It has been brought to my attention, by several critics, that we of the Rabid Puppies have unfairly focused our attention on the Hugo Awards, and that it is only due to the unique nature of the Hugo Awards rules that our presence is able to make itself felt.
It has been suggested, for example, that were we to turn our attention to other awards in the field, with other, more democratic systems, that our dearth of numbers would become apparent to all and sundry.
Which is why, sweet, slavering Puppies, I would direct your attention to the venerable Locus Awards, that bastion of science fiction history, where Tor Books has won the Best Publisher award for 27 straight years, and which we are informed is more representative of the science fiction mainstream than the elitist Hugo and Nebula Awards. For those of you who were unable to afford the entry fee or otherwise missed registering for MidAmericaCon II, this is your opportunity to respond to the Call of the Dark and run with the Puppies.
You can enter your ballot here; though keep in mind that the voting ends in one week, on April 15th. My recommendations are as follows, although in many cases you will have to write them in, since Locus mysteriously tends to leave books published by Baen Books and Castalia House off its list of recommendations.
An unfortunate oversight, no doubt.
Best SF Novel
1 Red Rising, Pierce Brown (Del Rey)
2 Seveneves, Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
3 Somewhither, John C. Wright (Castalia House)
4 Agent of the Imperium, Marc Miller, (Far Future)
5 A Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe (Tor)Best Fantasy Novel
1 Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia (Baen)
2 The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Jim Butcher (Roc)
3 Uprooted, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
4 The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf)
5. A Net of Dawn and Bones, C. Chancy (Amazon Digital Services)Best YA Book
1 Half a War, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey; Harper Voyager UK)
2 Half the World, Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey)
3 The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)Best First Novel
1 Agent of the Imperium, Marc Miller (Far Future)
2 Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho (Ace; Macmillan UK)
3 The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu (Saga)
4 Signal to Noise, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Solaris)
5 The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury)Best Collection
1 Dancing Through the Fire, Tanith Lee (Fantastic Books)
2 Three Moments of an Explosion, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey 2016)
3 The Best of Gregory Benford, Gregory Benford (Subterranean)
4 Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction, Hannu Rajaniemi (Tachyon)
5 Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, Neil Gaiman (Morrow)Best Anthology
1 There Will Be War Vol X, Jerry Pournelle (Castalia House)
2 Hanzai Japan: Fantastical, Futuristic Stories of Crime From and About Japan, Nick Mamatas & Masumi Washington, eds. (Haikasoru)
3 The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-second Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s Griffin)
4 Old Venus, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Bantam)
5 The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, Joe Hill & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner)
Best Nonfiction Book1 SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police, Vox Day (Castalia House)
2 Beyond Light and Shadow, Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
3 The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks, Simone Caroti (McFarland)
4 Ray Bradbury, David Seed (University of Illinois Press)
Best Art Book1 Julie Dillon, Julie Dillon’s Imagined Realms, Book 2: Earth and Sky (self-published)
2 Petar Meseldžija, The Book of Giants (Flesk)
3 The Fantasy Illustration Library, Volume One: Lands & Legends, Malcolm R. Phifer & Michael C. Phifer (Michael Publishing)Best Novella
1 Fear of the Unknown and Self-Loathing in Hollywood, Nick Cole, Tales of Tinfoil
2 Penric’s Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold, Spectrum
3 Perfect State, Brandon Sanderson, Dragonsteel Entertainment
4 Teaching the Dog to Read, Jonathan Carroll (Subterranean)
5 Slow Bullets, Alastair Reynolds, Tachyon PublicationsBest Novelette
1 Flashpoint: Titan, Cheah Kai Wai, There Will Be War Vol. X, Castalia House
2 Folding Beijing, Hao Jingfang, Uncanny Magazine
3 What Price Humanity?, David VanDyke, There Will Be War Vol. X, Castalia House
4 Hyperspace Demons, Jonathan Moeller, Castalia House
5 Obits, Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, ScribnerBest Short Story
1 Space Raptor Butt Invasion, Chuck Tingle, Amazon Digital Services
2 Seven Kill Tiger, Charles Shao, There Will Be War Vol. X, Castalia House
3 If You Were an Award, My Love, Juan Tabo and S. Harris, Vox Popoli
4 The Commuter, Thomas Mays, Amazon Digital Services
5 Asymmetrical Warfare, S. R. Algernon, Nature Nr. 519Best Magazine or Fanzine
1 Black Gate
2 File 770
3 Analog
4 Asimovs
5 Sci-Phi JournalBest Book Publisher
1 Castalia House
2 Baen
3 Gollancz
4 Orbit
5 Del ReyBest Editor – Pro or Fan
1 Jerry Pournelle
2 Vox Day
3 Mike Braff
4 Toni Weisskopf
5 Jim MinzBest Artist – Pro or Fan
1 Michael Whelan
2 Rowena Morill
3 Lars Braad Andersen
4 Michael Karcz
5 Larry Elmore