Hugo Postmortem

I didn't remember to handicap the Hugos ahead of time, so I'm going to instead show you now how brilliantly incisive I was -- and, if you believe that, I also have a slightly-used bridge that you might be interested in purchasing...

In order of presentation:

John W. Campbell not-a-Hugo Award for Best New Writer: John Scalzi
Did anyone not expect this? I've been hanging out a bit with Chris Roberson this Worldcon, so I was rooting for him, but Scalzi was the obvious lock.

Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu
This was one of those categories that you can tell by the applause in the arena during the ceremony. But I'm not terribly fannish, so I had no idea ahead of time who would win.

Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford
And the award for "Best Dave Langford" goes to...

Best Fanzine: Plokta
I never have any idea which way this category is going.

Best Semiprozine: Locus
Locus is a fine magazine, yes, but so are The New York Review of Science Fiction, Emerald City, Interzone, and Ansible. I'm beginning to think the Hugos need a WFA-style "you can't win the same category two years in a row" rule for categories like this one.

Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
I've been voting him at the top (or nearly at the top; some years Bruce Jensen had such great stuff he edged out Donato) of my Hugo ballot for at least five years; it's great to see him win. I hope the new guidelines will help other great artists like Martiniere and Picacio get Hugo rockets in years to come.

Best Professional Editor: David G. Hartwell
And it's about damn time. Did it really take the imminent splitting of this category into two (and Gardner Dozois's retirement from Asimov's) to get Hartwell a Hugo?

Special Award: Betty Ballantine
I've never met her, but she seems like a pistol, and her place in the field is way up there.

Best Dramatic Presentation, We-Don't-Call-it-TV: some Doctor Who episodes
Good for them; I never have any idea how the skiffy awards will go, because I'm out of touch with them by choice.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Let's-Pretend-We-Don't-Mean-Movie: Serenity
And everyone who paid money to see it in the theatre was present at the awards ceremony, which was nice for them.

Best Related Book: Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm
It's not a perfect book, but it has some interesting stuff in it. And my rule in this category is that it always goes to the book by the oldest fiction writer, so I was happy to be proven right yet again.

Best Short Story: "Tk'tk'tk" by David D. Levine
I don't remember reading this, so I must have hit it during the frenzied last day before voting closed. (On the other hand, I read a lot of 2005 short fiction earlier this year -- including six "Year's Best" anthologies -- so I might just have forgotten it.) I thought Margo Lanagan should have won, but Mike Resnick would win, but I was wrong.

Special Award: Harlan Ellison
Very nice to see, though I wish he'd put out some new stories so we can have a chance to give him another real rocketship. (And so I can read them, of course.)

Best Novelette: "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle
It's a fine story, and probably the one I liked best in the category.

Best Novella: "Inside Job" by Connie Willis
I was honestly surprised, even knowing the "Connie always wins Hugos" expectation. I was sure the "Magic for Beginners" juggernaut would keep rolling. For myself, I should have been rooting for "Identity Theft" (since it was from a SFBC original), but I actually liked "The Little Goddess" best. I can't remember at all how I voted, though; this was a tough category.

Best Novel: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
During the ceremony, I was actually hoping George Martin would win, in part because he's a good guy who deserves another Hugo, and in part because I really want to see what he says when he wins "the Big One." (I'm hoping for another "Fuck, I got a Hugo.") Personally, I was ambivalent toward all of the nominees, so I didn't have any strong preferences -- I liked them all, but didn't love any of them, and wasn't going to be upset if anything won. This is really great for Wilson; he's been out there toiling without much recognition for a very long time. So, after the fact, it's probably the happiest result possible.