A big day is coming up for fantasy and science fiction fans! Less than a month from now, Wolrdcon 75 is taking place in Helsinki, and, among other things, the Hugo winners will be announced. This is the first year I’m eligible to vote, and I’m taking it very seriously!

First of all, I’ve decided I’m not going to vote in any category where I’m not familiar with every single one of the nominated works. It just doesn’t seem fair that I vote for a book just because I’ve read it, without giving the others a chance.

So, as soon as I saw the voting deadline was this coming weekend, I knew I couldn’t go through all the novels. Sadly, I rarely get the time to read nowadays – in between working on Men and Monsters, writing a brand new book, a full-time career in an unrelated field, and some family stuff, my reading time is limited to public transport, flights, and, occasionally, reading while walking down the street, with nose stuck in a book, Belle-style. So the “Novels” category was out, but I could still go through the novellas, novelettes, and short stories.

And I’m so happy I decided to do it! All six novellas were by authors I’ve never read before, and now I can’t wait to dive into their other works!

Some overall thoughts on the nominees before I dive into the specific books:

– 5 out of 6 were weird. And I mean it in a good way! Continue reading →