Hugo List 2021

Here I will try to keep track of my reading before the 2021 Worldcon, in hopes of having a clue when it's time to fill out my Hugo Ballot this year. 

2021 Hugo Awards Finalists

Best Novel

• Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press) 
• The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit) 
• Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom) 
• Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
• Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books) (current)

Best Novella

• Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom) . Great characters
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom). Fun story.
• Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom). Ikea and capitalism don't look good
• Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)  Great use of history.
• Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom). Very evocative.
• Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tordotcom) . Wild west with young love

Best Novelette

• “Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020). Fun but not much to resonate after I finish.
• “Helicopter Story”, Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020). Wow. That's a great short story. 
• “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020) . Left me a bit cold. 
• “Monster”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020). Neat, with a nice reflection on friendship with imperfect people. Murderously imperfect people.
• “The Pill”, Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press)). Neat, but a bit didactic for my taste. 
• “Two Truths and a Lie”, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com) . Creepy. Hilla creepy. 

Best Short Story (done)

• “Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse”, Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020) (a pregnant woman goes with her wife to give birth and hope the zombies don't eat them. Zombies love the smell of birth)
• “A Guide for Working Breeds”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris)): Cute robots but not convincing as a friendship
• “Little Free Library”, Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com) The one where the reader leaves behind elven gifts.
• “The Mermaid Astronaut”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)  . Everyone is nice, but there isn't much tension. The conclusion is: planets are giant space craft so we are already moving through space, which is in fact rather dull.
• “Metal Like Blood in the Dark”, T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020). Robot siblings in SPACE
• “Open House on Haunted Hill”, John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots – 2020, ed. David Steffen) *. A haunted house, a grieving family, and a discouraged realtor all need a happy family. And an extra bath.

Best Series

• The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager) (O O O )
• The Interdependency, John Scalzi (Tor Books) (O O O ) Didn't really like how it hit the landing 
• The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books/Audible/Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) (o O O O )
• The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
• October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW) (O O O O O O O O O O O O O O)
• The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager) O O O 

Best Graphic Story or Comic

• DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
• Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire,  Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe (Marvel)
• Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics)
• Monstress, vol. 5: Warchild, Author: Marjorie Liu, Artist: Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
• Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios)
• Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

• Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas (Swoon Reads)
• A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• Legendborn, Tracy Deonn (Margaret K. McElderry/ Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing) (current)
• Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet / Hot Key)
• A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Best Related Work

• Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley (FSG) 
• CoNZealand Fringe, Claire Rousseau, C, Cassie Hart, Adri Joy, Marguerite Kenner, Cheryl Morgan, Alasdair Stuart.  (although I didn't see it all so I'll look at what they recommend)
• FIYAHCON, L.D. Lewis–Director, Brent Lambert–Senior Programming Coordinator, Iori Kusano–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, Vida Cruz–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, and the Incredible FIYAHCON team
• “George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)”, Natalie Luhrs (Pretty Terrible, August 2020)
• A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, Lynell George (Angel City Press) . It was lovely to walk along with Butler for a while, but it was a light meal rather than a feast.
• The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy, Jenny Nicholson (YouTube). Peek into an unknown world. 

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), written by Christina Hodson, directed by Cathy Yan (Warner Bros.)
• Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, written by Will Ferrell, Andrew Steele, directed by David Dobkin (European Broadcasting Union/Netflix)
• The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)
• Palm Springs, written by Andy Siara, directed by Max Barbakow (Limelight / Sun Entertainment Culture / The Lonely Island / Culmination Productions / Neon / Hulu / Amazon Prime)
• Soul, screenplay by Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, produced by Dana Murray (Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures)
• Tenet, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros./Syncopy)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• Doctor Who: Fugitive of the Judoon, written by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, directed by Nida Manzoor (BBC)
• The Expanse: Gaugamela, written by Dan Nowak, directed by Nick Gomez (Alcon Entertainment / Alcon Television Group / Amazon Studios / Hivemind / Just So)
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Heart (parts 1 and 2), written by Josie Campbell and Noelle Stevenson, directed by Jen Bennett and Kiki Manrique (DreamWorks Animation Television / Netflix)
• The Mandalorian: Chapter 13: The Jedi, written and directed by Dave Filoni (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
• The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Peyton Reed (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
• The Good Place: Whenever You’re Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)

Best Semiprozine

• Beneath Ceaseless Skies, editor Scott H. Andrews
• Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, audio producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht and the entire Escape Pod team.
• FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L. Wiggins, executive editor DaVaun Sanders, managing editor Eboni Dunbar, poetry editor Brandon O’Brien, reviews and social media Brent Lambert,  art director L. D. Lewis, and the FIYAH Team.
• PodCastle, editors, C.L. Clark and Jen R. Albert, assistant editor and host, Setsu Uzumé, producer Peter Adrian Behravesh, and the entire PodCastle team.
• Uncanny Magazine, editors in chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor: Chimedum Ohaegbu, non-fiction editor:  Elsa Sjunneson, podcast producers: Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
• Strange Horizons, (many)

Best Fanzine

• The Full Lid, written by Alasdair Stuart, edited by Marguerite Kenner
• Journey Planet, edited by Michael Carroll, John Coxon, Sara Felix, Ann Gry, Sarah Gulde, Alissa McKersie, Errick Nunnally, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Chuck Serface, Steven H Silver, Paul Trimble, Erin Underwood, James Bacon, and Chris Garcia.
• Lady Business, editors. Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan.
• nerds of a feather, flock together, ed. Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, The G, and Vance Kotrla
• Quick Sip Reviews, editor, Charles Payseur
• Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, ed. Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne

Best Fancast

• Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace 
• Claire Rousseau’s YouTube channel, produced by Claire Rousseau 
• The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, producer (started). Major points off for making it so hard to listen to their suggested episodes, which are labeled in the Hugo packet without episode numbers for the author interviews. Even searching their website didn't help.
• Kalanadi, produced and presented by Rachel. Finished the 2020 highlights playlist. This would be a great podcast.
• The Skiffy and Fanty show, produced by Shaun Duke and Jen Zink,  presented by Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Alex Acks, Paul Weimer, and David Annandale. 
• Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca and Cass Morris 

Best Fan Writer

• Cora Buhlert
• Charles Payseur
• Jason Sanford
• Elsa Sjunneson
• Alasdair Stuart
• Paul Weimer

Astounding Award for Best New Writer

• Lindsay Ellis (1st year of eligibility)
• Simon Jimenez (1st year of eligibility)
• Micaiah Johnson (1st year of eligibility)
• A.K. Larkwood (1st year of eligibility)
• Jenn Lyons (2nd year of eligibility)
• Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility)

There are also editors and artists, but I'm not going to even try to vote for those. I have zero understanding of what would make one better than the other, especially for editors.