Every year, the Hugo Awards are given in various categories for the best science fiction and fantasy of the year before.  They are awarded at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), which will be held this year in August in Reno, Nevada.

The Hugo Awards cover a wide range of material--from Best Short Story to Best Editor (both short and long form) to Best Professional Artist to Best Fanzine.  While we'd love to be able to highlight all of these categories, here at Fantasy Matters we are going to focus on one category in particular--Best Novel.

This year, the nominees for Best novel include:

• Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)
• Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
• Feed by Mira Grant (Orbit)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

To honor these nominees, and to celebrate the Hugo Awards in general, we are going to feature a review of one of the nominees for Best Novel every day this week.  Peter McClean kicks things off for us this afternoon with his review of The Dervish House. (Disclaimer: Not all reviewers have read all the nominated works; each review should be taken on its own terms, rather than in comparison with the other reviews.)

We would also like to remind you that you can still vote for your choices for the Hugos--you must be a member of Renovation to vote, but purchasing the lowest level of membership will get you an electronic packet filled with all the nominated works.  Membership information is available here.  You have until July 31, 2011 to vote, so take some time this week to see what we think, read a few things for yourself, and make your own selections!

Happy reading!