2018 HUGO Awards: Nominations Announced

The nominations for the 2018 Hugo Awards were announced on Saturday March 31. The picks for Best Novel is the category I really only follow and care about. The nominees are:

Best Novel

• The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi (Tor)

• New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

• Provenance, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)

• Raven Stratagem, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)

• Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty (Orbit)

• The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

Last year, N.K. Jemisin won this award for the second consecutive year for the second book in her Broken Earth trilogy, The Obelisk Gate. She previously won the award for the first book in the series, The Fifth Season, in 2016. It is very possible that she could win the award for the third book in the series, The Stone Sky, this year.  I think that would mean she would become the first author to have all three books in a trilogy win speculative fiction's most prestigious honor.

Of the other books she is competing with Scalzi, Leckie and Robinson have all won Best Novel Hugo awards before, with Leckie probably being the biggest threat to Jemisin since all three books in her Imperial Radhch series were nominated for Best Novel (although only the first, Ancillary Justice, went on to win the 2014 Hugo award). Provenance is set in the same universe as those books but has not been as universally celebrated as the Ancillary novels. I do intend to read it eventually but haven't felt an urgent need to do so. Lots of people are very high on the work on Yoon Ha Lee but I tried the first book in the series, Ninefox Gambit, and found it almost unreadable. 

I read Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire, and while it is amusing in parts it is nowhere as diverting or enjoyable as his Hugo-award-winning Redshirts, but his work is very popular. The reviews for Robinson's 2140 were similarly not kind, and I don't really intend to read it. I do intend to read Six Wakes, because it is a genre mashup of murder-mystery and science fiction.

The winners will be announced at Worldcon which is being held in San Jose, California August 16-20, 2018.

BOOK REVIEW: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

The third and final book in the Imperial Radhch trilogy by Ann Leckie is Ancillary Mercy. The first book in the series (Leckie's debut novel), Ancillary Justice, is one of the most celebrated works in science fiction awards history, having won basically every award a speculative fiction book can win (Hugo, Nebula, Clarke, Locus, BSFA). All of the books were nominated for multiple awards and each of the entries in the trilogy won at least one major award, although only the first book won either the two most prestigious awards (the Hugo and the Nebula). In my reviews of the first and second books, Ancillary Mercy and Ancillary Sword, I felt that overall their widespread acclaim was generally deserved because the books include a decidedly brilliant premise, which is the central concept of the narrator denying gender classification to any of the characters, by referring to EVERYONE as female (*i.e using her and she exclusively). In addition, the central character of Breq used to be a ship controlling many thousands of bodies, called ancillaries. Questions of loss and how one identifies the self are integral to the story being told in the Imperial Radhch trilogy.

But lest you think this is some experimental feminist work of literature (not that there's anything wrong with that!) the Imperial Radhch trilogy is definitely space opera (there are lots of space ships and artificial intelligences and battles in space and hyperspace gates) but it's also about manners and cultural norms. In my view there is FAR too much drinking of tea, but the detailed depiction of various cultural practices of the societies Breq visits on her journeys is part and parcel of how Leckie builds the world in which the story is set.

To be honest, though, I probably would have been just as happy with just reading the first book and skipping the last two. I think Leckie was caught in a trap of her own making after the first book. The scope of the story is simultaneously too big (the primary antagonist is the Lord of the Radhch who is 3000 years old and controls dozens or hundreds of star systems with probably thousands of planets and trillions of human lives) and too small (the protagonist Breq is obsessed with one particular tragedy involving a specific Lieutenant who served on her ship Justice of Toren). So, while the trilogy attempts to resolve the conflicts that animate both (the big and the small) stories it really only satisfactorily deals with one of them (I won't say which one!) by the end of Ancillary Mercy.

Overall, I am very glad that I purchased, read and completed Ann Leckie's entire trilogy and would strongly encourage any fan of science-fiction/fantasy to at the very least put Ancillary Justice on their must-read list. If they agree with that book's status as the most celebrated SFF debut novel of all time, then you will probably also be happy with  reading its two sequels.

Title: Ancillary Mercy.
Author: Ann Leckie.
Paperback: 368 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: October 6, 2015.
Date Read: December 31, 2015.

GOODREADS RATING: ****.

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.58/4.0).

PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.

2016 NEBULA AWARDS: Naomi Novik's Uprooted Wins Best Novel In All-Female Sweep

The 2016 Nebula Awards for the best writing in science fiction and fantasy released in 2015 were announced this weekend and all of the winners in the main categories (Novel, Novella, Novellette and Short Story) were women!

Novel

• Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

Novella

• Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)

Novelette

• ‘‘Our Lady of the Open Road’’, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 6/15)

Short Story

• ‘‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’’, Alyssa Wong (Nightmare 10/15)

Additionally, Fran Wilde's Updraft won the Young Adult Nebula award, i.e. Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Mad Max: Fury Road deservedly won the Outstanding Dramatic Presentation category.

The big kahuna is the Novel category, and this year there are three books that have been nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula: Naomi Novik's Uprooted (which I have not read yet and since I was not a fan of her Temeraire stories I may not get around to), Ann Leckie's Ancillary Mercy and N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season (both of which I have read). If I were voting, I would have picked Jemisin, and the SFF award prognosticator at Chaos Horizon did just that as well. However, we were both wrong. Does that mean Novik is now the front runner for the Hugo? I doubt it, but I do think it means that voters may not split as many votes among Leckie, Jemisin and Novik, which could make it harder for Neal Stephenson's Seveneves to win the award (which I think it is going to do).

2016 LOCUS AWARDS: Nominations Announced

The Locus Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel were announced this week. These awards are selected via an open online poll conducted by Locus magazine online between February 1 and April 15 every year.

This year there is a significant overlap between the Locus awards and the Hugo award nominations and the Nebula award nominations.

Ann Leckie's Ancillary Mercy has been nominated for the Locus, Hugo and Nebula. It is the third book in a series which began with Ancllary Justice which won every single possible science fiction award there is (Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Clarke and BSFA). Two other books which have also been nominated for the Hugo, Locus and Nebula are N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season and Naomi Novik's Uprooted.

Other notable books of 2015 include Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, which has been nominated for the Locus and Hugo, and Aliette de Bodard's The House of Shattered Wings which has been nominated for the Locus award and won the British Science Fiction Award.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi (Borzoi; Orbit UK)
• Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Seveneves, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
• A Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

FANTASY NOVEL

• Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
• The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard (Roc; Gollancz)
• Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand (PS; Open Road)
• The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

2016 Hugo Awards: The Nominations Are Out!

The nominations for the 2016 Hugo Awards were announced today and the sci-fi blogosphere is verklempt about the impact of the execrable Rabid Puppies and ambiguously awful Sad Puppies.
The only category I really care about is Best Novel:

BEST NOVEL (3695 ballots)

• Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
• The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
• Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

I was able to nominate as well because I was a member of the 2015 Worldcon and these were my picks:

• The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
• Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
• Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
• The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley

I made these selections because I was pretty sure that Seveneves by Neal Stephenson would be nominated anyway so I put Kim Stanley Robinson in instead. It's pretty amazing that Ann Leckie's Ancillary Mercy continues her success with each book in her Radhch trilogy being nominated for the Hugo award. 

2016 HUGO AWARDS: My Selections For Best Novel

The 2016 Hugo award nominations close on March 31st. Since I was a member of the 2015 Worldcon and helped to select last year's winners, I have the right to submit a nomination ballot for the 2016 Hugos. The main category I am interested in is Best Novel. My nominations for the Hugo Award for Best Novel are:

• The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
• Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
• Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
• The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley

This was a hard list to compile. There are several other books which could easily be on this list, which basically represents what I think are the best works of speculative fiction released in 2015 that I read. For example:

•  Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
• The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett
• The Ark by Patrick S. Tomlinson
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

It will be exciting to see the final nomination list in early April. Last year they were revealed on 12noon on April 5th.

2016 NEBULA AWARDS: Nominations Announced!

The nominations for the 2016 Nebula Award have been announced on Saturday. The most important category is Best Novel, and here are the nominees:

• Raising Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen) 

• The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK) 

• Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK) 

• The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga) 

• Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey) 

• Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, Lawrence M. Schoen (Tor) 

• Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)

This list was predicted two days ago by the Chaos Horizons blog. Of these books, I have read Ancillary Mercy and The Fifth Season (and enjoyed them both). I have also read the first two books of Charles Gannon's Terran Republic trilogy and thought they were okay. However, it is very impressive that all three books in the trilogy have now been nominated for the Nebula award (has that happened before?). The two previous books in the series are Fire with Fire which lost to Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice in 2014 and Trial by Fire which lost to Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation in 2015.

I am looking forward to reading Updraft (which is a debut novel and is also nominated in the Young Adult category) as well as Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard.

2015 Hugo Awards: Voting Closes Today; Here's Excerpts Of My Ballot

Despite the coincidence that today is National Mutt Day, my final ballot in the 2015 Hugo Awards is delightfully Puppy-free. If you don't know what the heck I am talking about, go here and read up.

Anyway, here are my votes for the important categories of Best Novel and Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form and Short Form).

Best Novel 

1. The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu, Ken Liu translator (Tor Books)
2. Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US/Orbit UK)
3. NO AWARD
4. Skin Game, Jim Butcher (Orbit UK/Roc Books)
5. The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) (Tor Books)
6. The Dark Between the Stars, Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books)

It should not come as a surprise that I placed the two books that got onto the short list due to the Puppy shenanigans below NO AWARD. I tried to read all the nominees for Best Novel and simply could not finish The Goblin Emperor and The Dark Between Stars. I did not expect to like Skin Game but I actually did enjoy it, even if it was the 14th book in the Harry Dresden books.  I think it was clever and engaging, but I wold rather no award get the nod instead. Actually I should be clear that I did not rank The Dark Beneath The Stars sith, I simply left it off my ballot completely.

My reviews for The Three Body Problem and Ancillary Sword can read at the link. I thought both of them were excellent works, with Three-Body really harkening back to late Asimov for me, while Leckie's second book was slightly less interesting than her blockbuster debut. That said, I fully intend to buy and devour both follow-ups to these books (The Dark Forest and Acillary Mercy, respectively) when they come out.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form 

1. Interstellar, screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, directed by Christopher Nolan (Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Lynda Obst Productions, Syncopy)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy, written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, directed by James Gunn (Marvel Studios, Moving Picture Company)
3. The Lego Movie, written by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, story by Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, LEGO System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures, Warner Bros. Animation (as Warner Animation Group))
4. Edge of Tomorrow, screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, directed by Doug Liman (Village Roadshow, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment; Viz Productions)
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, concept and story by Ed Brubaker, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Entertainment, Perception, Sony Pictures Imageworks)
6. NO AWARD

I saw all of these movies, and my reviews can be accessed at the link. I don;t usually review movies that I see on television (i.e. not at the theater) so that is why The Lego Movie and Captain America: The Winter Soldier do not have full reviews. My favorite movie of 2014 was Interstellar; I admit I am a full-on fanboy of Christopher Nolan. Edge of Tomorrow was surprisingly good (especially for a Tom Cruise movie!) but The Lego Movie astonished and delighted me in its cleverness.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form 

1. Game of Thrones: “The Mountain and the Viper”, written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss, directed by Alex Graves ((HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
2. Orphan Black: “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried”, ” written by Graham Manson, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions, Space/BBC America)
3. Doctor Who: “Listen”, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (BBC Television)
4. NO AWARD
5. The Flash: “Pilot”, teleplay by Andrew Kreisberg & Geoff Johns, story by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg & Geoff Johns, directed by David Nutter (The CW) (Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television)
6. Grimm: “Once We Were Gods”, written by Alan DiFiore, directed by Steven DePaul (NBC) (GK Productions, Hazy Mills Productions, Universal TV)

I'm a huge fan of the Game of Thrones adaptation and since Season 3 have been blogging every episode. There is no question this is the cream of the crop. I binge watched Season 1 and Season 2 of Orphan Black and am not a card carrying member of the Clone Club but I am a fan. (The actor Dylan Bruce playing Paul is one of the best looking guys on television!) Doctor Who is barely my cup of tea any more but I would be fine with them winning an award even though I am not completely sure that I saw the specific episode in question. I have to admit that I have never seen an episode of Grimm and although I have seen parts of The Flash it does not interest me (I'm sort of surprised there was no Marvel's Agents of Shield on this list.

John W. Campebell Award (Not a Hugo)

1. Wesley Chu
2. Kary English
3. NO AWARD

I have read and enjoyed the four books by Wesley Chu I read this year. I think he is an exciting author to watch. The Tao series is an incredible work, one I hope that he returns to soon or that Hollywood realizes that it there is even better Chu-related work than the one they have already optioned to become a movie.

For the other categories, like Best Novella,Best Novelette, Best Short Story, Best Graphic Story, Best Related Work and others you will just have to guess. Suffice it to say, Noah Ward appeared more than once!

2015 LOCUS Awards: Ann Leckie and Katherine Addison Win Best Novel (For SciFi and Fantasy, Respectively)

In light of the ongoing Puppy kerfuffle around the Hugo awards, all awards for achievements in speculative fiction will be closely scrutinized this year, so thanks to File770.com I know that last night the 2015 Locus Awards were revealed. I am very pleased to report that Ann Leckie has won her second consecutive Locus Award for Best SF Novel (Ancillary Sword) while Katherine Addison has won her first Locus award for Best Fantasy Novel (The Goblin Emperor).

The Locus Awards (cleverly, in my opinion) separate Best Novel into Fantasy and Science Fiction categories, unlike the other major prestigious awards like the Hugo and Nebula, which both Ancillary Sword and The Goblin Emperor have also been nominated. They both lost this year's Nebula award for best Novel, to Jeffe VanderMeer's Annihilation. Ancillary Sword has already won this year's BSFA award but it failed to make the Arthur C. Clarke shortlist.

Interestingly, the Best Novella award went to Nancy Kress for Yesterday's Kin which earlier won the Nebula award in the same category. Alas, it is not nominated for the Hugo award because some idiots thought that novellas by one virulently homophobic guy named John C. Wright should take up not one, not two but three of the five slots in this category. We will not know until late August if Nancy Kress would have been nominated for a Hugo this year as well.

BOOK REVIEW: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie

Ann Leckie's debut novel Ancillary Justice was the most celebrated work of science fiction of the year, perhaps the most heralded science fiction debut of all time. In 2014 Ancillary Justice won the Nebula, Hugo, British Science Fiction, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke awards. The follow-up is titled Ancillary Sword and has already won the British Science Fiction award and it has been nominated for the Locus, Hugo and Nebula awards. Surprisingly, it was not nominated for the Clarke award. UPDATE: we now know Annihilation won the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Novel so Ann Leckie will not be able to win back-to-back Hugo-Nebula awards.

There's some debate about whether Ancillary Sword  is better than Ancillary Justice or not. According to Goodreads, Ancillary Sword (4.07/5 from 6,693 ratings) is better than Ancillary Justice (3.97/5 from 18,595 ratings), while on Amazon.com Ancillary Justice (4.2/5 from 694 reviews) is better than Ancillary Sword (4.1/5 from 209 reviews). I suspect that as more people rate Ancillary Sword its ratings will start to slide. Then again, most sequels rate higher than the original because usually only people who liked the original even bother reading the sequel, so it is likely there is a selection bias at work.

While I liked Ancillary Justice quite a bit (A- on my 4.0 scale) I don't think it quite lives up to its reputation as "the most celebrated debut science fiction novel of all time." It's good, but it did not blow my mind. Ancillary Justice famously has a unique depiction of gender in a technologically advanced, galaxy-spanning civilization: The Radchaai do not see gender as a significant identifying characteristic (like eye or hair color) and the narrator Breq in Ancillary Justice uses the feminine pronoun to describe every character (both male and female) in the book.

Ancillary Sword follows Breq's story that started in Ancillary Justice. Breq used to be the artificial intelligence running the space ship Justice of Toren with thousands of partially cybernetic humans, called ancillaries, under her direct control but in the events that transpired before Ancillary Justice Breq had been reduced to existence in a single ancillary body. Ancillary Justice is about revealing Breq's backstory and following her as she navigates a complex, dangerous path to redemption.

In Ancillary Sword Breq has now been given the captaincy of her own ship, Mercy of Kalr and a mission to check out what is going on at a remote section of Radchaai space called Athoek Station. Athoek is near the border with the region of space known to be occupied by the secretive alien race known as the Presger.

The story told n Ancillary Sword is not as compelling to me as the one in Ancillary Justice. This time Breq seems to meander between various sub-plots that involve characters that I did not really feel invested in caring about. There's definitely a point about two-thirds through the book where I felt a lull and almost considered abandoning the book but I didn't out of respect for the author (and the first book). I'm glad that I persevered because the book ends strongly, with multiple exciting action scenes reminiscent of Ancillary Justice.

Overall, I'm glad that I read Ancillary Sword and think that it is a decent follow-up to the brilliant Ancillary Justice. I am anxiously looking forward to buying and reading Ancillary Mercy when it comes out later this year to see how Breq's story continues and whether Leckie can conclude the Imperial Radch trilogy successfully.

Title: Ancillary Sword.
Author: Ann Leckie.
Paperback: 400 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: October 7, 2014.
Date Read: January 8, 2015.

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.5/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer Wins the 2015 Nebula Award

In a year in which awards for science fiction are under enhanced scrutiny due to the kerfuffle about the Hugo Awards (see file770.com for more details) the Science Fiction Writers of America chose a book that has not been nominated for the Hugo to with the 2015 Nebula Award: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer.

Annihilation is Book 1 in what is known as the Southern Reach trilogy and is an example of what some people are calling the new Weird. I tried it but it didn't really do anything for me. The good thing about the book is that it is very short (barely over 200 pages) so it is a very quick read.

Last year Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice basically dominated all the science fiction awards, becoming a rare Hugo-Nebula winner. The one thing we know for sure this year is that we will not have a Hugo-Nebula double winner since Annihilation was not nominated  for the Hugo. We won't know how close Annihilation was to being one of the Hugo nominees if there had not been shenanigans during this year's nominating process until the full tallies of the Hugo awards voting and nominations are released during the 2015 WorldCon (i.e. Sasquan) which is being held in Spokane Washington in late August.

2015 HUGO AWARDS: The Nominees Are Announced, Controversy Ensues

The nominations for the 2015 Hugo awards were announced at 12noon PDT on Saturday and were immediately engulfed in controversy. The issue is that apparently some group calling itself Sad Puppies came up with a slate of how people should vote for the Hugo nominations and they have been overwhelmingly successful this year. They were able to get three of their five books on the best novel list and dominated several of the "lesser" categories. (Frank J.  Wright has three of the five nominations in the Best Novella category, for example.)

Regardless, for better or worse, these are the nominees for Best Novel:

• Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books)
• The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) (Tor Books)
• Lines of Departure by Marko Kloos (47North)
• Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Roc Books)

Both Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword and Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor are also on the list  of nominees for the Nebula award, which may be why they broke up what is apparently intended to be a hegemonic slate of straight white males. I have read and loved Leckie's Imperial Radch series and her  first book Ancillary Justice won last year. I tried to read The Goblin Emperor and just could not get into it enough to finish it. I hope Leckie gets the rare Hugo-Nebula win, again for the sequel. Since Kevin J. Anderson is half-responsible for the execrable faux Dune books co-written wit h Brian Herbert set in the universe of Frank Herbert's masterworks I seriously hope he doesn't win. I have heard great things about the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher but never read any. I have never even heard of Marko Kloos.

The Hugo awards are voted on by the attendees of WorldCon and there is the very likely possibility that "No Award" will sweep categories where the list of nominees is identical to the Sad Puppies slate.

2015 Nebula Award Nominations Announced!

The nominations for the Nebula Awards have been announced and there are some surprises:

• The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Tor)
• Trial by Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
• Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor)
• Coming Home, Jack McDevitt (Ace)
• Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals; Fourth Estate; HarperCollins Canada)

Nominations for Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword was expected, since the first book in the series (Ancillary Justice) won the Hugo-Nebula double last year. Curiously the only fantasy book on the list is Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor (which I tried to read earlier this year and sadly I could not finish it.) I'm very surprised City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett was not on the list. I've been thinking about getting The Three-Body Problem for quite awhile; it is hard science fiction and this nomination increases the odds I will buy it soon.

I have never even heard of Trial By Fire, which like Leckie's work, is Book 2 in a trilogy, called Tales of the Terran Republic.

I read Coming Home by Jack McDevitt and I don't think it is one of his better outings in the Alex Benedict/Chase Tolpath series, but apparently the guy is a Nebula favorite (this is his 12th Best Novel nomination!)

Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation is the first book in his Southern Reach trilogy. It is very short but I read about half of the book and it did not grab me either.

My hope is that Leckie wins again, although I would be happy with Liu winning also.