2022 Hugo Award Finalists

The Hugo Award finalists were announced yesterday and there aren't many surprises seeing the praise given to the chosen books. Here are the finalists and my picks for the winners of each category. Note that I didn't include every category, only the ones that I have either read/watched or ones I plan to. 

Best Novel

- A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine (Tor) 

- The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)

- Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (Tor / St. Martin's Press) ★★★☆☆

- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom / Orbit UK) ★★★★★

- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)

- She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan (Tor / Mantle) ★★☆☆☆

My pick is without a doubt, A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. I absolutely loved this book. I really connected with Fatima. Her personality jumped out of the pages and she really felt like a real person and not just a character I was reading on paper. The world building was 10/10 fantastic as well. I really loved delving into the magic in this book. It was both a scientific and magical world that felt completely unique. It was just one of the best books I've read this year and a great one to help finish 2021 on. I cannot wait to read more from Clark. His voice as an author felt new, refreshing, and exactly what I was looking for.

I also have read Light From Uncommon Stars and She Who Became the sun but did not like those as much as the others. I have no interest in reading Project Hail Mary because no matter how hard I try, I just can't connect with Weir's writing style. I have started the Wayfarer's series and plan on reading the Teixcalaan series, but cannot speak for those two books nominated.  

Best Novella

- Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)

- Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)

- Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)

- The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)

- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)

- A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)

Well Tordotcom is certainly dominating the novella game lately. Having read a few published by them before, I can safely say that I have given four or five stars to a majority of them. While I have not read any of the novellas nominated this year, I am guessing that A Psalm for the Wild-Built will win. I have heard the most hype surrounding this one and having been nominated for the same award in 2020 for To Be Taught, if Fortunate, I have a feeling she will win this time around. 

I definitely plan on reading all of these, and have quite a few of them on hold at my local library. I need to catch up on the Wayward Children series first though. All of these novellas sound incredibly compelling and I know I will most likely enjoy reading all of them. 

Best Short Story

- “Mr. Death”, by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, Feb 2021)

- “Proof by Induction”, by José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021)

- “The Sin of America”, by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)

- “Tangles”, by Seanan McGuire (Magicthegathering.com: Magic Story, Sep 2021)

- “Unknown Number”, by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021)

- “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)

I am quite surprised to see a short story that was written on Twitter be nominated for a Hugo. Again, being unfamiliar with the length of work, and also not being a user of the platform, I was unaware that it was used for this. Overall, while there are some enjoyable short stories, I've found that many don't go as deep as I prefer in either worldbuilding or character development. In my opinion, most science-fiction or fantasy needs at least 200 pages for me to really connect with it. I was a previous subscriber to Uncanny Magazine but stopped due to this very reason. It's not to say that the stories are bad, it's just not my preference for length. That being said, I have no clue who will be the winner here. 

Best Series

- The Green Bone Saga, by Fonda Lee (Orbit) ★★★★★

- The Kingston Cycle, by C. L. Polk (Tordotcom)

- Merchant Princes, by Charles Stross (Macmillan)

- Terra Ignota, by Ada Palmer (Tor Books)

- Wayward Children, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)

- The World of the White Rat, by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) (Argyll Productions) 

The winner has absolutely got to be The Green Bone Saga. I gave five stars to all three books and it solidified it's place (in my opinion) as one of the best fantasy series of all time. It was near perfection. Admittedly, I haven't read the other nominees, but The Merchant Princes series sounds fascinating as does Terra Ignota and I've already started Wayward Children. I love Lee's writing and I hope she wins. 

Best Graphic Story or Comic

- DIE, vol. 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Stephanie Hans, lettering by Clayton Cowles (Image)

- Far Sector, written by N.K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell (DC)

- Lore Olympus, vol. 1, by Rachel Smythe (Del Rey) ★★★☆☆

- Monstress, vol. 6: The Vow, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image)

- Once & Future, vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies, written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain (BOOM!)

- Strange Adventures, written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner (DC)

I don't read a ton of graphic novels and comics but I do tend to like the ones I read. I am not completely caught up with Monstress although I do own all the volumes, and it is one of my favorite graphic novel series of all time. The only nominee I've actually read is Lore Olympus, and while it was a good story, I don't plan on continuing it. There are so many Greek mythology retellings and I just prefer others to this one. DIE, Sector, and Once and Future are all on my TBR list. I love Kieron Gillen's other series The Wicked + the Divine so if that's anything close to these two I will probably like them as well. 

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

- Dune, screenplay by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth; directed by Denis Villeneuve; based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert (Warner Bros / Legendary Entertainment)

- Encanto, screenplay by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush; directed by Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

- The Green Knight, written and directed by David Lowery (BRON Studios/A24)

- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, screenplay by Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham; directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) ★★★★☆

- Space Sweepers, written and directed by Jo Sung-hee (Bidangil Pictures)

- WandaVision, screenplay by Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer (created by and head writer), Cameron Squires, Gretchen Enders, Chuck Hayward; directed by Matt Shakman (Disney+) ★★★★⍣

Dune will probably win, and I'm sure it's good, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. The Green Knight is also on my watchlist. I have never heard of Space Sweepers but I just watched the trailer and I am not going to watch it. My pick is WandaVision. I think this show did something that no other show has done before. In the midst of a Marvel burnout, it seemed to hit the refresh button entirely. While Shang-Chi was also very good I think in my opinion WandaVision barely edged the movie out so it is my pick to win. Although looking at the next category, I am wondering why it's in long form rather than short form. Perhaps it's looking at the series as a whole rather than each episode. 

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

- The Wheel of Time: The Flame of Tar Valon, written by Justine Juel Gillmer, directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield, based on The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (Amazon Studios) ★★★⍣☆

- For All Mankind: The Grey, written by Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi; directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Tall Ship Productions/Sony Pictures Television)

- Arcane: The Monster You Created, written by Christian Linke and Alex Yee; story by Christian Linke, Alex Yee, Conor Sheehy, and Ash Brannon; directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord (Netflix) ★★★★★

- The Expanse: Nemesis Games, written by Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, and Naren Shankar; directed by Breck Eisner (Amazon Studios)

- Loki: The Nexus Event, written by Eric Martin, directed by Kate Herron, created for television by Michael Waldron (Disney+) ★★★☆☆

- Star Trek: Lower Decks: wej Duj, written by Kathryn Lyn, directed by Bob Suarez (CBS Eye Animation Productions)

Anyone who claims Arcane wasn't near perfection can fight me. Without a doubt it has become one of my favorite shows ever. Everything about it was compelling. The characters, the world, even the animation style. I think the voice actors did an amazing job and the animation team did one of the best jobs I've ever seen in an animated show. Everything just looked so smooth. And this episode, being the finale, set up the series so well to continue. The whole team who put Arcane together is simply amazing. 

I did enjoy The Wheel of Time as a whole. I'm not super nitpicky about changes being made from source material, because some things just won't work on screen and it needs to translate to the general audience, not just fans of the books. I am not completely caught up with The Expanse but I'm getting there. I also enjoyed Loki overall, but felt that the writers tried to put too much humor in odd places.  

Other Awards

- Best Novelette

- Best Related Work

- Best Editor, Short Form

- Best Editor, Long Form

- Best Professional Artist

- Best Semiprozine

- Best Fanzine

- Best Fancast

- Best Fan Writer

- Best Fan Artist

- Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (presented by the World Science Fiction Society)

- Astounding Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines)