A week ago the nominations for the 2020 Hugo Awards were announced and I’m ready to start reading! The Hugo Awards is probably one of the more well known Science Fiction and Fantasy awards, with its Award Ceremony being one of the highlights ofWorldCon. 

This year I want to read (and watch) all the selections for the Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Graphic Novel, and Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) categories. My goal is to talk about each category prior to the August 2nd ceremony and make a prediction. I’m going to give myself one skip because I think reading 5 out of 6 is enough to still give an opinion. 😀

Honestly my success hangs on when the library will reopen. I can get some e-versions but not everything. I miss my library with all my heart, but the safety of the community is top priority. 

Here are  the four categories and some early thoughts:

Best Novel

The City in the Middle of the Night – Charlie Jane Anders 

Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir 

The Light Brigade – Kameron Hurley 

A Memory Called Empire – Arkady Martine 

Middlegame – Seanan McGuire 

The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow 

This is one category that I don’t have any  strong opinions on. Most of these titles are known to me, as I’ve heard about each book multiple times on twitter, but I haven’t read any of them. 

There are some selections that I’m surprised didn’t make the cut, like Recursion or The Priory of the Orange Tree. I guess I’ll have to figure out what made these six stick out to the voters.

Best Novella

“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom” – Ted Chiang

The Deep – Rivers Solomon 

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 – P. Djèlí Clark 

In an Absent Dream – Seanan McGuire 

This Is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 

To Be Taught, If Fortunate – Becky Chambers 

Hmmm. So the only one I’ve read from this group I was ‘meh’ on, even though book twitter lost their shit over it (TIHYLTTW). I got about a third into The Deep and lost interest. So… solid beginning! Hahaha. I’ll have to give The Deep a second chance. 

I’m looking forward to The Haunting of Tram Car 015 the most with To Be Taught, If Fortunate behind that. The only one I might skip is In an Absent Dream because it is the fourth in a series and I’m not sure if time will allow it. Though if I really love Middlegame from Best Novel then I might try to catch up. 

Sidebar: Why is “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” in this category? It’s 70 pages long, doesn’t that make it a short story? Oh well.

Best Graphic Story or Comic 

Die –  Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker 

LaGuardia

Monstress –  Volume 4: The Chosen

Mooncakes

Paper Girls –  Volume 6

The Wicked + The Divine – Volume 9: Okay

Monstress was nominated so all is right in the universe. I also read Paper Girls’ last volume and thought it was a great end to the story. This is the category I’m looking forward to in the months ahead and hope it’s as strong as last year’s. I’ve wanted the opportunity to check out The Wicked + The Divine so I’m happy to push it up the TBR for this. 

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form 

The Good Place: “The Answer”

The Expanse: “Cibola Burn”

Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”

The Mandalorian: “Redemption”

Doctor Who: “Resolution”

Watchmen: “This Extraordinary Being”

Where the Long Form was a big ol’ meh for me, I think the Short Form is where the party is at this year. First off, TWO episodes of Watchman, the best show from last year. Followed up by an episode from both The Mandalorian and The Good Place, both solid episodes from amazing seasons of television. 

Out of the two episodes I didn’t see I don’t mind catching up on Doctor Who, but I think I’m going to pass on The Expanse. I’ve seen the first season and really have no desire to binge three more to see one episode. 

For a full list of the awards and nominees go here.