A person or organization fraudulently tried to influence the voting for the 2024 Hugo Awards by apparently buying memberships for people promising to vote for their chosen candidate. The Hugo Awards establishment uncovered this scheme and disallowed the fraudulent votes. What’s wrong with people??? I guess this stuff has gone on from time immemorial in elections literary, political, you name it, but it’s disheartening all the same. Luckily, the tallying of votes goes on untainted, and we’ll see the results on Aug. 11.

Are you ready? Award Day, Aug. 11, is coming right up. Have you read all the novels on the short list? No shame if you haven’t–it’s a big list, and those are just the novels. But here they are again:

• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager UK)
• The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
• Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)
• Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Tor, Tor UK)
• Translation State by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
• Witch King by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had already read four of these novels, because the Nebula, Locus, and Arthur C. Clarke awards had already short-listed them. You can find my reviews of each in previous posts on this blog–click on each title to see the in-depth review. Here’s a quick recap:

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)

This amazing novel has already won the Nebula best novel award and the Locus best first novel award. It presents an amazing blend of the mythic and the realistic to explore some of the most pressing issues of our day.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)

A fascinating and tricky exploration of the senseless violence of war and the exploitation of women, wrapped up in space opera/space academy tropes.

Translation State by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)

Great addition to the author’s Imperial Radch world-building. An ingenious exploration of alien consciousnesses in a story of relationships and family, biological and chosen.

Witch King by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Wells turns from SF to fantasy in this novel, apparently the start of a new series. The novel depicts demons, a culture with interesting gender norms, and a whole lot of high-fantasy intrigue.

Of these four, Chandrasekera’s novel is the stand-out–in my opinion, of course. In my next post, I will review the other two novels on the list. I’ve recently read them both, and one of them might rival The Saint of Bright Doors as my favorite. Oh, maybe not–but it’s a great read. Stay tuned.