The Hugos and I

[howeird]

I kinda sorta am now a Hugo award non-winner, because the issue of The Drink Tank which was nominated for Best Fanzine (the 300th issue) included many of my photos plus an article by me. It also had articles and art from something like 200 contributors, and really, IMHO,deserved to win.

Looking at the list of winners on the most excellent Hugo Awards web site, here's how my favorites fared:

Best Novel I did not vote on because I read too slowly to absorb 5 novels in a month.
Best Novella The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson (Asimov's, September/October 2011) was my first choice
Best Novelette Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders was my second choice. I thought it was cute, and moderately well-written, but not as compelling as Brad R. Torgersen's Ray of Light.
Best Short Story The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu is an excellent piece of writing, but he lost me at the end when he got all egocentric and a little bit whiny. My first choice was, far and away, Mike Resnick's The Homecoming. And I am oh so very happy that the horrible, IMHO, mis-categorized April Fool's entry by John Scalzi, Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue was not chosen despite the author's well-deserved fame and Toastmaster role at the con.
Best Related Work The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight is the one I figured would win, but I don't think a 3rd edition of a standard reference deserves a Hugo, and was hoping good sense would prevail and give the rocket to the excellent compendium of sci-fi movie reviews and commentary, Jar Jar Binks Must Die... and Other Observations about Science Fiction Movies by Daniel M. Kimmel.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) Game of Thrones (Season 1) I totally disagree with, since it was not readily available to the general public. My vote went to the movie Hugo, both for the high quality of the film production, the acting, the script and the score, but also the irony of Hugo winning a Hugo.
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) The Doctor's Wife (Doctor Who), written by Neil Gaiman won mostly on NG's overblown fame. I, of course, voted for "The Drink Tank's" Hugo Acceptance Speech,” Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon. Again, for the irony, but also because it was much more fun to watch than any of the other nominees.
Best Fanzine SF Signal edited by John DeNardo I have already talked about which zine should have won. Meh.
Best Fan Writer Jim C. Hines was not even on my list. James Bacon got my vote, Chris Garcia was a close second.
Best Fan Artist Maurine Starkey is my dear friend, and I was thrilled to see her win. But I have to confess I voted for another friend, Spring Schoenhuth, because she creates wonderful sci-fi-themed jewelry, and the Hugo art awards have stagnated into only recognizing  2-D, hand-rendered art. I wish photography, jewelry, sculpture and other art could get a foothold here. Or their own categories.
Best Fancast SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente was my vote too. What an outstanding line-up!
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer E. Lily Yu. I don't remember if I voted, but she is very deserving. I loved the ideas in her short story entry The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees, and her writing style.

Those are the only categories I cared about, I leave the rest as an exercise for the reader. :-)