My 2015 Hugo Award Nominations

For the past couple years, I have participated in the voting process for the Hugo Award, which is science fiction's most prestigious award.  Each year, members of the World Science Fiction Society select their favorite science fiction and fantasy works that were published the previous year.  They can nominate up to 5 works in each category, and then a list of the top five nominees are published and the society then votes on their favorites from those nominees.

During the past 2 years, I've read or watched each of the finalists, and then voted on my favorites.  However, I haven't participated in the actual nomination process.  I suppose that's because it often takes me a few years to read new works, which means that I don't feel caught up enough to select favorites.  However, this year I decided to just jump in.  And while I still didn't have enough favorites to put 5 in every category, I think I came up with a good list of works.  Below is the list of works that I nominated in each category.  Where possible, I linked to a place where you could obtain each work.  (Usually, it's Amazon, but one story was available to read online.)

I know there has been some political disagreement around the nominating process.  For anyone who is confused about how it works, the flowchart below shows how I chose my nominated works.

(Full disclosure:  There are a couple I haven't finished yet, but I'm familiar enough with them to say that I enjoy them and feel they are worthy of the award.)

Also, you'll probably notice that my primary source of short fiction is Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.  I admit that my breadth of new fiction is small.  But I enjoyed each of these works.

Without further ado, here are the works I nominated this year:

Best Novel
Symbiont by Mira Grant - Orbit
The Unhappening of Genesis Lee by Shallee McArthur - Sky Pony Press
Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia - Baen
The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan - Disney-Hyperion

Best Novella
The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell by Mira Grant - Orbit Books
Each in his prison, Thinking of the key by William Preston - Asimov's April/May 2014
One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright - Castalia House
Big Boys Don’t Cry by Tom Kratman - Castalia House

Best Novelette 
The Common Good by Nancy Kress - Asimov's January 2014
Diary of a Pod Person by Emily C. Skaftun - Asimov's October/November 2014
Blood Wedding by Robert Reed - Asimov's July 2014
Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown by Michael Swanwick - Asimov's April/May 2014

Best Short Story
Static by William Jablonsky - Asimov's January 2014
Tuesdays With Molakesh the Destroyer by Megan Grey - Fireside Fiction
The Talking Cure by K.J. Zimring - Asimov's April/May 2014
The Plantimal by Ken Liu and Mike Resnick - Asimov's March 2014
A Single Samurai by Steve Diamond - Baen Big Book of Monsters

Best Related Work
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
Interstellar
Edge of Tomorrow
X-Men: Days of Future Past 
The Giver
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
The Walking Dead - The Grove
Grimm - The Grimm Who Stole Christmas
Grimm - Blond Ambition
The Walking Dead - No Sanctuary
Doctor Who - Into the Dalek

Best Professional Editor (Short Form)
John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Sheila Williams
Ellen Datlow
Hank Davis

Best Professional Editor (Long Form)
Toni Weisskopf

Best Semiprozine 
Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show  

Best Fanzine 
Elitist Book Reviews - Steve Diamond  
Drink Tank - Chris Garcia  

John W. Campbell Award (not a Hugo) 
Shallee McArthur - The Unhappening of Genesis Lee