Pretty Poison

james_davis_nicoll has put up the list of 2026 Hugo Winners.

I never did get around to posting any of my reading; rather than do a comprehensive post, I'm going to do a brief commentary on the winners vs my feelings (either about the winner or the category); this is mostly for my records

• Best novel: I started two, finished zero, did not vote. The winner, The Everlasting is not one of the two I started.
• Best novella: I started all six, finished four. The winner, The River has Roots is one of the two I did not finish, and I liked it less than the other I did not finish. My preferred was the Kingfisher, What Stalks the Deep.
• Best Novelette: I started all six, finished five*. The winner, "Never Eaten Vegetables" was my stand out fave, the first thing I read for the Hugos, and oh, it was soooooo good.
• Best Short Story: Somehow, I missed reading/voting in this category. I don't remember why, at this point, given that my last votes went in 7 hours before deadline. I have no thoughts on the winner, "In My Country".
• I did not attempt voting in the Best Series, Best Graphic Story or Comic, the Best Related Work (of which I'm aware of the spreadsheet of doom), either of the Dramatic Presentation, or the Games categories. If I had had the time, I would have attempted at least the Graphic Story/Comic and/or the Related work. I was entirely uninspired by any of the best series. As is usual, I have seen none of the best dramatic nominees and played none of the games.
• I never vote in the editor categories, I do not understand them.
• Best professional artist: I spent a reasonable amount of time enjoying the artworks selected. I ranked the winner, John Picacio, second; I liked the work of Kelly Chong more.
• I had no energy for the semiprozine and fanzine categories. I've certainly looked at some of the nominees in each category this year, and maybe I should have taken an hour to think about them rather than reading something that was annoying me, but I didn't. I quite like Uncanny, winner of the semiprozine; I have previously bounced hard off Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, winner of the fanzine category.
• Best Fancast: I listen to three of these regularly so I ranked them, I have bounced off two previously and didn't rank them, and I made an attempt to listen to the sixth one and failed, so didn't rank it. But I do care enough about this category to vote even though I hadn't listened to the last one. The winner, Hugo, Girl! is one of the ones I have tried and abandoned. My preference is for Worldbuilding for Masochists, although the production quality on the most recent I tried to listen to was so bad I couldn't play it in the car, because one of the presenters was inaudible.
• Best Fan writer: I follow two of these, who got my first and second place votes. I had previously read some by at least one of the others--that plus a bit of reading here didn't change that ranking. The winner, Jason Sanford, only ranks four for me. I think Örjan Westin misses out because their fanbase is younger / on platforms that trend younger.
• Best Fan Artist: As with the professional artist, I spent a pleasant bit of time appreciating the art. The winner, Yuumei, is my second ranked. I liked the work of Geneva Bowers better.
• Best Poem: look, poetry and I are not great mates, but it was six poems and not that much time. Even still, I found one unreadable. Of the five I finished / ranked, I thought the winner "Hex Supply Customer Support Log" was doggerl; I liked "The Mourning Robot" significantly more than any of the others because it did lovely things with language, which is my personal standard for poems. (my notes on one of the others was 'sentences with line breaks')
• Lodestar: Like the novels, I didn't have time. I have no notes, and no memory of them, so I suspect I didn't start any. Which is a shame, I really want to read They Bloom At Night. I have no feelings about the winner, Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe
• Astounding: I got a bit of reading done here, but only voted for one, HH Pak, because I loved the novelette so much. From what I've read of the Antonia Hodgson's (the winner) novel, they can also write, but I wasn't grabbed by it in the same way.

* here, the unfinished was one I loathed.