Part 2 of my epic Eastercon report is coming and I’ll have a (now belated) birthday plus roadtrip post in the works as well as an essay about Masters of the Universe and masculinity. However, today we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming, because the 2026 Hugo finalists were announced last night.
I didn’t follow the announcement live, because I was out grocery shopping at the time. So the first thing I saw was my phone buzzing with some congratulatory messages in the Hugo finalist Discord, while I was looking for pickled garlic and Vegeta (the Croation seasoning mix, not the Dragonball Z character) at the Edeka market at Jute Center mall in Delmenhorst.
So let’s delve straight into the categories, starting with…
Best Novel
We have a lot of returning favourites in this category.
Robert Jackson Bennett is back with A Drop of Corruption, the sequel to last year’s winner The Tainted Cup. I didn’t particularly care for the first book and haven’t read the sequel yet, but apparently lots of people feel otherwise.
2021 Astounding and 2024 Best Novel winner Emily Tesh is also back with The Incandescent. Again, I haven’t read this one yet, because it’s dark academia and I don’t care for dark academia, though I did enjoy Emily Tesh’s 2024 Hugo winning novel Some Desperate Glory a lot.
Nnedi Okorafor has several Hugo and Lodestar nominations and wins in multiple categories under her belt by now, though Death of the Author is actually her first nomination in the Best Novel category. It’s also a very good book.
Adrian Tchaikovsky also has previous Hugo nominations in multiple categories as well as one win in 2023 in Best Series. His work is always worth reading, though I have to admit that I didn’t get to Shroud yet.
Alix E. Harrow won her first Hugo Award in 2019 in Best Short Story and has been nominated several times since. I enjoyed this year’s Hugo finalist The Everlasting a lot and it was also on my ballot.
Antonia Hodgson, the sixth finalist in this category is a new name – so new that she’s also an Astounding finalist. That said, Antonia Hodgson actually wasn’t a new writer to me at all, when I picked up her Hugo nominated novel The Raven Scholar, because I had read and enjoyed her historical mysteries before to the point that I even bought the German translations for my Mom, who was a big mystery fan. And yes, Mom liked Antonia Hodgson’s mysteries a lot. Coincidentally, Antonia Hodgson even won the CWA Dagger Award in the Historical Mystery category for The Devil in the Marshalsea. It’s a great novel, so check it out and then read the sequels. I also enjoyed The Raven Scholar a lot and it was on my personal ballot.
One book that I expected to see on the ballot, but that is somewhat conspicuous by its absence is Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. It probably sits directly below the nomination ranks.
With regard to publishers, Tor and Orbit in their US and UK branches dominate, but we also have finalists published by Del Rey, Gollancz, William Morrow and Hodderscape.
Diversity count: 2 men, 4 women, 1 writer of colour, 3 international writers*
Best Novella
Once again, this category has lots of returning favourites:
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz is a delightful science fiction novella and was also on my personal ballot. Annalee Newitz is also previous Hugo finalist and multiple winner in Best Fancast for Our Opinions Are Correct.
Freya Marske has also been nominated in Best Fancast for Be the Serpent several times before and also was a Best Series finalist in 2024. I haven’t read her Hugo nominated novella Cinder House yet, though I have enjoyed several other of her works.
Amal El-Mohtar is a two time Hugo winner for “Seasons of Glass and Iron” and This is How You Lose the Time War, together with Max Gladstone. Her nominated novella The River Has Roots got a lot of positive attention last year, though I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.
T. Kingfisher is another multiple Hugo finalist and winner. Her nominated novella What Stalks the Deep is part of her Sworn Soldier series and really good besides. This was also on my personal ballot.
Naomi Novik is another writer we’ve seen on the Hugo ballot several times before. She’s had several Hugo nominations and also won the Astounding Award (then still the John W. Campbell Award) back in 2007 and the Lodestar in 2022. I haven’t read her nominated novella The Summer War yet.
Olivia Waite is the one new name in this category. She is nominated for her delightful cozy science fiction mystery Murder by Memory.
With regard to publisher, we once again have a strong Tordotcom dominance, but then they do have a great novella program and are probably single-handedly responsible for the novella resurgence in the 2010s. Besides, one of the nominated novellas – The Summer War – was published by Del Rey rather than Tordotcom.
Diversity count: 6 women, 1 writer of colour, 2 international writers
Best Novelette
In this category, we have a nice mix of new names and returning favourites.
Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series has by now won Hugo Awards for Best Novella (twice), Best Novel and Best Series, every single one of them highly deserved, and is now nominated for the Murderbot novelette “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy”, which was also on my personal ballot. Murderbot will also reappear further down the ballot.
Sarah Pinsker also has several Hugo nominations and wins under her belt and is nominated for the novelette “The Millay Illusion”, which I have to admit I haven’t read yet.
Catherynne M. Valente has also appeared on the Hugo ballot several times before. This year, she is nominated for “When He Calls Your Name”, which again I haven’t read yet.
I’m very happy to see Scott Lynch on the Hugo ballot, since we’ve known each other for more than twenty years now, well before anybody in the SFF community knew either of our names. Scott was nominated for the Astounding (then Campbell Award) twice, but this is actually his first Hugo nomination. “Kaiju Agonistes” is also a really good story.
Cameron Reed is another new name on the Hugo ballot. I enjoyed her nominated story “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” a lot, though in the end it didn’t make my personal Hugo ballot.
H.H. Pak is another new name on the Hugo ballot – so new that they are also an Astounding finalists this year. Unfortunately, I haven’t read their nominated story “Never Eaten Vegetables” so far.
With regard to publishers, we do have some diversity here with three finalists appearing in Uncanny, two in Reactor and one in Clarkesworld.
Diversity count: 4 women, 1 man, 1 non-binary, 1 author of colour
Best Short Story
Once again, we have a mix of returning favourites and new names in this category.
Samantha Mills won the 2023 Hugo Award in this category under less than ideal conditions with her haunting story “Rabbit Test”. Due to all the problems with the 2023 Hugo Awards, I’m glad to see her nominated again for “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” in a hopefully much less problematic and stressful year.
Thomas Ha was a first time Hugo finalist last year and returns this year with “In My Country”, a story I unfortunately haven’t read. This story is also a Nebula finalist this year.
We have more overlap with this year’s Nebula ballot with “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg. Once again, I haven’t yet read the story, though the title is promising.
There is even more overlap with this year’s Nebula ballot with “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson, a story I once again haven’t yet read.
“Missing Helen” by Tia Tashiro is another story I haven’t yet read. I didn’t get around to reading as much short fiction as I’d like to this year. Tia Tashiro was an Astounding finalist last year, but this is her first Hugo nomination.
Isabel J. Kim has been a Hugo finalist before and I have actually read her nominated story “Wire Mother” and liked it, though in the end it didn’t make my personal ballot.
With regard to publishers, we have three stories from Clarkesworld, who are having a great Hugo year, two from Uncanny and one from Diabolical Plots.
Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 3 authors of colour, 1 international author
Best Series
This category features a mix of returning favourites and new names, but then Best Series is a category that often has repeat finalists.
Seanan McGuire has been a finalist for Best Series, since the inception of the category in 2017, because she’s both prolific and a great writer. She’s also been a Hugo finalist and winner in various other categories. This year, she’s nominated for her October Daye series, which I enjoy a lot.
The Craft Wars by Max Gladstone was a Best Series finalist in the very first year of the category, but hasn’t been nominated since, though Max won the Hugo Award for Best Novella together with Amal El-Mohtar for This is How You Lose the Time War in 2020.
John Scalzi has been a Hugo finalist and winner many times in various categories before, though this is actually the first Best Series nomination for his Old Man’s War series (mostly because the category didn’t exist, when the previous Old Man’s War novels were published), though he was previously nominated in Best Series for The Interdependency in 2021.
Elizabeth Bear won the Astounding (then still Campbell) Award back in 2005 and has been nominated for and won the Hugo Award several times in multiple categories, though we haven’t seen her on the Hugo ballot for quite a few years now, so it’s good to see her back. Her space opera series White Space was also on my personal ballot.
Katherine Addison a.k.a. Sarah Monette was an Astounding finalist, back when it was still known as the Campbell Award, as well as a Hugo finalist in 2015 for The Goblin Emperor. Her nominated series The Chronicles of Osreth is set in the same world as The Goblin Emperor and very good.
Heather Fawcett is a first time Hugo finalist and nominated for her Emily Wilde series, which is a lot of fun.
We also had two disqualifications for insufficient wordcount in this category for the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal and The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo.
Regarding publishers, we have a lot of Tor and Tordotcom, but then they are the biggest English language SFF publisher. Orbit, Del Rey, Solaris, Saga Press and Gollancz are also represented.
Diversity count: 4 women, 2 men, 1 international author
Best Poem
Best Poem was introduced as a special category last year and is in the process of becoming a permanent category due to the success of that experiment. Personally, I’m glad about this, because speculative poetry deserves more recognition.
Mari Ness was a finalist in this category last year and is nominated again this year. And since she’s a dual citizen, she also brings up the all-time number of German Hugo finalists to five, i.e. Wolfgang Petersen, Roland Emmerich, Simone Heller, myself and now Mari Ness. I don’t count Willy Ley or Klaus Janson, for while they were born in Germany, they both emigrated decades before and were American citizens, when they were nominated for/won Hugos.
Brandon O’Brien is someone I’m really glad to see on the ballot. He’s been a Hugo finalist before for FIYAH and The Skiffy and Fanty Show, but this is his first solo nomination and well deserves it is, because not only is he a great poet, but his championing of speculative poetry at the Seattle Worldcon also did so much to increase the recognition of speculative poetry and make this category a permanent thing. And indeed, his nominated poem “Landing Seattle” was written for and performed at the Seattle Worldcon.
Angela Liu was a finalist in this category last year as well as an Astounding finalist. This year, she is nominated for “The Mourning Robot”.
Jennifer Hudak is a first time Hugo finalist. Her nominated poem “The World to Come” is also a Nebula finalist this year.
Theodora Goss had been writing speculative prose and poetry for years now and has been nominated for and won several awards, but this is actually her first Hugo nomination.
Elis Montgomery is a writer/poet who’s complete new to me, though her nominated poem “Hex Supply Customer Support Log” has a great title. This is her first Hugo nomination.
With regard to publishers, Strange Horizons and Uncanny dominate, but then there aren’t that many magazines that publish speculative poetry. We also have one nomination for The Orange & the Bee, a magazine that’s completely new to me, as well as one for a poem read/performed at the opening ceremony of the Seattle Worldcon.
Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 2 poets of colour, 2 international poets
Best Graphic Story or Comic
Best Graphic Story is a category that tends to get stale with the same beloved longrunning series getting nominated over and over again. Therefore, it’s refreshing to see that all finalists this year are new titles, though we have seen several creatives on the ballot before.
DC Comics‘ Absolute line has been huge hit and Wonder Woman is of course a perennial favourite and coincidentally also my Dad’s all-time favourite superhero, so I’m happy to see Absolute Wonder Woman on the ballot. This is coincidentally also one of only two nominations for mainstream US superhero comic this year. BTW, I found a classic looking Wonder Woman action figure at Comic Cave in Hamburg last week (classic looking Wonder Woman figures are ridiculously hard to find) and almost bought her, but then decided against it. If she’s still there next time I visit, I will get her.
The other mainstream superhero comic (though not as mainstream as Wonder Woman) nominated this year is The Power Fantasy Volume 1: The Superpowers by Kieron Gillen, art by Caspar Wijngaard, lettering by Clayton Cowles. I haven’t read this one yet, but I have enjoyed Kieron Gillen’s work in the past.
A Girl and Her Fed by K.B. Spangler and Ale Presser is a webcomic which looks like a lot of fun and I am looking forward to checking it out.
Nnedi Okorafor appears on the 2026 Hugo ballot for the second time, together with Tana Ford for The Space Cat, a graphic novel which looks fun.
The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio is another graphic novel that I’m not familiar with, though I of course know Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio. This is Leigh Bardugo’s first Hugo nomination, though John Picacio is a multiple finalist and winner.
Finally, we have the return of the obligatory Ursula K. Le Guin related Hugo finalist, cause for a while there was something Le Guin related on the Hugo ballot every year, usually a collection or documentary in Best Related. And in fact, when I first saw the ballot, I thought, “Wait a minute, didn’t a graphic novel version of A Wizard of Earthsea win the Hugo back in 2019?” However, it was actually an illustrated edition of The Chronicles of Earthsea, which won a Hugo back in 2019, not a graphic novel. Ursula K. Le Guin of course has won a lot of Hugos, though not in Graphic Story so far. For artist Fred Fordham, this is his first Hugo nomination.
Regarding publishers and formats, we have a lot of variety this year with two traditional serialised comics/trade paperback collections from mainstream comic publishers, three graphic novels and one webcomic.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to make comics.
Best Related
It’s probably well known by now that I strongly prefer well-researched non-fiction books or at sufficiently booklike objects in this category rather than the leftfield “We think this is cool, but don’t know where to put this” finalists we’ve increasingly seen in recent years. Heather Rose Jones has done a detailed analysis of the shifts that the Best Related Work category has undergone over the years here and has also analysed this year’s Best Related work finalists.
Therefore, I’m happy that the majority of Best Related finalists this year are either books or sufficiently book-like objects and that there is only one leftfield finalist.
Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid was also on my personal ballot and I’m glad to see it nominated.
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris was not on my personal ballot, but it’s nonetheless exactly the kind of well-researched non-fiction book I want to see on the ballot.
Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer is definitely a well-researched non-fiction book, though it is more of a general history book than a science fiction book. That said, we have had popular science books on the ballot before and Inventing the Renaissance is definitely related to SFF and written by an SFF writer, even if it is not precisely about SFF. I’m also looking forward to reading this one.
“The Cuddled Little Vice (Sandman)” by Elizabeth Sandifer is a very long essay that is part of her Last War in Albion series about the British comics giants Alan Moore and Grant Morrison and the British comics scene of the 1980s/1990s which gave rise to them in general. It’s not a book per se, but definitely a sufficiently book-like object. Elizabeth Sandifer’s analyses are also always worth reading. That said, I was not expecting to see anything Neil Gaiman related on the Hugo ballot this year.
“Ragnarök vs. the Long Night” by Ashaya and Aziz is an episode of the History of Westeros Podcast, which draws comparisons between norse mythology and A Song of Ice and Fire. Now I prefer podcasts to be nominated in the Best Fancast category. However, we have no equivalent Best Procast category, so professionally produced podcasts automatically go into Best Related Work. At any rate, I count this one as a sufficiently book-like object, though I’m not sure why fans of this podcast didn’t nominate the whole thing, but just one episode.
Finally, we have the Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom by Renay. This crowdsourced spreadsheet is an amazing resource. However, this one is definitely a leftfield finalists and not even remotely book-like. It’s also somewhat recursive, because it’s a nomination for a resource that is supposed to help people nominate for the Hugos. This is definitely a finalist better suited to a hypothetical Best Fannish Thing category, which we don’t have.
Diversity count: 5 women, 2 men, at least 1 author of colour, at least 2 international authors. Unfortuately, I wasn’t able to find out anything about Ashaya and Aziz, the people behind the History of Westeros podcast beyond assuming gender based on their names.
Best Dramatic Presentation Long
Sinners is not only a great film, it also gained a record number of Oscar nominations and won a few of them, though not nearly as many as it should have. This was also on my personal ballot.
KPop Demon Hunters is a true phenomenon as well as a two-time Oscar winner and a film that’s so much better than I expected it to be. Once again, this was also on my personal ballot.
Superman not only marked the triumphant relaunch of the troubled DC Cinematic Universe, it was also the first good Superman movie that really understands the character since the first two Christopher Reeves movies. Yes, the Snyder bros are complaining, but screw them! Superman is also the only classic superhero movie on the Hugo ballot this year and it’s a DC rather than a Marvel movie, even though Thunderbolts* was actually good and Fantastic Four at least decent. This was also on my personal ballot.
Andor is usually considered the best of the Disney Plus Star Wars series, though personally I prefer The Mandalorian. Andor was also on my personal Hugo ballot, though I nominated a single episode rather than the whole season. That said, Best Dramatic Long has the most overlap with my personal ballot, which is pretty wild, because I usually have very little overlap in the two Dramatic Presentation categories.
Frankenstein is definitely a highly deserving finalist as well as a very good adaptation of a classic novel that has had many adaptations over the years. It was not on my personal ballot, mostly because for some reason I forgot that it came out last year.
Mickey 17 was a good science fiction movie and it was on my longlist, though it didn’t make my ballot in the end. However, I’m a little surprised that it made the Hugo ballot, because it seemed to fly under the radar and was maybe a bit too quirky for mainstream critics and audiences. But then, Hugo voters are not mainstream audiences.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to make movies.
Best Dramatic Short
Doctor Who is a perennial Hugo favourite and is represented by the episode “The Story and the Engine” this year. I actually did nominate a Doctor Who episode this year – I usually don’t nominate Doctor Who, unless it’s an absolutely amazing episode, since the Doctor doesn’t need my help – though I nominated “Lux” rather than this one.
That said, with regard to the Hugos at least, the Ncuti Gatwa era of Doctor Who has done pretty well, at least compared to the Jodi Whitaker era. This is in stark contrast to the mainstream reaction to Ncuti Gatwa and particularly the fact that the usual “We hate everything” culture war channels on YouTube (How I wish YouTube would just demonitise those channels and stop pushing them via their algorithm) really focussed on how much they hated the Ncuti Gatwa era of Doctor Who. Gee, I wonder just why that might be. Is it racism or homophobia or both?
The Murderbot TV show was a true delight and also a very good and faithful adaptation of Martha Wells’ much beloved series. It is represented by two episodes on the ballot “The Perimeter” and “All Systems Red”. A third episode, “Free Commerce”, would have made the ballot as well, but had to withdraw due to the “only two episodes per series” rule. “All Systems Red” was also on my personal ballot.
I have to admit that I still didn’t get around to watching Pluribus, mostly because it came out when I was extremely busy. That said, it got a lot of positive buzz and I’m not surprised to see an episode, in this case “We is Us”, nominated.
Severance is another show that’s popular with Hugo voters and also get a lot of positive buzz in general. I’m afraid I have zero interest in this show.
The final finalist in this category is “The Road to the Spear”, an episode of the The Wheel of Time TV series. I have to admit that this surprised me a little, even though there was an episode of The Wheel of Time has been nominated in this category before. However, The Wheel of Time was cancelled quite unceremoniously and I also had the impression that fans of the books didn’t like it all that much to the point that I saw a self-proclaimed fan of the books being positively gleeful that the series was cancelled.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to make TV shows.
Best Game or Interactive Work
I don’t game, so I can’t say a lot about the finalists in this category.
That said, I know that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has won a ton of awards, I have at least heard of Hollow Knight: Silksong and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector and the developer of Hades was incredibly nice and super excited at the virtual 2021 Hugo afterparty and just left a very positive impression on me. I have to admit that Dispatch and Blue Prince are completely unknown to me.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to make games.
Best Editor Long
The two editing categories tend to get a little stale with the same people being nominated over and over again, since there are only so many editors working in the industry. That said, we do have two first time finalists in this category
Lee Harris, Carl Engle-Laird, Joe Monti and Diana M. Pho have all been nominated in this category before, while Jenni Hill and Jaymee Goh are first time finalists. They’re all worthy, though.
We also have a withdrawal in this category by Lindsey Hall.
It’s notable that even though publishing is heavily female dominated, we do have gender parity in this category.
Diversity count: 3 women, 3 men, 2 editors of colour, 3 international editors.
Best Editor Short
Scott H. Andrews, Jennifer Brozek, Neil Clarke, Lee Harris, Michael Damian Thomas and Sheila Williams have all been nominated in this category before and they’re all highly worthy.
Diversity count: 2 women, 4 men, 1 international editor
Best Professional Artist
This is another category that tends to get stale with the same artists nominated over and over again. Therefore it’s notable that we only have two returning favourites and four first time finalists in this category.
The first of the returning favourites is John Picacio who already has multiple Hugo nominations and wins under his belt. The second is Tran Nguyen who is on her second nomination. Lulu Chen, Kelly Chong, Tom Roberts and Dave Kellett are first time finalists. Dave Kellett is a cartoonist, while the other finalists are primarily cover illustrators.
That said, there are actually two artists named Lulu Chen. I suspect the Hugo finalist is this illustrator rather than the animator by the same name.
There also are two artists named Tom Roberts, but since one of them died in 1931, it’s quite obvious that the Hugo finalist is this Tom Roberts.
Diversity count: 3 women, 3 men, 4 artists of colour, 3 international artists.
Best Semiprozine
This category often consists of “the usual suspects”. Part of the problem is the way the category is defined, which means that long-running, popular magazines, which pay their author pro-rates and are defined as semipro solely because no staff member makes their main income via the work on the magazines, are competing with small mags that pay maybe ten or twenty dollars per story.
And so Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine and Escape Pod have all been nominated multiple times in this category before. They also do excellent work.
The Deadlands and khoréo (apologies for WordPress butchering the title) and are the somewhat less usual suspects and on their second and third nomination respectively. Once again, the nominations are highly deserved nomination this year.
Finally, we do have an unusual suspect in this category with On Spec. The magazine has been around since 1989, longer than any of the others in this category. However, this is their first Hugo nomination and it will most likely remain their last, since On Spec shut down in 2025. So I’m glad that they could finish their run with a Hugo nomination.
There also was a withdrawal for Beneath Ceaseless Skies, who permanently recused themselves from consideration in this category.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to make semiprozines.
Best Fanzine
This is another category where we tend see the same finalists nominated over and over again, which is why it’s good to see a new name or two.
I’m obviously thrilled that my friends of Galactic Journey are on the ballot again, because I am a contributor to the site.
My friends Olav and Amanda of the Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog have been doing great work for years and I’m thrilled to see them on the ballot again.
nerds of a feather is also back on the ballot after a year of absence and their work is as good as ever.
Journey Planet has been a fixture on the Hugo ballot for years, but then every single issue of Journey Planet is drastically different with its own theme. Journey Planet isn’t one magazine, but several different ones, each of them highly deserving.
Ancillary Review of Books was a first-time finalist last year and returned this year. I do like what they’re doing, though for some reason I don’t read them very often.
The newsletter Intergalactic Mixtape is a new finalist in this category, though editor Renay has been nominated and even won with Lady Business before. I am a subscriber to Intergalactic Mixtape and always enjoy it.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to make fanzines.
Best Fancast
This category is mostly returning favourites, but since I like all of them and consider many of them friends, I don’t mind at all.
Hugo, Girl!, Octothorpe and Worldbuilding for Masochists are not just great podcasts, they’re also good friends and I’m happy to see them nominated. The always excellent Coode Street Podcast is another returning favourite as is A Meal of Thorns, who are on their second nomination.
The one new finalist in this category is Eating the Fantastic by Scott Edelman. This nomination makes me very happy, because it’s an excellent podcast – hey, it’s got writers and food, so what’s not to love – and besides Scott Edelman is also a great guy. In fact, I was chatting with Scott at Eastercon and told him how much I enjoy his podcast.
No diversity count, too many people are needed to produce podcasts.
Best Fan Writer
We have a lot of returning favourites in this category, though none of them have won before and some of them are only on their second nomination.
James Davis Nicoll and Jason Sanford have both been finalists in this category several times before. They’re also friends, so I’m happy to see them on the ballot again.
Örjan Westin of the delightful MicroSFF BlueSky and Mastodon account has also been a finalist before and I’m glad to see him on the ballot again.
Alex Brown and Roseanna Pendlebury are both on their second nomination and do good work.
The one new name in this category is Jay Brantner a.k.a. Tar Vol. I wasn’t familiar with his work, but I like what I see.
Diversity count: 1 woman, 4 men, 1 non-binary, 1 writer of colour, 3 international writers
Best Fan Artist
This category is a mix of returning favourites and new names and also shows the great spectrum of very different artists in this category.
Sara Felix, Geneva Bowers, España Sheriff and Richard Man have all been finalists in this category before and three of them have won in the past.
Terri Ash and Yuumei are both new names in this category. I know Terri from the Brisbane in 2028 Worldcon bid committee and am very happy to see her on the Hugo ballot. Yuumei is new to me, but their art is beautiful.
Diversity count: 4 women, 1 man, 1 unknown, 3 artists of colour, 2 international artists
And now we come to the two not-a-Hugos:
Lodestar
I freely admit that I’m not the target audience for YA and I usually leave the Lodestar finalists for last, because the books just aren’t for me and I’m not familiar with many of the finalists. That said, YA fiction is an important part of our genre and the Lodestar has established itself as a valid award in recent years.
Tracy Deonn and Rachel Hartman have both been nominated for the Lodestar before. I have enjoyed Tracy Deonn’s previous Lodestar finalists, though Rachel Hartman’s Tess of the Road wasn’t for me. I have read neither of their nominated novels.
Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series is one of the most popular YA SFF series of the past fifteen years and so I’m not at all surprised to see Sunrise of the Reaping on the ballot. Amazingly, this is Suzanne Collins’ first Lodestar (or Hugo) nomination, since the Lodestar didn’t yet exist when the original Hunger Games trilogy came out. I did enjoy the first Hunger Games book, though I felt they started getting repetitive later on. Many readers clearly feel differently.
I’m not familiar with Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee, but the title sounds delightful.
Holy Terrors is the final novel in Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves trilogy, which apparently is very popular, though I’m afraid it passed me by.
I have heard of They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran, though I haven’t read it.
Diversity count: 5 women, 1 non-binary, 3 authors of colour
Astounding
By design, there aren’t a lot of returning favourites in this category, because the Astounding eligibility window lasts only two years.
And so the only repeat finalist in this category is Jared Pechacek (apologies for WordPress butchering his surname).
Kamilah Cole was a Lodestar finalist last year, though is her first Astounding nomination.
H.H. Pak is also a finalist in Best Novelette this year. I’m not yet familiar with their work, though I’m looking forward to checking it out.
Sophie Burnham won the Sidewise Award and is a first time Astounding finalist. Their novels Sargassa and Bloodtide sound very interesting.
The Raven Scholar is Antonia Hodges first SFF novel, though she’s not a new writer, since she has published several very good historical mysteries. However, only SFF counts for Astounding eligibility and indeed we have had several previous finalists and even winners in this category who had prior publications in other genres, e,g, David Anthony Durham (who has since returned to historical fiction), Lev Grossman or last year’s winner Moniquill Blackgoose.
Molly O’Neill burst onto the scene last year with her novel Greenteeth, which I enjoyed a lot. She as well as Antonia Hodges were both on my personal ballot.
Diversity count: 3 women, 1 man, 2 non-binary, 2 authors of colour, 4 international authors.
***
And that’s it for the 2025 Hugo finalists. Personally, I think it’s a very good ballot, even though a few finalists which are not to my taste. But then every year, there are finalists who are not to my taste.
Could we have more diversity in some categories with a lot of repeat finalists? Yes. But then, this isn’t a new issue. There have always been repeat finalists and some categories where the same person or institution won over and over and over again. Just take a look at ballots from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and even 2000s to see how far we’ve come.
I don’t see any strong themes this year. We still have several fairy tale inspired stories, cozy fantasy is still popular and we have a mini-trend of SFF mysteries this year. Romantasy, though super popular right now, only tangentially shows up on the Hugo ballot, which is very similar to what we saw during the great urban fantasy boom of approx. fifteen to twenty years ago. Crap, has it really been that long?
As for other commentaries and reaction posts, Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts here. There’s also some discussion in the comments.
So far, I haven’t seen any comments from the usual basket of deplorables, since they’re apparently too busy hating whatever is fashionable to hate right now. Is it still Starfleet Academy or have they moved on?
More commentary will be linked here as it emerges.
*I define “international” as a writer/creator living outside the US and/or with a nationality other than US-American. If we include dual citizens or writers who are first or second generation immigrants, there would be several more. I’ve also stopped counting LGBTQ+ finalists for the diversity count, because it’s very difficult to determine, since not everybody is out. Apologies if I’ve accidentally misgendered anybody.
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