The 2009 Hugo Nominees

I'm leaving for a four hour drive to MidSouthCon in a few minutes but I had to take a few moments to point out the 2009 Hugo nominees:

Best Novel
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross
Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi

Best Novella
“The Erdmann Nexus” by Nancy Kress
“The Political Prisoner” by Charles Coleman Finlay
“The Tear” by Ian McDonald
“True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
“Truth” by Robert Reed

Best Novelette
“Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders” by Mike Resnick
“The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
“Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel
“The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner
“Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear

Best Short Story
“26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” by Kij Johnson
“Article of Faith” by Mike Resnick
“Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang
“From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled” by Michael Swanwick

Best Related Book
Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn
Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds.
The Vorkosigan Companion: The Universe of Lois McMaster Bujold by Lillian Stewart Carl & John Helfers, eds.
What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid
Your Hate Mail Will be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 by John Scalzi

Best Graphic Story
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle Written by Jim Butcher, art by Ardian Syaf
Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright
Fables: War and Pieces Written by Bill Willingham, pencilled by Mark Buckingham, art by Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy, color by Lee Loughridge, letters by Todd Klein
Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic Story and art by Howard Tayler
Serenity: Better Days Written by Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, color by Michelle Madsen, cover by Jo Chen
Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores Written/created by Brian K. Vaughan, pencilled/created by Pia Guerra, inked by Jose Marzan, Jr.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, story; Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, screenplay; based on characters created by Bob Kane; Christopher Nolan, director
Hellboy II: The Golden Army Guillermo del Toro & Mike Mignola, story; Guillermo del Toro, screenplay; based on the comic by Mike Mignola; Guillermo del Toro, director
Iron Man Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, screenplay; based on characters created by Stan Lee & Don Heck & Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby; Jon Favreau, director
METAtropolis by John Scalzi, ed. Written by: Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell and Karl Schroeder
WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Lost - “The Constant” Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof, writers; Jack Bender, director
Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen , writers; Joss Whedon, director
Battlestar Galactica - “Revelations” Bradley Thompson & David Weddle, writers; Michael Rymer, director
Doctor Who - “Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead” Steven Moffat, writer; Euros Lyn, director
Doctor Who - “Turn Left” Russell T. Davies, writer; Graeme Harper, director

Best Editor, Short Form
Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
David G. Hartwell
Beth Meacham
Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Best Professional Artist
Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

Best Semiprozine
Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Neil Clarke, Nick Mamatas & Sean Wallace
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kris Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, & Kevin J. Maroney
Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal

Best Fanzine
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian III
The Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer

Best Fan Writer
Chris Garcia
John Hertz
Dave Langford
Cheryl Morgan
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist
Alan F. Beck
Brad W. Foster
Sue Mason
Taral Wayne
Frank Wu

I'll be going over some of the categories across the next few weeks.

I find the number of young adult books nominated in the novel category to be odd. While there is nothing preventing YA books from being good they are intentionally geared for an immature audience. I'm left wondering if the nominations were due to the popularity of the author or the realities of publishing these days where YA is the ascendant market.

I'm pleased that they introduced the graphic novel category a year early but the nominees do not thrill me. Two webcomics (and in fairness two of the very few webcomics that I follow) and two adaptations of an already popular work from another medium are not strong nominees while the remaining two are climaxes of long running Vertigo books. Ah well, there were many worse choices.