Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie for the Hugo Award for Best Novel

My picks for this year's Hugo Awards continue with the Best Novel category. My vote for Best Novel, and my suggestion to others, is Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

The novel is one of the best SF stories I've read in years and a perfect rejuvenation of the space opera subgenre, which has long needed a strong reset. Ancillary Justice is also wondrously well-written, and presents a fresh look at both human culture and gender issues. Leckie has expertly crafted an exciting glimpse into humanity's potential instead of dwelling in the continual nostalgia which haunts so much of genre literature. For all of these reasons, this novel should win the Hugo Award.

When I recommended Interzone the other day for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine, I mentioned that the other finalists for the award also deserved being on the final ballot. I can't say the same for the novel category.

First off is the 800 pound doorstop, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Due to a quirk in the Hugo rules, all 14 novels in the series were allowed on the ballot. I have never been a fan of this series because it simply rehashes every previous epic fantasy novel in existence into a nearly endless series. Since the series is so popular with readers there's a good chance it will win, but this doesn't change the fact that The Wheel of Time doesn't deserve being on the ballot or winning. 

Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross is a follow-up to his previous novel Saturn’s Children, set in a universe where humanity's androids have outlived humans. It's a good novel but not as good as Saturn’s Children.  Parasite by Mira Grant is another good novel but doesn't reach the power of Ancillary Justice. While both of these novels are well worth reading, they simply are beaten in this category by Ann Leckie's novel.

The final novel on the ballot is Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia, who waged a vote campaign on behalf of himself and others to become a Hugo finalist. I knew very little about Correia and his writing prior to his campaign. Putting aside his in-your-face political screaming and desire to promote one of the worst haters in the SF/F genre, I tried reading Warbound but found it to be simply cranked out and predictable, one of the numerous genre novels which are read for a while then forgotten. While I can't say if this novel is typical of his writing, if you're going to urge people to vote for a book make damn sure they vote for a good one. 

So again, the clear choice for the Hugo Award for Best Novel is Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.

As a final note, it is irritating that Orbit only included samples of Ancillary Justice, Neptune's Brood and Parasite in the Hugo voting packet. But I urge voters not to hold this against the authors or their books.

Interzone for the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine

Popular awards can be messy affairs, as we're seeing with this year's Hugo Awards. Between the ballot stuffing and haters on the ballot and a 14-volume series being considered as a single novel, it's easy to become cynical and simply dismiss the awards as irrelevant.

But I believe this would be a mistake because the Hugo Awards remain the most prominent honor in the science fiction and fantasy genre. And as always we must deal with the Hugo Awards as they are, not the ideal awards we wish they'd become.

In the coming weeks I'll be making a number of recommendations regarding this year's Hugo Awards ballot. And my first one is to recommend Interzone for the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.

My picking Interzone isn't meant to denigrate the other finalists in this category. All of the magazines deserve being finalists and those which haven't yet won a Hugo will likely do so in the years ahead.

However, I feel that Interzone's amazing performance last year makes the magazine the obvious choice. The magazine not only won a British Fantasy Award for best magazine in 2013, they published great stories by Priya Sharma, Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, John Shirley and Sean McMullen. The magazine also introduced us to new writers I'll be keeping an eye on such as Greg Kurzawa. And during 2013 Interzone remained the place for cutting-edge criticism and essays, including Jonathan McCalmont's essential Future Interrupted column.

But as with all things related to the Hugo Awards, picking Interzone isn't as simple as saying they had a great 2013. This is the 29th consecutive year Interzone has been a finalist in the Best Semiprozine category (Update: Apologies. This is Interzone's 28th time being a finalist. See Neil Clarke's comment below). But despite this impressive run, they've only won a single time (in 1995, when Worldcon was held in Scotland).

Unfortunately, as a British magazine Interzone is always at a disadvantage with Hugo voters because the vast majority of voters live in the United States. These voters are simply less likely to read Interzone than the American semiprozines which make up nearly all of the other finalists across the category's three-decade history.

And this, truly, is a shame. Since Andy Cox took over as editor and publisher of Interzone in 2004, the magazine has been as revolutionary as the original Interzone run under David Pringle. Cox and assistant fiction editor Andy Hedgecock have promoted a new, edgy version of science fiction in the pages of Interzone. These stories are both multicultural and highly literary while also expanding the genre's traditional sense of wonder and exploration of reality. Their unique approach to fiction not only won the magazine its first ever Nebula Award for "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster, it has also helped bring new writers like Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar, Gareth L. Powell, Chris Beckett and Nina Allan to the forefront of our genre.

And during this period Interzone has also meant the world to me as a writer.  Without Interzone many of my stories would have likely never found a home. Interzone took a chance on me, as they have with so many other new writers over the years, and enabled me to find my audience.

Because this year's Worldcon is being held in London, there's a good chance more voters than usual will be familiar with Interzone's impressive work. Add in that the magazine had a great 2013 and a great last decade, and the choice is simple:

Vote Interzone for the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.

My story "Paprika" on Escape Pod

Artwork for Paprika by Ben Baldwin.

Artwork for Paprika by Ben Baldwin.

My SF novelette "Paprika," published late last year in the British magazine Interzone, has now been podcast on Escape Pod.

People can either read or listen to the story. 

This is my first appearance in Escape Pod. Many thanks to editor Norm Sherman for accepting the story.

The story is set in the far future and involves an artificial construct designed to preserve copies of human lives. Here's my post-script to the story as it appeared in Interzone (who also comissioned the amazing artwork at right by Ben Baldwin).

"Paprika" was inspired by the life of acclaimed anime director Satoshi Kon, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 46. In addition to animating the award-winning film which lent this story its title, Kon also directed several other influential anime films including Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers. His final film, Dreaming Machine, was incomplete at the time of his death. His fellow animators have been attempting to complete the film based on his script and designs, but funding remains an issue and no release date has been announced.

Because the SF/F reactionaries have nothing new to say

Whether or not you're following current discussions in the SF/F field around diversity and inclusivity, you should read Damien Walter's excellent look at why science fiction is going through a real-life war of the worlds. Here's the killer quote:

It is no coincidence that, just as it outgrows its limiting cultural biases, science fiction should also face protests from some members of the predominantly white male audience who believed it to be their rightful domain. What the conservative authors protesting the Hugo awards perceive as a liberal clique is simply science fiction outgrowing them, and their narrow conception of the genre's worth. Of course, if those authors really wanted to de-politicise science fiction, they could easily help to do so – by admitting the genre's historic bias and applauding its growth. And by doing everything within their power to welcome new authors from diverse backgrounds, instead of agitating for protest votes to push them out.

Well said.

This also brings up something I've been meaning to point out: the reactionaries protesting against the changes in the SF/F genre bring nothing new to the table.

Their arguments against diversity and tolerance and inclusion are the same ones people have been making for centuries. In addition, the writers sticking their fingers in the crumbling genre dike of their own privilege are not the authors creating truly groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy.

No, the writers moaning about losing control of the SF/F genre are stuck in the past and their fiction shows it. Their stories are pre-sweetened nostalgia spread between two slices of white bread and proclaimed artificially delicious. Their stories are genre junk food which simply doesn't take you any place new.

And being taken to new literary places is what I, for one, demand from my science fiction and fantasy. 

If you want truly groundbreaking SF/F, read Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. Read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Read A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar. Read Osama by Lavie Tidhar. Read N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy. Read the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Or read the fiction of Ted Chiang, Rachel Swirsky, Nina Allan, Yoon Ha Lee, Saladin Ahmed, Ken Liu, Aliette de Bodard, Paolo Bacigalupi, Eugie Foster, Caroline Yoachim, and so many other authors I can't even name them all.

These are the authors melding new worlds and original insights with their fiction. These are the genre authors who will still be read decades from now.

I welcome the current discussion going on in our genre. But as you listen to the discussions, don't forget where the truly original SF/F is being created these days.

Hint: It's not by those authors screaming that they don't want their exclusive genre playground to change.