The Hugo Award ceremony was kinda dull. It wasn't as funny as in recent years, or as entertaining. There were embarrassing technical difficulties while playing the videos for Best Dramatic Presentation noms. It just wasn't that great.
But none of that mattered in the slightest. I, and pretty much everyone I spoke with after, left the Hugos elated. Walking on air. Just... happy.
As many of you know, this was not the only possible outcome. There were candidates on the ballot who were not there strictly on the merits. After the call by Larry Correia to nominate a slate of conservative candidates succeeded in getting many of the names on his list on the ballot, there was a huge upswing in supporting memberships, and this year's vote had by far the biggest turnout ever. Who were these new members? Who were the new voters? Where they Wheel of Time fans, who may vote for their favorite series in droves, not vote for any other category, and thus put the fan categories at risk of "No Award" (a category needs to have 25 percent of the overall vote for anyone to get an award)? Could mediocre, and sometimes actually bad works win due to politics? Speculation ran rampant.
Turns out, we shouldn't have worried. The new supporters and voters were there, for the most part, to vote for multiple categories, and for the finest works. And the resulting slate of winners was simply delightful. Let's go over it.
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer:
Sofia Samatar
The only nominee for the award to also be nominated for a Hugo was also the only person who can claim victory over Ann Leckie this year, having won the Tiptree for A STRANGER IN OLONDRIA while ANCILLARY JUSTICE got honorable mention. She's a brilliant writer who was in her second year of eligibility. I voted for Max Gladstone, who finished second in the vote, but was very glad for her win.
Best Fan Artist:
Sarah Webb
While not very familiar with her work prior to the nomination, I googled her and voted for her, and I clearly wasn't the only one. Webb was third in nominating voted with 12%, but was the only winner with over 50% of the vote with 831 first place votes out of 1522 ballots. And for good reason: her art is gorgeous.
Best Fan Writer:
Kameron Hurley
This is another case, like in the Campbell, where I didn't vote for the winner but was very happy she won. Abigail Nussbaum, who I voted for, is great. But this was Hurley's year, as she wrote the single most important text about the genre to be published anywhere this year, and one which I'll mention again when I get to the relevant category. I think Nussbaum has a good chance of winning next year, as she had the most nominations and finished second in the voting.
Best Fancast:
SF Signal Podcast
While I love podcasts, I didn't really care about the category. Everyone does good work here, and the differences are most about subject matter and personal interests than quality.
Best Fanzine:
A Dribble of Ink
Another great category, with lots of terrific nominees. As winner Aiden Moher said on stage, this win was largely due to the aforementioned text by Cameron Hurley, to which we'll get soon enough. I'd be equally delighted with wins for Pornokitch and The Book smugglers, and no winner would make me particularly unhappy.
Best Semiprozine:
I split my vote, voting for Apex here and for Lightspeed editor John Joseph Adams for Best Editor. But, especially since he didn't win there, I'm thrilled he won here. The Women Destroy Science Fiction issue was, I think, the reason the magazine won. It was a wonderful project which I was happy to support and write about. I mean, just look at that TOC!
Best Professional Artist:
Julie Dillon
Everybody here was great, which is true every year. But Dillon is the first female solo winner of this award, and the second overall, after Diane Dillon who co-won with her husband Leo in 1971. Too long a drought, and I'm thrilled to see two female winners in the art categories. If you look at Tumblr and Deviantart, most of the art today seems to be created by women, and its good to see it bubble up to the awards level.
Best Editor, Long Form:
Ginjer Buchanan
This was the closest anyone from the Correia list got to winning a Hugo, with Toni Weisskopf getting the most first place votes, but finishing 4th overall. Makes sense, as Weisskopf, despite being an extremely old fashioned editor, is certainly competent. I would have liked to see Gorinsky win, and I'm sure she will, but this made sense: Buchanan retired earlier this year, so this was her chance to get something of a lifetime achievement award for a very impressive career.
Best Editor, Short Form:
As previously stated, I voted for Adams. But any win for Datlow in this category is justified. She's probably my favorite short story editor of all time, and does amazing work every year.
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:
Game of Thrones: "The Rains of Castamere"
Well, this was a surprise. I, and many others, thought "The Day of The Doctor" owned this category. Especially in a UK worldcon. But not only did it place second, it was actually third in first place votes, as Orphan Black's "Variations Under Domestication" was second, and took third place overall, which delighted me. Also of note: "The Name of The Doctor" had fewer first place votes than "No Award." Ouch.
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:
This non-SF film was a pretty obvious winner. I can't grumble, despite voting for Pacific Rim. Still, a quality film with a female lead winning the Hugo is a good thing.
I love XKCD. A lot. But Saga should have won.
Best Related Work:
"We Have Always Fought" By Kameron Hurley
I've never liked this category. It's such a weird grab bag of things, with apples competing with oranges and mangoes and waterlilies. But I was delighted with it this year, as it allowed Hurley to win a second award, this time specifically for her wonderful, angry, brilliant essay about women and science fiction and history and llamas.
"The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere" by John Chu
This was almost a no-lose category. I didn't love "The Ink Readers of Doi Saket," but apart from that I would have cheered for any winner. Chu, who was on a translation panel with me earlier in the convention, made the win for his terrific story even better with a moving, emotional speech about the obstacles he's had to overcome as a gay, Asian writer dealing with those issues in his work. The kind of speech that is moving for any non-bigot who's ever had to deal with obstacles.
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal
This was a wonderful win for many reasons. The story was nominated in this category last year, and was removed from consideration due to being published as an audio story, and thus - by the committees ruling - only eligible in the Dramatic Presentation Short Form category. It was published at Tor.com, and that was the eligible version this year. It's also a great story. And Mary is a great writer and an excellent person who stood for hours in the fan village, taking pictures with fans with her award and the amazing dress she made herself. She also dragged other winners and their awards with her. Finally, Mary is seen by some bigots and misogynists as the epitome of the evil female corruption of the genre, and having her win - leading from the first round onwards - while the odious Vox Day placed last, after "No Award" - was just great.
"Equoid" by Charles Stross
My only minor complaint in the four major fiction categories is Stross' win here. His story is a perfectly decent story. It's fun and scary and weird. But Valente's Six Guns Snow White is a brilliant story. My love for Valente's work is well documented, and this was excellent even by her usual high standards. Plus, had Snow White won, that would have made for a slate of zero white male winners (and zero het male winners) in the four major fiction categories. And particularly on this year, that would have been amazing. So close.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Let me tell you a little story. At last year's worldcon, I met a very nice lady and had a lovely conversation with her at the bar. She had published some short stories, and was excited about her upcoming debut novel. Some time later, I read Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and was blown away. I thought it was the finest, most important SF novel I'd read in years. I believed it will have a revitalizing effect on the entire genre. I've been talking about it for months. At a panel earlier this year, it was a major reason why I claimed the current decade to be my favorite decade in SF. In fact, I took that position largely to talk about it. At Loncon 3, I saw Leckie and approached her. I recognized her from her author picture. Only after she said "Didi, I remember you from San Antonio!" did I realize that the nice woman from the bar at LoneStarCon with the upcoming debut novel was the author of my new favorite novel.
Ancillary Justice's win was a moment of pure, unadulterated joy. An actual real-life fist pump moment. Friends sitting next to me will attest that my fist was indeed pumped, along with repeated shouts of "Yes!"
And looking at the voting later and realizing that it had a huge lead over Wheel of Time throughout the voting, that it wasn't very far from an outright first pass win? That was just a lovely extra.
This year's Hugo awards were a clear statement by the heart of fandom. A statement for inclusivity and diversity and quality. Elizabeth Bear coined the phrase "The Rainbow Age of Science Fiction" a few years ago, and this year's Hugos were that age's coming out party.
