Well, I’ve read all of the Hugo nominees that I’m going to. I managed the first chapter of Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross, and kept putting off returning to it. The perky tone of Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi is exactly the kind of YA that punts me right out. Then I ran out of time. Plus I remembered I’m reading them for the sake of finding stories I like, so I’m can’t say anything else about them.
Here the whole list, ordered roughly by how much I enjoyed them.
Best Novel
- Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
- The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
- Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
- Saturn’s Children, by Charles Stross
- Zoe’s Tale, by John Scalzi
What I suspect will win: Zoe’s Tale.
Best Novella
- “True Names,” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
- “Truth,” by Robert Reed
- “The Tear,” by Ian McDonald
- “The Political Prisoner,” by Charles Coleman Finlay
- “The Erdmann Nexus,” by Nancy Kress
What I suspect will win: “True Names.”
Best Novelette
- “The Gambler,” by Paolo Bacigalupi
- “Pride and Prometheus,” by John Kessel
- “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story,” by James Alan Gardner
- “Shoggoths in Bloom,” by Elizabeth Bear
- “Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders,” by Mike Resnick
What I suspect will win: “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story”
Best Short Story
- “Evil Robot Monkey,” by Mary Robinette Kowal
- “Exhalation,” by Ted Chiang
- “From Babel’s Fallen Glory We Fled,” by Michael Swanwick
- “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss,” by Kij Johnson
- “Article of Faith,” by Mike Resnick
What I suspect will win: “Exhalation”
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