Hugo Voter Packet 2014

After all the excitement/exhaustion of Blogger Con and BEA 2014, we’ve got more exciting news to share. *Drumroll please*

The Hugo Voter Packet for 2014 is now available for download! What does that mean? Why, it means you can check out the top 10 articles/posts that we Book Smugglers chose to put in front of the Hugo-voting members of the World Science Fiction Convention! Not a voting member? NO PROBLEM. You can download our own PDF-ified submission packet below.

Prefer to read the original content as it lives on the blog? No problem! We’re putting up the TOC – and our written introduction to the Hugo voters – here, too.

Introduction Letter

Dear Hugo Voter,

In 2008, we would have laughed if you told us that we would be nominated for a Hugo Award. Yet… here we are. This is real. This is happening. In addition to the surprise and the sense of pride that we feel, we are above of all thankful to those who nominated us for Best Fanzine.

For those who haven’t the faintest idea who we are, however, please allow us to introduce ourselves:

Like many foolhardy ideas, The Book Smugglers was born of a time of great adversity. Faced with threats from our significant others concerning the overwhelming volume of books purchased on a daily basis, Ana Grilo (UK-based Brazilian) and Thea James (US-based Filipino-American) resorted to “smuggling” books home in huge handbags to avoid scrutiny. In 2008, we founded The Book Smugglers – a review blog dedicated to speculative and genre fiction for all ages, and an outlet for our bottomless obsession with books and assorted SFF popgeekery.

For nearly seven years, we’ve published daily posts on The Book Smugglers, from our trademark incisive reviews to author articles and blogger essays. We’ve hosted interviews, giveaways, and round-up articles. We take pride in our consistency and our uncompromising criticism of genre fiction. More importantly, we are passionate about diversity and inclusivity, especially when it comes to speculative fiction fandom.

In this packet, you’ll find seven of our regular reviews (both of the solo and joint/conversational variety), and a selection of three guest posts published on The Book Smugglers in the past year. This includes entries in two features we launched in 2013: SFF in Conversation (a monthly feature in which we invite guests to talk about a variety of topics important to the SFF community, with a special focus on inclusivity and diversity) and Old School Wednesdays (a weekly feature in which we take a break from the new and shiny to review books that are at least 5 years old).

We sincerely hope you enjoy these posts. Thanks for reading!

Ana and Thea
Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Table of Contents

Joint Review: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
By Ana & Thea | Originally Posted 10/4/2013

Book Review: Orleans by Sherri L. Smith
By Thea | Originally Posted 3/12/2013

September Girls by Bennett Madison: Not A Sexist Book
By Ana | Originally Posted 6/20/2013

Smugglivus Guest Blogger: Gender Parity and Cover Art
By Justin Landon | Originally Posted 12/13/2013

Jack Glass by Adam Roberts: An Impossible Book
By Ana | Originally Posted 7/5/2013

Old School Wednesdays: Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes
By Thea | Originally Posted 5/1/2013

SFF in Conversation: Dragons, Heroes & Spaceships – Pushing Against Received Narratives
By Aliette de Bodard | Originally Posted 5/9/2013

Halloween Week Review: The Small Hand and Dolly by Susan Hill
By Thea & Ana | Originally Posted 10/25/2013

Inheritance: Malinda Lo on (Bisexual) Love Triangles
By Malinda Lo | Originally Posted 9/24/2013

Joint Review: Sorrow’s Knot by Erin Bow
By Thea & Ana | Originally Posted 10/21/2013

Oh, yeah, and if you’re interested in reading those OTHER folks nominated for Best Fanzine, you can do that, too. Good luck, Journey Planet, Elitist Book Reviews, Pornokitsch and A Dribble of Ink. Pfft. Whatever.