Ranking and reviewing the best speculative fiction books of 2021! Here's the extremely abridged version of the list, with a one sentence summary of each:

6. Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - A murder mystery set in a steampunk version of Cairo with lots of genies. 

5. The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers - A bunch of aliens are stuck at an interstellar truck stop, hanging out with a cute kangaroo. 

4. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - Mulan, but Mulan acts more like Walter White from Breaking Bad. 

3. A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine - Translator needed to talk with scary aliens, but everyone has an ulterior motive. 

2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - A high school science teacher is alone in space trying to save the world - no pressure. 

1. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki - A young trans woman meets a violin teacher who owes the devil seven souls - oh and the donut lady down the block is a starship captain too. 

If you're excited about this year's Hugo, you can vote if you want to! You can either attend the annual convention, or buy a supporting membership for $50 to be able to vote. If you want to vote or attend, you can get your membership here: https://registration.chicon.org/memberships 

And if you are going to the convention, please drop us a line and let us know! We'll be there running a red carpet and interviewing authors, and we'd love to meet all the rest of the Hugonauts from around the world too! Shoot us a DM on twitter or instagram, or send us an email to [email protected] to let us know you'll be in Chicago.

Happy reading y'all!