779: Not a Hugo

Our Awards Book Club closes up shop for 2025 with a final set of rankings, the presentation of an award we made up, and an overview of all the Hugo-nominated short fiction.

Awards Book Club final rankings and Hugo short fiction

Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Scott McNulty, Aleen Simms, and Heather Berberet.

Show Notes & Links

What Are We Reading?

• Scott: How to Solve Your Own Murder (amzn.to/4mPlnCb)

• Erika: Swordheart (goodreads.com/book/show/42747739-swordheart), Throne of Glass series specifically Heir of Fire (goodreads.com/book/show/76706470-heir-of-fire)

• Heather: Dungeon Crawler Carl (goodreads.com/series/309211-dungeon-crawler-carl)

• Aleen: When Women Were Dragons (goodreads.com/book/show/58783802-when-women-we…), Lake of Souls (goodreads.com/book/show/195820708-lake-of-soul…)

• Jason: The Fourth Consort (amzn.to/41teVIx) by Edward Ashton, Automatic Noodle (amzn.to/4opndLp) by Annalee Newitz

The Incomparable Award

• Service Model (4 first-place votes, 2.0 average placement)

• The Tainted Cup (3.4)

• Someone You Can Build a Nest In (1, 4.0)

• A Sorceress Comes to Call (4.4)

• Alien Clay (5.0)

• The Ministry of Time (5.8)

• Asunder / The Book of Love (tie) (6.4)

• Rakesfall (8.6)

• Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory (9)

The Short Fiction

Novella

• “The Brides of High Hill” by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

• “The Butcher of the Forest” by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom)

• “Navigational Entanglements” by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)

• “The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain” by Sofia Samatar (Tordotcom)

• “The Tusks of Extinction” by Ray Nayler (Tordotcom)

• “What Feasts at Night” by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire)

Novelette

• “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_05_24) (Clarkesworld)

• “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (strangehorizons.com/wordpress/fiction/by-salt-…) (Strange Horizons)

• “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (asimovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/TheFour…) (Asimov’s)

• “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (in Lake of Souls)

• “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (uncannymagazine.com/article/loneliness-universe) (Uncanny)

• “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (uncannymagazine.com/article/signs-of-life) (Uncanny)

Short Story

• “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Jones (lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/five-views-of-t…) (Lightspeed)

• “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal (uncannymagazine.com/article/marginalia) (Uncanny)

• “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo (uncannymagazine.com/article/stitched-to-skin-l…) (Uncanny)

• “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine (uncannymagazine.com/article/three-faces-of-a-b…) (Uncanny)

• “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M Yoachim (lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/we-will-teach-y…) (Lightspeed)

• “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J Kim (clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24) (Clarkesworld)

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