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8/07/2020 4:41 pm  #1


2020 Hugo awards

I'd read 4 out of 6 novels. The winner was one I hadn't read (I have it high on the "next read" pile).

I was pretty surprised Gideon didn't win, it got so much acclaim and discussion. Maybe a bit too weird.

Also disappointed that Ten Thousand Doors finished last. I found it to be a bit slow at first, but once you got a feel for the multiple story threads in different times, it got clearer. The ending was splendid. 

Middlegame was dark, but good, I like McGuire's work a lot. 


  • A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
  • Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
  • Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
  • The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
  • The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

I don't read much shorter fiction, but Time War was fantastic, and Tram Car 015 was very enjoyable (as are his other works).

  • This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)
  • In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
  • To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)
  • The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
  • “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
  • The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga Press/Gallery)

Last edited by Aja Jin (8/07/2020 4:41 pm)

 

8/07/2020 4:50 pm  #2


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

Thanks for this report. I was looking around for my next read and will draw from this list based on your recommendations. I have already started A Memory Called Empire but it is too early to tell if I will enjoy it.

 

8/08/2020 10:52 am  #3


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

Thanks for the summary. Time War may be in my future, although I feel like I’m in one already!


One world -- or none
 

8/08/2020 8:26 pm  #4


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

I am quite liking A Memory of Empire. I am about 1/5th through it.

 

8/09/2020 11:14 am  #5


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

So, for Cyteen readers, A Memory of Empire has some interesting aspects. “Most of personality is endocrine.” And so on. 
I do like this book.

 

8/09/2020 2:21 pm  #6


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

Finished A Memory Called Empire. I liked it very much. And although it appears to be the first in a series the story wrapped up quite satisfactorily in this volume.

 

8/09/2020 6:48 pm  #7


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

Good to know. I have read very few books since I started my video career. I cannot make videos now. I am finishing my first book in a while, which I can’t recommend, but which I am enjoying. It is a true memoir of an American guy who spent years in a Soviet prison work camp for stupidly agreeing to transport drugs. It’s interesting, he escapes eventually. He’s not a wonderful or interesting person, but the story is somehow engaging me. I collect and gravitate toward stories of escape. Perhaps I want to escape?


One world -- or none
 

8/10/2020 6:22 am  #8


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

That’s an interesting insight, Star. I used to have a similar attraction to stories about amnesia like Zelazney’s first Amber book. They were curiously satisfying. 

PS our power came back on yesterday afternoon. Yours cannot be far behind.

 

8/10/2020 10:35 pm  #9


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

Kokipy wrote:

PS our power came back on yesterday afternoon. Yours cannot be far behind.

From your lips to Con Edison’s work crews! 

I like amnesia stories too. I recall enjoying Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity when it first came out for that reason. I know he’s not well regarded like LeCarre, but he could spin a yarn. However one recent amnesia story that everyone except me seemed to like is The Rook by Daniel O’Malley. So promising - a woman who knows she is about to lose her memory creates a roadmap for herself to reclaim her identity later - and so utterly disappointing. This is a public service announcement.  


One world -- or none
 

8/11/2020 8:24 am  #10


Re: 2020 Hugo awards

I've also finished A Memory Called Empire, and highly recommend it. Although very different, it has echoes of Cherryh -- political schemes and maneuvering, exploration of difference and its implications, and a tight viewpoint. The world and backstory are shown but much remains hidden and not well understood. An empire built on poetry, how ... poetic? 

Kokipy is right, one could read just this book and be fully satisfied, or, as I intend, move on to the sequel when it come out. There are some people that I want to visit again.

     Thread Starter
 

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