2020 Hugo Nominations

Yes, I should have done this two days ago. I kind of forgot.

Here are my overall thoughts.

Because I got my reading done for the Nebulas, I've read some of the nominees, but I'm not up for detailed analysis right now.

For novel, my prediction is that Tamsyn Muir will win with Gideon the Ninth, which is clearly the breakout novel of 2019. Unfortunately, I don't actually like it that much; it's a good book but I fail to see the hype.

The only other novel I've read is Arkady Martine's brilliant A Memory Called Empire, which was my pick for the Nebula. It's beautifully written, and the empire, rather than being based off of Rome is based off of...the Aztecs.

In novella, the only one I've read is The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark. It's okay, but wouldn't be my choice.

In Novelette, I've read The Archronology of Love, by Caroline M. Yoachim, and I wasn't too kken, I'll have to look at the others.

Short story, I have a fondness for Fran Wilde's "A Catalog of Storms," but wasn't impressed with "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island" by Nibedita Sen. Shiv Ramdas' "And Now His Lordship is Laughing" is interesting.

In best series, The Expanse probably has my vote, although Seanan McGuire is always good. I haven't looked at the others.

Best related work isn't as crazy as last year, I'll have opinions as I read.

Graphic Story or Comic has me really torn between Die and The Wicked + The Divine. I'll probably jump with WicDiv because it's over. Kieron Gillen, you rock. I'm not a huge Monstress fan and I didn't find Paper Girls to be Vaughan's best. Haven't read the others.

Best dramatic presentation, long form. Whoever remembered you can nominate an entire series for this picked the winner; I haven't even seen it and already know Good Omens is going to win.

Short form, I'll probably just vote for Doctor Who because I haven't seen the others yet.

Best Editor, Short Form, is pretty much the usual suspects. Same with long form.

No opinion on the artists as yet, but one of these years Galen Dara has to win.

Best semiprozine will probably go to Fireside Magazine, just because last year was it's last year. FIYAH is always a strong contender. No surprises here.

Best fanzine and fancast are very much the usual suspects, with the only new nominees being The Rec Center in fanzine and Claire Rousseau in fancast. I sometimes think these shouldn't be split, but the mediums are so different...

In Lodestar, I am highly disappointed not to see my Nebula pick, Henry Lien's delightful Peasprout Chen and the Battle of Champions. Taiwanese Hogwarts on skates for the win. Yoon Ha Lee probably has a good chance with Dragon Pearl and the Kritzer is also delightful.

Weird to not see the Campbell name there, no thoughts on the Astounding until I see the material.

Tor has the full list here.

This is really cool

The Earth changes over time. And one of those changes drowned a forest 60,000 years ago in what we now call the Gulf of Mexico.

A storm uncovered it and now we can learn about 60,000 year old bald cypresses, that ecosystem...and it's so well preserved we might even find candidate drugs down there.

We still haven't fully explored our oceans and they hold wonderful surprises.

The Savage World is Real

Antarctica was temperate and forested...during the age of the dinosaurs. Not a bad guess on Marvel's part, even if they did have dinosaurs and cavemen coexisting.

What scientists found was evidence of a thriving temperate rain forest, due to well...the fact that it was a lot warmer back then.

Hopefully we can keep it from being that warm again...

Stop the World...

...I want to get off. If you are really feeling that right now, and are lucky enough to own a VR rig, NASA has you covered.

You can go all the way to Trappist-1, in fact.

Also, because everyone needs it right now.

A donkey and goats (I know the guy calls it a mule. It's not a mule).

Friday Updates

My next novel, Firewing, is with my editor. I don't have a planned release date yet because planning is hard right now, but expect to see it by early summer.

That's really the only update I have right now. Everything is kind of on pause, really.

Life on rogue planets?

You need a star for life, right?

Not so fast. Remember those Chernobyl mushrooms that feed off of radiation?

Some rogue planets might be radioactive enough for the heat to allow liquid water on the surface. Such planets might also have enough radiation to support radiotrophic "plants" on which an ecosystem could be built.

There's a science fiction story in there somewhere...

Mesoamerican Copper and the Spanish

Apparently, the Spanish didn't have enough copper to subjugate the natives. So, in typical irony, they bought it from the natives...

They didn't have anyone with them who knew how to smelt it. There's some kind of message there. I'm still working out exactly what it is.