Thank you for your consideration

We are profoundly grateful to be on the Hugo Award shortlist in the fanzine category.

We both want to thank everyone
who put us on their
Hugo nominating ballots.
(Photo by Abdul Malik)

Thank you to everyone who put us on their nominating ballot, and thank you to everyone who has been reading our blog.

This is an affirmation of the work that goes into our passion project because it’s evidence that our writing is connecting with people.

In a (pandemic) year that has presented challenges, it has been particularly nice to have a community of fans with whom to exchange ideas, to engage in respectful debate, and share a love of science fiction and its history.

It is a true honour to have our names inscribed into Hugo history alongside such luminaries as Charles Lee Riddle, Anton Lee Baker, Henry Still, and Frank Riley. 

Although the majority of the work maintaining the blog is done by Olav and Amanda, much of the content is informed by discussion and debate with the rest of the book club and other contributors. Among the people whose contributions should be recognized are: Marshall Boyd, Brian Gooyers, Kateryna Barnes, Christy Foley, Kennith Stasiuk, Sonya Betz, Michael Hoskin, Earl Prusak, Paul Senior, and Daniel Calder.

In general, our book club meets once a month to discuss a recent Hugo-eligible SFF book. Based on that discussion, we draft a review and share it with other book club members for feedback before posting it on the blog. Sometimes, an initial draft of a blog post is written by the person in the book club who enjoyed the book the most. One example from this year is The Vanished Birds Soars — a review of a book which was championed by Marshall.

Here are some of our 2020 highlights:

• Hugo Cinema Club — In which some of us began watching all the Hugo-shortlisted dramatic presentations in chronological order. 
• The Movement of Goods in Science Fiction — In this post (for which Androids & Assets podcaster Marshall Boyd gets a lot of credit), we argue that space opera often presents depictions of trade that reflect assumptions tied into neoliberal hegemony. 
• The Phoenix Farce — In which we criticized the increasing prevalence of quick-and-easy resurrection as a trope in science fiction and fantasy. 
• Science Fiction Canon — A comedic piece written in response to the many “best novels of science fiction” lists that somehow manage to exclude non-white, non-male authors. 
• As well, we would like to note that although the post is dated from 2018, our ever-evolving list of SFF works that depict labour unions and workers’ rights grew considerably in 2020.

Again. Thank you to everyone who included us on their nominating ballots. We would particularly like to thank Cora Buhlert, Paul Weimer, and previous fanzine Hugo finalist Gideon Marcus, all of whom have recommended this blog.

This year's ballot for Fanzine is filled with fantastic works. It's delightful to be listed alongside Alasdair Stuart and Marguerite Kenner's awesome The Full Lid,  the always-excellent Journey Planet, our estimable friends at Nerds of a Feather, Charles Payseur's lovely Quick Sip Reviews, and the phenomenal team at Lady Business.