So apparently, I have a really bad habit of not understanding exactly how much work reading is. Reading is fun! I love doing it! I’m so lucky that I can get free books and be paid (perishingly small sums) to write about them!
But I keep forgetting that all this takes time. These past few weeks, as I’ve been floundering further and further in the sea that is my reading pool/pile, I’ve realized that tackling even as few of the Hugo nominees as I’ve been able to before the voting deadline tomorrow has been A Lot. Between that and the rest of my work and actual parenting, I’ve been swamped. I’m only hoping that, with my Hugos slate done for the year, I can feel less spread thin.
Ofc, you’re probably wondering how I’m voting for the Hugos this year! Here are my choices, in order:
Best Novella: Thornhedge by T Kingfisher; Mammoths At The Gates by Nghi Vo; Seeds Of Mercury by Wang Jinkang; The Mimicking Of Known Successes by Malka Older; Rose/House by Arkady Martine; No Award; Life Does Not Allow Us To Meet by He Xi.
Best Novelette: Ivy, Angelica, Bay by C. L. Polk; A Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer; One Man’s Treasure by Sarah Pinsker; On The Fox Roads by Nghi Vo; Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition by Gu Shi; I AM AI by Ai Jiang.
Best Short Story: Tasting The Future Delicacy Three Times by Baoshu; The Sound Of Children Screaming by Rachael K Jones; How To Raise A Kraken In Your Bathtub by P Djeli Clark; Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer; Answerless Journey by Han Song; The Mausoleum’s Children by Aliette de Bodard.
Best Graphic Story: Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha and Nicola Scott; Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed; Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith & Boulet; Saga Vol 11 by Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples; The Witches Of World War II by Paul Cornell & Valeria Burzo; The Three-Body Problem, Part One by Cai Jin, Ce Wendi, Bo Mu & Caojijiuridong.
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Nimona; The Wandering Earth 2; Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse; Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves; Poor Things; No Award; Barbie.
Best Professional Artist: Tristan Elwell; Dan Dos Santos; Alyssa Winans; Rovina Cai; Micaela Alcaino; Galen Dara.
Best Fan Artist: Iain J Clark; Dante Ruiz; Sara Felix; Laya Rose; Espana Sheriff; Alison Scott.
I might check out some of the editing categories before tomorrow’s deadline but these are the categories I’ve already submitted. You can find reviews for all the prose nominees at TheFrumiousConsortium.net, ofc.
My pal Emily has gotten me involved with A Year Of Diana Wynne Jones, where she’ll be reading all of the author’s books in a year, and I’ll be dipping in and out as and when I can. I’ll probably start with my first review on the topic next week, but am most looking forward to getting to revisit one of my favorite books, The Time Of The Ghost, in early October. I own only a handful of DWJ books, but am planning to take advantage of my public libraries for as many of the rest as I can. Here’s the schedule she made, if you’re interested in reading along:
I’d been planning to take my kids to the Who Was van tour at my favorite bookstore today, as part of our makeshift summer enrichment program, but my eldest busted his ankle beforehand so we wound up staying home. We had a pretty fun afternoon of games instead, with Jms roundly beating me at chess, which I am uniformly terrible at. I’m also fairly certain we set up our chess board wrong, but he had fun, and I got to page through some of my work reading while he beat me, lol.
Speaking of reading, I really enjoyed Deena Mohamed’s Shubeik Lubeik this week! It’s a terrific graphic novel that revolves around the premise of wishes being real, with some of the most convincing urban fantasy worldbuilding I’ve ever read. The novel touches on politics, history, religion, economics and mental health, truly exploring all the ways in which everyday life would be affected by the proliferation of granted wishes. It’s an astonishing work of intelligence and empathy, with some truly excellent illustrations that draw from Egypt’s many and different artistic traditions.
Alright, I have a ton of deadlines to hit, and I need to prep a little for the Ghosts Of Saltmarsh game I’m running this weekend before plunging into reading the Humblewood source book for the game I’m running next weekend. I’m also hoping to finally get the BackerKit done for Camp Elementa now that postal prices have calmed down. Wish me luck, and see you in seven, friends!
Currently Playing (Music): Vivaldi’s Concerto #7; Mozart’s String Quartet #1; Corelli’s Christmas Concerto; Vitamin String Quartet’s Bad Guy; Duomo’s Wildest Dreams; my Declan Rice playlist; Miranda Lambert’s Wildcard; Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet; Chappell Roan’s The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess.
Currently Playing (Games): The Light In The Mist puzzletale, Enigmas by David Kwong & Co, The Wild Beyond The Witchlight, Metazooa by Trainwreck Labs, Learned League trivia, NYT Connections, The Cartographer, Ramen Fury, Magic The Gathering: Puzzle Quest & Arena.
Currently Reading/Writing (Games): Camp Elementa by me! Ghosts Of Saltmarsh; Humblewood.
Currently Reading or Just Read (Books): A Controversial Cover by Lorna Barrett; Thornhedge by T Kingfisher; The Three-Body Problem, Part One by Cai Jin, Ge Wendi, BO MU & Caojijiuridong; Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed; Life Does Not Allow Us To Meet by He Xi; Ladykiller by Katherine Wood; The Mimicking Of Known Successes by Malka Older; The Confidence Games by Tess Amy.