SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

The Hugo Award finalists have been announced (for works published in 2016):

http://www.worldcon.fi/wsfs/hugo-fina...

The written fiction categories are:

Best Novel
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Death's End by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Best Novella
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold
A Taste Of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
This Census-Taker by China Miéville

Best Novelette
Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex by Stix Hiscock
The Art of Space Travel by Nina Allan
The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde
The Tomato Thief by Ursula Vernon
Touring with the Alien by Carolyn Ives Gilman
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay by Alyssa Wong

Best Short Story
The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin
A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies by Brooke Bolander
Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar
That Game We Played During the War by Carrie Vaughn
An Unimaginable Light by John C. Wright

Best Series (new experimental category)
The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone
The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
The October Daye Books by Seanan McGuire
The Peter Grant / Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

Excellent! From what I've already read, this is a darn fine crop. Time to get busy! ((alt+tab to the library website))

This does look quite excellent! I've only read one of these with several on the TBR.

I have to say that I adored A Closed and Common Orbit.

I read and nominated Death's End and The Obelisk Gate.

Instead of Penric and the Shaman, I nominated Penric’s Mission, which I thought was slightly better. I seem to be in the minority with that opinion.

I've also read all of (and nominated) The Expanse and The Vorkosigan Saga, and I'm thrilled that The Vorkosigan Saga made it (even though I didn't nominate Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen). With the author being semi-retired, it's not guaranteed that there will be another qualifying Vorkosigan book in the future, so this might be the only chance for it to win (though who knows if this category will exist in the future). I suspect The Expanse has a larger fan base today and is probably the favorite to win, but The Vorkosigan Saga is an incredible 30-year "lifetime achievement".

I haven't read any of the other finalists. Yet!

I have plans (soon, I hope!) for Obelisk Gate, Craft Sequence and The City Born Great.

A lot of the rest are on my aspirational TBR (like Vorksoigan and Peter Grant).

"Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex"

No offense to the author or nominator, but is this for real?

Asimov must be turning over in his grave.

Heinlein, of course, is gleeful, looking down from his solipsistic heaven. Although he's wondering why he couldn't have incorporated this theme into his own work (with the serial number appropriately filed off, of course).

Mike wrote: ""Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex"

No offense to the author or nominator, but is this for real?

Asimov must be turning over in his grave.

Heinlein, of course, is gle..."

That book was part of the Rabid Puppies slate, which has the stated goal of destroying the Hugo awards. You probably shouldn't worry about offending the nominator, since he's pretty much the worst human being in all of sci-fi. The book itself is probably inspired by Space Raptor Butt Invasion, which was nominated for the same reason last year (but the author, Chuck Tingle, turned against the nominators and at least managed to make the experience somewhat entertaining).

Chuck Tingle is also a finalist THIS year without the help of a slate, in the "Best Fan Writer" category, probably for his Twitter posts.

The impact of the slates appears to be much less this year - even though there are a handful of books like that, they don't dominate any category. The nomination system changed this year to mitigate them, with the finalists in each category increased from five to six, and the finalists chosen by a more complex system that gives less weight when you nominate more works per category.

My pick would be DEATH'S END which is probably better than THREE-BODY PROBLEM by the same author which won 2 years ago.

I really don't understand the love for NINEFOX GAMBIT or ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY. I'll probably read the Becky Chambers just for completeness.

Go EXPANSE!!

I'm afraid I have only read A Closed and Common Orbit but gosh it was good!!!

As usual, I haven't read enough of the current stuff to make an informed decision, but it does look like they effectively shut down the asshats for the most part.

I don't get how they can nominate a Best Series with some of them still ongoing, but then awards don't often make sense to me.

MadProfessah wrote: "I really don't understand the love for NINEFOX GAMBIT or ALL THE BIRDS IN THE BIRDS IN THE SKY. "

I'm currently listening to "All the Birds..." and, while I'm enjoying it a lot, it's leaving me slightly underwhelmed and wondering at all the hype surrounding it.

MadProfessah wrote: "My pick would be DEATH'S END which is probably better than THREE-BODY PROBLEM by the same author which won 2 years ago.

I really don't understand the love for NINEFOX GAMBIT or ALL THE BIRDS IN TH..."

lol Watching the show?

Hubby refuses to read the books since he's watching the show.

Trike wrote: "As usual, I haven't read enough of the current stuff to make an informed decision, but it does look like they effectively shut down the asshats for the most part.

I don't get how they can nominate..."

This is where I am right now. Though there are so many that are still up for reads.

So many books, so little time to read.

Looking forward to the Voter Packet. Really wish I could attend this year.

Trike wrote: "I don't get how they can nominate a Best Series with some of them still ongoing, but then awards don't often make sense to me. "

Micah wrote: "Looking forward to the Voter Packet. Really wish I could attend this year."

What bugs me about this Best Series category is that the chance of voters reading each of the finalists is basically zero. One of the nice things about the Hugos and the voter packet is that while people nominate whatever they read, when they vote on the final ballot they can reasonably be expected to at least sample every single work, which makes it a more serious attempt to pick the best works of the year, and less of a popularity contest like the Goodreads Choice Awards.

But for series that are already 5000+ pages, I doubt they could put anything meaningful in the voter packet that's short enough to actually get read.

In the case of a series full of stand-alones like Vorkosigan they might throw in some novellas like The Mountains Of Mourning (which already won a Hugo in 1990), but for a linear story like The Expanse, the only good way to "sample" it is to read the whole first book (none of the Expanse short stories are Hugo-quality).

I'm not familiar with a lot of the nominees but I'm glad Seanan McGuire is getting some attention. I really enjoyed both the novella and series she was nominated for.

I really enjoyed The Obelisk Gate (one of my favorite reads last year!), Every Heart a Doorway, and A Closed and Common Orbit. I liked the premise of All the Birds in the Sky but wasn't wowed by the writing. Some of the novella nominees sound really intriguing.

Much better slate of nominees this year than in the past two. I'm super excited about reading the short fiction as well. I adore short stories.

I'm also glad I've already read Death's End and Obelisk Gate, so only 4 novels to plow through before July. ;)

Yeah, I wasn't able to finish my Hugo reading in time last year, so I don't know how I'm going to manage now that there are six finalists per category. I'm barely keeping up with this group's selections. Fortunately most of these novels were already on my to-read list anyways.

I have read five out of six Best Novel nominees. I won't get the chance to read Liu's Death's End before the award because it's the third in a trilogy I haven't started. My rank order of preference for the rest is:

The Obelisk Gate
A Closed and Common Orbit
All the Birds in the Sky
Too Like the Lightning
Ninefox Gambit

It seems doubtful that Jemisin would win the best novel Hugo for two successive novels. My money is (and hopes) are on Cixin Liu's AT DEATH'S END.

I'm in the same situation, just started The Three-Body Problem so I haven't gotten to the third in the series yet.

My ranking is very different though!

Mine is:
1) Ninefox Gambit
2) A Closed and Common Orbit
3) The Obelisk Gate
4) All the Birds in the Sky
5) Too Like the Lightning (40% finished, struggling to get through)

I believe mine was NineFox Gambit, Deaths End, Closed and Common Orbit, and I went for Every heart s doorway for novella and these talons can crush galaxies short

I know it's probably an affront to the written word, but I really want to read Alien Stripper now.

Never mind. According to the reviews, it's even worse than one would expect from a book with "Alien Stripper" and "T Rex" in the title.

Aidan wrote: "Never mind. According to the reviews, it's even worse than one would expect from a book with "Alien Stripper" and "T Rex" in the title."

Check out Chuck Tingle, then. He just released a new book in his "Pounded in the Butt" series that people have been chuckling at.

I can't believe I just wrote those words!

Most of these books are still on my TBR, but I'm chiseling away! Both books I did read, Obelisk Gate and Too Like the Lightning, were brilliant, so if they're not even in most folks' top three, I imagine the competition is all worthy!

Oh I DID read it because it was in the voter packet. It is straight up porn. (Actually kind of hilarious porn Because it's the most cliched thing ever).
kinda upsets me because the voter packet is sent to ALL voters and I believe there is a minor (as in under 18) voting rights pack you can buy. So minors could get this with no warning for their parents which seems pretty f-ed up.

I'm hoping that Ninefox Gambit wins, though I don't think it will. I'm guessing it will be a toss-up between Death's End and The Obelisk Gate. I wouldn't mind if any of those three win. I think Death's End is likely the favorite.

Allison wrote: "Check out Chuck Tingle, then. He just released a new book in his "Pounded in the Butt" series that people have been chuckling at."

The great thing about Chuck Tingle is that the book titles are half the fun. Then there's Mark Oshiro's readings. I don't think I've ever actually made it through one of his books in text format.

Looks like the results are in!!! Hugo Results

NK Jemison does it again!!

I'm a little sad that Ninefox Gambit didn't win, but I think The Obelisk Gate is also perfectly deserving.

I'm also happy that Vorkosigan Saga won; it looks like it wasn't even close.

The voting breakdown is here:

http://www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HugoReport1_voting.pdf

...and the nominations are here:

http://www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HugoReport2_nominations.pdf

I am surprised that Death's End came in sixth place. I thought it was a strong candidate for first. I'm guessing it loses votes by being third in its series.

Well now I have to try reading Vorkosigan as it beat my current ultimate favorite series. Should I start with the Cordelia novel or straight to Miles?

You can read the Vorkosigan series in any order. Each book is written as a stand-alone. I started with Mirror Dance and have no regrets. Publication order might be better than internal chronology because you can see Bujold's writing change a lot over the years.

Silvana wrote: "Well now I have to try reading Vorkosigan as it beat my current ultimate favorite series. Should I start with the Cordelia novel or straight to Miles?"

Since it's quite a long list of books by this point here is the author's recommendations on the subject.
Vorkosigan Reading order debate or the
Vorkosigan Reading order debate - 2017 update

FWIW My preference, after having read these a couple of times now, is go with the Chronological order as opposed to the Publication order.
This is, however, after having read them in publication order first. So you might want to take that with a grain of salt.

Caveat. If you're finding yourself having to slog through Shards of Honour then skip over to Young Miles and you can always go back to Cordelia's Honor later.

Hope this didn't confuse the issue any further for you.

Cheers.

Still upset because Saga is being beaten by Monstress. Will try to read Jemisins and several other nominated works. Starting from Ninefox Gambit for this weekend.

Thank you, Chris and Al!

I also vote that you start with either Cordelia's Honor or Young Miles. I think I started with Young Miles myself.

David wrote: "I also vote that you start with either Cordelia's Honor or Young Miles. I think I started with Young Miles myself."

Noted, thank you. Our lovely moderator apparently pointed out in the sales thread that www.downpour.com is having a huge SF sale including all Vorkosigan saga. Perfect timing.

Your lovely moderator bought them all too :) I had the first 8 (started with Shards of Honor) and I just love that series. How could I pass them up?

Incidentally, LMB has just brought out another in the Penric and Desdemona series - falls after Penric and the Shaman. Fine to read if you've already read the later books as they aren't spoilers for this. Seemed a good place to mention this. (LMB mentions in her blog there is no pro publicity for this new series of hers and asks fans to spread the word. (Which is nothing like the other things fans spread....:) ) )
Penric's Fox