Mike Glyer's FILE770 is my goto fanzine. And JJ (the apparent writer of the Hugo notice page, whoever s/he is) has done a great job. Each work has a CLICKABLE link to that work, and the longer works have links to a SAMPLE!!!!!!!!!
I've already sampled several and bought two books:
The Geek Feminist Revolution, and
Ms. Marvel #5. I'll probably buy several more when I get through sampling.
Several aspects of this year's list please me.
- Inclusion of Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and the Shaman in the Best Novella category, and her The Vorkosigan Saga in Best Series.
- The inclusion of Stranger Things in Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).
- And inclusion of Hidden Figures in the same category.
- The great depth and breadth of the works in the Best Related Work category.
- The diversity in the Best Graphics Story.
Stranger Things was a delightful surprise to me when it came out, in its evocative homage to the '80s, and its expert handling of the evolution of the character of budding superhero, Eleven, played by surprisingly adept 12-year-old actress
Millie Bobby Brown. (The series creators say she will have a prominent role in the second season, on which they are already working.)
I was also happy with the inclusion of
Hidden Figures. It might seem strange to include a historical and nearly-contemporary movie in the category of science fiction. But it felt perfectly natural me. It WAS fiction, it's about science, and about the glory and costs of the exploration of space.
It also felt absolutely authentic. I was an aerospace software and systems engineer at NASA during the space shuttle era, and later worked at Boeing in the same job. I know the environment well.
Happily during my 25+ years at those two places I found the diversity situation better in both sexes and races in science and engineering jobs over the earlier years of the aerospace industry. The situation still needs much improving, but the fact that is much improved is heartening.