Monday, June 27, 2016

Musical Monday - Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra


As I noted last week, my son recently graduated from high school. At his graduation, the chorus (which included my daughter) performed Time to Say Goodbye. The school orchestra also contributed to the ceremony, performing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, which happens to be one of my favorite pieces of music. So, to continue the tribute to my son completing the first large hurdle in life, here is the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra playing the concerto.

Previous Musical Monday: Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
Subsequent Musical Monday: The Egg by William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, and Ken Howard

Brandenburg Concertos     Musical Monday Playlists

Freiburg Baroque Orchestra     Musical Monday     Home

Sunday, June 26, 2016

2011 Hugo Longlist

As the Hugo statistics become less uniform, one has to answer the question of exactly what the term "Hugo Longlist" actually means. Though the format for releasing the statistics has taken a relatively regular form in more recent years, in 2011, they were still organized in a more haphazard fashion. The Hugo statistics for each year are released under the auspices of Section 3.11.4 of the World Science Fiction Constitution, which says in relevant part:
During the same period the nomination voting totals shall also be published, including in each category the vote counts for at least the fifteen highest vote-getters and any other candidate receiving a number of votes equal to at least five percent (5%) of the nomination ballots cast in that category, but not including any candidate receiving fewer than five votes.
This means that the Hugo administrators are supposed to list the top fifteen works that received nominations each year, as well as any other works that had at least 5% of the nominations (in practice this second requirement will probably only matter once in a while in the most popular categories - in 2011, it only mattered in the Best Novel category). The only exception is if a nominee placed in the top fifteen nomination-getters but had fewer than five nominations - those nominees are to be excluded from the released statistics. The only limit on the number of items that may be on the lists released by the Hugo administrators is that it cannot include nominees who received fewer than five nominations. As a result, these lists could be quite voluminous and consequently, unwieldy.

Having a list with several dozen entries per category (as would be the case if one simply copied some of the released lists) would, in my opinion, defeat the purpose of having a Hugo Longlist. At the point that one has three or four dozen entries per category, the list is no longer providing a representative cross-section of what works and people were popular, but rather a cross-section of everything without any real regard for quality. Using the released lists as is would also result in wildly variable longlists from year to year, with some having the minimum number of entries per category, and others having literally dozens. With that in mind, and taking the rules concerning what statistics the Hugo administrators are directed to release, I'm going to use the following rules of thumb when constructing the longlists:
  • Any nominee who finished in the top fifteen places in their category will be listed on the Longlist.
  • If there is a tie for fifteenth place, all nominees who tie for fifteenth place will be listed on the Longlist.
  • Any nominee who received more than 5% of the nominations in their category but didn't place in the top fifteen for their category will also be listed on the Longlist.
  • Any nominee who meets the above criteria but didn't appear on more than five nominating ballots will be excluded from the Longlist. These nominees are not supposed to be included on the Hugo statistics report, so this exclusion should have to be invoked rarely, if ever.
This means that in some years, a number of works and people who appeared on the released list of Hugo statistics will be left off of the Hugo Longlist. For 2011, this means that the following nominees are left off of the Longlist:

Best Novel: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis, For the Win by Cory Doctorow, Habitation of the Blessed by Catherynne M. Valente, I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, Zendegi by Greg Egan, and Zoo City by Lauren Beukes.

Best Novella: Earth III by Stephen Baxter, Iron Shoes by J. Kathleen Cheney, Jackie's Boy by Steven Popkes, Seven Cities of Gold by David Moles, and The Taborin Scale by Lucius Shepard.

Best Novelette: Amor Vincit Omnia by K.J. Parker, The Cage by A.M. Dellamonica, Flying in the Face of God by Nina Allen, Helping Them Take the Old Man Down by William Preston, In the Stacks (Swords and Dark Magic) by Scott Lynch, The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Theodora Goss, The Precedent by Sean McMullen, and Torhec the Sculptor by Tanith Lee.

Best Short Story: The President's Brain Is Missing by John Scalzi and When the Yogurt Took Over by John Scalzi.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Lost: The End, Metropolis (2010 restoration), and Never Let Me Go.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Being Human: Mama Said There'd Be Decades Like These and Vertically Mobile Comedy: Eric in the Elevator.

Best Editor, Long Form: Jim Frenkel, Anne Groell, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Devi Pillai, and Eric Reynolds.

Best Professional Artist: John Jude Palencar and Sam Weber.

Best Semi-Prozine: Andromeda Spaceways In-Flight Magazine and Apex.

Best Fan Writer: Brit Mandelo, Abigail Nussbaum, Espana Sherriff, and Adam Whitehead.

Best Fan Artist: Alan White.

I can't identify any pattern that would explain why these categories were seemingly over reported in this particular way. I've excised them from the Hugo Longlist as reported here. In the future, I may put together a list of nominees that appear on the official reported Hugo statistics but which I have excluded from the Longlists in accordance with the criteria listed above, but that is a project that I am not going to take on today.

Best Novel

Finalists:
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis [winner]
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
Feed by Mira Grant
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Longlisted Nominees:
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Kraken by China Mieville
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
WWW: Watch by Robert Sawyer

Best Novella

Finalists:
The Lady Who Plucked Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window by Rachel Swirsky
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang [winner]
The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon by Elizabeth Hand (reviewed in Errantry: Strange Stories)
Troika by Alastair Reynolds

Longlisted Nominees:
The Alchemist by Paolo Bacigalupi
Bone and Jewel Creatures by Elizabeth Bear
Chicken Little by Cory Doctorow
Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance by Paul Park
A Glimpse of the Marvelous Structure (and the Threat It Entails) by Sean Williams
A History of Terraforming by Robert Reed (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 34, No. 7 (July 2010))
The Mystery Knight by George R.R. Martin
Orfy by Richard Chwedyk
Six Blind Men and an Alien by Mike Resnick

Best Novelette

Finalists:
The Emperor of Mars by Allen M. Steele (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 34, No. 6 (June 2010)) [winner]
The Jaguar House, in Shadow by Aliette de Bodard (reviewed in Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 34, No. 7 (July 2010))
That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone (reviewed in Analog Science Fiction and Fact: Vol. CXXX, No. 9 (September 2010))

Longlisted Nominees
Anne-droid of Green Gables by Lezli Robyn
The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund
The Fool Jobs by Joe Abercrombie
A Jar of Goodwill by Tobias S. Buckell
Map of Seventeen by Christopher Barzak
The Naturalist by Maureen McHugh
Seven Years from Home by Naomi Novik
Sleepover by Alastair Reynolds
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman

Best Short Story

Finalists:
Amaryllis by Carrie Vaughn
Ponies by Kij Johnson
The Things by Peter Watts

Longlisted Nominees
13 Ways of Looking at Space/Time by Catherynne M. Valente
Elegy for a Young Elk by Hannu Rajaniemi
Futures in the Memories Market by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The Green Book by Amal El-Mohtar
I'm Alive, I Love You, I'll See You in Reno by Vylar Kaftan
Seven Sexy Cowboy Reboots by Sandra McDonald
Sleeping Dogs by Joe Haldeman
Standard Loneliness Package by Charles Yu
Under the Moons of Venus by Damien Broderick

Best Related Work

Finalists:
Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001 by Gary K. Wolfe
The Business of the Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg
Chicks Dig Time Lords edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea [winner]
Robert A. Heinlein, Volume One: Learning Curve, 1907-1948 by William H. Patterson, Jr.
Writing Excuses, Season Four by Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells

Longlisted Nominees:
80! Memories and Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin by Karen Joy Fowler
British Science Fiction and Fantasy: Twenty Years and Two Surveys by Paul Kincaid and Niall Harrison
C.M. Kornbluth by Mark Rich
Conversations with Octavia Butler edited by Consuela Francis
Doctor Who, the Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
Geek's Guide to the Galaxy by John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley
Into the Media Web: Selected Short Non-Fiction, 1956-2006 by Michael Moorcock
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future: The First 25 Years by Kevin J. Anderson
Outermost: The Art Life of Jack Gaughan by Luis Ortiz
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
The Specific Gravity of Grief by Jay Lake
Spectrum 17 by Arnie Fenner and Cathy Fenner
The Wonderful Future That Never Was by the editors of Popular Mechanics

Best Graphic Story

Finalists:
Fables: Witches by Bill Willingham, illustrated by Mark Buckingham
Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio [winner]
Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot
Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel by Howard Tayler
The Unwritten, Volume 2: Inside Man by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross

Longlisted Nominees:
Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire by Michael Terracciano
Duel in the Somme by Rob Balder and Ben Bova
Hereville by Barry Deutsch
Freakangels: Book 4 by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
iZombie: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson
Locke & Key, Volume 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill
Masque of the Red Death by Wendy Pini
Ooku, Volume 5: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga
Schlock Mercenary: Resident Mad Scientist by Howard Tayler
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Finalists:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception [winner]
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Toy Story 3

Longlisted Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Despicable Me
Doctor Who: End of Time
Iron Man 2
Kick-Ass
Megamind
Monsters
Tangled
Tron: Legacy

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Finalists:
Doctor Who; A Christmas Carol
Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang [winner]
Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor
Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury
The Lost Thing

Longlisted Nominees:
Doctor Who: Amy's Choice
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour
Doctor Who: The Lodger
Doctor Who: The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone
Eureka: Founder's Day
FlashForward: Course Correction
Fringe: Over There
Fringe: Peter
Smallville: Absolute Justice
Stargate Universe: Incursion, Parts 1 and 2
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye

Best Professional Editor: Short Form

Finalists:
John Joseph Adams
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon van Gelder
Sheila Williams [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Lou Anders
Neil Clarke
Andy Cox
Ellen Datlow
Gardner Dozois
Alisa Krasnostein
George R.R. Martin
Cheryl Morgan
William Schafer
Catherynne M. Valente
Anne VanderMeer

Best Professional Editor: Long Form

Finalists:
Lou Anders [winner]
Ginjer Buchanan
Moshe Feder
Liz Gorinsky
David G. Hartwell [nomination declined]
Nick Mamatas
Beth Meacham
Patrick Nielsen Hayden [nomination declined]
Juliet Ulman

Longlisted Nominees:
Jo Fletcher
Shawna McCarthy
Harriet McDougal
Elizabeth Mitchell
William Schafer
Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist

Finalists:
Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Stephan MartiniƩre
John Picacio
Shaun Tan [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Vincent Chong
Kinuko T. Craft
Julie Dillon
Phil Foglio
Michael Komarck
Donato Giancola
Gregory Manchess
Lisa Snellings
Charles Vess
Michael Whelan

Best Semi-Prozine

Finalists:
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, and Sean Wallace [winner]
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams
Locus edited by Kirsten Gong-Wong and Liza Groen Trombi
Weird Tales edited by Anne VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal

Longlisted Nominees:
Ansible edited by David Langford
Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
Escape Pod edited by Mur Lafferty
Fantasy Magazine edited by Sean Wallace
New York Review of Science Fiction edited by David G. Hartwell and Kevin J. Maroney
On Spec edited by Diane Walton, Robin Carson, Barb Galler-Smith, Susan MacGregor, Ann Marston, and Barry Hammond
Realms of Fantasy edited by Shawna McCarthy
Salon Futura edited by Cheryl Morgan
Strange Horizons edited by Susan Marie Groppi

Best Fanzine

Finalists:
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian, III
The Drink Tank edited by James Bacon and Christopher J. Garcia [winner]
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith

Longlisted Nominees:
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Askance edited by John Purcell
Chunga edited by Andy Byers, Randy Hooper, and Carl Juarez
Galactic Suburbia by Alexandra Pierce, Alisa Krasnostein, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
Journey Planet edited by James Bacon and Christopher J. Garcia
Notes from Coode Street/The Coode Street Podcast edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gary Wolfe
SF Signal edited by John DeNardo
Steam Engine Time edited by Bruce Gillespie and Janine Stinson
Trap Door edited by Robert Lichtman
Yipe! edited by Kevin Roche and Jason Schachat

Best Fan Writer

Finalists:
James Bacon
Claire Brialey [winner]
Christopher J. Garcia
James Nicoll
Steven H Silver

Longlisted Nominees:
Bruce Gillespie
Mike Glyer
Niall Harrison
John Hertz
David Langford
Guy H. Lillian, III
Cheryl Morgan
Lloyd Penney
Mark Plummer
Kevin Roche
Jo Walton

Best Fan Artist

Finalists:
Brad W. Foster [winner]
Randall Munroe
Maurine Starkey
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

Longlisted Nominees:
Alan F. Beck
Sheryl Birkhead
Kurt Erichsen
Alexis Gilliland
Dick Jenssen
Sue Mason
Marc Schirmeister
Spring Schoenhuth
Dan Steffan
D. West
Brianna "Spacekat" Wu
Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Finalists:
Saladin Ahmed
Lauren Beukes
Larry Correia
Lev Grossman [winner]
Dan Wells

Longlisted Nominees:
Gail Carriger
Amal El-Mohtar
N.K. Jemisin
Keffy R.M. Kehrli
Dani Kollin
Eytan Kollin
Shweta Narayan
Hannu Rajaniemi
Steven H Silver
Ferrett Steinmetz
Brad R. Torgersen
Ian Tregillis
Charles Yu

Go to previous year's longlist: 2010
Go to subsequent year's longlist: 2012

Go to 2011 Hugo Finalists and Winners

Hugo Longlist Project     Book Award Reviews     Home

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Book Blogger Hop June 24th - June 30th: 160 Is the Sum of the First Eleven Prime Numbers

Book Blogger Hop

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Who is your favorite fictional couple?

My favorite fictional couple is Beren and LĆŗthien TinĆŗviel, whose story is found primarily in the Silmarillion. Beren was a mortal man, the mightiest hunter of his age, and LĆŗthien was an half-elven half-maia princess, the daughter of Thingol, the king of Doriath and his angelic consort Melian.

Beren was originally a prince, the son of King Barahior, but Morgoth's forces destroyed his kingdom and eventually slew his entire family. Beren continued to fight Morgoth with the aid of friendly animals until he was driven by his homeland by the combined might of Sauron and Draugluin. He then fled on a path of terror eventually finding his way across the Girdle of Melian into Doriath where he saw LĆŗthien and immediately fell in love with her.

LĆŗthien was also in love with Beren, but her father was unimpressed with a mere mortal man, and would only allow him to marry his daughter if he could recover one of the silmarils from Morgoth's crown. Given that recovering the silmarils was the reason that an entire race of elves killed their own kin and returned to Middle-Earth from the Blessed Lands before unsuccessfully waging war for centuries against overwhelming and insurmountable forces, this was something of a difficult request.

Not to be deterred, Beren set out to do the impossible. Not content to wait at home, LĆŗthien set out to help him. In a series of adventures that saw the pair fighting Sauron himself, charming Morgoth's entire court and confronting Carcharoth, the greatest werewolf who ever lived, the pair succeeded, but at the cost of Beren's hand, and ultimately, their own lives. The pair were married, but Beren was later mortally wounded while hunting Carcharoth, causing LĆŗthien to die of grief. Her lamentations were so great that Mandos brought the two back from the dead so they could live out their lives, although their resurrection was at the cost of her immortality.


Book Blogger Hop     Home

Friday, June 24, 2016

Follow Friday - 261 Was Kathrine Switzer's Bib Number When She Became the First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon


It's Friday again, and this means it's time for Follow Friday. There has been a slight change to the format, as now there are two Follow Friday hosts blogs and a single Follow Friday Featured Blogger each week. To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
  1. Follow both of the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and any one else you want to follow on the list.
  2. Follow the Featured Blogger of the week - Mikayla's Bookshelf.
  3. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments.
  5. Follow, follow, follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "Hi".
  6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the love . . . and the followers.
  7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
  8. If you're new to the Follow Friday Hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
And now for the Follow Friday Question: Name one or more standalone books that you wish was a series.

I'm going to pick a book that was originally supposed to have a sequel, but which still does not. Stars in My Pocket, Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany was originally published in 1984. When it was published, Delany intended to follow it up with a book titled The Splendor and Misery of Bodies, of Cities, but this sequel remains unfinished, and sadly will probably never be completed. I hold out some small hope, because Delany is still alive and a miracle might happen that motivates him to complete this long-unfinished work, but the reality is that he has shown no interest in it in decades.

Despite this, I keep hoping because Stars in My Pocket, Like Grains of Sand is a brilliant work of science fiction. Set in a distant future in which humanity has spread out over thousands of star systems dominated by two loose alliances - the permissive Sygn, and the conservative Family. These two alliances exist to try to prevent the phenomenon of "cultural fugue", a destructive cycle in which runaway social and technological complexity combine into a force that results in the complete annihilation of entire planetary populations.

The book centers on a relationship between "Rat" Korga, a tall social malcontent who has undergone an extreme medical procedure called "radical anxiety termination" and is the only known survivor of a planet that has undergone cultural fugue, and Marq Dyeth, an industrial diplomat who lives on a planet humanity shares with the three-gendered evelm. The two are determined to be a perfect match by the WEB and Rat is equipped with a device that overcomes his near total lobotomization and sent to meet Marq. Much of the meat of the book surrounds their very short relationship, and uses this to explore the sexual dynamics, cultural implications, and political relations of this distant and alien, but still very human society that Delany conceived.

The book does have an ending and so is more or less able to stand alone, but as one might expect for a book that was originally conceived of as a diptych, that ending is somewhat ambiguous and vaguely unsatisfying. The personal and professional conditions under which Delany wrote Stars in My Pocket, Like Grains of Sand are long gone, and are extremely unlikely to ever be replicated, so we will likely never see the promised conclusion to this two-part series. I can only hope that there is an alternate reality out there somewhere in which The Splendor and Misery of Bodies, of Cities was written, and that maybe circumstances will turn in such a way that a copy from this alternate reality will wind up in my hands someday.

Subsequent Follow Friday: The Poet Philemon Died in 262 B.C.

Follow Friday     Home

Monday, June 20, 2016

Musical Monday - Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman


My son graduated from high school last Thursday. To be honest, there were times that I was concerned he might not make it, but there he was, crossing the stage with the rest of his class and getting his diploma. I'm still worried for him, but he's gotten over this hurdle, and with luck, he'll be able to navigate the waters ahead.

As part of the graduation ceremony, the school choir sang Time to Say Goodbye. Though they aren't quite as good as Bocelli and Brightman, they were still excellent. I may be biased a bit, as my daughter is in the choir, but they captured the tone of the moment perfectly. The rest of you just have to listen to Bocelli and Brightman and imagine what my daughter might have sounded like.

Previous Musical Monday: Nun Fight by Paul & Storm

Andrea Bocelli     Sarah Brightman     Musical Monday     Home

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Book Blogger Hop June 17th - June 23rd: The Alfa Romeo 158/159 Was a Grand Prix and Formula One Racing Car Used Primarily from 1937 to 1953

Book Blogger Hop

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Do you have your photo in your profile?

I have a photo of myself in my Google+ profile. It is an older photo taken on the day I earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Maybe one of these days Google+ will be relevant again, and then I will update the photo.

I do not have a photo of myself on my "Who I Am" page here. Instead, I have some mostly outdated pictures of my book shelves. I suppose I could update my page here to put my picture on it, but for the most part it is pretty easy to find pictures of me on this blog, so I may not ever bother.


Book Blogger Hop     Home

Friday, June 17, 2016

Follow Friday - Benjamin Franklin Created the Franklin Magic Square with a Magic Constant of 260


It's Friday again, and this means it's time for Follow Friday. There has been a slight change to the format, as now there are two Follow Friday hosts blogs and a single Follow Friday Featured Blogger each week. To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
  1. Follow both of the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and any one else you want to follow on the list.
  2. Follow the Featured Blogger of the week - Novel Knight.
  3. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments.
  5. Follow, follow, follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "Hi".
  6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the love . . . and the followers.
  7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
  8. If you're new to the Follow Friday Hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
And now for the Follow Friday Question: Five websites you love to lurk around that are not shopping sites.

Only five? This is going to be difficult. With apologies to great sites like Clarkesworld, Whatever, and io9, here are my top five:

File 770: This is the best place to get day to day news about what is happening in the science fiction and fantasy community. Run by Mike Glyer, the site posts daily round-ups linking to and providing excerpt from an array of blogs, award sites, convention sites, and other places. File 770 also posts other articles on various topical issues ranging from interviews with Chinese science fiction authors to information about scholarship being done with respect to the works of authors such as Ray Bradbury and J.R.R. Tolkien.

LibraryThing: LibraryThing is my favorite book cataloging site. In practical terms, it is the only book cataloging site that I use. While I do have a Goodreads account, I have used it so rarely that it may as well not exist. I have my entire book library cataloged on LibraryThing and I use their review writing function to create the4 first drafts of all my book reviews.

Locus Online: While reading File 770 will keep one abreast of the news of the science fiction and fantasy community, reading Locus Online will keep one informed of the doings of the science fiction and fantasy publishing world. With articles about awards and interviews with authors, editors, and publishers, this site has all the news anyone could ever want about the doings of the genre book publishing world.

TwentySided: Originally created by Shamus Young as his personal website, TwentySided has grown into a shared blog with a half-dozen contributors. The website primarily features articles about computer gaming and game design, but it also features articles about tabletop gaming, extended analysis about how computer games work and how their stories are put together, as well as humorous deconstructions of several different video game tropes. This site is home to the Spoiler Warning YouTube show and the Diecast podcast. It is also the home of the DM of the Rings webcomic.

Tor.com: Tor.com was originally created by the genre fiction publisher Tor, but has since been spun off into its own quasi-independent entity. Although Tor.com has a very well-written blog with articles on a wide variety of topics, the best part of the website is the fiction, which, by and large, is top notch work. Tor.com is also home to the Rocket Talk podcast.


Follow Friday     Home

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Review - African American Army Officers of World War I: A Vanguard of Equality in War and Beyond by Adam P. Wilson


Short review: An account of how African Americans answered their country's call in World War I hoping their dedication and service would pave the way for equality and justice for their community. Instead, they faced racism and hostility, but emerged from the war as leaders dedicated to changing the world they lived in.

Haiku
During World War I
A community rallied
To confirm their worth

Disclosure: I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. Some people think this may bias a reviewer so I am making sure to put this information up front. I don't think it biases my reviews, but I'll let others be the judge of that.

Full review: U.S. history can be thought of in two very different ways. On the one hand, there is the version of history that most school children are taught that seems to have inspired such properties as the History Rock portions of Schoolhouse Rock and which dominates the nostalgia-filled speeches of politicians. In this version of history, the U.S. is a shining city on a hill, built by idealists upon the principles of liberty and freedom after throwing off the yoke of British tyranny. In this version, the U.S. became a champion of progress and democracy, a nation filled with exceptional people that had an exceptional role in the world. On the other, there is reality, which is a version of history that is far less inspiring, but also far more interesting. African American Army Officers of World War I is about the second, very real version of U.S. history, and is an unflinching examination of some of the the best and worst aspects of U.S. history.

In 1915 and 1916, with the prospect of entering the raging war in Europe dominating many minds in the United States, prominent members of the African-American community began pushing for black candidates be trained as officers in the American army. As early as July 1916, calls were made for a training camp to be established for African-American men to receive training that would prepare them to be officer candidates in the event of American entry into the war. Given the title of this book, it should come as no surprise that after much political maneuvering and effort, the Fort Des Moines Training Camp for Colored Officers was established in 1917 with an initial class of 1,250 candidates drawn from the black community - 250 to come from the ranks of non commissioned officers already serving in the U.S. Army, and the rest to be drawn from the civilian population. This book is the account of the push for the creation of this camp, the controversies that surrounding its formation and operation, and the men who served first in its program and then as officers in the U.S. Army during World War I, and the profound ways in which these men shaped the United States following the war.

African-American soldiers have served in all of the was waged by the United States. The black regiments raised by the Union during the U.S. Civil War, such as the 54th Massachusetts, are well known, as are the unites of black "Buffalo Soldiers" who served on the frontier, but black soldiers also fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 (although not all served on the side of the U.S.). Wilson documents this history of black service in the first chapter of African American Army Officers of World War I to give the context in which the debate over creating a segregated camp to train African-American officers for services in the army took place.

The most critical observation of the period between the U.S. Civil War and the establishment of the training camp at Fort Des Moines is the dichotomy between the aspirational language used in the laws concerning black service in the U.S. armed forces, and the actually under which they were implemented. Formally there was no legal impediment to black candidates entering the service academies at Annapolis and West Point, but in practice the deficiencies in the education afforded to most black citizens and the reluctance of the legislative branch to recommend such candidates meant that very few could even gain admission. Even if a black candidate did gain admission to one of the service academies, the environment was so hostile that very few managed to graduate - between the U.S. Civil War and U.S. entry into World War I, only a handful of black soldiers managed to graduate and secure positions as officers, the most successful of which was Lieutenant Colonel Charles Young whose career seems to have been hampered by the Army's efforts to ensure that he was never placed in a position where he would command white troops, going to far as to have him forced into retirement for medical reasons rather than promote the officer to Brigadier rank.

This official equality and practical discrimination was replicated in the enlisted ranks, most notably in an instance in Brownsville, Texas in which a company of black soldiers assigned to the army installation there aroused such hatred from the local populace that the locals threatened to meet the incoming soldiers with a posse to drive them out. After the soldiers had been stationed there, an incident in which the soldiers were almost certainly merely defending themselves resulted in an inquest after which President Theodore Roosevelt sided with the locals and had all of the black soldiers present dishonorably discharged. This should come as little surprise considering Roosevelt's disparaging remarks concerning the black soldiers who served with him in the Spanish-American War. Time and again, official equality for blacks in the armed services was undermined by a practical application of the rules that was anything but even-handed. Behind even this official facade of equality lurked naked racism: After the Brownsville incident, many in Congress urged that blacks be formally barred from entering the service academies, and that all black non-commissioned officers in the armed forces be stripped of their rank.

It is against this historical backdrop that the call for the creation of a training camp for black officers was made. Many leaders in the black community foresaw American involvement in the conflict in Europe, and argued that blacks should serves, and that the Army should give black citizens the opportunity to train as officers. Prominent voices in the black community such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Kelly Miller, Fred R. Moore, and others called upon young African-American men to step up to volunteer for duty and become both an example of the loyalty and bravery of the African-American citizen, and a new generation of leaders for their community. As Wilson details, this call was not without controversy, both within and without the black community. Many white Americans opposed the idea of training black men as officers, mostly for predictably racist reasons: Black men were said to be fundamentally unfit for leadership, black men were inherently unreliable, black men were not intelligent enough to serve as officers, and so on. Many within the black community opposed such a training camp on far sounder grounds - the first reviving arguments made during the Spanish-American War which asked why black men should be asked to volunteer to defend liberty and democracy abroad when the society they lived in denied them the same at home. This is a quite reasonable question, and when one reads and outline of how African-American soldiers had been treated to that point, the question that comes to mind is not "why should blacks serve", but rather "why have blacks not deserted the nation in droves".

The second objection to the proposed camp from the black community was something of an extension of the first: The proposed camp was to be segregated. Black officer candidates were to train separately from white officer candidates, and given the Army's track record when it came to actually implementing equal treatment for black and white soldiers, having concerns in this area was entirely justified. Further, having a separate segregated training camp was also seen as an ideological affront, a statement from the government that black America was different from white America. While many modern day Americans are familiar with the Jim Crow laws segregating blacks from whites, many also have the somewhat blinkered view that such laws were the exclusive province of Southern states. The story of the creation of, and controversy surrounding, the training camp at Fort Des Moines should put these notions to rest: In the early part of the 20th century, the United States as a whole was remained an almost unapologetically racist society.

Despite these objections, the segregated Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment was created - those who supported it reasoning that even though a segregated training camp was not an ideal solution, half of something was better than all of nothing. A call went out for volunteers, and around 1,250 men responded, drawn from among the best and brightest that the African-American community of that era had to offer as pleas went out for "doctors, lawyers, teachers, business men, and all those who graduated from high school" to enlist. Roughly a quarter of the men who responded had been educated at Howard University, the remainder from dozens of other institutions of higher learning. As Wilson details, the recruitment of this collection of volunteers was not without hiccups, but in retrospect it seems almost remarkable that so many men would choose to give of themselves to an institution that had proved so hostile to them for so long.

Although many prominent black leaders had hoped that Colonel Young would command the training regiment, but his forced retirement prevented that from happening. Instead, Colonel Charles C. Ballou was given the position, and as Wilson lays out, the work of transforming the volunteers into officers began. Much of the history of this process seems fairly unremarkable, although Wilson does highlight both the triumphs of the cadets, and the to be expected indignities heaped upon them. Des Moines was chosen because, as a northern city, it was believed that it would be more welcoming to the training regiment than a southern locale would be, and to a certain extent this was true. On the other hand, racism ran deep in American society, and there were some incidents that are documented as part of Wilson's narrative. More troubling were the obstacles the U.S. Army put in the way of the cadet's success. For his part, Ballou seems to have done his best to prepare the soldiers under his command for their role as officers, but the U.S. Army seems to have been determined to undermine them in sneaky ways. The officers trained at Fort Des Moines were only given infantry training, and were not to be allowed to enter active duty as artillery or communications officers. Later, when some officers were allowed to try their hand at artillery work, they were given little or no training in the use of the equipment, and then their predictably poor test scores were used as evidence that black officers were unsuited to that branch of the service. When all-black battalions were formed, they were divided and scattered across bases throughout the country so as to assuage fears that too many armed black men in one space would foment rebellion.

Time after time, through both official and unofficial means, overt and covert, the men of the Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment found obstacles placed in their path due to their race. Even so, the bulk of the cadets completed their training and received commissions as officers. If one were to think that their path from there would be smooth, one would be mistaken. Not content with undermining their efforts during training, the U.S. Army continued to do so after the officers and their men were shipped off to France - turning a blind eye to insubordination by white soldiers, issuing orders limiting the freedom of black soldiers while on leave, making efforts to keep black soldiers out of combat lest they demonstrate that they were actually effective at the job, and even going so far as to try to tell the French army not to be too nice to the black soldiers when they were put under French command. Despite France's own less than sterling record in dealing with black troops recruited from their colonial holdings, the French were far more welcoming to the black American troops than their own white American countrymen had been. Ballou, now the commander of the all-black 92nd Division, lost pretty much any built up good will he had earned during his time commanding the Fort Des Moines training camp by issuing a series of orders that his black officers considered insulting and demeaning. Even when black soldiers were allowed into combat, their performance was denigrated in official reports that seem at odds with the other available evidence.

As Wilson's account demonstrates, the optimism and hope that fueled the push to create the training camp at Fort Des Moines and establish a corps of black officers within the U.S. Army proved to be misguided. Despite overcoming the obstacles placed in their way, the service and loyalty provided by black soldiers in World War I did little to change the attitudes of the society they lived in. On the other hand, what Wilson's account does show is that many of the men of the Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment went on to become prominent voices in the black community resulting in an array of political leaders, legal scholars, academics, authors, and artists who shaped the course of the push for equality and justice over the decades following the war. Wilson leans perhaps a bit too heavily on the notion that their shared wartime experience was a prime factor in this development - after all the men who joined the the Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment were already civic-minded enough to volunteer for service in answer to a call that asked them to give of themselves for a greater cause. There is something of a chicken and egg question here: Did the men whose stories are told in this book become leaders of their community because of their service as officers in the U.S. Army, or did they choose service as officers because they were already on their way to becoming leaders. Either way, their contributions cannot be overstated, and their sacrifices should not be forgotten.

Wilson is exceptionally thorough in his reporting, at times perhaps too thorough, as there are a few places where the book gets a bit repetitive. Even so, African American Army Officers of World War I recounts an important chapter in U.S. history - a chapter of the kind that is far too often overlooked, and which should not be. Wilson's account tells the story of men who not only stood up to be counted in their nation's time of need, their actions forced their nation to begin to live up to its ideals. This is the history of the worst aspects of the United States, but at the same time an account of the nobility that has made the country better than it was before. For anyone who has an interest in the full account of the history of the United States, this book is likely to be a fascinating read.

Adam P. Wilson     Book Reviews A-Z     Home

Monday, June 13, 2016

Musical Monday - Nun Fight by Paul & Storm


In just under two weeks, I'll be going to see Johnathan Coulton and Paul & Storm perform live. I have several of their albums, and all of the are great, but both acts really are at their very best live. The song Nun Fight is a perfect example of this: The studio version is technically perfect and an enjoyable song to listen to, but there is something wonderful about the pair of singers playing off of the reactions of the audience when they perform it live. The choreography, the pauses to account for laughter, the banter before the song - it all adds up to an experience that simply cannot be replicated in the recording booth.

In this version, Paul & Storm perform the song in an actual cathedral, which makes it very easy to imagine that it is being performed in a "vast boxing cathedral". The best part of the song is when Paul screws up, a moment that is made even more hilarious when one considers how many times they have successfully performed the song (and I have seen more that one of those instances), because they simply take the error in stride, express a few choice thoughts, reset, and try again. The point of this post is pretty much "go and see Paul & Storm live if you can". You won't regret it.

Previous Musical Monday: What's Up by 4 Non Blondes
Subsequent Musical Monday: Time to Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

Paul & Storm     Musical Monday     Home

Sunday, June 12, 2016

2012 Hugo Award Longlist

The story revealed by the 2012 Hugo Longlist is how quickly the Game of Thrones television series became a dominant force among Hugo voters. Although the show only appeared one time on the official list of finalists where the entire first season of the show was nominated in the Long Form Dramatic presentation category, a perusal of the longlisted entries shows that two individual episodes garnered enough nominations to be eligible for finalist slots in the Short Form Dramatic Presentation category, and three others were close behind. Because the producers of the show apparently elected to have the entire season of the show considered in the Long Form category, the individual episodes were declared ineligible and replaced on the ballot by other entries, but this means that fully half of the episodes of the first season of Game of Thrones were popular enough to be nominated to the longlist, which is quite an impressive achievement.

I noted when I put together the 2013 Longlist that as I work further back in time that the records concerning the nominees will become less and less comprehensive. In 2013, the names of the editors and other participants in the longlisted nominees for the categories of Semi-Prozine, Fanzine, and Fancast were left out of the official records reported by the 2013 Hugo Administrators. In 2012, the names of some of the editors and participants in those categories who appeared on the list of finalists were left out of the reported post-Award statistics. This is not an insurmountable problem, as this data can still be found elsewhere, but it is notable how quickly the records seem to be deteriorating in quality as I work my way backward in time. One entry in the fanzine category has me somewhat puzzled, as it is listed in the official post-Award statistics only as "el" with nothing further provided. I have looked for "el" in the context of fanzines, but this sort of search returns so many Spanish language fanzines that figuring out which one is the right one. There is also the possibility that this entry is an error, and "el" is a truncated portion of the name of some fanzine that got accidentally trimmed off somewhere. Either way, this is likely to remain a mystery unless someone who was directly involved can shed some light on the issue.

Addendum: David D. Levine has shed some light on the "el" mystery. It appears likely that "el" is actually "eI" a fanzine published and edited by Earl Kemp that enjoyed a ten year run before folding up shop in 2012.

Best Novel

Finalists:
Among Others by Jo Walton [winner]
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Deadline by Mira Grant
Embassytown by China Mieville
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Longlisted Nominees:
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
The Kingdom of the Gods by N.K. Jemisin
Mechanique by Genevieve Valentine
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Rule 34 by Charles Stross
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Best Novella

Finalists:
Countdown by Mira Grant
The Ice Owl by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Kiss Me Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Man Who Bridged the Mist by Kij Johnson [winner]
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu
Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente

Longlisted Nominees:
The Adakian Eagle by Bradley Denton
The Alchemist by Paolo Bacigalupi
Angel of Europa by Allen M. Steele
The Ants of Flanders by Robert Reed
Gravity Dreams by Stephen Baxter
Lord John and the Plague of Zombies by Diana Gabaldon
Martian Chronicles by Cory Doctorow
The Rat Race by Cherie Priest
With Unclean Hands by Adam-Troy Castro

Best Novelette

Finalists:
The Copenhagen Interpretation by Paul Cornell
Fields of Gold by Rachel Swirsky
Ray of Light by Brad Torgersen
Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders [winner]
What We Found by Geoff Ryman

Longlisted Nominees
The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from the Great Book) by Nnedi Okorafor
The Choice by Paul McAuley
Citizen-Astronaut by David D. Levine
Ghostweight by Yoon Ha Lee
A Long Walk Home by Jay Lake
The Migratory Pattern of Dancers by Katherine Sparrow
The Old Man and the Martian Sea by Alastair Reynolds
Sauerkraut Station by Ferrett Steinmetz
The Summer People by Kelly Link
A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong by K.J. Parker
White Lines on a Green Field by Catherynne M. Valente

Best Short Story

Finalists:
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
The Homecoming by Mike Resnick
Movement by Nancy Fulda
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu [winner]
Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue by John Scalzi

Longlisted Nominees
After the Apocalypse by Maureen McHugh
The Bread We Eat in Dreams by Catherynne M. Valente
The Drowner by Paedar O'Guilin
Goodnight Moons by Ellen Klages
Her Husband's Hand by Adam-Troy Castro
The Invasion of Venus by Stephen Baxter
Mama, We Are Zhenya, Your Son by Tom Crosshill
The Server and the Dragon by Hannu Rajaniemi
Tidal Forces by Caitlin Kiernan
Tying Knots by Ken Liu
Unlimited Delta by Robin Walton
Younger Women by Karen Joy Fowler

Best Related Work

Finalists:
The Anticipation Novelists of 1950s French Science Fiction: Stepchildren of Voltaire by Bradford Lyau [ineligible]
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 3rd Edition edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight [winner]
Jar Jar Binks Must Die . . . and Other Observations About Science Fiction Movies by Daniel M. Kimmel
The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers
Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire
Writing Excuses, Season 6 by Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells

Longlisted Nominees:
Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature by Gary K. Wolfe
In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood
Masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art: A Collection of the Most Inspiring Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Gaming Illustrators in the World by Karen Haber
Musings and Meditations by Robert Silverberg
Murray Leinster: The Life and Works by Jo-An J. Evans and Billee J. Stallings
Nested Scrolls: The Autobiography of Rudolf von Bitter Rucker by Rudy Rucker
Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm by John Clute
Sightings: Reviews 2002-2006 by Gary K. Wolfe
Spectrum 18: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art by Arnie Fenner and Cathy Fenner
Whedonista: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon by the Women Who Love Them by Lynne M. Thomas and Deborah Stanish

Best Graphic Story

Finalists:
Digger by Ursula Vernon [winner]
Fables, Volume 15: Rose Red by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham
Locke & Key, Volume 4: Keys to the Kingdom by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication by Howard Tayler
The Unwritten, Volume 4: Leviathan by Mike Carey and Peter Gross

Longlisted Nominees:
Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 by Joss Whedon
Doorways by George R.R. Martin and Stefano Martino
Fables, Volume 16: Super Team by Paul Cornell and Jimmy Broxton
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin, Daniel Abraham, and Rafa Lopez
Finder: Voice by Carla Speed McNeil
Freakangels, Volume 5 by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
Gunnerkrigg Court, Volume 3: Reason by Thomas Siddell
Habibi by Craig Thompson
Knight and Squire by Bill Willingham and Joao Ruas

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form

Finalists:
Captain America: The First Avenger
Game of Thrones (Season 1) [winner]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Hugo
Source Code

Longlisted Nominees:
The Adjustment Bureau
Attack the Block
Contagion
Cowboys and Aliens
Kick-Ass
Misfits, Series 1
Paul
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
Thor
X-Men: First Class

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form

Finalists:
Community: Remedial Chaos Theory
Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife [winner]
Doctor Who: The Girl Who Waited
Doctor Who: A Good Man Goes to War
The Drink Tank's Hugo Acceptance Speech
Game of Thrones: Baelor [ineligible]
Game of Thrones: Fire and Blood [ineligible]
Game of Thrones: The Pointy End [ineligible]

Longlisted Nominees:
Being Human: The Wolf Shaped Bullet
Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Fringe: The Day We Died
Fringe: Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
Game of Thrones: A Golden Crown
Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming
Supernatural: The French Mistake

Best Professional Editor: Short Form

Finalists:
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Sheila Williams [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Scott H. Andrews
Ellen Datlow
Gardner Dozois
Liz Gorinsky
Susan Marie Groppi
Ann Leckie
George R.R. Martin
William Schafer
Catherynne M. Valente
Gordon van Gelder
Ann VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer

Best Professional Editor: Long Form

Finalists:
Lou Anders
Liz Gorinsky
Anne Lesley Groell
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Betsy Wollheim [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Ginjer Buchanan
Julie A. Crisp
Moshe Feder
David G. Hartwell
Jeremy Lassen
Nick Mamatas
Beth Meacham
Devi Pillai
Eric Reynolds
Jacob Weisman
Toni Weisskopf

Best Professional Artist

Finalists:
Daniel Dos Santos
Bob Eggleton
Michael Komarck
Stephan MartiniƩre
John Picacio [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Vincent Chong
Julie Dillon
John Foster
Donato Giancolo
John Howe
Kekai Kotaki
Alan Lee
Chris McGrath
Lee Moyer
Randall Munroe
Ted Nasmith
Raymond Swanland
Michael Whelan

Best Semi-Prozine

Finalists:
Apex Magazine edited by Jason Sizemore, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, and Jason Heller [nomination declined]
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Lightspeed edited by John Joseph Adams
Locus edited by Liza Groen Trombi and Kirsten Gong-Wong [winner]
New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kris Dikeman, Avram Grumer, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin J. Maroney

Longlisted Nominees:
Ansible edited by David Langford
Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
Daily Science Fiction edited by Michele-Lee Barasso and Jonathan Laden
Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
Escape Pod edited by Mur Lafferty
Fantasy Magazine edited by John Joseph Adams
Salon Futura edited by Cheryl Morgan
Shimmer edited by Beth Wodzinski
Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison
Weird Tales edited by Marvin Kaye

Best Fanzine

Finalists:
Banana Wings edited by Claire Biraley and Mark Plummer
The Drink Tank edited by James Bacon and Chris Garcia
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Emma J. King, Helen J. Montgomery, and Pete Young
SF Signal edited by John DeNardo, J.P. Frantz, and Patrick Hester [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian, III
Chunga edited by Randy Byers, Andy Hopper, and Carl Juarez
The Coode Street Podcast by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher
eI edited by Earl Kemp
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist edited by Patrick St. Denis
SF Commentary edited by Bruce Gillespie
SF in SF edited by Jean Martin
StarShipSofa by Tony C. Smith
The Wertzone edited by Adam Whitehead
Yipe! edited by Kevin Roche

Best Fan Writer

Finalists:
James Bacon
Claire Brialey
Christopher J. Garcia
Jim C. Hines [winner]
Steven H. Silver

Longlisted Nominees:
Mike Glyer
Mette Hedin
David Langford
Guy H. Lillian, III
Cheryl Morgan
James Nicoll
Abigail Nussbaum
Mark Plummer
Abigail St. Denis
Adam Whitehead

Best Fan Artist

Finalists:
Brad W. Foster
Randall Munroe
Spring Schoenhuth
Maurine Starkey [winner]
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

Longlisted Nominees:
Alan F. Beck
Kurt Erichsen
Dave Hicks
Dick Jenssen
Sue Mason
Dan Steffan
D. West
Delphyne Woods
Frank Wu

Best Fancast

Finalists:
The Coode Street Podcast by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia Podcast by Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts, produced by Andrew Finch
SF Signal Podcast by John DeNardo and J.P. Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester
SF Squeecast by Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Lynne M. Thomas, and Catherynne M. Valente [winner]
StarShipSofa by Tony C. Smith

Longlisted Nominees:
Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing Podcast by Shaun Farrell
Drabblecast by Norm Sherman, Nathaniel Lee, Charity Helton, and Nicky Drayden
The Drink Tank Review of Books by Christopher J. Garcia
Eric in the Elevator by Eric Zuckerman
Escape Pod by Mur Lafferty
Fanboy Planet Podcast by Ric Bretschneider
Geek Girl Crafts Podcast by Jade Falcon and Sandy J-T
I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty
The Nerdist by Chris Hardwick
Podcastle by Anna Schwind, Dave Thompson, and Ann Leckie
Radio Free Skaro by Warren Frey and Steve Schapansky
The Writer and the Critic by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond
Writing Excuses by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Finalists:
Mur Lafferty
Stina Leicht
Karen Lord
Brad Torgersen
E. Luly Yu [winner]

Longlisted Nominees:
Zen Cho
Ernest Cline
Ty Franck
Mark Hodder
Kat Howard
Kameron Hurley
Brit Mandelo
Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Erin Morgenstern
Shauna Roberts

Go to previous year's longlist: 2011
Go to subsequent year's longlist: 2013

Go to 2012 Hugo Finalists and Winners

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