My recommendations for the 2015 Hugo Awards

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

The Hugo Awards nomination period closes in just 10 days and, as per usual, I am still trying to catch up with my reading to complete some of the categories of my ballot. However, since some persons have expressed a difficult to understand interest in my recommendations, I want to share at least those works that almost surely I will be nominating (should I decide to add others, I might be editing this post to reflect them).

At the moment, my nominations for the main literary categories are the following:

Novel

• The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin (my review)
• Dark Eden, Chris Beckett (this is a 2012 book, but was published in the USA for the first time in 2014, so it is eligible and it is an awesome awesome novel) (my review in Spanish)
• The Abyss Beyond Dreams, Peter F. Hamilton (my review)
• The Rhesus Chart, Charles Stross (my review)

Novella

• "The Regular", Ken Liu (originally published in Upgrade, ed. Neil Clarke; now included in Forever 1, which is available as a free download)
• Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome, John Scalzi (Tor.com) (my review in Spanish)
• Yesterday's Kin, Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications) (my review)
• Sixth of the Dusk, Brandon Sanderson (included in Shadows Beneath) (my review in Spanish)

Novelette

• "Ghostreaper, or, Life After Revenge", Tim Pratt (Nightmare Magazine)
• "None Owns the Air", Ken Liu (Lightspeed Magazine)
• "Report Concerning the Presence of Seahorses On Mars", Pat Cadigan (included in Reach for Infinity, ed. Jonathan Strahan) (my review of the anthology)
• "The Last Log of the Lachrimosa", Alastair Reynolds (Subterranean Online Magazine)

Short Story

• "Hotshot", Peter Watts (included in Reach for Infinity, ed. Jonathan Strahan) (my review of the anthology)
• "The New Provisions", Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine)
• "Invisible Planets", Hannu Rajaniemi (included in Reach for Infinity, ed. Jonathan Strahan) (my review of the anthology)
• "The Thing About Shapes to Come", Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine)

(You can also read this post in Spanish/También puedes leer esta entrada en español)

Why I still think that Alejandro Colucci should win the Best Professional Artist Hugo

Last year I wrote about Alejandro Colucci's work and how, in my opinion, he clearly deserves a Hugo nomination as Best Professional Artist.

Durin 2013, Colucci has put out some exceptional art; in fact, I'd dare to say that his work was even better than in 2012. Thus, I will be voting again for him and I suggest that all Hugo voters do the same.

An image is worth one thousand words, as the saying goes, so I leave you with some of my favorite covers among those published by Alejandro Colucci in 2013.

(You can also read this post in Spanish/También puedes leer este post en español)

Hugo Awards: My Short Fiction Ballot

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)

Last year I read much less short fiction than I'd have liked, and now I'm deeply regretting it, for I'm noticing that I missed a lot of high quality stories. There were so many excellent stories published in 2012 that now, with only two days until the Hugo nomination deadline, I still don't know which ones I won't be voting for. 

What I'm 99% sure of is that my ballot will be a subset of the following stories (I provide links to online, free versions when available), all of them superb. I'm still catching up with my reading, though, so there might be some minor modifications.

Novella

• On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard
• The Longest Fall, Liu Cixin
• "All the Flavors", Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus February 2012)
• Adrift on the Sea of Rains, Ian Sales (my review, in Spanish)
• The Emperor's Soul, Brandon Sanderson
• Legion, Brandon Sanderson
• The Boolean Gate, Walter Jon Williams (my review, in Spanish)

 

Novelette

• "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out For Sushi", Pat Cadigan (Engineering Infinity)
  
• Mountain, Liu Cixin
• Taking Care of God, Liu Cixin
• The Wandering Earth, Liu Cixin
• "The Waves", Ken Liu (Asimov's 12/12)
  
• "Limited Edition", Tim Maughan (Arc 1.3)
• "Courtship in the Country of Machine-Gods", Bejanun Sriduangkaew (The Future Fire 2012.24)

 

Short Story

 

• "Scattered Along the River of Heaven", Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 64)
• "During the Pause", Adam-Troy Castro (Apex Magazine, September 2012)
•  "My Wife Hates Time Travel", Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed 28)
• "Power Armor: A Love Story", David Barr Kirtley (Armored)
• "The Bookmaking Habits of Some Selected Species", Ken Liu (Lightspeed 27)
• "And the Hollow Space Inside", Mari Ness (Clarkesworld 65)
• "Vainglory", Alastair Reynolds (Engineering Infinity)

 (You can also read this post in Spanish/También puedes leer esta entrada en español)

Why I Think That Alejandro Colucci Should Win the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.)
 

Although in the Professional Artist category of my Hugo Ballot I'll be including some well-known names (Daniel Dos Santos, John Picacio, Michael Komarck and Jim Burns, all of them previous nominees), my favorite artist in 2012 was, hands down, Alejandro Colucci. He has produced some of the most wonderful covers I've seen, especially for Literatura Fantástica, RBA's SF&F imprint. 

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and in this case it cannot be more true. So, instead of singing the praises of Colucci's work I'll let you admire it by yourselves. Below these lines you'll find some of my favorite illustrations by Alejandro Colucci (click each image to zoom in), all of them published in 2012. You can find out more about his work on his website and I highly recommend seeing the astonishing covers he has already been working on in 2013. 

If you are a Hugo voter take a look at these pictures and then tell me: don't you think that Alejandro Colucci deserves a place on your ballot?

(You can also read this post in Spanish/También puedes leer esta entrada en español)

Will these be the 2012 Hugo Novel Nominees?

(Disclaimer: English is my second language, so I want to apologize in advance for there may be mistakes in the text below. If you find any, please let me know so that I can correct it. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.) 

Miquel Codony (@codony), Josep María Oriol (@jm_oriol), Pedro Román (@leemaslibros) and I have just submitted our Hugo Nomination Ballots. If we were the only voters, these would be the five nominees for Best Novel:

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (voted for by Josep María and me)
• Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (voted for by Miquel and Josep María)
• Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory (voted for by Miquel and me)
• Embassytown by China Miéville (voted for by Miquel, Josep María and me)
• The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma (voted for by Pedro and me)

This is is a list I would be very happy with. You can read my reviews of Embassytown and Raising Stony Mayhall to find out why they were two of my favorite novels in 2011. In fact, all these novels, with the only exception of Leviathan Wakes which I didn't like (read my review in Spanish), were my in my Hugo Recommendations list.

So, will these be the 2012 Hugo Novel Nominees? In a few weeks we will know.

(You can also read this post in Spanish/También puedes leer esta entrada en español)

Last Minute Hugo Recommendations

Yes, yes, I know. Only 11 days left to nominate for the Hugo Awards. But I want to recommend some works for your consideration, just in case. Below, you'll find (some of) the works and persons that I will write on my ballot. I'm not done reading yet so I may add more nominations, but these are the ones I will be including for sure.

Just a few comments about my list. I'd especially like to see The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma on the final ballot. On the one hand, it is a wonderful novel. On the other, Félix is from Spain (do I need to add anything else?). You can read my reviews of Raising Stony Mayhall and Embassytown to learn why I liked them so much. Finally, notice that I've include three stories by Ken Liu. His production in 2011 was just amazing. You can read my interview with him here.  

Without further ado, this is my list. I provide links to online versions of the works when available. Read, enjoy and nominate!  

Best Novel:

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory
• Embassytown by China Miéville
• The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma

Best Novella:

• "The Ice Owl" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF, November/December 2011)
• "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" by Ken Liu (Panverse 3)
• "The Choice" by Paul McAuley (Asimov's Science Fiction February 2011)
• Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA) 

Best Novelette:

• "Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders (tor.com)
• "Ghostweight" by Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld January 2011)
• "Arfterbirth" by Kameron Hurley
• "The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book)" by Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld March 2011)

Best Short Story

• "Perfect Lies" by Gwendolyn Clare (Clarkesworld March 2011)
• "Staying Behind" by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld October 2011)
• "Tying Knots" by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld January 2011)
• "The Server and The Dragon" by Hannu Rajainemi (Engineering Infinity)

Best Related Work

• The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, Third Edition by John Clute, Peter Nicholls and David Langford (eds.)
• Supergods by Grant Morrison

 Best Graphic Story

• Freakangels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
• Locke & Key, Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez 
• Echo by Terry Moore
• Morning Glories, Vol. 1: For a Better Future by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma

Best Editor (Short Form)

• John Joseph Adams
• Neil Clarke 
• Jonathan Strahan 

Best Professional Artist

• Dan Dos Santos
• Stephan Martiniere
• John Picacio 

Best Semiprozine

• Fantasy Magazine
• Lightspeed

Best Fanzine

• sffworld.com
• SF Signal

Best Fancast

• The Coode Street Podcast
• The SF Signal Podcast     

Best Fan Writer

• John DeNardo
• Justin Staffer
• Liviu Suciu
• Charles Tan

(You can also read this post in Spanish/También puedes leer esta entrada en español)