I’m clear on my top vote in this category, but very uncertain about the next three.
No vote: Writing Excuses Season 8. I completely defend and support the eligibility of podcasts, whether as a series or as individual episodes, for Best Related Work. However, I myself just don’t really have time to listen to a representative sample of this long-running series, and I’ll therefore leave it off my ballot. It won last year and no doubt has a good chance of doing so again.
No vote: No Award. There has been nonsense written about how you shouldn’t allocate preferences below “No Award”. This piece explains in more detail than I care to right now that all you have to do is list your choices in order of preference until you no longer care about the outcome. That includes “No Award”.
All of the rest were reasonable potential winners. To be honest I am having real difficulty with my #2, #3 and #4 rankings, and I may end up ordering them differently when I actually finalise my ballot. As of right now, they are:
4) Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, by Jeff VanderMeer, ill. Jeremy Zerfoss – very nicely produced, very interesting; I am not quite the target audience.
3) Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It, eds Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damian Thomas – not that I didn’t like it, but I felt the content a little repetitive, and could have done with some more overarching analysis of what is actually going on here.
2) “We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative” by Kameron Hurley – again, I completely defend and support the eligibility of individual blog posts to be nominated in this category, and it’s perhaps a little surprising that this hasn’t happened before; and this particular piece is part of a very important debate. However, it’s only a part of that debate; it’s possibly better than any of the individual essays in my top choice, but collectively I think they outweigh it.
1) Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, eds. Justin Landon & Jared Shurin – the fact that I am personally namechecked in it is a nice bonus, but I think this really does give a good overview of what was being talked about in fandom in 2012, and of where the debates on its future are coming from and going; if you want to understand what’s going on in the field, it’s a very good starting place.
You can vote in this year’s Hugos, and the 1939 Retro Hugos, by joining Loncon 3 at http://www.loncon3.org/memberships .
2014: Best Novel | Best Novella | Best Novelette | Best Short Story | Best Related Work | Best Graphic Story | Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) | Best Professional Artist | Best Fan Artist
1939: Best Novel | Best Novella | Best Novelette | Best Short Story | Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) | Best Professional Artist