Comments: The biggest story of the 2013 Hugo awards is probably Seanan McGuire, who was nominated twice for Best Novelette and won a Hugo for Best Fancast as part of the SF Squeecast. That doesn't really seem all that impressive until one considers that Seanan McGuire is also Mira Grant, and as Mira Grant she was nominated once for Best Novella and once again for Best Novel. Although she didn't win any Hugos other than her shared Hugo for the SF Squeecast, the fact that McGuire produced four works of high enough quality to be nominated for a Hugo Award in a single year is an impressive achievement.
In the Best Novel category there was a minor upset, as John Scalzi's humorous Redshirts beat out Kim Stanley Robinson's much weightier 2312, but given that well-written humorous science fiction is so rare and apparently so hard to execute, I'd say that Scalzi's win was well-deserved. Making Scalzi's win even more satisfying is the schadenfreude of knowing that there is a particular unpleasant person out there sitting in his bunker of hatred grinding his teeth in impotent rage at Scalzi's victory. He's taken a hipster stance of not caring, but the inferno-like anger is clearly evident.
In the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form category the field was exceptionally strong, with The Avengers winning the prize over Cabin in the Woods, The Hunger Games, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, all of whom might have been winners in other, less competitive years. I'm not entirely surprised that The Avengers won, after all The Hobbit was a bloated and self-indulgent exercise in CGI porn, while Cabin in the Woods was snarky in the way that only Joss Weedon can be. However I think that The Avengers beating The Hunger Games was something of a surprise, given the critical acclaim that Suzanne Collier's series has received and the general excellent nature of the movie.
The real surprise of the night was in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form category, which has been so predictable in recent years that Toastmaster Paul Cornell introduced it by essentially calling it the Best Doctor Who Episode Award. In an upset that almost no one saw coming, the Game of Thrones episode Blackwater won over three Doctor Who episodes and an episode of Fringe, breaking the Doctor's seven year hold on the category. This development is, I think, good for televised science fiction, because having one show dominate to the extent that Doctor Who has for the better part of the last decade is simply not a sign of a healthy genre. Granted, Doctor Who lost to the other 800-pound gorilla in the room, but having two 800-pound gorillas around is certainly a better situation for genre television than having only one.
Best Novel
Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi
Other Finalists:
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Blackout by Mira Grant
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Best Novella
The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Other Finalists:
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress
On a Red Station, Drifting by Aliette de Bodard
San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats by Mira Grant
The Stars Do Not Lie by Jay Lake
Best Novelette
The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi by Pat Cadigan
Other Finalists:
The Boy Who Cast No Shadow by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Fade To White by Catherynne M. Valente
In Sea-Salt Tears by Seanan McGuire
Rat-Catcher by Seanan McGuire
Best Short Story
Mono no Aware by Ken Liu
Other Finalists:
Immersion by Aliette de Bodard
Mantis Wives by Kij Johnson
Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work
Writing Excuses Season Seven by Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells
Other Finalists:
The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn
Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them edited by Sigrid Ellis, and Lynne M. Thomas
Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who edited by L.M. Myles and Deborah Stanish
I Have an Idea for a Book . . . The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg compiled by Martin H. Greenberg, edited by John Helfers
Best Graphic Story
Other Finalists:
Grandville Bête Noire written and illustrated by Bryan Talbot
Locke & Key Volume 5: Clockworks written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez
Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton
Saucer Country, Volume 1: Run written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Jimmy Broxton, Ryan Kelly, and Goran Sudžuka
Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form
The Avengers
Other Finalists:
The Cabin in the Woods
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hunger Games
Looper
Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
Game of Thrones: Blackwater
Other Finalists:
Doctor Who: The Angels Take Manhattan
Doctor Who: Asylum of the Daleks
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
Fringe: Letters of Transit
Best Professional Editor: Short Form
Stanley Schmidt
Other Finalists:
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams
Best Professional Editor Long Form
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Other Finalists:
Lou Anders
Sheila Gilbert
Liz Gorinsky
Toni Weisskopf
Best Professional Artist
John Picacio
Other Finalists:
Vincent Chong
Julie Dillon
Dan Dos Santos
Chris McGrath
Best Semi-Prozine
Other Finalists:
Apex Magazine edited by Jason Sizemore, Lynne M. Thomas, and Michael Damian Thomas
Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. AndrewsLightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams and Stefan Rudnicki
Strange Horizons edited by Rebecca Cross, Niall Harrison, Jed Hartman, Brit Mandelo, Dave Nagdeman, Abigail Nussbaum, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, and Sonya Taaffe
Best Fanzine
SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, J.P. Frantz, and Patrick Hester
Other Finalists:
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
The Drink Tank edited by James Bacon and Christopher J. Garcia
Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J. Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery, and Pete Young
Best Fan Writer
Other Finalists:
James Bacon
Christopher J. Garcia
Mark Oshiro
Steven H. Silver
Best Fan Artist
Galen Dara
Other Finalists:
Brad W. Foster
Spring Schoenhuth
Maurine Starkey
Steve Stiles
Best Fancast
SF Squeecast by Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente; produced by David McHone-Chase
Other Finalists:
The Coode Street Podcast by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia Podcast by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts; produced by Andrew Finch
SF Signal Podcast by John DeNardo, J.P. Frantz, and Patrick HesterStarShipSofa by Tony C. Smith
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Mur Lafferty
Other Finalists:
Zen Cho
Max Gladstone
Stina Leicht
Chuck Wendig
What Are the Hugo Awards?
Go to previous year's nominees: 2012
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2014
2013 Hugo Longlist Book Award Reviews Home
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