While strippers and T. rex sex aren’t usually the first things that come to mind for science fiction; they are two of the hot topics for the 2017 Hugo Award nominations. This year’s sci-fi fiction and fantasy works awards will be doled out at the 75th World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki, Finland, on August 11, 2017, and will be split up between a record-breaking 108 finalists.
And while there’s a lot going on here, there are a couple big things to pay attention to. First off is Kameron Hurley’s The Geek Feminist Revolution, nominated for Best Related Work. It’s a collection of essays about, yes, geeky feminism. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle is basically H.P. Lovecraft with a twist and is nominated for Best Novella. Then there’s All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, nominated for Best Novel, which follows the story of a witch who can communicate with animals.
But, really, the surprise finalist comes in the form of the self-published Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex by Stix Hiscock (yes, that’s a pen name), which is nominated for Best Novelette and is exactly what it says it is. It’s the story of a stripper wanting to have sex with a T. rex and deciding whether to do so or stay true to the “tentacle monster” from her home planet. No one ever said science fiction couldn’t have a weird, disturbing sense of humor. In fact, it often does.
The 2017 Hugo Awards winners will be announced August 11.
