Nova Mob 6 Aug – Hugo nominees

Critical Mass News, Snippets

Murray writes:

It’s Hugos time! Nova Mob’s next meeting is a group discussion about the Hugo nominees for the Seattle WorldCon 2025 Awards Ceremony.
|We are meeting on Wednesday 6 August at 8.00pm Melbourne time.
Who of the finalists should win?
Should anyone?

To help you come to a decision here are some freely available nominees. Or ask someone who has received the Hugo pack.

Also in this email, James Cambias has invited us all to a webinar on Space Piracy! Inside me is a 9-year-old boy who is thrilled that I could actually write that phrase in all earnest seriousness! 

Sean Williams theAdelaidean has released a new album. The MSFC has held its AGM and it did not drag on, lots of positivity and the new Committee is all set for the move to the new premises. Also some news from the Brisbane WorldCon bid.

Paul Kincaid is our guest for September’s meeting, speaking via Zoom about Keith Roberts of Pavane fame, perhaps the finest alternate history committed to literature.

Sadly and foremost for many is the news of Tess Williams’s passing. Van Ikin enumerates aspects of our loss: “intellectual acumen, her amazing determination and commitment to her work, and her graciousness as a person.”

💥 💥 💥

Hugo Samples:

BEST NOVEL

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

BEST NOVELLA

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

In full:

BEST NOVELETTE 

BEST SHORT STORY 

With thanks to commenters on reddit and also Mike Glyer at File 770, who has a full listing here, so you can read them all!

2025 Hugo Finalists – Where to Read Complete Works or Samples for Free

And a final reddit comment: ““Also nominated for a Hugo (the “Best Related Work” category) and worth reading: Speculative Whiteness which gets into the rise and persistence of the Alt-Right in science fiction.”

💥 💥 💥

Nova Mob meeting 6 August – Hugo Nominees discussion

General all-of-Mob discussion

To help matters along for a couple of the categories, Mob members Rose Mitchell and Perry Middlemiss will provide lead-in comments to start these discussions – 

Rose – Novelettes promised to be “not in any great detail nor academic style so no bibliographies nor footnotes, endnotes, or citations, about the Novelettes which I think are the strongest category this year”.

Perry – Novellas commitment is solid – “I’ll have read them all by then”.

Please share this invitation to this forthcoming meeting with like-minded friends and fans

Face to face 

You are invited to a Nova Mob meeting gathered near a big Zoom-related TV screen at the Kensington Town Hall: 
Wednesday 6 August July 2025. 8.00pm – 9.00 (formal close), first floor Presentation Room.
Lift access. Stairs access. Both available.
Zoom meeting closes about 9.20pm or so.
Kensington Town Hall. 30 – 34 Bellair St
Kensington Melbourne VIC 3031

By Zoom – simulcast

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Please join us on-line!
Wednesday 6 August 2025. 8.00pm – 9.30 pm Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney time; 7.30pm – 9.00pm Adelaide time

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4177583193?pwd=VjdPL1BhSTBNclN2YnRsejN3Y1hlUT09

Passcode: nova
Meeting ID: 417 758 3193