Our journey through the 2021 Hugo Awards ballot finishes with the most prestigious of categories: Best Novel. A final six consisting of five Hugo winning-authors and a sequel to a Hugo finalist might’ve disappointed those hoping for some new blood, but it’s hard to complain too much about a category with this kind of quality… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Ballot: Best Novel

We continue the journey through the Hugo Award ballot with the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Unlike the other categories, these nominations do not rely on any one particular work (a debut novel, for instance) but rather an author’s body of work in the first year or two of their career. Because I have… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Ballot: Astounding Award for Best New Writer

As the voting period winds down, I am continuing my series of posts giving my ballot and reasoning for various Hugo Award categories. Back in the spring, I explored Best Short Story and Best Novelette; earlier this week, I examined Best Novella; and today, I’ll be looking at the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Ballot: Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Novel

After months of reading, I’m finally ready to finalize my first Hugo Awards ballot for a category that isn’t meant for reading in a single sitting. And I have to say that after really enjoying the finalists for Best Short Story and Best Novelette, I found the Best Novella finalists to be a disappointing group.… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Ballot: Best Novella

My journey through the 2021 Hugo Award ballot continues with an evaluation of the finalists for Best Novelette. While the Best Short Story finalists were very engaging but not especially ambitious, the novelettes saw more variation in quality and a pair of finalists with aims far beyond mere entertainment. While I saw a couple finalists… Continue reading 2021 Hugo Ballot: Best Novelette