For the second year in a row, nominations for the prestigious Hugo Awards for science fiction & fantasy have been swept by the Sad Puppies & Rabid Puppies, two groups of authors and fans who oppose left-wing domination of the community.
The Sad Puppies were formed in 2013 by bestselling author Larry Correia, amidst growing domination of the Hugo Awards by left-wing cliques — who, in 2012, successfully agitated for the cancellation of an appearance by British comedian Jonathan Ross at the awards due to fears that the entertainer might make a “fat-shaming” joke.
Correia, along with a number of other conservative and libertarian-leaning authors, contended that a large chunk of Hugo voters voted on the basis of authors’ personal political beliefs rather than the quality of their writing. The Sad Puppies aimed to change that, by nominating authors on the basis of perceived quality rather than perceived politics. The Puppies have a particular opposition to “message fiction” — works that are primarily intended to convey a political message rather than tell a good story.
Correia’s Sad Puppies, in 2015, were joined by the Rabid Puppies — a nominations slate organized by Theodore Beale (pen name Vox Day). At the time, Day summed up the goal of his campaign as follows:
We value excellence in actual science fiction and fantasy, rather than excellence in intersectional equalitarianism, racial and gender inclusion, literary pyrotechnics, or professional rabbitology.
That year, authors nominated by the Sad & Rabid Puppies campaigns swept several categories in the Hugo Awards, leading to outrage from progressive journalists and commentators. In an article that had to undergo several substantial corrections, pop culture news site Entertainment Weekly even accused the campaigns of being motivated by racism and sexism.
This year, the Sad and Rabid Puppies have done it again. Ten out of fifteen Hugo Award categories have been completely dominated by Puppy-endorsed nominees — double what the campaigns achieved in 2015. The Puppies have also secured three out of five nominations for Best Novel, three out of four nominations for Best Short-Form Dramatic Presentation, and three out of five nominations for Best Long-Form Editor.
In total, the Rabid Puppies swept six categories on their own, while a combination of Sad & Rabid puppy nominations swept a further four.
Some of the Rabid Puppies nominations this year — such as a My Little Pony episode for Best Short-Form Dramatic Presentation and a porn parody in Best Short Story — seem clearly intended as troll options, a demonstration of the Puppies’ power to exert their will on the awards.
Last year, progressives in sci-fi responded by denying any of the Puppy nominees an award. At the annual World Science Fiction Convention, where final votes are cast, attendees voted for the option of “No Award” in categories where Puppy-supported works had dominated. In all five Puppy-dominated categories, “No Award” won — a record in the history of the awards.
It remains to be seen if the same will happen in 2016, but it seems certain that this year’s Hugo Awards will be every bit as tumultuous as the last.
The full list of 2016 Hugo Awards nominees is copied below. Rabid Puppies-backed nominees have been marked with an “R,” while Sad Puppies-backed nominees have been marked with an “S.”
NOVEL
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
(R,S) The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
(R) Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
(S) Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
NOVELLA
(S) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
(R,S) The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
(R,S) Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
(R,S) Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
(R,S) Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)
NOVELETTE
(S) “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb2015)
(R) “Flashpoint: Titan” by CHEAH Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
(R,S) “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)
(R,S) “Obits” by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)
(R) “What Price Humanity?” by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
SHORT STORY
(R,S) “Asymmetrical Warfare” by S. R. Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)
(R) The Commuter by Thomas A. Mays (Stealth)
(R) “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris (voxday.blogspot.com, Jun 2015)
(R) “Seven Kill Tiger” by Charles Shao (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)
(R) Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle (Amazon Digital Services)
RELATED WORK
(R) Between Light and Shadow: An Exploration of the Fiction of Gene Wolfe, 1951 to 1986 by Marc Aramini (Castalia House)
(R,S) “The First Draft of My Appendix N Book” by Jeffro Johnson (jeffro.wordpress.com)
(R,S) “Safe Space as Rape Room” by Daniel Eness (castaliahouse.com)
(R) SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day (Castalia House)
(R) “The Story of Moira Greyland” by Moira Greyland (askthebigot.com)
GRAPHIC STORY
(R) The Divine written by Boaz Lavie, art by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka (First Second)
(R) Erin Dies Alone written by Grey Carter, art by Cory Rydell (dyingalone.net)
(R) Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams (ffn.nodwick.com)
(R) Invisible Republic Vol 1 written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, art by Gabriel Hardman (Image Comics)
(R) The Sandman: Overture written by Neil Gaiman, art by J.H. Williams III (Vertigo)
DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG FORM)
(R) Avengers: Age of Ultron written and directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Ex Machina written and directed by Alex Garland (Film4; DNA Films; Universal Pictures)
(S) Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures; Kennedy Miller Mitchell; RatPac-Dune Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures)
(R,S) The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)
(S) Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm Ltd.; Bad Robot Productions; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM)
Doctor Who: “Heaven Sent” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay (BBC Television)
(R) Grimm: “Headache” written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, directed by Jim Kouf(Universal Television; GK Productions; Hazy Mills Productions; Open 4 Business Productions; NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile” written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television; ABC Studios; Tall Girls Productions;Netflix)
(R,S) My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: “The Cutie Map” Parts 1 and 2 written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller (DHX Media/Vancouver; Hasbro Studios)
(R) Supernatural: “Just My Imagination” written by Jenny Klein, directed by Richard Speight Jr. (Kripke Enterprises; Wonderland Sound and Vision; Warner Bros. Television)
BEST EDITOR – SHORT FORM
(S) John Joseph Adams
Neil Clarke
Ellen Datlow
(R,S) Jerry Pournelle
Sheila Williams
BEST EDITOR – LONG FORM
Liz Gorinsky
(R) Vox Day
Sheila E. Gilbert
(R,S) Jim Minz
(R,S) Toni Weisskopf
BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
(R) Lars Braad Andersen
(R,S) Larry Elmore
(R,S) Abigail Larson
(R) Michal Karcz
(R) Larry Rostant
BEST SEMIPROZINE
(R,S) Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews, Nicole Lavigne, and Kate Marshall
(R,S) Daily Science Fiction edited by Michele-Lee Barasso and Jonathan Laden
(R,S) Sci Phi Journal edited by Jason Rennie
(R) Strange Horizons edited by Catherine Krahe, Julia Rios, A. J. Odasso, Vanessa Rose Phin,Maureen Kincaid Speller, and the Strange Horizons staff
Uncanny Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, and Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky
BEST FANZINE
(R) Black Gate edited by John O’Neill
(R) Castalia House Blog edited by Jeffro Johnson
(R,S) File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
(R,S) Superversive SF edited by Jason Rennie
(R,S) Tangent Online edited by Dave Truesdale
BEST FANCAST
(R) 8-4 Play, Mark MacDonald, John Ricciardi, Hiroko Minamoto, and Justin Epperson
(R) Cane and Rinse, Cane and Rinse
(R,S) HelloGreedo, HelloGreedo
(R) The Rageaholic, RazörFist
(R) Tales to Terrify, Stephen Kilpatrick
BEST FAN WRITER
(R) Douglas Ernst
(S) Mike Glyer
(R) Morgan Holmes
(R,S) Jeffro Johnson
(R) Shamus Young
JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (1922 ballots)
(R) Pierce Brown
(R,S) Sebastien de Castell
(R,S) Brian Niemeier
(R,S) Andy Weir
(S) Alyssa Wong
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