ballot, but maybe some more people will see it if it's on the Long List.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I obviously have my own favorites in the fanwriter and fanzine category, but in other areas,

Ken Liu's "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" is a fantastic piece of writing. (link is to a pdf).

For Dramatic Presentation, Long form, Source Code and Paul.

Graphic Novel: The Griff, by Christopher Moore and Ian Corson.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Jo Walton's Revisiting the Hugos for Best Related Work.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Novel:

Jo Wlaton's Among Others
Charlie Stross' Rule 34

Novella (I think)

Al Robertson's Of Dawn http://ttapress.com/downloads/of-dawn.pdf

Short Story

David L Clements The Last of the Guerrilla Gardeners http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7330/full/469438a.html

(OK - am a little biased on that last one)

Now I should go and nominate myself!

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Were there particular storylines in Schlock Mercenary or Gunnerkrigg Court that you liked that ended in 2011?

To me, I think it's important to nominate something specific and not just an ongoing webcomic. For instance, I'll be nominating Sluggy Freelance: 4U City Red (http://hugo-recommend.livejournal.com/110822.html) this year. I like SM and Gunnerkrigg, but nothing jumped out at me from last year specifically. --Which was why I didn't nominate Girl Genius the year before, but would have this year except that they asked us not to. :) And I might nominate Questionable Content next year for their current storyline up on a space station.

Digger is a good suggestion. I'll check out the others, thanks!

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That does look excellent

[alicebentley]

For Schlock the story arc is Force Multiplication and I included the link to the start of it at http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-29
I actually liked Massively Parallel (last year's contender) even better, but think this one is pretty good.

For Gunnerkrigg court, I meant to suggest Chapters 23 to, um maybe 32(?) but 1) I can't find my notes just now, and the website doesn't list dates of posting and 2) when it actually was time to nominate I'd swapped Gunnerkrigg Court for Drive, which has also quite impressed me this last year.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link and the recommendations! That's a great list, and Part 2 was helpful as well.

I read Among Others early in the year and found it played all the right chords but didn't pull me into the music. Maybe something about the Isolated Girl Blossoms under Long-Delayed Male Attention but I dunno.

I finally got hold of Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor, which I'd been searching for in bookstores but finally just ordered online last week. I read it in two days and found it much more satisfying. Similar themes of Being Different (inside and out), Finding Friends, Learning Through Reading and Facing your Fears, as well as Saving the World with Magic, but for some reason it worked for me as a whole while Among Others didn't.