ravings

Top 5 novels of the 2010s
1. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (2014)
2. Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (2016)
3. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente (2018)
4. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013)
5. The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen trans. (chinese version published in 2008, english 2015)

Honorable mentions- The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (2016), Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2011), We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (2013), The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013), The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012), The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin (2017), The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (2018), Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (2018), 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (2012), New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson (2017), Among Others by Jo Walton (2011)

Top 5 Non-Fiction Books of the 2010s
1. Don't Be a Jerk by Brad Warner (2016)
2. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2011)
3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (2011 in Japan, 2014 in the US)
4. Behave by Robert Sapolsky (2017)
5. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari (2018)

Honorable Mentions- Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor (2010), The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum (2010), Quiet by Susan Cain (2012), Getting More by Stuart Diamond (2010), Flash Boys by Michael Lewis (2015), The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2016), Two Shores of Zen by Jiryu Mark Rutschman-Byler (2010), I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong (2016)

Top 5 Albums of the 2010s
1. The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monae (2010)
2. Oczy Mlody (2017) by The Flaming Lips
3. Aventine by Agnes Obel (2013)
4. 50 Song Memoir by The Magnetic Fields (2017)
5. Dopamine by Borns (2015)

Honorable Mentions- Metal Resistance by Babymetal (2016), Morning Phase by Beck (2014), Year of the Black Rainbow by Coheed and Cambria (2010), Tron: Legacy by Daft Punk (2010), The Terror by The Flaming Lips (2013), Welcome Oblivion by How to Destroy Angels (2013), Hesitation Marks by Nine Inch Nails (2013), The Race for Space by Public Service Broadcasting (2015), Oceania by Smashing Pumpkins (2012), Laminate Pet Animal by Snowmine (2011)

Top 5 Films of the 2010s
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
3. Inception (2010)
4. Arrival (2014)
5. Black Swan (2010)

Honorable Mentions- 12 Years A Slave (2013), Annihilation (2018), Big Hero 6 (2014), Borgman (2013), Coco (2017), Get Out (2017), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spy (2015), I, Tonya (2017), Jumanji (2017), Just Go With It (2011), Knives Out (2019), Looper (2012), Moana (2016), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Mortal Engines (2018), Popstar (2016), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Sorry to Bother You (2018), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Whiplash (2014)

Alright, let's talk about last year's winners, first.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemison won Best Novel, Binti by Nnedi Okorafor won Best Novella, "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfeng (translated by Ken Liu) won Best Novelette, and "Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer won Best Short Story. The only one of these that is at all surprising if you assume the psychology of the majority of voters was "vote for whatever the Rabid Puppies will hate most" is "Folding Beijing," since that was on the Rabid slate, but even that one is not so very surprising, since it likely would have gotten nominated anyway (one anonymous commenter suggested it was on the Rabid slate so they could claim they're not totally racist; they're cool with Asians) and is thematically very much in tune with the Jemison and Okorafor pieces. So, whatever. At least the Rabid Puppies can't really be said to have gotten their way with the winners.

Next up, my personal nominations for this year.

For best novel I nominated All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, Death's End by Cixin Liu, The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu (it puts the "science" in "epic fantasciencey"), and The Monster on the Road is Me by J. P. Romney (a perfect mixture of cleverness and awkwardness). The first two made the final cut, so that's nice.

I didn't read much new short fiction last year, and none of what I did read struck me as award-worthy, so I didn't make any novella, novelette, or short story nominations.

I nominated Arrival for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and two episodes of Black Mirror ("San Junipero" and "Hated in the Nation") for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Arrival and "San Junipero" made the final cut.

Finally, then, initial thoughts on the actual nominations.

Noticeably, there is no more than one obviously Puppy story in each category, which is kind of a relief. But it turns out there was a rule change this year that is kind of convoluted but essentially means that the force of any given vote is divided by the number of other nominations that voter made in the same category. (I might have nominated differently, particularly in the novel category, if I'd realized that earlier.) So the Puppies ended up focusing down on one nominee per category, though they are also claiming this was all according to plan (I guess along the same reasoning it's assumed the 9/11 attackers must be happy about America's apparent slide into autocracy). Whether the rule change will turn out to have been a good idea in the long run, I'm not sure, but the fact that I only have to read one John C. Wright story this year (and a short one at that) feels like a victory.