The longest-running major awards in speculative fiction are the Hugos. The World Science Fiction Society presents awards for Best Novel and many other works in other categories at the World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), and has done so since 1953. The voters’ decision for this year’s awards (HERE is how they make it) will be announced on August 30th at LACon, Anaheim, CA. Like the Nebula Awards, the Hugos are decided by vote–in this case, the votes of World Science Fiction Society members.

Now I am reading through the Hugo finalists short-listed for Best Novel. This has turned out to be a bit easier than my reading of this year’s nominees for the Philip K. Dick Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel. There is a lot of overlap among these major awards, so the reading is going faster.

A WORD TO THE READER OF THIS BLOG:

In “The Common reader,” the first essay of Virginia Woolf’s collection of essays also titled The Common Reader, the great novelist celebrates “the pursuit of reading . . . carried on by ordinary people.” She cites the 18^th century critic and literary figure Samuel Johnson, who lauded “the common reader” equipped with “common sense. . .uncorrupted by literary prejudices.” Woolf, like Johnson, writes in praise of those who read for pleasure, not “the critic and the scholar.”

I try my best to be that common reader in this blog. Sure, I have a higher degree in literary studies—but not in the study of the books I’m reading and reviewing here. I don’t want to be a critic. I don’t have time to be a critic. I’m reading fast. I want to savor and love these books of speculative fiction whenever I can, and to point out honestly the times I can’t. I’m also reading with the eye of a person who tries to write books herself. Reading with the eye of a writer, whether fiction or poetry or whatever it is–that’s the best way to read, or so it is for me.

I may not always succeed in my mission to read a book and reflect honestly on what I’ve read. I’m reading so fast, writing my thoughts down so fast, that no doubt I miss stuff and get stuff wrong. (My own typos kill me, by the way.) But I love reading. It should be pleasurable, not a chore. I especially love speculative fiction and read it, not as an expert, but—I hope—as “the common reader.” I want to share that pleasure with you.

In practical terms, what does that mean? I examine what I see on the page, and I say what I see. Always, I filter my reaction to the words on the page through the lens of my own experience. We all do. But I try my best to imagine how a different reader might react to the same words and pages, and I try to acknowledge that. Sometimes, when I’m particularly flummoxed by a book—as when I see I’m not the intended audience of the book—I bring in other readers’ perspectives. Insisting only on my own perspective does not help the conversation I’m having with you about these marvelous books, always with the hope that if you haven’t read them yet, I can urge you to go out and read them now.

DISCLAIMERS: I am not financially compensated by any recommendations in this blog, in any way. I am writing it for myself–and you, I hope–and accept no advertising and receive no referral fees. I do not “monetize” your data. In addition: This blog uses no AI. In the past, I think I’ve used a few AI-generated images, but I’ve promised myself, never again.]

Onward to the Hugo list!

Here it is:

• A Drop of Corruption, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape)
• The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK)
• The Raven Scholar, Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)
• Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
• Shroud, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)
• The Incandescent, Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK)

In this post, I’m going to mention, very briefly, two novels that were also on the Nebula short list–so I’ve already read and reviewed them.

Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)

Find my full review HERE. This intriguing double novel starts out in the near future, with a very realistic, very complex main character, a writer. The novel then shuttles back and forth between that character’s world and the SF world she envisions existing in the far future. Okorafor has called her novel “Africanfuturism.” A NOTE: In my previous post, I talked about other novels using nested narratives. How could I possibly forget Percival Everett’s Erasure? There, I’ve said it. I feel better now.

The Incandescent, Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK)

See my full review of this novel HERE. This novel of dark academia is full of magic and wizardry–and danger–set in a bucolic landscape.

NEXT UP: I will continue with full reviews of the books I’m just now reading, proceeding alphabetically through the Hugo finalists, and starting with A Drop of Corruption, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape)