Hugo Progress, May 2026

The finalists were announced last month.

I had already read four of the six finalists for Best Novel. (That’s how it worked out last year, too.) The two novels I needed to read were The Raven Scholar and The Everlasting. I have read them now, so I could enter my votes at any time.

However, I’m sitting with my thoughts and mulling on the ranking between The Everlasting and Death of the Author. Both are very good, in different ways and for different reasons.

Meanwhile, I have two and a half months to read in other categories. I have my eye on short stories first, but if I can find time, I could also read the novelettes and novellas. They are, apparently, all in the Voter Packet in at least one format.

I am tempted by the novellas. Out of those six finalists, I have read two. One I liked, and one I very much did not like. I kind of want to vote in that category to do my part to prevent the one I didn’t like from winning. However, my sense of fairness would require me to read the other four before casting a vote.