In the interest of facilitating the evaluation of Hugo Award nominated stories on their own merits, especially by folks who may not be willing and/or able to attend Worldcon/Sasquan in person or pay $40 for a supporting-voting membership and the review package that comes with it,** here are links to the fiction nominees (short story, novelette, novella, novel), several of which may be read for free online, in whole or in part. If any more stories are offered for open public reading later, I’ll update the applicable links.
When you total the cost of the stories not available for free reading, the $40 begins to look like a bargain—and you get to vote, too.
**Note that the review package provided by Sasquan will likely not include all nominated works, which are made available solely with the permission and at the discretion of their publishers. It may, however, include nominees in other categories, such as the art and graphic novel divisions.
SHORT STORY
“Turncoat,” by Steve Rzasa
“Totaled,” by Kary English
“On a Spiritual Plain,” by Lou Antonelli
“The Parliament of Beasts and Birds,” by John C. Wright
“A Single Samurai,” by Steven Diamond (in The Baen Big Book of Monsters, edited by Hank Davis)
“Goodnight Stars,” by Annie Bellet (This one you’ll have to buy as part of The End is Now, an anthology of apocalyptic stories edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey)
UPDATE (15 April 2015): Ms. Bellet has withdrawn her story from the Hugo ballot. Details here. However, John Joseph Adams has posted “Goodnight Stars” on the anthology website, for free reading in a variety of formats.
UPDATE (16 April 2015) Steven Diamond’s short story, “A Single Samurai,” has assumed the ballot position vacated by “Goodnight Stars.”
NOVELETTE
“Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium,” by Gray Rinehart
“Championship B’TOK,” by Edward M. Lerner (No, Klingonophiles, that’s not p’tok / petaQ, which I understand means something completely different.)
“The Journeyman: In the Stone House,” by Michael F. Flynn (You can also find a substantial excerpt from another story in Flynn’s Journeyman series, as an online preview from Analog’s July/August 2014 issue, here)
“The Triple Sun: A Golden Age Tale,” by Rajnar Vajra
“The Day the World Turned Upside Down,” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Lia Belt translator)
“Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus,” by John C. Wright (Available at Amazon.com as part of the author’s anthology, The Book of Feasts and Seasons.)
UPDATE (14 April 2015): The John C. Wright novelette has been disqualified from Hugo consideration due to previous web publication. This brings Mr. Heuvelt’s story onto the ballot. The story is available for free online reading via Lightspeed Magazine (click the link above). Mr. Heuvelt was also nominated for a Hugo in 2013 for his short story, “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket.”
NOVELLA
“Big Boys Don’t Cry,” by Tom Kratman (Available at Amazon.com.)
“Flow,” by Arlan Andrews, Sr.
“One Bright Star to Guide Them,” by John C. Wright (Available at Amazon.com.)
“Pale Realms of Shade,” by John C. Wright (Available at Amazon.com as part of the author’s anthology, The Book of Feasts and Seasons.)
“The Plural of Helen of Troy,” by John C. Wright (Available at Amazon.com as part of the author’s anthology, City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis.)
NOVEL (all links are to vendors)
Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
The Dark Between the Stars, by Kevin J. Anderson
The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette)
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu (Ken Liu translator)
Lines of Departure, by Marko Kloos
Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher
UPDATE (15 April 2015): Mr. Kloos has withdrawn his story from the Hugo ballot. Details here.
UPDATE (16 April 2015): The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, replaces Lines of Departure. The Hugo administrators announced today that the final ballot is enroute to the printer, and there will be no further changes. Analog Magazine has also posted copies of its Hugo-nominated novelettes by Lerner, Flynn, and Vajra, and the novella by Andrews, in PDF format for free reading. Links updated above.
Frederation 