2021 Awards Consideration Post
Posted on January 4, 2021 Posted by John Scalzi 7 Comments
Each year at the beginning of January I let folks know what things I have available for consideration for annual awards, and for 2021, today’s the day! If you’re in an award-nominating mood, this is what I have for you this time around. I’m using Hugo categories here unless noted otherwise; other organizations may have similar/equivalent categories.
Best Novel:
The Last Emperox (April 2020; Tor Books; Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editor)
Best Series:
The Interdependency Series (The Collapsing Empire; The Consuming Fire; The Last Emperox) (Tor Books; Patrick Nielsen Hayden, editor)
Best Novella:
Murder By Other Means (September 2020; Audible Originals; Steve Feldberg, editor)
Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form):
Murder by Other Means (September 2020; Audible Originals; read by Zachary Quinto)
The Last Emperox is straight-up sf/f; Murder is also sf/f and additionally could be considered in the mystery/crime genre, so if you nominate for mystery/crime awards and like the novella, keep it in mind there.
The song I co-wrote last year, “Another Christmas (Until I Am There With You),” is probably not eligible for science fiction awards (except, if you stretch, maybe the Best Related Work Hugo, and I don’t encourage that particular stretch), but it’s certainly eligible for music-related awards. I co-wrote the song with Matthew Ryan.
In addition to these works of mine, some other people to keep in consideration this year, for work in conjunction to my own:
Nicholas Bouvier (aka Sparth) did the cover art for The Last Emperox (and the Interdependency Series as a whole), and is eligible for Best Professional Artist and equivalent awards in the art sphere.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden was the editor of The Last Emperox and indeed all of my novels for Tor, and is eligible for Best Editor (Long Form). Likewise, Steve Feldberg was the editor of Murder By Other Means, and would be eligible for Best Editor (Short Form)
Zachary Quinto is the narrator of Murder, and would be eligible for various audiobook awards therein.
Athena Scalzi is eligible for the Best Fan Writer Hugo this year, on the basis of her genre-related work here at Whatever. Examples of that work: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
As always: I am pointing out these works are eligible, not asking you to nominate them over other work you might like more. As always, if you like my work enough to nominate it, that’s wonderful, and thank you. But if you don’t — don’t. Vote for the work and people who you feel are deserving in any award year. That’s how it’s supposed to get done.
— JS
Also: If you don’t think my work is nomination-worthy this year, please feel free not to tell me that, here, now.
(Yes, people do that. And when I or work of mine is nominated for awards, and I note it here (and on other social media) people will go out of their way to tell me they’re gonna vote for someone else then, too. I’m not sure people understand how that is, if not outright rude, at least not a thing one needs to tell that person directly. You have the whole rest of the internet, folks. Say it there.)
I wonder if we can get “Another Christmas” nominated for a Grammy?
Who do we have to buy off, and how much would it cost?
Rooting for ‘best series’. Now that the Interdependency trilogy is complete it makes a great winter ‘long read’.
Not bad. Have you considered writing professionally?
Best self-directed COVID haircut.
Best collection of Sci Fi cats.
I’m confused. Votes that aren’t for your works will have come from dead people, and the only way you could lose would be if the machines were hacked or all your ballots were shredded. Shouldn’t you be fundraising and planning your legal challenges?
More seriously, I’ve been remiss and haven’t yet read Murder By Other Means. It wasn’t in the New SF section at Pendragon Books in Berkeley last Saturday, but I’ll call tomorrow and order a copy with feigned (or not-so-feigned) indignance.
In the last few days I’ve read two and a half out of three of the Interdependency. For some reason I expected it to be a weighty tome. Don’t get me wrong; I definitely expected it to be GOOD, but I thought it would be more WORK. I am no judge of award-worthiness, but Oh Boy this thing is FUN.