Saturdays in Books

This is part of a series of posts reviewing categories in this year's Hugo ballot. I'll be discussing the entries, the voter packet, and my ballot. I've nominated and voted most years since 2011, when I figured out that all I had to do was join Worldcon to get to do so. 

This is always an interesting category. Some nominees are professional writers who also write about fandom or review works on their blogs. It tends to be a wide range. In a rare occurrence, I'm actually familiar with each of the nominees.

Camestros Felapton - Primarily known for his humorous dismissals of puppy logic, his blog is almost more performance art than essay. I enjoy his work quite a bit, but am I interested in rewarding a troll? Even if he's my troll?

Sarah Gailey - Her facing facts essay is great. Her other two essays, less so. Or maybe they're just on topics I've spent more time considering so they don't seem as fresh.

Mike Glyer - Mike continues to pour an enormous amount of work every day to covering fandom on File 770. I read his site frequently and have linked to it more than a few times.

Foz Meadows - I really hope Meadows is on the ballot again next year. Her critique of Last Jedi is fantastic, but isn't eligible for this year's award. Her long form analysis posts are consistently insightful and entertaining.  This one was included in the packet, and is probably my favorite.

Charles Payseur - Payseur is one of a small number of high output short fiction reviewers. The voter packet included several works, but the best were an essay from his review website that I hadn't previously read about smutty SF and a review of one of the YA nominees.

Bogi Takács - I mostly see Takács's writing on twitter, doing recommendations lists or long threads of observations that generally give me a lot to think about. The voter packet includes an essay and several reviews. The essay is outstanding, an analysis of the superhero registration trope as it relates to historical contexts and how it's become an anti-union power fantasy to some. 

This is a pretty strong group. I'll probably re-order these a few times. At the moment, Takács is in the first slot, followed by Meadows, Payseur, Glyer, and Gailey.