2012 Hugo Nominations

BEST NOVEL
Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Deadline, Mira Grant (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

BEST NOVELLA
‘‘The Ice Owl’’, Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF 10-11/11)
‘‘Countdown’’, Mira Grant (Orbit Short Fiction)
‘‘The Man Who Bridged the Mist’’, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 10-11/11)
‘‘Kiss Me Twice’’, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s 6/11)
‘‘The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary’’, Ken Liu (Panverse Three)
Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

BEST NOVELETTE
‘‘Six Months, Three Days’’, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com 6/8/11)
‘‘The Copenhagen Interpretation’’, Paul Cornell (Asimov’s 7/11)
‘‘What We Found’’, Geoff Ryman (F&SF 9-10/11)
‘‘Fields of Gold’’, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
‘‘Ray of Light’’, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog 12/11)

BEST SHORT STORY
‘‘Movement’’, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s 3/11)
‘‘The Paper Menagerie’’, Ken Liu (F&SF 3-4/11)
‘‘The Homecoming’’, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s 4-5/11)
‘‘Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City (Prologue)’’, John Scalzi (Tor.com 4/1/11)
‘‘The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees’’, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld4/11)

BEST RELATED WORK
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition, John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls & Graham Sleight, eds. (Gollancz)
Jar Jar Binks Must Die… and Other Observations about Science Fiction Movies, Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books)
Wicked Girls, Seanan McGuire
Writing Excuses, Season 6, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, & Jordan Sanderson
The Steampunk Bible, Jeff VanderMeer & S.J. Chambers (Abrams)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY
The Unwritten, Vol. 2: Leviathan, Mike Carey, art by Peter Gross (Vertigo)
Locke & Key, Vol. 4: Keys To The Kingdom, Joe Hill, art by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW Publishing)
Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication, Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (www.schlockmercenary.com)
Digger, Ursula Vernon (www.diggercomic.com)
Fables, Vol. 15: Rose Red, Bill Willingham & Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – LONG
Captain America: The First Avenger
Game of Thrones: Season 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Source Code

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – SHORT
Community: ‘‘Remedial Chaos Theory’’
‘‘The Drink Tank’s Hugo Acceptance Speech’’, Christopher J Garcia & James Bacon (Renovation)
Doctor Who: ‘‘The Doctor’s Wife’’
Doctor Who: ‘‘The Girl Who Waited’’
Doctor Who: ‘‘A Good Man Goes to War’’

BEST PROFESSIONAL EDITOR LONG FORM
Lou Anders
Liz Gorinsky
Anne Lesley Groell
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Betsy Wollheim

BEST PROFESSIONAL EDITOR SHORT FORM
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Michael Komarck
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio

BEST SEMIPROZINE
Apex Magazine
Interzone
Lightspeed
Locus
The New York Review of Science Fiction

BEST FANZINE
Banana Wings
The Drink Tank
File 770
Journey Planet
SF Signal

BEST FANCAST
The Coode Street Podcast
Galactic Suburbia Podcast
SF Signal Podcast
SF Squeecast
StarShipSofa

BEST FAN WRITER
James Bacon
Claire Brialey
Christopher J Garcia
Jim C. Hines
Steven H Silver

BEST FAN ARTIST
Randall Munroe
Spring Schoenhuth
Maurine Starkey
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER [NOT A HUGO AWARD]
Mur Lafferty
Stina Leicht
Karen Lord
Brad R. Torgersen
E. Lily Yu

Complaining about nomination shortlists is becoming cliché (*cough*Christopher Priest*cough*), so I'll try not to focus for too long on the negative. The novel category is a bit of a let down: there are no real surprises here, and I'm not thrilled to see Deadline (the reviews I've read seem to think it's not as good as Feed, which was already a disappointment for me). I'm two-thirds of the way through A Dance with Dragons, and liking it the least of the series so far, but maybe it's about to kick into high gear. The other three are solid, if predictable, entries.

Also, I think I'm finished with Graphic Fiction as a category. I might check out Digger and Locke and Key (which I have heard many great things about), but the domination of perennials in this category is depressing, as is the absence of an ambitious work like Craig Thompson's Habibi.

And then there's the "Drink Tank Hugo Acceptance Speech." I really don't think this sort of thing should be nominated, honestly. Nothing against the Drink Tank guys, but there's no speculative content here, and it feels like sort of an insult to the scripted content that wasn't nominated. And, boy is it navel-gazing: we're going to give you one of our awards for enjoying receiving our award so much! If it were to win (I assume it won't), it would be worse than the Gollum boondoggle, and I considered that one of the low points of Hugo history.

However, the rest of the short form category is solid. Yes, Doctor Who dominates again, but it's a solid slate, including the inevitable Gaiman-penned winner, my personal favorite of the series ("A Good Man Goes to War") and an Amy-centric episode that is fairly clever and clearly better on the more bombastic opening  two-parter or the finale. I'm thrilled to see Community nominated. It's a great episode of a great show.

Long Form also looks pretty good. Hugo's title is destined to mess up google searches for "Hugo awards" for years to come, and, as Allie pointed out to me in a comment here before I finally saw it, it's not all that speculative. But, it's close enough for me.  It's shocking that Rise of the Apes isn't on the list and that Captain America is...I thought I was the only one who found the former extremely overrated and loved the latter cheese fest, but I guess not. I probably would have gone for Super 8 over Harry Potter 7 and 1/2, but Game of Thrones is the main event here, so who cares?

I'm especially excited about reading the short fiction this year. I'm looking forward to reading another Swirsky story, the titles look great, and I feel like that's where I'll see some fresh material.