The 2018 Hugo Award Finalists include Yoon Ha Lee, Martha Wells, and Saladin Ahmed! Congratulations to all!
BEST NOVEL
Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)
BEST NOVELLA
All Systems Red, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
BEST NOVELETTE
“Extracurricular Activities,” by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com, February 15, 2017)
BEST GRAPHIC STORY
Black Bolt, Volume 1: Hard Time, written by Saladin Ahmed (Marvel)
BEST SERIES
The Books of the Raksura, by Martha Wells (Night Shade)
Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear
“Bear deftly weaves this exploration of relationships and vulnerabilities, betrayal and compromise… Though this is a short volume—while being a long novella—the characters are elegantly drawn as entire individuals.
For all that Stone Mad has a lot to say about relationships, it avoids didacticism. Bear has an argument here, but it’s definitely an argument, with no easy answers. The only answer, it seems, is compassion and choosing to be kind—the same vein of kindness that runs underneath the entire story.
I loved Stone Mad. I found it powerful and deeply full of meaning. As well as entertaining: Karen is a magnificently engaging character, and a compelling one. I hope to see Bear write more about her, because she’s enormously fun.” — Tor.com
Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear
“Bear’s Karen Memory (2015) introduced her stubborn and spunky heroine, Karen Memery, a teenage sex worker who saved her late-1870s Pacific Northwest town from threats foreign and domestic. Now Karen and her beloved, Priya, are preparing to enjoy their first night in their new home when traveling spiritualists dredge up an old, seemingly supernatural mystery poised to cause mayhem. Naturally, Karen wants to investigate. Though this novel lacks the scope and some of the sheer raucousness of the first, all of the characteristics that make Karen memorable are glowingly apparent on every page. Elements that would feel clunky from a less talented author—such as Karen’s habit of constantly flinging herself headlong into danger because of deep regrets about her past—all seem natural and inevitable by the finish. Subtle touches guarantee that every character is colorful, no matter how fleetingly introduced. Bear’s fans will definitely want to catch Karen’s latest adventure.” — Publishers Weekly
Lake Silence by Anne Bishop
“Anne Bishop blazed onto the genre scene in the late 1990s with the Black Jewels Trilogy, a fantasy epic filled with violence, blood, and revenge that somehow mostly leaves readers with lingering impressions of its beautiful empathy, kindness, and impish sense of humor. This deeply affecting mixture won the hearts of many fans then (including mine), and remains her signature today. In this sense, her new urban fantasy LAKE SILENCE fits perfectly into her bibliography.
Bishop has always been skilled at building playful, enticing worlds, and she’s filled this one with some of her best characters yet… Fantasy trappings aside, there is a deep emotional core to Bishop’s books…
The power of community is important too—if there’s anything LAKE SILENCE tells us, it’s that getting through a tough situation literally takes a village—a village full of people who probably don’t look like you, act like you, or have your same values. You might not like some of them—you might even have to forget that you were taught to look at them as less than human. But you won’t survive without the village, so you may as well get on with figuring out how to deal with it. Because the Lady of the Lake is watching. And she’s pissed.” — Barnes & Noble SFF
Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear
“This second installment in the Karen Memory series is as well paced and well written as the first. Karen Memory and her relationship with Priya take the forefront here, and Bear does some very insightful examinations of the ways we trust each other, how we sometimes fail that trust, and how—when the love is real—we can learn to accept that people and relationships are never perfect” — RT Book Reviews, 4 stars
