2018 Hugo Award Finalists

Location: Worldcon 76 in San Jose, California.

Comments: So, the Puppy Wars seem to be over. With the release of the list of finalists for the 2018 Hugo Awards, it is clear that the Sad and Rabid Puppies have finally given up and slunk away to whine to each other in their pathetic little circle jerk on the edge of the genre fiction world. I'll leave it to others to catalogue the mewling from the Puppy-verse concerning this set of finalists as they engage in the "those grapes are probably sour anyway" complaining (and they are), but for my part I'm just glad that this year I don't have to sort the finalists by whether they were gamed onto the ballot by maliciously motivated bloc voting or were voted onto the ballot because a lot of people actually loved the work.

While the net result of the lack of Puppy influence on the ballot is a collection of finalists that is the strongest the Hugos have seen in the last three years, that isn't the only development this year has seen. After years of debate, the World Science Fiction Society had added a new award for young adult fiction. This is technically not a Hugo Award in the same way that the Ray Bradbury Award and the Andre Norton Award are not Nebula Awards, and the distinction makes just as little sense here as it does there. The WSFS Young Adult Award has the same set of people nominating and voting for it as the Hugo Awards, uses all the same rules, and will be awarded at the same ceremony. Sticking out one's bottom lip and firmly stating that this award is "not a Hugo" is about the silliest thing I could imagine here, and yet that's what the WSFS has decided to do. The reality is that the ploy almost certainly won't work. People will talk about the young adult fiction award as if it were a Hugo Award, and treat it like it is a Hugo Award. I believe that the various WSFS committees that deal with such matters will try to correct the record on a regular basis, and I predict that pretty much no one (including most of the members of the WSFS) will pay much attention to them.

Best Novel

Winner:
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

Finalists:
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

Best Novella

Winner:

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Finalists:
And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinsker
Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Best Novelette

Winner:

The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer (reviewed in 2018 WSFA Small Press Award Voting)

Finalists:

Children of Thorns, Children of Water by Aliette de Bodard

Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time by K.M. Szpara
Wind Will Rove by Sarah Pinsker

Best Short Story

Winner:

Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse

Finalists:
Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim
Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand by Fran Wilde
Fandom for Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
The Martian Obelisk by Linda Nagata
Sun, Moon, Dust by Ursula Vernon

Best Related Work

Winner:

No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin

Finalists:

Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoe Quinn

Iain M. Banks (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) by Paul Kincaid
A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison by Nat Segaloff

Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal

Sleeping with Monsters: Readings and Reactions in Science Fiction and Fantasy by Liz Bourke

Best Graphic Story

Winner:

Monstress, Volume Two: The Blood written by Marjorie M. Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda

Finalists:

Black Bolt, Volume 1: Hard Time written by Saladin Ahmed, illustrated by Christian Ward, lettered by Clayton Cowles

Bitch Planet, Volume Two: President Bitch written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Valentine De Landro and Taki Soma

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters written and illustrated by Emil Ferris
Paper Girls, Volume 3 written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang

Saga, Volume 7 written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Winner:
Wonder Woman

Finalists:
Blade Runner 2049
Get Out
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Thor: Ragnarok

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Winner:

The Good Place: The Trolley Problem

Finalists:
Black Mirror: USS Callister
The Deep [song] by Clipping
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
The Good Place: Michael’s Gambit
Star Trek: Discovery: Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad

Best Professional Editor: Short Form

Winner:
Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas

Finalists:
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Lee Harris
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams

Best Professional Editor: Long Form

Winner:
Sheila E. Gilbert

Finalists:
Joe Monti
Diana M. Pho
Devi Pillai
Miriam Weinberg
Navah Wolfe

Best Professional Artist

Winner:
Sana Takeda

Finalists:
Galen Dara
Kathleen Jennings
Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
Victo Ngai
John Picacio

Best Semi-Prozine

Winner:

Uncanny Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Julia Rios; podcast produced by Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky

Finalists:

Beneath Ceaseless Skies editor-in-chief and publisher Scott H. Andrews

The Book Smugglers edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James

Escape Pod edited by Mur Lafferty, S.B. Divya, and Norm Sherman, with assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney

Fireside Magazine edited by Brian White and Julia Rios; managing editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry; special feature editor Mikki Kendall; and publisher and art director Pablo Defendini

Strange Horizons edited by Kate Dollarhyde, Gautam Bhatia, A.J. Odasso, Lila Garrott, Heather McDougal, Ciro Faienza, Tahlia Day, Vanessa Rose Phin, and the Strange Horizons staff

Best Fanzine

Winner:

File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

Finalists:
Galactic Journey edited by Gideon Marcus
Journey Planet edited by Team Journey Planet
nerds of a feather, flock together edited by The G, Vance Kotrla, and Joe Sherry
Rocket Stack Rank edited by Greg Hullender and Eric Wong
SF Bluestocking edited by Bridget McKinney

Best Fan Writer

Winner:

Sarah Gailey

Finalists:
Camestros Felapton
Mike Glyer
Foz Meadows
Charles Payseur
Bogi Takács

Best Fan Artist

Winner:

Geneva Benton

Finalists:
Grace P. Fong
Maya Hahto
Likhain (M. Sereno)
Spring Schoenhuth
Steve Stiles

Best Fancast

Winner:

Ditch Diggers presented by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace

Finalists:

The Coode Street Podcast presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe

Fangirl Happy Hour presented by Ana Grilo and Renay Williams

Galactic Suburbia presented by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts; produced by Andrew Finch

Sword and Laser presented by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt

Verity! presented by Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts

Best Series

Winner:

World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold

Finalists:

The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells

The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett
InCryptid by Seanan McGuire
The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Winner:
Rebecca Roanhorse

Finalists:
Katherine Arden
Sarah Kuhn
Jeannette Ng
Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Rivers Solomon

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

Winner:
Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

Finalists:
The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge
Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher

What Are the Hugo Awards?

Go to previous year's nominees: 2017
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2019

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