2006 Hugo Longlist

The most interesting thing about the 2006 Hugo longlist is that pursuant to Article 3.3.17 of the constitution of the World Science Fiction Society, LA Con IV elected to sponsor an additional special Hugo category to honor video games. The top fifteen games receiving nominations in this category were:

City of Villains
Darkwatch
Destroy All Humans
Dungeons and Dragons Online
Dungeon Siege II
Eve Online
F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon
Half-Life 2
Indigo Prophecy
Lego Star Wars
Myst V: End of Ages
Resident Evil 4
Shadow of the Colossus
We ❤ Katamari
World of Warcraft

Had this category made it to the final ballot, the finalists potentially would have been City of Villains, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Eve Online, Lego Star Wars, Shadow of the Colossus, We ❤ Katamari, and World of Warcraft. As I explain below, there are some questions about the eligibility of Dungeons and Dragons Online, Eve Online, and World of Warcraft. If those three games were eliminated on eligibility grounds, then Destroy All Humans and Half-Life 2 would have been added as finalists.

The category was dropped because of lack of interest from the voters. Only 58 people cast ballots in this category - the next lowest category in terms of participation was Best Fan Artist, which had 154 voters. The game that received the highest number of nominations was World of Warcraft, which garnered a paltry 13 votes. The next highest was Lego Star Wars with seven. Six of the games on this list received two votes. Based on participation, the decision to leave this category off of the final ballot seems pretty clearly justified.

The question I think that one should ask is whether this array of video games demonstrated sufficient quality of potential nominees to justify the category. I think the evidence is mixed at best. Several of the nominees are ongoing MMOs whose eligibility would seem to be somewhat questionable. For example, World of Warcraft was first released in 2004, and the first expansion to the game was The Burning Crusade, released in 2007. That means that there was technically no new content for the game in 2005, the eligibility period for the 2006 Hugo Awards. Both Eve Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online appear to be in a similar situation with regards to eligibility. Some of the games, such as We ❤ Katamari, seem to be lightweight at best, making them fairly non-serious selections. Once one eliminates the games of questionable eligibility and theme, one is left with roughly ten worthwhile games for the voters to choose from, which is probably too few to make a viable category.

I would also question whether the games that are left reflect an art form mature enough to be worth bestowing a Hugo Award upon. Half-Life 2, for example, is one of the best games on this list, but the game pays only cursory attention to the story behind the action, and the story is incomplete to boot. Once you get beyond that, the game is more or less just a generic first person shooter, and that just doesn't seem like enough to justify a Hugo Award. It has been ten years since the video game category was tried, so perhaps the array of offerings available in 2016 could justify the category, but I am not entirely convinced.

Best Novel

Finalists:
Accelerando by Charles Stross
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
Learning the World by Ken MacLeod
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
The Family Trade and The Hidden Family by Charles Stross
Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Mindscan by Robert J. Sawyer
Olympos by Dan Simmons
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Vellum: The Book of All Hours by Hal Duncan

Best Novella

Finalists:
Burn by James Patrick Kelly
Identity Theft by Robert J. Sawyer (reviewed in Red Planet Blues)
Inside Job by Connie Willis [winner]
The Little Goddess by Ian McDonald
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

Longlisted Nominees:
Audubon in Atlantis by Harry Turtledove
Bank Run by Tom Purdom
The Cosmology of the Wider World by Jeffrey Ford
Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Emperor by Lucius Shepard
Guardian Angel by Mike Resnick
The Gypsies in the Wood by Kim Newman
Human Readable by Cory Doctorow
The Imago Sequence by Laird Barron
Sanctuary by Michael A. Burstein
Solidarity by Walter Jon Williams

Best Novelette

Finalists:
The Calorie Man by Paolo Bacigalupi
I, Robot by Cory Doctorow
The King of Where-I-Go by Howard Waldrop
Telepresence by Michael A. Burstein
Two Hearts by Peter S. Beagle [winner]

Longlisted Nominees
The 120 Hours of Sodom by Jim Grimsley
The Blemmye's Strategem by Bruce Sterling
The Edge of Nowhere by James Patrick Kelly
Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play by Michael Swanwick
The Gist Hunter by Matthew Hughes

Keyboard Practice, Consisting of an Aria with Diverse Variations for the Harpsichord with Two Manuals by John G. McDaid

The Last Ten Years in the Life of Hero Kai by Peter S. Beagle
Little Faces by Vonda N. McIntyre
Mars Opposition by David Brin
Second Person, Present Tense by Daryl Gregory

Best Short Story

Finalists:
The Clockwork Atom Bomb by Dominic Green
Down Memory Lane by Mike Resnick
Seventy-Five Years by Michael A. Burstein
Singing My Sister Down by Margo Lannagan
Tk'tk'tk by David D. Levine [winner]

Longlisted Nominees
Boatman's Holiday by Jeffrey Ford
Breeding Maze by Larry Niven
Calypso in Berlin by Elizabeth Hand
A Case of Consilience by Ken MacLeod
The Children of Time by Stephen Baxter
Foreclosure by Joe Haldeman
He Woke in Darkness by Harry Turtledove
Heads Up, Thumbs Down by Gavin J. Grant
I Live with You by Carol Emshwiller
The Ice-Cream Man by James Van Pelt
Pedagogy by Michael A. Burstein
Rough Draft by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
Some Zombie Contingency Plans by Kelly Link

Best Related Work

Finalists:
Science Fiction Quotations edited by Gary Westfahl
The SEX Column and Other Misprints by David Langford
Soundings: Reviews 1992-1996 by Gary K. Wolfe

Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm [winner]

Transformations: The Story of Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970 by Mike Ashley

Longlisted Nominees:
The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire by Brian Wood
Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars by Trish Biggar and Harry N. Abrams
The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana by Jess Nevins

Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by Don D'Ammassa

Hanging Out with the Dream King: Conversations with Neil Gaiman and His Collaborators by Joseph McCabe

Ion Trails by Cheryl Morgan, Guy H. Lillian, III, and Rose Lillian
Lord of the Rings Sketch Book by Alan Lee

The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen

Spectrum 12: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner

Voices of Vision by Jayme Lynne Blaschke
Weapons of Mass Seduction by Lucius Shepard

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Finalists:
Batman Begins
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Serenity [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Constantine
Corpse Bride
Fantastic Four
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Howl's Moving Castle
The Island
King Kong
Kung Fu Hustle
Mirrormask
Sin City
Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning
The War of the Worlds

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Finalists:
Battlestar Galactica: Pegasus
Doctor Who: Dalek
Doctor Who: The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances [winner]
Doctor Who: Father's Day
Jack Jack Attack
Lucas Back in Anger
Prix Victor Hugo Awards Ceremony

Longlisted Nominees:
The Call of Cthulhu
Doctor Who: The Empty Child
Doctor Who: The Parting of the Ways
Iron Costumer: Ready, Steady, Sew
Kill Bill Shatner, Volume 2
South Park: Trapped in the Closet
Stargate Atlantis: Duet
Stargate SG-1: The Fourth Horseman
Stargate SG-1: Moebius, Parts 1 and 2

Best Professional Editor

Finalists:
Ellen Datlow
David G. Hartwell [winner]
Stanley Schmidt
Gordon van Gelder
Sheila Williams

Longlisted Nominees:
Lou Anders
Ellen Asher
Andy Cox
Peter Crowther
Gardner Dozois
Anne Lesley Groell
Shawna McCarthy
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Mike Resnick

Best Professional Artist

Finalists:
Burns, Jim
Eggleton, Bob
Giancola, Donato [winner]
Martiniere, Stephan
Picacio, John
Whelan, Michael

Longlisted Nominees:
Craft, Kinuko Y.
Foglio, Phil
Foster, Jon
Harris, John
Lee, Alan
Palencar, John Jude
Rayyan, Omar
Stone, Steve
Vess, Omar

Best Semi-Prozine

Finalists:
Ansible edited by David Langford
Emerald City edited by Cheryl Morgan
Interzone edited by Andy Cox

Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, and Liza Groen Trombi [winner]

The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin J. Maroney

Longlisted Nominees:

Albedo One edited by John Kenny, Peter Loftus, Frank Ludlow, David Murphy, and Robert Neilson

Apex Digest edited by Jason Sizemore
The Internet Review of Science Fiction edited by Stacey Janssen
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet edited by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link
On Spec edited by Diane Walton
Postscripts edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers
SF Chronicle edited by John Douglas and Ian Randal Strock
Strange Horizons edited by Susan Marie Groppi, Jed Hartman, and Karen Meisner
Talebones edited by Patrick Swenson
The Third Alternative edited by Andy Cox

Best Fanzine

Finalists:
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian, III
Chunga edited by Andy Hooper, Randy Byers, and Carl Juarez
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Plokta edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Alexiad edited by Joseph T. Major
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Bento edited by Kate Yule and David D. Levine
The Drink Tank edited by Christopher J. Garcia
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
N^th Degree edited by Michael D. Pederson
SF Revu edited by Gayle Surrette
Vanamonde edited by John Hertz
Vegas Family Weekly edited by Shelby Vick

Vector: The Critical Journal of the BSFA edited by Tony Cullen, Andrew M. Butler, and Paul Billinger

Zoo Nation edited by Peter Young

Best Fan Writer

Finalists:
Claire Brialey
John Hertz
David Langford [winner]
Cheryl Morgan
Steven H Silver

Longlisted Nominees:
Matthew Cheney
Bob Devney
Christopher J. Garcia
Mike Glyer
Niall Harrison
Andy Hooper
Guy H. Lillian, III
Joseph T. Major
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Lloyd Penney
Mark Plummer

Best Fan Artist

Finalists:
Brad Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Frank Wu [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Alan F. Beck
Sheryl Birkhead
Kurt Ericsen
Alexis Gilliland
Bill Neville
Peggy Ranson
Marc Schirmeister
Stu Shiffman
Craig Smith
Dan Steffan
Ray van Tilburg
Taral Wayne
Alan White

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Finalists:
K.J. Bishop
Sarah Monette
Chris Roberson
Brandon Sanderson
John Scalzi [winner]
Steph Swainston

Longlisted Nominees:
Lou Antonelli
Leah Bobet
Robert Buettner
Stephanie Burgis
Hal Duncan
Karen D. Fishler
Justine Larbalestier
David Marusek
David Moles
Cherie Priest
Lawrence M. Schoen
Catherine Shaffer
Amy Sisson
Maria V. Snyder
Jason Stoddard

Go to previous year's longlist: 2005
Go to subsequent year's longlist: 2007

Go to 2006 Hugo Finalists and Winners

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