What can readers expect next from the winners of the 2019 Hugo Awards?
Since 1953, the Hugo Awards have honored notable authors who’ve written excellent works in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, as voted on by the members of each year’s World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon). The list of Hugo nominees and winners also communicates the stories that we as readers were excited about in the previous year, and it looks like there’s a lot yet to come from this year’s roster of Hugo winners!
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal — Best Novel
The Calculating Stars is actually one-half of a duology in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series, so interested readers can already move on to its sequel, The Fated Sky. Tor Books will publish book 3, The Relentless Moon, in July 2020, with book 4 to follow in 2022. The full schedule for the release is on Kowal’s website, where you can also find a list of already published short stories in the Lady Astronaut series, arranged in internal chronological order.
Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells — Best Novella
Artificial Condition is the second book in Martha Wells’ The Murderbot Diaries four-novella series, so readers can continue on with books three and four (Rogue Protocol and Exist Strategy). But if you’ve already devoured the novellas, take heart, for a full-length Murderbot novel, Network Effect, arrives in May 2020!
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho — Best Novelette
“Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon,” the short story sequel to “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” is currently available to read on Zen Cho’s website. Another fantasy novella, “The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water,” is forthcoming from Tor.com Publishing in May 2020.
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow — Best Short Story
Alix E. Harrow’s highly-anticipated debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, comes out September 10, 2019 from Orbit Books. A short excerpt can be read on Orbit Books’ website.
Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers — Best Series
More works set in the Wayfarers universe are forthcoming from Becky Chambers, but a new stand-alone novella outside of that series, To Be Taught, If Fortunate, has already been published in the UK and will be released stateside on September 3, 2019 by Harper Voyager. Tor.com Publishing is also expecting to publish new solarpunk novellas from Chambers starting in 2021.
Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works — Best Related Work
Archive of Our Own, also known as AO3, is a non-profit, open-source hub for fanfiction. The site continues to grow and gain new readers and writers both, and celebrated 5 million posted fanworks in July. So if you want to know what’s next from AO3 the answer is: everything. Perhaps even…you? The Organization for Transformative Works regularly recruits volunteers.
Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda — Best Graphic Story
Monstress, Volume 4: The Chosen will be released by Image Comics on September 25, 2019 and collects issues 19 – 24. Image and Barnes & Noble collected issues 1-18 in a deluxe hardcover edition called Monstress, Book One, which was published in July. The fourth arc in the series concluded this past July with issue #24 and there isn’t yet word on a fifth arc to come, although considering the series’ previous release schedule, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Monstress resume in January 2020.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman — Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
A sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is currently in the works, io9 reported in June. Joaquim Dos Santos and David Callaham are slated to direct, and the first film’s producers, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, are currently developing interconnected live-action shows using Sony’s Marvel characters. (As io9 pointed out, the only Marvel characters owned by Sony are Spider-Man and Spider-Man adjacent.)
The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC) — Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
The upcoming fourth season of The Good Place will be its last. It will premiere on NBC September 26, 2019, and unlike previous seasons, will have 14 episodes instead of 13, including an hour-long series finale.
Navah Wolfe — Best Professional Editor, Long Form
Navah Wolfe is the senior editor at Saga Press and has edited a number of award-winning and nominated books, including the Shirley Jackson Award-winning anthology The Starlit Wood, as well as Robots vs. Fairies (both co-edited with fellow 2019 Hugo Award winner Dominik Parisien). Her next book, again co-edited with Parisien, is another anthology called The Mythic Dream, which will be published by Saga Press on September 3, 2019.
Gardner Dozois — Best Professional Editor, Short Form
Over the span of his fifty-year career, Gardner Dozois’ many achievements included founding The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies, writing two Nebula-award winning short stories, and collaborating with George R. R. Martin on a series of themed anthologies. He was a fifteen-time Hugo Award winner for Best Professional Editor. His last book was The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Years’ Best Science Fiction, which was published posthumously by St. Martin’s Press in February.
Charles Vess — Best Professional Artist
Charles Vess just attended his first World Con, which wrapped up on Monday in Dublin. He is currently in the middle of compiling artwork for Titan’s The Art of Stardust book, to be published in 2020, and he will next be illustrating Honeycomb, a novel of 100 original fairy tales by Joanne Harris.
The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin — Best Art Book
The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition won a Locus and a Hugo this year, with Charles Vess also winning a Locus and a Hugo for best artist. The award-winning documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin premiered stateside on PBS earlier this month, and is available for streaming on PBS’ website until August 30.
Uncanny Magazine, publishers/editors-in-chief Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor Michi Trota, podcast producers Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky, Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Special Issue editors-in-chief Elsa Sjunneson-Henry and Dominik Parisien — Best Semiprozine
The latest issue of Uncanny Magazine, Issue 29, came out on July 2, 2019. The magazine is also a finalist for Best Magazine/Periodical in this year’s British Fantasy Awards, and The Best of Uncanny will be published by Subterranean Press in October, compiling 44 sci-fi and fantasy stories and poems. Readers can support their continued publication through their Patreon page.
Lady Business, editors Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay & Susan— Best Fanzine
Launched in 2011, Lady Business is an ongoing “fan-built project focusing on intersectional critique and nuanced commentary about media and culture.” They are currently accepting pitches, and have a Patreon.
Our Opinions Are Correct, hosted by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders — Best Fancast
The latest episode of Our Opinions Are Correct— Episode 38 — came out last week and focused on new anti-capitalist sci-fi and fantasy stories. Annalee Newitz’ next novel, The Future of Another Timeline, will be published by Tor Books on September 24, 2019, and they’re currently working on a “non-fiction book about ancient lost cities” for W.W. Norton. Charlie Jane Anders’ latest novel, The City in The Middle of the Night, was published by Tor Books in February, and she’s currently working on a young-adult trilogy.
Foz Meadows — Best Fan Writer
Foz Meadows’ two most recent books, An Accident of Stars and A Tyranny of Queens, were published by Angry Robot in 2016 and 2017, respectively. You can find her blog here and her Tumblr here. Her latest book review for Strange Horizons was published in the August 5, 2019 issue.
Likhain (Mia Sereno) — Best Fan Artist
Likhain, aka Mia Sereno, also won a British Science Fiction Association award this year for her artworks In the Vanisher’s Palace: Dragon I and Dragon II, as well as a 2019 Ditmar Award for her cover art of the Twelfth Planet Press anthology Mother of Invention. She offers fans memberships for exclusive content on her website, and also maintains a Ko-Fi and a Patreon.
Jeannette Ng — John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Jeannette Ng’s novel Under the Pendulum Sun, published by Angry Robot, won a 2018 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer (the Sydney J Bounds Award), and was also nominated in the category of Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award). You can find her website here and her Medium here.
Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi — Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
For Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi also won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 2018 Nebula Awards. Volume 2 of the Legacy of Orisha series, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, will come out on December, 3, 2019 from Henry Holt and Co. Meanwhile, Disney is currently adapting Children of Blood and Bone into a feature film, with Kay Oyegun writing the screenplay and Rick Famuyiwa directing.
