The 1945 Retro Hugo and 2020 Hugo Award finalists were announced a few days ago. Here are the links (for anyone that has been hiding in a bunker):
http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-h…/1945-retro-hugo-awards/
http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2020-hugo-awards/
Brief comments follow (for those in search of more detail, have a look at Cora Buhlert’s blog, link on the right).
1945 Retro-Hugo Awards
Best Novel:
The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves (Cassell)
Land of Terror by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.)
Shadow Over Mars (The Nemesis from Terra) by Leigh Brackett (Startling Stories, Fall 1944)
Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord by Olaf Stapledon (Secker & Warburg)
The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater (Macmillan)
The Winged Man by A.E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull (Astounding Science Fiction, May-June 1944)
I’ve only read the Hull/van Vogt novel, and the Stapledon years ago. Looks like a weak year for novels to me.
Best Novella:
The Changeling by A.E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1944)
A God Named Kroo by Henry Kuttner (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1944)
Intruders from the Stars by Ross Rocklynne (Amazing Stories, January 1944)
The Jewel of Bas by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
Killdozer! by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
Trog by Murray Leinster (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
Another weak category. I’ve read three: the Sturgeon is a strong story, the van Vogt is mediocre and the Leinster is plain awful. I’ve been meaning to read the issue that has the Kuttner novel, and this will provide some encouragement.
Best Novelette:
Arena by Fredric Brown (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1944)
The Big and the Little (The Merchant Princes), by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1944)
The Children’s Hour by Lawrence O’Donnell (C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1944)
City by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1944)
No Woman Born by C.L. Moore (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1944)
When the Bough Breaks by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
The C. L. Moore story is a novella (19,600 words when I OCRd the Great SF Stories version; the magazine version came out higher).
A strong category, although I don’t know what City is doing here (Census is a stronger piece if you must have a ‘City’ story in this category). I haven’t read the Asimov recently (and I hope the voters don’t award this series another Hugo). Brackett’s The Veil of Astellar should probably be here.
The Children’s Hour would be my pick, even if No Woman Born isn’t transferred to the novella category.
Best Short Story:
And the Gods Laughed by Fredric Brown (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
Desertion by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1944)
Far Centaurus by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, January 1944)
Huddling Place by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1944)
I, Rocket by Ray Bradbury (Amazing Stories, May 1944)
The Wedge (The Traders), by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1944)
I’ve only read half of these. I don’t think the van Vogt should be here (strong start but weak ending), and I was lukewarm about Huddling Place (but there are obviously a lot of agoraphobia fans or sufferers out there). Ditto my comments about the Asimov.
Desertion seems the obvious choice to me.
Best Editor, Short Form:
John W. Campbell, Jr.
Oscar J. Friend
Mary Gnaedinger
Dorothy McIlwraith
Raymond A. Palmer
W. Scott Peacock
Campbell again I think.
Best Professional Artist:
Earle Bergey
Margaret Brundage
Boris Dolgov
Matt Fox
Paul Orban
William Timmins
Woo-hoo, my nominations actually count for something for once. Dolgov gets a Hugo nod, and so does Timmins.
I think I may vote for Brundage though, as it may be the last chance to do so (I think her artwork peters out after 1944).
2020 Hugo Awards
I’ve only read a couple of the shorter pieces of fiction (the Siobhan Carroll story is cute but it’s not Hugo worthy, and Rivers Solomon’s short story is awful), so general comments only:
Women continue to dominate the novel, novella, novelette, and short story categories, with 6 out of 6 in the novel, 3½ (plus one non-binary) out of 6 in the novella (Solomon’s piece is listed as a solo work by ISFDB, and does not list any co-contributors), 5 out of 6 in the novelette, and 5 out of 6 in the short story. Of the male writers, I think one is white, and he has ½ a nomination as a collaborator (i.e. he wouldn’t have got there without his female beard).
This tribal voting is completely out of whack with writer demographics (never mind what may actually be the “best” in the field), and it is, if memory serves, at least the third year in a row that this has happened.
I also note that nearly all the novelette and short fiction comes from free vs. pay-for publications.
If the aforementioned gender and race bias isn’t dispiriting enough, Jeanette Ng’s personal attack on John Campbell (and wider attack on the field) at last year’s Hugo Award ceremony is a finalist for the Best Related Work Hugo. I don’t know what is more depressing, that several hundred so-called fans decided to do some Trumpian doubling-down on this unpleasant incident, or that Ng actually accepted the nomination (all potential finalists are contacted ahead of time and given the opportunity to withdraw). Just think about the thought process that happened there.
It looks like the lunatics are still in charge of the asylum (or at least the main building and a couple of the wings).
Edited 10th April 2020: Changed “4½” to “3½ (plus one non-binary)” in novella.
Pingback: Some Thoughts on the Hugo Award Finalists, Part I: The 1945 Retro Hugo Awards | Cora Buhlert
I agree that 1944 was a weak year for novels, though “Shadow Over Mars” is pretty good. Not Leigh Brackett’s best, but good. “The Wind on the Moon” is a beloved children’s book I haven’t read and “The Golden Fleece” is one of those left-field finalists we sometimes get in the Retro Hugos, since science fiction wasn’t really a genre for novels in the golden age.
Novella is also rather weak, though “Killdozer” and “The Jewel of Bas” are both good. I also had no idea that “No Woman Born” was a novella. ISFDB has it listed as a novelette, though it did strike me as very long for a novelette. If you have an exact wordcount, you could contact the Hugo admins (hugoadmin(at)conzealand.nz) and let them know. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will knock off the Leinster or Rocklynne and make room for “The Veil of Astrellar” or “Census” or “Terror Out of Space” on the novelette ballot.
IMO, the two Foundation stories on the ballot are among the weaker ones of the series. Particularly “The Big and the Little” didn’t really hold up upon rereading. But it’s Foundation and a beloved series. Ditto for “City”, even though “Census” is the stronger story. I strongly suspect C.L. Moore – with or without Henry Kuttner – will win best novelette.
I don’t much care for “The Huddling Place” either, though “Desertion” is excellent. The Bradbury wasn’t my choice and not the Bradbury story I expected to make the ballot, but it’s a good one. Not a Van Vogt fan and I haven’t read the Fredrik Brown story.
I also evangelised for Boris Dolgov, so I’m glad to see him get a nod. William Timmins was a finalist for 1944 as well, so he has been recognised before. I find his work a bit hit and miss, but he painted some striking covers for Astounding in 1944. I also really hope that Margaret Brundage will finally be recognised by the Retro Hugos, since this is about the last chance to do so.
I’m also happy that we have Best Series and Best Related Work categories for the Retro Hugos, since those categories almost never get enough nominations.
Regarding the 2020 Hugos, unlike you I’m pretty happy with the ballot and not just because I’m on it. And yes, women dominate the fiction categories, but the SFF field hasn’t been majority male for at least 20 years now, though thr Hugos took some time to reflect that. Plus, most of the newish writers who made a big splash in recent years (and are more likely to get nominated, because they are the new hot thing) have been women. Besides, novella and series are half men, half women with one non-binary writer in novella, even if you exclude the three members of clipping. Fan writer is majority male. As for Max Gladstone, he was a Campbell finalist and a Best Series finalist, so he’s clearly popular with Hugo writers and might well have been nominated, even if he didn’t have a female co-author.
2019 was also a very strong year for novels to the point that several novels that would have been nominated in any other year didn’t make it. And I can only think of two 2019 novels by male authors – “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” by Marlon James and “Recursion” by Blake Crouch – that would have been likely finalists. And neither is a typical Hugo book.
I’m also not happy that Jeannette Ng’s Campbell acceptance speech was nominated and not just because my reaction to the speech is coloured by the fact that I was in the audience five metres from the stage, when she held it. I also think that a 90 second speech that is no more than an A4 page long, probably less, is in no way comparable to a non-fiction book of several hundred pages or a 68 minute documentary. As for criticising Campbell, Alec Nevala-Lee already did that better and in greater detail in last year’s Best Related Work finalist Astounding.
Thanks for your comments. I think we are on the same page about a lot of things and, where we are not, I appreciate the additional information.
I recently requested a change of length for Moore’s story at ISFDB (which was actioned), and also contacted the Hugo administrators (my cunning plan was similar to what you outlined) but they said that it will remain in that category as that’s where most people voted.
Oh yes, congratulations on your Hugo nomination—another one of my mine that counted!
Thanks for the congrats and the nomination. I also think that we agree on a lot of things. And even when we don’t, that’s okay.