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John, Alison and Liz discuss this year’s Hugo Awards finalists.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: None

A note from John: I’ve done my level best to find useful URLs and link them below. Please let me know if there are better links or things I’ve missed!

• Best Novel
  
  
  
  • Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
  
  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  
  
  • Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
  
  • Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
  
  
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher
  
  
  • The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
  
  
  
  


• Best Novella
  
  
  
  • The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
  
  
  • The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
  
  
  • Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard
  
  
  • The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar
  
  
  • The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
  
  
  • What Feasts at Night by T Kingfisher
  
  
  
  


• Best Novelette
  
  
  
  • “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha
  
  
  • “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed
  
  
  • “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer
  
  
  • “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie
  
  
  • “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou
  
  
  • “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker
  
  
  
  


• Best Short Story
  
  
  
  • “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K Jones
  
  
  • “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal
  
  
  • “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo
  
  
  • “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine
  
  
  • “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M Yoachim
  
  
  • “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J Kim
  
  
  
  


• Best Series
  
  
  
  • Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse
  
  
  • The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri
  
  
  • InCryptid by Seanan McGuire
  
  
  • Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer
  
  
  • The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
  
  
  • The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
  
  
  


• Best Graphic Story
  
  
  
  • The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
  
  
  • The Hunger and the Dusk, Vol. 1 by G Willow Wilson and Chris Wildgoose
  
  
  • Monstress, Vol. 9 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
  
  
  • My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Vol. 2 by Emil Ferris
  
  
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio
  
  
  • We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans
  
  
  
  


• Best Related Work
  
  
  
  • “Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones
  
  
  • r/Fantasy’s 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge
  
  
  • “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson
  
  
  • Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S Carroll
  
  
  • Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum
  
  
  • “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M Barkley and Jason Sanford
  
  
  
  


• Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
  
  
  
  • Dune: Part Two
  
  
  • Flow
  
  
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
  
  
  • I Saw the TV Glow
  
  
  • Wicked
  
  
  • The Wild Robot
  
  
  
  


• Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
  
  
  
  • “The Beginning” (Fallout)
  
  
  • “Death’s Hand in Mine” (Agatha All Along)
  
  
  • “Dot and Bubble” (Doctor Who)
  
  
  • “Fissure Quest” (Star Trek: Lower Decks)
  
  
  • “The New Next Generation” (Star Trek: Lower Decks)
  
  
  • “73 Yards” (Doctor Who)
  
  
  
  


• Best Game or Interactive Work
  
  
  
  • Caves of Qud
  
  
  • Dragon Age: The Veilguard
  
  
  • The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
  
  
  • Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
  
  
  • Tactical Breach Wizards
  
  
  • 1000xRESIST
  
  
  
  


• Best Editor (Short Form)
  
  
  
  • Scott H. Andrews
  
  
  • Jennifer Brozek
  
  
  • Neil Clarke
  
  
  • Jonathan Strahan
  
  
  • Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
  
  
  • Sheila Williams
  
  
  
  


• Best Editor (Long Form)
  
  
  
  • Carl Engle-Laird
  
  
  • Ali Fisher
  
  
  • Lee Harris
  
  
  • David Thomas Moore
  
  
  • Diana M. Pho
  
  
  • Stephanie Stein
  
  
  
  


• Best Professional Artist
  
  
  
  • Micaela Alcaino
  
  
  • Audrey Benjaminsen
  
  
  • Rovina Cai
  
  
  • Maurizio Manzieri
  
  
  • Tran Nguyen
  
  
  • Alyssa Winans
  
  
  
  


• Best Semiprozine
  
  
  
  • The Deadlands
  
  
  • Escape Pod
  
  
  • FIYAH
  
  
  • khōréō
  
  
  • Strange Horizons
  
  
  • Uncanny Magazine
  
  
  
  


• Best Fanzine
  
  
  
  • The Ancillary Review of Books
  
  
  • Black Nerd Problems
  
  
  • The Full Lid
  
  
  • Galactic Journey
  
  
  • Journey Planet
  
  
  • Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog
  
  
  
  


• Best Fancast
  
  
  
  • The Coode Street Podcast
  
  
  • Eight of Diana Wynne Jones
  
  
  • Hugo, Girl!
  
  
  • Hugos There
  
  
  • A Meal of Thorns
  
  
  • Worldbuilding for Mascochists
  
  
  
  


• Best Fan Writer
  
  
  
  • Camestros Felapton
  
  
  • Abigail Nussbaum
  
  
  • Roseanna Pendlebury
  
  
  • Jason Sanford
  
  
  • Alasdair Stuart
  
  
  • Örjan Westin
  
  
  
  


• Best Fan Artist
  
  
  
  • Iain Clark
  
  
  • Sara Felix
  
  
  • Meg Frank
  
  
  • Michelle Morrell
  
  
  • España Sheriff
  
  
  • Alison Scott
  
  
  
  


• Best Poem
  
  
  
  • Calypso by Oliver K Langmead
  
  
  • “Ever Noir” by Mari Ness
  
  
  • “there are no taxis for the dead” by Angela Liu
  
  
  • “A War of Words” by Marie Brennan
  
  
  • “We Drink Lava” by Ai Jiang
  
  
  • “Your Visiting Dragon” by Devan Barlow
  
  
  
  


• Lodestar Award
  
  
  
  • The Feast Makers by H.A. Clarke
  
  
  • Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
  
  
  • The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko
  
  
  • Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee
  
  
  • Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger
  
  
  • So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
  
  
  
  


• Astounding Award
  
  
  
  • Moniquill Blackgoose
  
  
  • Bethany Jacobs
  
  
  • Hannah Kaner
  
  
  • Angela Liu
  
  
  • Jared Pechaček
  
  
  • Tia Tashiro
  
  
  
  


• Credits
  
  
  
  • Cover art: “Scorching Hot Takes” by Alison Scott
    
    
    
    • Alt text: A black background. Text in purple reads “Octothorpe 132” while text MADE OF FIRE says “Scorching hot takes on the Hugo finalists”.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)