2023 Hugo Award nominations are out

Most nominations are expected, as they follow the trend from the last decade. I'll be skipping the voting this year, but I think I'll still pick up some of the more interesting sounding titles, especially from people I don't see too often on the Hugo ballots.

4 comments

Personal observations:
Best series: Tchaikovsky deserves the win. And he may get it, partially via sympathy vote as his Children of Time got snubbed by the Hugos so far (not even a nomination).
Best novelette: I only read Valente's story. I liked the emotional aspect of it, and I really like her writing style (to the point that I immediately pick up everything she writes), but even I acknowledge that with her it's more about the form than substance. I'll have to read the other stories, but I'm not giving her much of a chance.
Best novel: I wasn't too impressed by Scalzi. The book felt like a lazy book, written out of necessity to placate his agent, and not something he was passionate again. I'll be skipping Muir's Nona. The first Locked Tomb was amazing, but I really hated the narration style of the second one. For the rest, I'm more intrigued than I've been in a few years.
- I'm hoping for Isabel J Kim on the best new writer. I've enjoyed many of her stories in Clarkesworld.
  Yes, definitely hoping for the Children of Time series to win. I'm finishing up the first and looking forward to the next two.
  The only novel in the finalists that I've read is Scalzi's. It's a fun read, but yeah, it's not fantastic science fiction.
- If it helps re: Nona, the tone of that book is very different, and it's the thing that convinced me Muir can write something other than edgy-confusing-grimdark. Nona is a much more forthrightly-loving person than Gideon or Harrow.
  (Don't get me wrong, I liked Gideon a lot, and I liked Harrow too--I'm just glad Nona showed Muir can write another POV too.)
  
  Many thanks! Your description of the first two books as "edgy-confusing-grimdark" is spot on. And the second person narration in the second book just added to the confusion. I will put it on my TBR list, but I don't feel compelled to read it before the voting closes.