It’s Hugo Awards Time Again!

by Helen Lowe

The end of one year and beginning of the next is always a great time for lists, both of “big hits” from the previous year and “looking forward to’s” for the next … And now, before I’ve even gotten last year’s lists properly sorted, it’s already Hugo Award nomination time again! (How did it come around so fast?)

The Hugo Awards are given each year by the World Science Fiction Society for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The awards are made at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which this year is Renovation (yup, it’s in Reno, Nevada!) And you may recall that last year I had a lot of fun reading all the fiction finalists for the 2010 Awards and then blogging about the process here on HarperVoyager USA, in the following post series:

The Hugo Awards: the Reading Has Begun

The Hugo Awards: Going Down to the Wire

The Hugo Awards: Making Tough Choices

The Hugo Awards 2010: Being There

The last post was possibly the most exciting as I got to actually attend the Hugo Award ceremony, which was fan-tas-tic—especially when my two top picks for “Best Novel”, Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl and China Miéville’s The City & The City, tied for the Hugo (which is only the 4th time that has happened in the 68-year history of the awards.) And now I am looking forward to doing it all over again this year! (Well, except maybe for the being at the actual ceremony part, Reno being an awful long way awa’ from my corner of the world.)

A lot of the new SFF releases you have loved in the past year may well be eligible for this year’s awards, so to find out how to nominate, look here. Nominations are open until 26 March and I’ve already got a few names on my list to throw into the ring—but I’m also very much looking forward to seeing what makes it onto the final shortlist and reading them all. If I have not done so already, of course!

But if the Hugo Awards are not for you—and just to prove that this is still the season of lists—you might prefer to post about your top SciFi picks for the past decade (specifically, eleven years, since it’s 2000-2010.) That’s what they’re wanting readers to do right now over on Tor.com, where the quest is on to identify a readers’ choice for the Best SciFi-Fantasy Novel for the Decade. Nominations are currently fast and furious and all you have to do to enter the fray and support your top SFF read of the past decade is post a comment—so how about it? Rock on over and have your say.

Alternatively, post a comment here to let me know both your favorite book of the past decade and/or your top picks for 2011 Hugo Award nominations (from books published in 2010.) It won’t be a competition, but I am really interested to hear what you have to say.

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Helen Lowe is a novelist, broadcaster and poet. Her latest novel, The Heir of Night: The Wall of Night, Book One, is published in the USA/Canada by HarperVoyager and is also available in Australia/New Zealand. (It will launch in the UK in March 2011.) Helen’s first novel Thornspell (Knopf, 2008) won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for “Best Novel: Young Adult” in 2009. In addition to guest posts on HarperVoyager USA, Helen also blogs on the first of every month on the Supernatural Underground and every day on her own Helen Lowe on Anything, Really site.

For more on The Heir of Night, you can check out another great review at Fantasy Book Review (showing the UK/AU/NZ cover.)     

*Hugo Award photo credit J. Horlor

Comments

[Mary Victoria]

'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay' by Michael Chabon was a wonderful book. I also loved 'The City and the City' by Mieville and 'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel' by Susanna Clarke. 'Cloud Atlas' by David Mitchell was one of my absolute favourites of the decade. There are so many more I loved, including 'Heir of Night,' of course!

I'm really looking forward to reading 'Windup Girl' and 'Surface Detail', too.

[Helen Lowe]

I haven't read either 'Kavalier and Clay' or 'Cloud Atlas'--more to be added to my TBR pile (which is rather large already!) :)

'The Windup Girl' is great; I'm sure you will love it!

[Alicia Ponder]

'Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel' by Susanna Clarke, was great. Lavinia, by Ursula le Guin was awesome.
Heir of Night was probably last years best book :) a great fantasy with hints of George RR Martin (that's a huge compliment although I prefer his earlier books not so much the ones this decade). Surface Detail was patchy with chapters of brilliance, and of course, I can't wait to read Windup Girl by Bacigalupi, but my absolute favourite of the decade has to be Verdigris Deep(YA) by Francis Hardinge - nothing could follow it, and few books could even be read in it's shadow.

[Jennifer Ann]

I've heard good things about 'The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' although I'm still to read it. Where to begin with a favourite SFF book of the decade (there are so many), but it would have to be two fantasy series. George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' and Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen'. While the first books were published in the 90s the others such as 'A Storm of Swords' and 'Deadhouse Gates' were published in 2000 so they definitely qualify.
Another is Stephen Hunt's 'The Court of the Air'.
I haven't yet read 'The Heir of Night' or 'The Windup Girl' but have heard good things about them both. Another favourite from last year was Adrian Tchaikovsky's series 'Shadow of the Apt' including 'Dragonfly Falling' (which may have been from the previous year actually) and 'The Scarab Path'.

["Seregil of Rhiminee"]

>Alternatively, post a comment
>here to let me know both your
>favorite book of the past
>decade and/or your top picks
>for 2011 Hugo Award nominations
>(from books published in 2010.)

Greetings from Finland!

It's difficult to choose only one good book for the best book of the decade, because there are several excellent books. That's why I'll choose four different books:

Adult fantasy: A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham (A Shadow in Summer is the first book of the excellent The Long Price Quartet). I decided to choose this book, because Daniel Abraham is a good writer and he deserves to be praised.

(My other choice would've been either Felix Gilman's Thunderer or Anthony Huso's The Last Page. Both books are fascinatingly new weirdish fantasy books.)

Young adult fantasy: Thornspell by Helen Lowe. Thornspell is a wonderful and beautifully written retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

Science fiction: Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon (Bright of the Sky is the first book of The Entire and the Rose quartet). I liked this book very much, because Kay Kenyon has managed to write a compelling sci-fi book.

Horror: The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron. This short story collection is one of the best modern horror story collections I've read. (Laird Barron's second short story collection, Occultation and Other Stories, is also an excellent collection.)

[Helen Lowe]

Thank you for your comments--and great to see such interesting books being mentioned! And not just the 'usual run' either. As well as "Kavalier and Clay" I am now very intrigued to read "Verdigris Deep", "The Court of the Air" and your adult recommendations, Seregil--I will be checking out "A Shadow in Summer", for sure.

In terms of series, I agree that is hard to go past Martin and Erikson, and Le Guin is always "vintage." Thank you also to those who mentioned my books, although "not required", the positive comments are appreciated. :)

["Seregil of Rhiminee"]

I hope you like Daniel Abraham's book. It's the first book of The Long Price Quartet, so it's basically an introduction to the series.

Here's more interesting books (I have to mention these books, because I liked them very much):

Blake Charlton: Spellwright (the first book of The Spellwright Trilogy). Spellwright is a charming and magically written traditional fantasy book.

Ian Tregillis: Bitter Seeds (the first book of "The Milkweed Triptych"). I like this book, because it's a fascinating combination of (dark) fantasy and alternate history.

[Helen Lowe]

It's great to get reccs for good new authors and I like alternate history and darkish Fantasy so I'll definitely take a look at Ian Tregillis. And I've heard good things about Spellwright, too ...

[Kent Prior]

This feels like one of those conversations where someone asks you for your favourite movie and suddenly you draw a complete blank. It's not til later that dozens start rattling through your synapses and by then if you ring them with a triumphant "Brotherhood of the Wolf!" all you're likely to be greeted with is a confused "Huh?"

There have been a lot of books that have earned a special place in my affections over the last ten-ish years but they're all diving for cover now I'm fishing around for Titles.

Have to say "Thornspell", not because you're reading these Helen, but because it was easy to get swept up in the story. I liked "IT" by Stephen King for the same reason. He has a knack of making me empathise with his characters before he torments the hell out of them.

I'll also briefly add the "Empire Trilogy" by Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist. A beautifully imagined world that didn't drown me in prose like "Lord of the Rings".

Best wishes to all for 2011.

[Helen Lowe]

I have a feeling the Empire trilogy and IT may both be out of our decade, although the former, in particular, remains a favorite of mine. And I'm glad "Thornspell' swept you up. :)

["Seregil of Rhiminee"]

Earlier I forgot to mention Malcolm Walker's The Stone Crown. It's a fascinating YA book, because it gives a new twist to the legend of King Arthur. It's one of the most interesting YA books I've read during the last couple of years.

[Anthony]

Hmm - difficult! Most of my favourite stuff is old or even older.

I'm not reading much straight SF these days, but I did enjoy "Feed" M T Anderson (2004).

Fantasy I think I'd go with the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, most recently "Abhorsen" G Nix (2003). Or - Earthsea just sneaks in to the last decade with "Tales from Earthsea" U K LeGuin (2001).

Young adult fantasy - great fun - the Bartimaeus series by Johnathan Stroud, starting with "The Amulet of Samarkand" J Stroud (2003).

I must say Helen your own Wall of Night series is off to a great start too - I'm looking forward to the rest of that!

[Helen Lowe]

And then there's Mira Grant's "Feed", which is an entirely different sort of book again ... :)

There have been some very good YA books out in the past decade: Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely, and Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter/Dreamquake duology to name just a very few more.

[Alan Baxter]

Wow, picking a favourite book is like choosing a favourite child. I don't think I could do it!

[Helen Lowe]

"I know", choosing just one is always tough; even choosing only one for each year was a challenge some years!

[Book Publishers]

I haven't read either 'Kavalier and Clay' or 'Cloud Atlas'--more to be added to my TBR pile (which is rather large already!) :)