2006 Hugo Award Nominees

Attention, science-fiction and fantasy fans: The nominees for this year’s Hugos, one of the premier awards in the SF/F genre, have been announced. Although nobody will ever agree on each and every nominee, it’s still surprising to many fans that genre juggernaut Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys didn’t even make the final list—it was predicted to be a shoo-in for the top spot—while relative long shots got the nod. In no surprise at all, Charles Stross’s Accelerando (the beginnings of which we described in “Is Science Fiction About to Go Blind?”; August 2004) is among the finalists. I went 1 for 2 for my favorite gigantor novels in 2005 (apparently 2005 was an epic-fantasy year for me): George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows is a finalist, but R. Scott Bakker’s The Warrior-Prophet isn’t. (Boo!) In the film category, everyone I’ve asked is stumping for Joss Whedon’s Serenity. In TV, Battlestar Galactica gets the American vote; the Brits are more keen on the new Doctor Who. The winners won’t be announced until August at WorldCon, where I’ll be hanging with people wielding broadswords (and, most likely, beer) and avoiding roving packs of Klingons. Let the sniping begin! —Martha Harbison