The 2019 Hugo Awards will be presented at Worldcon 77 in Dublin, Ireland, on August 18. The Hugo Award finalists are chosen by readers who are voting members of Worldcon. This week we’ll talk about the shortest works, novelettes and short stories. We’ll discuss other categories in future columns.
Click the title links below to read our reviews and on the author links to visit our page for the author. I’ve included the cover art for our favorites.
Who do you think will win the Hugo Award in these categories?
Answer below for a chance to win a book from our stacks.
BEST NOVELETTE
- “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” by Zen Cho, B&N
- “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections” by Tina Connolly, Tor.com
- “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” by Daryl Gregory, Tor.com
- The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander, Tor.com
- “The Thing About Ghost Stories” by Naomi Kritzer, Uncanny
- “When We Were Starless” by Simone Heller, Clarkesworld
BEST SHORT STORY
- “The Court Magician” by Sarah Pinsker, Lightspeed
- “The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society” by T. Kingfisher, Uncanny
- “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” by P. Djèlí Clark, Fireside
- “STET” by Sarah Gailey, Fireside
- “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat” by Brooke Bolander, Uncanny
- “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow, Apex
Which stories have you read? Who do you predict will win? Who do you want to win?
Give us your thoughts and predictions in the comments. One random commenter with a USA mailing address will win a book from our stacks.
Good luck to all the finalists!
I have heard grood things about The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander, unfortunately I haven’t read any of these though.
I have only read STET, which I really liked. I need to read the rest of these….
I’ve only read what’s been on Tor.com. It’s hard to get access to the stories on the other sites/magazines.
Best Novelette – The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander, Tor.com
Best Short Story – A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow, Apex
I guess “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections” for Best Novelette and “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat” for Best Short Story.
I’m going to read all the Uncanny Magazine entries soon. The Only Harmless Great Thing got the Nebula, so maybe it’ll get the Hugo too. But I couldn’t finish it. I felt too much anger & sorrow, so stopped halfway. The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of GW was amazing, and I think also won the Nebula. So it has a good chance of a Hugo. But since I haven’t read the others yet, I can’t predict my votes, or offer an opinion on the outcomes.
I think Zen Cho’s “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” and Sarah Gailey’s “STET”.
Follow-up: looks like the harmless great thing and the nine negro teeth have legs! They both won Locus awards. This bodes well for the Hugos.
I am guessing “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections” by Tina Connolly for Best Novelette.
The Distinguished Professor, if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks.
Please contact me (Marion) with your choice and a US address. Happy reading!