Awards Season!

I'm home sick today, but apparently a squidgy stomach has given me a clear head--I admit that I've read all the 2010 fiction that I'm going to. I'm just going to have to suck it up and do my awards voting and nominations based on what I've read so far. So with some extra time on my hands, I've decided to do my Hugo nominations and Locus Awards voting today. This is going by Hugo categories--I figure the fiction categories overlap, and in the non-fiction/anthology/collection categories I don't have too much to say anyway. But here's what I've got.

Novels

I focused so much on short fiction in 2010 that of all the novels on the Locus Recommended Reading list, I've only read 3 and a half. (The half was Mieville's Kraken, which just didn't work for me and I didn't finish.) And I think I've only read about six 2010 releases in total. So I'm pretty much leaving those categories alone when it comes to the Locus awards. However, for Hugo nominations I feel free to nominate books that I want to read, since I generally manage to read all the fiction on the Hugo shortlist. So here are five books that I want to read this spring:

• The Dervish House, Ian McDonald
• Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor
• The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi
• Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay
• How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu

Novellas

Here I'm getting more into my comfort zone. By far the two best novellas I read this year were:

• The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang
• The Taborin Scale, Lucius Shepard

In the category of "haven't read yet but want to:"

• The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window, Rachel Swirsky
• Cloud Permutations, Lavie Tidhar
• The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon, Liz Hand

Novelette
All things I've read, and it was hard to narrow down to five:

• "The Mad Scientist's Daughter," Theodora Goss
• "The Revel," John Langan, F&SF July/Aug
• "The Butterfly and the Blight at the Heart of the World," Lavie Tidhar
• "Generation E: The Emoticon Generation," Guy Hasson
• "The Tetrahedron," Vandana Singh

Others I could have easily added:

• "And Blow Them at the Moon," Marie Brennan
• "Still Life (A Sexagisimal Fairy Tale)" Ian Tregillis
• "As the Wheel Turns," Aliette de Bodard, GUD Summer
• "Or We Will All Hang Separately," Nancy Jane Moore

Looks like I'll be doing a lot of typing over at the Locus poll--most of these aren't on the Recommended list.

Short Story

Again, all read & hard to narrow down:

• "Paul Kishosha's Children," Ken Edgett, Shine Anthology
• "Throwing Stones," Mishelle Baker
• "On the Banks of the River Lex," N. K. Jemisin
• "The Green Book," Amal El-Mohtar
• "The Ice Moon Tale," Eilis O'Neil, Abyss & Apex 3rd Quarter

Others I'd be happy to see nominated:

• "Futures in the Memory Market," Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• "Ghost of a Horse Under a Chandelier," Georgina Bruce
• "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain," Yoon Ha Lee
• "Amid the Words of War," Cat Rambo

Looks like I'll mostly be skipping Best Related Work and Graphic Story this year. Also both the Dramatic Presentations - I'm glad to let other people tell me what I should be reading/watching in those categories.

Editor, Short Form

• Jonathan Strahan
• Dash (Editor of Expanded Horizons, the website doesn't list Dash's full name)
• Neil Clarke, Clarkesworld
• Bill Schaeffer, Subterranean
• Catherynne Valente, Apex

The above represent the short fiction magazines that I enjoyed most in 2010, as well as some great anthologies and collections. I'll again leave Editor, Long form to those more knowledgeable than I.

Pro-Artist

I've been keeping track of artwork that stood out to me as well this year:

• John Barry Ballaran, Clarkesworld #45
• Ertaç Altınöz, Clarkesworld #49
• Mitenkov Maxim, Apex #17
• Adreas Rocha, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #47
• Murat Turan, Clarkesworld #46

Semiprozine

I can't swear that all of these qualify, but through the year they have become my must-reads:

• Clarkesworld
• Expanded Horizons
• Subterranean Press Magazine
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Apex Magazine

Fanzine

• Notes from Coode St. Podcast
• SFSignal
• Vector
• Torque Control
• Futurismic

Fan Writer

• Niall Harrison
• Paul Graham Raven
• Abigail Nussbaum
• Jonathan McCalmont
• Nic Clarke

Why yes, that is my peer group. Why do you ask? :p

Campbell Best New Writer

I'm never sure about the eligibility for this one--who's to say that an author that's new to me didn't have one sale five years ago that disqualifies them now? But here are a few names:

• Amelia Beamer
• Eilis O'Neal
• Aidan Doyle
• Eric del Carlo
• Charles Yu

And that's it for me, putting a cap on 2010. As always I wish I'd read more, but there was some fantastic stuff that I did read. If you're eligible to nominate for the Hugos (member/supporting member of Aussiecon 4 or Renovation) the deadline is March 26th. The Locus award voting (open to everyone, but subscriber votes count double) is open until April 15th. Please make your voice heard!