The winners of the Hugo Awards, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book were announced on August 16, 2025 by Seattle Worldcon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention.
The winners are:
Best Novel: The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape UK) Best Novella: The Tusks of Extinction, Ray Nayler (Tordotcom) Best Novelette: ”The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”, Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s 9-10/24) Best Short Story: “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is”, Nghi Vo (Uncanny 2/24 Best Series: Between Earth and Sky, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
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.”
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.”
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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
The nominees in the fiction categories for the 2024 Hugos have been announced:
Best Novel The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager UK) The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom) Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK) Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Tor, Tor UK) Translation State by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK) Witch King by Martha Wells (Tordotcom) 1420 ballots cast for 576 nominees. Finalists range 91-172.
Best Novella “Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet”, He Xi / 人生不相见, 何夕, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers) Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom) The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older (Tordotcom) Rose/House by Arkady Martine (Subterranean) “Seeds of Mercury”, Wang Jinkang / 水星播种, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers) Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK) 962 ballots cast for 187 nominees. Finalists range 106-186.
Best Novelette I AM AI by Ai Jiang (Shortwave) “Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition”, Gu Shi /〈2181序曲〉再版导言, 顾适 translated by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld, February 2023) “Ivy, Angelica, Bay” by C. L. Polk (Tor.com 8 December 2023) “On the Fox Roads” by Nghi Vo (Tor.com 31 October 2023) “One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023) “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023) 755 ballots cast for 212 nominees. Finalists range 40-117.
Best Short Story “Answerless Journey”, Han Song / 没有答案的航程, 韩松, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers) “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023) “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023) “The Mausoleum’s Children” by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, May-June 2023) “The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare Magazine, October 2023) 美食三品 (“ s”), 宝树 / Baoshu (银河边缘013：黑域密室 / Galaxy’s Edge Vol. 13: Secret Room in the Black Domain) 720 ballots cast for 612 nominees. Finalists range 27-69.
The Adelaide Fan Review 