Second paragraph of third chapter:

The somewhat surprise election of U.S. President Donald Trump was followed by predictions of a collapse in the transatlantic relationship. President Trump, whose view of the world is highly transactional, had campaigned on a platform hostile both to NATO and even the general concept of long-term alliances. During the campaign, allegations were made of Russian interference.

Charles Tannock is one of the two Conservative MEPs for London, and has been vocal in his despair at Brexit and his desire to minimise the damage that it will do to the UK. (He has taken Irish citizenship to maintain his own EU links.)

One of the more depressing aspects of the Brexit squabbling has been the potential deterioration of UK-EU security co-operation. This started badly, with Theresa May suggesting that the whole area could be in play as part of the negotiations, and has continued badly, with the EU looking to push the British out of the Galileo satellite project.

Tannock here offers two things – a guide to EU security capabilities for dummies (and quite apart from the ridiculous rhetoric about an EU army, there are a lot of people, including many EU experts, who are surprisingly unversed in this aspect of the organisation’s capabilities), and a positive proposal for structured future co-operation in the form of reviving something like the old Western European Union, which was set up in the institutional confusion of the 1950s and was gradually absorbed by the EU. He suggests a permanent structure which could be open not only to the British but to other interested neighbours of the EU, notably Norway and possibly Ukraine, which would include a mutual defence guarantee and a parliamentary angle, without competing with NATO which will remain in the lead.

It’s a nice idea (disclaimer: I’m credited as having had a look at it pre-publication), though I think in fact the UK government will be looking for a bespoke special security relationship with the EU, excluding the possibility for the Norways and Ukraines of this world to participate on a similar footing – that is, if the UK knows what it is looking for at all; I’m simply not clear on that.

You can download the book from here.

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For yesterday’s matches, nobody foresaw Senegal beating Poland, which just goes to show. Both and called Japan as well as Russia.

• Tue, 12:56: RT @StefaanDeRynck: This set of slides ended on Friday what was a busy week of the EU27 working party on #brexit. The slides deal with acti…
• Tue, 13:38: World Cup, Day Seven https://t.co/JEAKmdlVLl
• Tue, 16:05: RT @tgeducation: Every World Cup goal, from 1930 onwards, and when they happened, via @TheEconomist https://t.co/3D3VWUZIDl
• Tue, 18:18: Penric’s Fox, by Lois McMaster Bujold https://t.co/ruiVetUcZT
• Tue, 19:30: Why you should vote for Rufus Arnold Alexis Keppel, 10th Earl of Albemarle, in his own words: https://t.co/UmVbkkYED1
• Tue, 19:35: Why you should vote for Cody Charles Edward Tennant, 4th Baron Glenconner, in his own words: https://t.co/oFKkd6LRfu
• Tue, 19:40: Why you should vote for Nicholas John Monson, 12th Baron Monson, in his own words: https://t.co/vTyKCHHaUS
• Tue, 19:45: Why you should vote for David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon and nephew of Queen Elizabeth II,… https://t.co/4jio5egjoI
• Tue, 20:48: RT @cstross: Also for you, @elonmusk https://t.co/qwAFFesM0d
• Wed, 10:45: Caitlin Moran: everything I know about sex https://t.co/oeiO6DJ4cC Hilarious!

Second paragraph of third chapter:

The chapterhouse of the Bastard’s Order lay two streets behind the great stone bulk of the city’s, and the Weald’s, main temple. The old wooden merchant’s mansion that had formerly housed the servants of the white god had burned down twenty years ago, and been replaced with a fine new edifice, built more to the purpose, in the cut yellow stone of this country. As the chief chapterhouse of the realm, and in close competition with its sibling Orders for the other four gods, its architecture was high, balanced, and austere, not nearly as makeshift as the more provincial chapterhouses Pen was used to. It made him feel rather provincial himself.

Last year’s Best Series Hugo final ballot included only one series that I had not read before (October Daye). This year’s Best Series Hugo final ballot includes only one series that I already knew at all, Bujold’s World of the Five Gods, where I think I had read everything except this novella, included with the Hugo voter packet.

We’re back in Penric and Desdemona territory, but actually not in sequence, this being set third in what’s currently a series of five. It’s a murder mystery with demons, where I must admit I spotted the likely villain quite early, but the journey of discovery of our main characters was very entertaining, and also it’s great to see Bujold allowing her young protagonist to mature through the course of what is quite a short story. I was certain to vote for the World of the Five Gods for Best Series anyway, but Penric’s Fox confirms my decision. You can get it here.

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and I both called all three matches yesterday.

• Mon, 13:09: World Cup, Day Six https://t.co/1GTRirTq7r
• Mon, 18:08: Monday reading https://t.co/ucIVJsPeVv
• Mon, 18:35: RT @cbwrangler: .@RomeluLukaku9 heads it into the back of the net to give Belgium the 2-0 lead. Great service from @DeBruyneKev #WorldCup #…
• Mon, 20:48: RT @PascalLTH: I have been pretty critical of the way polling data is (or is not) used when discussing European politics so going to do my…
• Mon, 21:18: According to @FiveThirtyEight England now have only a 50% chance of winning. https://t.co/Ue4rnaLIw4
• Mon, 21:24: According to @FiveThirtyEight a draw is now the most likely result. #EngTun https://t.co/iNA8NJbBTD https://t.co/yJ9KxH4Bhb
• Mon, 21:37: Draw now twice as likely as an England win according to @FiveThirtyEight #EngTun https://t.co/iNA8NJbBTD https://t.co/5J0Quoeg0d
• Mon, 21:50: Oh, good lord! #EngTun
• Mon, 21:52: #EngTun @FiveThirtyEight https://t.co/UzpH2Vr1OC
• Tue, 10:45: This is a thread with a real twist in the tail. https://t.co/FeVs49HQ7Q

Current
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett
Old Friends, by Jonathan Clements, Marc Platt and Pete Kempshall
Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch

Last books finished
Ghana Must Go, by Taiye Selasi
The Art of Starving, by Sam J. Miller
Everybody Comes to Rick's, by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

Next books
Virgins, Weeders and Queens, by Twigs Way
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, by James Finn Garner

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Congrats to for predicting both Mexico and Serbia to win yesterday. Nobody foresaw Brazil failing to beat Switzerland.

• Sun, 12:19: RT @KeohaneDan: Small gestures can have very big meanings…this is most welcome from Arlene Foster. https://t.co/hK4S1ST6JB
• Sun, 12:51: Important news: The Nugo Friterie on the Chaussée de Ninove serves Georgian food at the weekends, and the proprieto… https://t.co/69BIrWwr5B
• Sun, 12:56: Tony Connelly: Brexit backstop deal more remote https://t.co/0lEQCDfkvp A grim situation.
• Sun, 13:07: World Cup, Day Five https://t.co/3Uy0gROAPF
• Sun, 15:40: P.I.G.S., by Cecilia Valagussa https://t.co/NLYbw45p9g
• Sun, 16:05: The national dish of every country at the World Cup, ranked from worst to best https://t.co/1sgUNI6d03 I disagree w… https://t.co/r1JeoIxnCE
• Sun, 20:48: Tipping point. Why Scotland’s ultimate independence now looks inevitable https://t.co/HN6YKBlppi The importance of Commons procedure.
• Mon, 10:45: Something for everyone: 5 essential science fiction anthologies you must read https://t.co/VzJatSPXrO A diverse list.

Third page:

Over to foreign news. A heated debate broke out today between the Financial Times newspaper and the Portuguese minister Manuel Pinho…

The reason for this? The Financial Times' use of the acronym… DIINNG DOONNG Good morning, Hugo! Good morning, Elias!

I picked this up from the author herself at FACTS last October. It's a nicely done short graphic novel about the experience of being a young Italian immigrant in Ghent, just at the time that the financial crisis was hitting the southern European economies and Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain were dubbed PIGS by the Financial Times. Cecilia has a pig's head but does not realise it, as she tries to pass for human in Belgium; and she learns that you really discover how much you belong to your home country by leaving it. The story is therefore a bit cliched, but the art is really good. In particular, she makes great use of the space on the page – no boxes, a lot of two-page spreads, giving a broad canvas, and placing her characters several times over in a frame as they move around, giving a sense of movement and space that we don't often get with comics. It hasn't been translated into English, of course. You can see the first half of it for free here, and buy it here.

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Well done to and on getting three correct out of four yesterday, successfully predicting that Denmark would beat Peru as well as Croatia beating Nigeria (which I also got) and France beating Australia (which and I also got). Nobody expected Iceland to hold Argentina to a draw.

• Sat, 12:56: A year on, I am even angrier about Grenfell https://t.co/3IDkAvoKuy So am I.
• Sat, 16:04: World Cup, Day Four https://t.co/tKo2tXQ0AX
• Sat, 16:05: United 2026 World Cup: An Opportunity for the Host Countries, the Sport and Brands https://t.co/jDB76xrrq3 @TGKraus looks ahead.
• Sat, 16:51: Tumuli and church at Tienen https://t.co/vqtJboB1eV
• Sat, 20:48: 2018 World Cup Predictions | FiveThirtyEight https://t.co/saoODl8e5m I’m keeping an eye on this.
• Sun, 10:45: RT @kevinhorourke: There is also the ominous news that HMG is back at its old trick of briefing against the Irish government across Europe.…

A few years ago I posted about a visit to the Three Tumuli of Grimde near Tienen. These are three first- or second-century Roman graves; when we went five years ago, they were covered in trees and undergrowth. (Also F, then 13, was noticeably smaller than he is now.)

The tumuli are being cleaned up. Here's B contemplating where the undergrowth used to be:

And a panoramic view showing the width of the site:

It's all under construction right now, and we probably shouldn't have gone into it, but I think it will be striking when it is finished.

Not far away is the Church of Our Lady of the Stone, another place I've been before. B was enjoying the good weather now.

Inside the church is the shrine of St Maurus, whose iron crowns may be worn by sufferers from mental disorders, hopefully offering them some relief.

And sometimes it's just nice to be inside in the cool air of an otherwise deserted place of worship.

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Congrats to , , , and me for calling Uruguay’s victory yesterday. Nobody called either of the other two matches.

• Fri, 12:56: The Question: Why is the modern offside law a work of genius? https://t.co/CID4qgTvsT A passionate essay on an often misunderstood subject.
• Fri, 13:31: World Cup, Day Three https://t.co/1Enn36wU1d
• Fri, 13:50: RT @lowflyingrocks: 2018 LV3, 14m-31m in diameter, just passed the Earth at 11km/s, missing by 330,000km. https://t.co/7x3ZvHa3z9
• Fri, 16:05: The Hod Complex: England and the 1998 World Cup https://t.co/AT0bZho1Fc Tremendous long read.
• Fri, 18:22: The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Novel https://t.co/uJYlkBqLle
• Fri, 20:17: Well, I drew Portugal in the @APCOBXLInsider office sweepstake, so I am smiling right now!
• Fri, 20:17: RT @Dimitrov_Nikola: In the months ahead, international stakeholders and policy makers should support the peacemakers … If this long-awai…
• Fri, 20:48: Grenfell One Year On: How Did Theresa May Manage To Stay In Power? https://t.co/tZzc4ayKIE Search me.
• Sat, 10:45: Universal credit savaged by public spending watchdog https://t.co/G7MUyMOE6P The UK government’s war on the poor is… https://t.co/WDyRyCk6de

My preferences are as follows:

6) The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin

Reviewed here. I am in the small minority that has completely bounced off this series. You can get it here.

5) New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson

Reviewed here. Too rambling for me, especially in the second half. You can get it here.

4) Raven Stratagem, by Yoon Ha Lee

Second paragraph of third chapter:

The usual instructor was a stocky, graying man who never smiled. Brezan, sitting in the classroom with the other cadets, noticed the gleam in his eyes. Not a good sign. Next to him, Onuen Wei was taking slow, deep breaths, which meant she had noticed, too.

Next in Lee’s sequence of novels about a long-dead male general reincarnated in a female body in a military sf future. Fascinating to see the central character developing his own agenda in the face of an ideological and segmented society, and I understood the society itself much better; but MilSF still isn’t really my thing. You can get it here.

3) The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi

Second paragraph of third chapter:

“You are going to have to officially declare a period of mourning,” Naffa Dolg said to her [Cardenia], in what had suddenly and officially become her office. It was now only moments after her father had died; his body was currently being removed from his bedroom—her bedroom—via a litter that had borne the bodies of nearly all the emperoxs who had been lucky enough to actually die at home. Cardenia had seen the litter, stored away in one of the other rooms in the private apartment, and thought it a ghastly bit of business, and realized that one day, it was very likely her bones would be carted out on it too. Tradition had its downsides.

It’s well recorded that I have had my problems with Scalzi’s prose in the past, but I really liked this up to the final moment – two excellent kickass female protagonists, a scenario of looming cosmic chaos, and high politics including crooked oligarchs. I was even considering it for my top spot – and then it turns out that this is the first part of a larger story, and the book ends practically in mid-sentence – well, not quite that abruptly, but with an awful lot of plot threads very far from being resolved. So it loses marks for not being a full story. You can get it here.

2) Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty

Second paragraph of third chapter:

He knew it was ridiculous, given that whatever had happened, his last memory of Earth was only a few hours ago in his time line. The last time he went swimming, according to his memory, was a week ago. But this body had never touched a pool or ocean, and probably never would. He’d thought about the freedom of swimming several times after waking up. Diving down into the black water, away from the horrors that surrounded him. His mood, his quips, felt like autopilot while he submerged inside himself.

I had to swallow quite hard to accept the initial set-up – in Lafferty’s future, people routinely transfer their consciousness into younger clones of themselves, but clones have lesser rights than born humans and only one clone is allowed to exist at any one time. It’s no more ridiculous than faster-than-light travel, of course, or than a lot of other social and technological innovations that are sf staples. The plot then is a locked-room murder mystery, where the crew of a long-haul colonising starship are all resurrected to find that their previous bodies have been gruesomely murdered and they have lost their memories of the voyage so far. The answers turn out to lie in the very construction of their society. Very nicely done. You can get it here.

1) Provenance, by Ann Leckie

Reviewed here. The first of the finalists that I read (because it was a BSFA finalist too), and it has remained my favourite. You can get it here.

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist

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Congrats to , , , , , and me for calling yesterday’s result.

• Thu, 12:56: The jumbled mess in the center of Jackson Crater https://t.co/v67i4aLTuE On the far side of the Moon…
• Thu, 13:58: World Cup, Day Two https://t.co/v6bgHmv3YN
• Thu, 16:05: How the Home Office used the NHS to refuse my client a visa https://t.co/WEZkCMcBvn Disgusting from UK government -… https://t.co/ViGMt9mFtf
• Thu, 18:00: RT @lowflyingrocks: 2018 LD1, 14m-31m in diameter, just passed the Earth at 11km/s, missing by 601,000km. https://t.co/NUoQUL0aWV
• Thu, 20:44: The 2018 WSFS Award finalists for Best Young Adult Book https://t.co/rTlXA1LBS8
• Thu, 20:48: RT @theobertram: How do politicians get secretly taped? (This is an old anecdote, some of you have heard before, but it is a favourite of…
• Fri, 09:31: RT @keiranpedley: This is pretty damning. National Audit Office says Universal Credit currently costing more to administer than it is predi…
• Fri, 10:45: The bizarre story of banknotes in the United Kingdom https://t.co/beZ0fLi5Sc The oddities of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

I wasn’t really a supporter of the YA award as part of the Hugos, and am still not entirely convinced; but I must admit that the range of quality here is about the same as for Best Novel, and that’s probably a reasonably good thing. None of these is awful or embarrassing; there was one case where it is possibly Great Literature but I found it a bit squicky.

7) No Award – any of these would do.

6) Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor

Reviewed here. Lost out for me due to being the second of a series where I hadn’t read the first. You can get it here.

5) Summer in Orcus, by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)

Reviewed here. Nice quest narrative / portal fantasy. You can get it here.

4) The Art of Starving, by Sam J. Miller

Second paragraph of third chapter:

Except, you know, life. Life has got her down for the count, and it’s counting slow. The rent, the mice in the walls, the cold, the loneliness, the threat of the slaughterhouse shutting down, they all teamed up on her. And when life couldn’t beat her fighting honest: Maya happened. Maya running off might be the death blow. Ever since that, Mom seems to be losing her light.

I found this pretty tough going. The narrator has anorexia which gives him a superhuman power of smell. The ending was moderately upbeat but getting there was pretty grim. It won the Nebula equivalent (the Andre Norton Award), against completely different competition. You can get it here.

3) A Skinful of Shadows, by Frances Hardinge

Reviewed here. Great take on the English Civil War, with aristocratic magic and wandering spirits possessing the gifted. You can get it here.

2) The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman

Reviewed here. While not the greatest fan of His Dark Materials, this really engaged me. Bonus points for inadvertent references to the venue of next year’s Worldcon. You can get it here.

1) In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan

Reviewed here. Stole my heart. Funny and subversive and yet also a bit wise. You can get it here.

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist

You should be able to vote using your Facebook or Twitter account, even if you aren’t on Livejournal.

• Wed, 12:56: RT @RobDotHutton: Fans of Boris Johnson will be pleased see that he has identified, as “the kind of ambitious project we need to make a suc…
• Wed, 13:53: World Cup, Day One https://t.co/VJ2CzfIXy6
• Wed, 16:05: My boss is verbally abusive and won’t pay me https://t.co/LYIfYlN4dO Not a new story, but only just seen by me – the toxic non-profit.
• Wed, 18:52: The 2018 Hugo and 1943 Retro Hugo finalists for the Artist categories https://t.co/MmE5vg01fW
• Wed, 20:48: RT @DTriantaphyllou: Posted on a colleague’s door…I can relate…although I still insist on teaching early morning classes…call me a sa…
• Thu, 10:45: RT @didic: I’m sure someone else has crunched the numbers before, but based on Amazon prices right now, the works in the Hugo Packet that a…
• Thu, 11:57: I’m in London at a loose end this evening, and I think I’ll go look around the British Library which is open late.… https://t.co/mZrGvyCcDH

Sometimes these are quite easy categories to sort out – it's always helpful if there is one artist that stands out from the crowd for good or bad reasons. This time for Best Professional Artist (2018) I have found it much more difficult – all of the artists on the final ballot are very good, and sufficiently distinct that it's quite difficult to give them a comparative rating. So I'm actually going to go from top to bottom of my ballot, rather than bottom to top, because I don't have much to say about any of them but I have more to say about the ones I like.

	1) Kathleen Jennings
	2) Bastien Lecouffe Deharme
	3) Sana Takeda
	4) John Picacio
	5) Victo Ngai
	6) Galen Dara

I found it much easier to rank this year’s finalists for Best Fan Artist.

	1) Geneva Benton
	2) Maya Hato
	3) Likhain
	4) Spring Schoenhuth
	5) Grace P Fong
	6) Steve Stiles

Most of the 1942 artists are easy enough to track down on ISFDB, which helpfully holds copies of all the magazine covers in its archive. The exception was Edd Cartier, who I had to hunt through the annoying interface of Pinterest, but it was worth it.

	1) Edd Cartier
	2) Virgil Finlay
	3) Hannes Bok
	4) Margaret Brundage
	5) Howard W. McCauley
	6) Hubert Rogers

Your mileage may vary.

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist

You should be able to vote using your Facebook or Twitter account, even if you aren’t on Livejournal.

• Tue, 12:56: RT @carolecadwalla: Also.. @BBCr4today invited me on this morning. They then rang back & asked if I would “discuss” it with Isabel Oakeshot…
• Tue, 16:05: Status Anxiety https://t.co/JJhfsDzrFe In his own words: How @toadmeister got into Brasenose after failing to meet… https://t.co/Ml0fZ7vgcO
• Tue, 17:11: RT @TomMcTague: The government is clearly wobbling on this amendment here. A loss or concession makes two things more likely: 1) EEA/custom…
• Tue, 17:26: RT @CNN: George H.W. Bush just became the first former US president to turn 94 https://t.co/z6zJuch5ed https://t.co/obC2PKHzXa
• Tue, 18:27: #Macedonia name dispute – #MK government announcement coming in three minutes: https://t.co/RCw1VlkWE4
• Tue, 18:59: Beyond This Horizon; Second-Stage Lensmen; and the 1943 Retro Hugo finalists for Best Novel https://t.co/UsH4KqhmZH
• Tue, 19:32: RT @AP: The Latest: The prime minister of Greece says his country has reached an agreement with Macedonia to end a decades-old dispute over…
• Tue, 19:32: RT @eucopresident: Sincere congratulations to PM @tsipras_eu and PM @Zoran_Zaev. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks to you the impossi…
• Tue, 19:33: Hooray! https://t.co/mNfJlGVYeB
• Tue, 20:48: RT @amcunningham: Free travel in EU for 18 year olds this summer (via @nwbrux) https://t.co/4L6sKJS9V3

• Tue, 21:30: RT @AdamBienkov: These new Dad’s Army stamps, following in the wake of the failed campaign for a Brexit stamp, feels like some top notch tr…
• Wed, 08:44: RT @piris_jc: To be able to use threat of “no deal”as leverage U.K. would have had to initiate the necessary legislations, to establish the…
• Wed, 10:45: Doctor Who Lost Episodes Could Be Recovered https://t.co/6esIp6smDN Unfortunately this is based on an interview wit… https://t.co/0hBg2kFltK
• Wed, 11:10: RT @danobrien20: BREAKING: New poll from Northern Ireland shows 55% would vote to remain in UK and 22% for a united Ireland. Similar to rec…

Beyond This Horizon, by Robert A. Heinlein

Second paragraph of third chapter:

In the nucleus of every cell of every zygote, whether man or fruit fly, sweet pea or race horse, is a group of threadlike bodies—chromosomes. Along the threads are incredibly tiny somethings, on the order of ten times the size of the largest protein molecules. They are the genes, each one of which controls some aspect of the entire structure, man, animal, or plant, in which the cell is lodged. Every living cell contains within it the plan for the entire organism.

This is early Heinlein, his second novel for adults (after Sixth Column/The Day After Tomorrow, the one with the racist ray). Here we have a future society whose population has been and is being shaped by genetic engineering, which raises interesting questions about accountability, which are not really answered. The plot starts promisingly but diverts often into info-dumping and runs out of steam entirely about half-way through. A side-theme is the universal use of fire-arms, at least by men; this is the source of the infamous quote “An armed society is a polite society.” Heinlein's writing style is already lucid and effective, but he hadn't yet found the knack of pulling story elements together to a coherent whole at novel length. But if you want to, you can get it here.

Second-Stage Lensmen, by E.E. "Doc" Smith

Second paragraph of third chapter:

Reasoning from analogy, Kinnison quite justifiably concluded that the back of the drug syndicate had been broken in similar fashion when he had worked upward through Bominger and Strongheart and Crowninshield and Jalte to the dread council of Boskone itself. He was, however, wrong.

I tried the first three Lensman books a decade ago, and bounced off them so heavily that I wimped out of reading Gray Lensman when it was up for the Retro Hugo two years ago. (It came within 28 votes of beating Slan.) Having started this year's reading early, I thought I should give Smith another go, and did in fact get two thirds of the way through Second-Stage Lensmen before I realised that I was appalled by the prose, didn't care about the characters and was not even slightly excited by the plot. So, that's an easy decision then. If you want to test for yourself, you can get it here.

Which means my overall votes for the 1943 Retro Hugo for Best Novel are as follows:

7) Second-Stage Lensmen, by E.E. "Doc" Smith (see above)

6) Beyond This Horizon, by Robert A. Heinlein (see above)

5) Darkness and the Light, by Olaf Stapledon

4) No Award

3) Donovan's Brain, by Curt Siodmak

2) The Uninvited, by Dorothy Macardle

1) Islandia, by Austen Tappan Wright

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist

• Mon, 12:04: Are you 18, or do you know an 18-year-old, in the EU? (UK still counts!) The EU is offering *free passes* this sum… https://t.co/vY8rMXXATd
• Mon, 12:56: What Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire? https://t.co/4E3iV4n8bT The German precedent is not very encouraging.
• Mon, 16:05: Ministry Of Defence Insiders Have Serious Doubts About Gavin Williamson https://t.co/jRIJoNJVfc It’s getting nasty in Whitehall
• Mon, 18:30: Monday reading https://t.co/hjt5iVUva5
• Mon, 18:59: The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Related Work https://t.co/EvPr9g0AbQ
• Mon, 19:43: RT @BradStaples: A couple of years ago, APCO helped #Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance in achieving an historic #debtrestructuring. It was one…
• Mon, 20:48: This is a glorious story. https://t.co/uepXd4DaWF
• Mon, 20:51: Great event. https://t.co/rjnSUCmHPy
• Tue, 09:55: This made me think of several people who I know. (And if you think you may be one of them, you are probably right!) https://t.co/Ir0UINCpqg
• Tue, 10:45: The United States and Europe still need each other https://t.co/23NhqCQG5D Good piece by my friends @A_Sloat and Julie Smith.

Not to begrudge the others which have made it to the ballot in recent years, but I am ever so slightly relieved that the Best Related Work ballot consists solely of actual books this year, for the first time since 2010; it's easier to compare apples with apples than with oranges. This year is also likely to be the first year since 2013 that a Hugo for Best Related Work is presented in the USA, as the category was the only one to be No-Awarded in both slate years.

They're all good enough books. Of the Harlan Ellison biography, I read only the extract in the packet, and that was enough to convince me that I was unlikely to change my vote if I read any more of it. I think it's surely between Zoe Quinn and Ursula Le Guin this year. We'll see what comes out in the wash. My own votes are:

7) No Award. These are all good enough contributions.

6) A Lit Fuse: The Provocative Life of Harlan Ellison, by Nat Segaloff

Second paragraph of third chapter supplied (actually chapter 6):

Despite this, today there are more critics than ever — not necessarily with credentials, jobs, aesthetics, experience, or talent — just a Twitter account.

Ellison is of course a hugely important figure in the history of sf, but this biography really tells it very much from his point of view. And he is really very capable of being a cantankerous asshole; his own account of how he sabotaged his mother's funeral, for instance, is painful reading, especially as Segaloff is desperately trying to make us sympathise with him. (Segaloff also feels the need to explain to us in a footnote that the word "teat" is "the vulgarism for breast".) I think we would have learned more from a more objective and critical approach, even though it might have risked infuriating the subject of the book.

5) Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler, eds Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal

Reviewed here. Really important subject; was frustrated by the structure.

4) Sleeping with Monsters: Readings and Reactions in Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Liz Bourke

Reviewed here. Lots of good stuff, didn't overlap all that much with my own tastes (which of course I should expand).

3) Iain M. Banks, by Paul Kincaid

Reviewed here. I actually nominated this, but was more convinced by my top two votes.

2) No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, by Ursula K. Le Guin

Reviewed here. Tremendously wise essays from the much-missed Le Guin. I think it is quite likely to win, unless voters agree with my first choice which is:

1) Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate, by Zoe Quinn

Reviewed here. I think this is a crucial book that speaks to the unfortunate spirit of the age, and it gets my vote.

2018 Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Related Work | Graphic Story | Dramatic Long | Dramatic Short | Professional Artist & Fan Artist | Series | Young Adult | Campbell Award
1943 Retro Hugos: Novel | Novella | Novelette | Short Story | Dramatic Short | Fan Artist

Current
The Art of Starving, by Sam J. Miller
Ghana Must Go, by Taiye Selasie
City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett

Last books finished
Stories of the Maksura, by Martha Wells
Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty
Gemini, by Dorothy Dunnett
Introduction to the Stormlight Archive for Hugo Voters, by Brandon Sanderson

Next books
Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
Virgins, Weeders and Queens, by Twigs Way
Old Friends, by Jonathan Clements, Marc Platt and Pete Kempshall

• Sun, 12:22: A Visit to King’s Landing. Or is it Dubrovnik? https://t.co/93yyz6NGrB
• Sun, 12:56: Boris Johnson and the “pure millennium bug stuff” https://t.co/MMIsxk8I1T Digging into the comparison between Brexit and the Millennium Bug.
• Sun, 16:05: Preparing Brexit: How Ready Is Whitehall? https://t.co/TuNsVYGcZB Damning Institute for Governance report (PDF).
• Sun, 17:52: RT @luca_lixi: A Global Compact on Migration was unthinkable only a few years ago? What has changed? @LeizaBrumat and @LeilaHadjAbdou fr…
• Sun, 20:48: https://t.co/sE3ar3SJyE
• Mon, 10:45: RT @KeohaneDan: 3 hard Brexiteer positions I struggle with: 1) Brexit = reclaiming national sovereignty – but already endangering UK’s Uni…

I first visited Dubrovnik with Anne in 1996, just after the war, and we came back in 1997 with baby B and in 1998 with toddler B. I have been a few times since, but usually without much time to look around. Yesterday, however, our conference finished at lunchtime, and it turned out that C, another participant, is also a Game of Thrones fan; equipped with information from various websites (here, here and here) we went into the old city, C for the first time, me looking at it with fresh eyes. We were joined by Danish B, who confessed that although her sons were big fans she had never seen any of it herself.

(Later on, Danish B went to catch her plane, and we were joined by Austrian K.)

Dubrovnik in June is full of tourists, much more so than in the late 1990s. The city walls have a one-way system set up, so you can now only go around them anti-clockwise.

This meant that we joined the circuit too late to look around the Minčeta Tower, which in a rare non-King’s Landing location was the House of the Undying in Qarth, though perhaps it is better appreciated from a distance anyway:

The walls remain as spectacular as ever – click on this to get the full panorama of the ancient city-state:

The Jesuit Steps are now one of the key attractions for visitors. People were muttering “SHAME” to each other, and I heard a few tinkles from handbells. Nobody however had resorted to full nude re-enactment of the notorious scene from Season 5.

A short walk away is the Ethnographical Museum. C exclaimed in recognition, “It’s the brothel!” Danish B muttered that she had not realised that was how the word is pronounced.

The inlet beside the Pile gate was really spectacular yesterday- there was a bit of wind, so the water was rough. It is a far smaller space than it appeared on screen in the Battle of the Blackwater:

C recreated one of the other famous scenes shot here:

Sibel Kekelli, who played Shae, has of course been seen in dubious company:

The other great discovery for me was the Red Keep, actually the Lovrijenac Fort – again, quite a small space in real life compared to how it felt on the screen, but instantly recognisable. Not shown here, but there were several groups of Game of Thrones fans, some reciting lines from the relevant scenes to each other! (By this time Danish B had left us and K had joined our group).

From the top of the fort there is a great view of the whole walled city. (Click to embiggen.)

We also looked in on Gradac Park, scene of the Purple Wedding where Joffrey is poisoned. There is not a lot to see, but there were cute turtles in the pond:

We had originally planned to also look in on the Rector’s Palace later in the evening, but I was too tired and went to bed relatively early.

This boat went past our hotel in the morning. I think it is a non-specific tourist gimmick, though it would not be completely out of place in GoT:

Other aspects of Dubrovnik that don’t fit into GoT include the impressive Christian architectural heritage (here the cathedral, the Church of St Ignatius, and inside the Franciscan Museum):

And of course the islands. Our original schedule for the afternoon had been a boat trip to some of the islands, but the weather was too rough and we were set loose on the city instead. I can’t say I was sorry, though the islands do look beautiful.

So how was your weekend?