I keep seeing the name of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer written as John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer [Not a Hugo], adding the words [Not a Hugo]. Obviously that was true this year, with an Elizabeth winning. But, do we need to keep saying it? And what is a Hugo came along who should win in it. Hardly fair.

What an interesting bunch of results. I was delighted to see that Kelly had won for one of my very favorite stories, that Ellen had won for the wonderful job she does at SciFiction, that Charlie got a gong for a story that is a lot of fun, and to see Farah and Elizabeth also picked up well deserved awards. Looking over the various details, I was interested to see that Terry Pratchett declined nomination for Going Postal. I have no idea why, and I have no intention of criticising his decision. The only comment I’d make is that I think he deserves to win the field’s major awards, and am disappointed that voters didn’t have the chance to recognise his achievement with the Hugo. Perhaps a World Fantasy for lifetime achievement would be worth considering at some point.

Although I am amongst the most partisan of Locus‘s supporters, and think that Mark Kelly does a fantastic job with Locus: Online, I can’t help but applaud the Best Website win for SciFiction. It’s an extraordinary achievement, and deserves its award.

One thing I do note with interest, though. A motion has just passed to split the Best Editor Hugo in two, effectively splitting it into an award for short fiction editing and novel editing. That award, if I recall, replaced an earlier “Best Magazine” category. Reading the wording of the Best Website win, it’s presented to SciFiction, Edited by Ellen Datlow. Craig Engler, general manager. SciFiction is a science fiction magazine. Is this effectively a third editor Hugo? Do we need three? Is there, perhaps, a better formulation for these awards? Hmm. BTW, Cheryl is breaking all of this down too.

The full details, with voting and such, for this year’s Hugo Awards has been released by Interaction. The winners, in brief, are:

Best Novel: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Best Novella: “The Concrete Jungle” by Charles Stross
Best Novelette: “The Faery Handbag” by Kelly Link
Best Short Story: “Travels with My Cats” by Mike Resnick
Best Related Book: The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn eds.
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: The Incredibles
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: “33” – Battlestar Galactica
Best Professional Editor: Ellen Datlow
Best Professional Artist: Jim Burns
Best Semiprozine: Ansible
Best Fanzine: Plokta
Best Fan Writer: David Langford
Best Fan Artist: Sue Mason
Best Web Site: SciFiction
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo Award): Elizabeth Bear
Special Interaction Committee Award (not a Hugo Award): David Pringle

Sincerest congrats to all the winners.

I need to do this. You may need to do it too. But, Jeff VanderMeer’s doing it first. He’s having a book sale. Check out the information here, get some great stuff and help him clear out his house.

Having posted about Kelly’s new book yesterday afternoon, a copy showed up in the mail box about two hours later. Synchronicity. It’s a beautiful book, and I’d encourage anyone to buy the Small Beer edition rather than any other. All of the scans I’ve seen of the cover left me fairly discouraged, but on the book, as an artifact, it’s wonderful. Can’t wait to see Maureen McHugh’s book now.