Hugo History

Christine D. Baker
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Join us in discussing all of the Hugo Award winners beginning in 1953. Updated monthly. SciFi/Fantasy.

  1. 1 hr ago

    ...And Call Me Conrad/This Immortal

    Join us as we discuss one of the Hugo Award winners for 1966 (there was a tie!): Roger Zelazny's ...And Call Me Conrad, which was retitled This Immortal when it was published as a fix-up novel.  Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Evan May, a Canadian fantasy author and historian. He is the author of Easter Pinkerton and the Case of the Heretic Blood. You can find him on Bluesky at @gianttourtiere.bsky.social. From about 3:40 to about 18:50, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Intro sound by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and I try to send out extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!)

    1hr 17min

  2. 11 Jun

    Dune

    Join us as we discuss one of the Hugo Award winners for 1966 (there was a tie!): Frank Herbert's Dune.  Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Stephen Kotowych, who is probably best known for putting together yearly anthologies on the Year's Best Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy. The kickstarter for volume 4 closed in May, but the book should be available to non-backers in early Fall. Stephen is also a SFF writer and has published several award-winning and nominated short stories. (You can find all this info on his website.) You can find him on Bluesky at @ourmankoto.bsky.social. From about 11:54 to about 33:46, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Intro sound by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and I try to send out extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!)

    1hr 25min

  3. 19 May

    The Wanderer

    Join us as we discuss the eleventh Hugo Award winner: Fritz Lieber's The Wanderer. Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Roseanna Pendlebury, who is an incredibly prolific fan writer and nominated for the Hugo for BEST Fan Writer this year. She writes for Nerds of a Feather, Ancillary Review of Books, and on her own blog. You can find her on Bluesky at @chloroformtea.bsky.social. From about 7:30 to about 37:58, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Intro sound by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and I try to send out extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!) Corrections: At some point in the beginning, I am talking Fritz Lieber's other Hugo-winning novel and I accidentally call it The Time War. It's actually called The Big Time. We refer to the pot smoking New Yorkers as Arab Pete and friends, but their names were Arab Jones, High Bundy, and Pepe Martinez. Other nominees this year:  The Whole Man (alt: The Telepathist) by John Brunner [Ballantine, 1964] Davy by Edgar Pangborn [Ballantine, 1964] The Planet Buyer (alt: The Boy Who Bought Old Earth) by Cordwainer Smith [Pyramid, 1964].  Some things we mention:  You can vote for Hugos!  John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary Lieber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, E.E. "Doc" Smith Anne McCaffery, Dragonflight, Book 1 of Dragonriders of Pern series (I have now read this book!) spume Black Dahlia murder They'd Rather Be Right (the second Hugo award winner) Jo Walton's Hugo restrospective  James Nicoll John Scalzi: Redshirts; The Interdependency series; Old Man's War series; Starter Villain

    1hr 28min

  4. 14 Apr

    Way Station

    Join us as we discuss the tenth Hugo Award winner: Clifford D. Simak's Way Station, also known as "Here Gather the Stars."  Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Paul Weimer, who is an incredibly prolific fan writer. He writes for Nerds of a Feather and podcasts at Skiffy and Fanty.  From about 5:30 to about 16:40, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Intro music by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and you'll still get extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!) Some things we mention, more info about some of these in the monthly free email from Patreon:  SF Signal The Functional Nerds  Reactor Barnes and Noble Science Fiction blog Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein [F&SF Jul,Aug,Sep 1963; Putnam, 1963] Witch World by Andre Norton [Ace, 1963]   Dune World by Frank Herbert [Analog Dec 1963,Jan,Feb 1964]  Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963]  Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek Men in Black Simak, The Goblin Reservation Simak, City Simak short story: "The Big Front Yard"  Star Control — sci-fi video games  Walter M Miller, Jr., Canticle for Leibowitz  The Waverlies, Fredric Brown Novels of the Change, also known as the Emberverse Series, by S.M. Stirling    My Fair Lady, a 1956 musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 Pygmalion  Passengers: movie about generation ship "Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly, originally published in the June 1995 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. Philip K. Dick, Man in the High Castle

    1hr 3min

  5. 12 Mar

    Man in the High Castle

    Join us as we discuss the ninth Hugo Award winner: Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Vancouver-based horror writer, Joseph Andre Thomas, who has most recently published a short story in the Between Doorways: explorations into liminal space, a short story collection edited by TJ Price. From about 4:50 to about 21:39, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Hugo Award nominations here.  Did you know that anyone can vote for the Hugos? Did you know that you could nominate Hugo History for Best Fancast? Intro music by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and you'll still get extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!) Some things we mention, more info about some of these in the monthly free email from Patreon:

    1hr 6min

  6. 12 Feb

    Stranger in a Strange Land

    Join us as we discuss the eighth Hugo Award winner: Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.  Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Elias Eells of Bar Cart Bookshelf, where he reviews books and makes cocktails to go with them! You can buy his book, Cocktails and Consoles, whereever books are found. He also has an amazing sounding short story, "The Peacock Wizard and the Cave of the Busty Snake Ladies," in the forthcoming collection Shatter the Sun: Queer Tales of Untold Adventure (edited by dave ring). You can follow him on Bluesky at @eliaseells.bsky.social. From about 13:11 to about 45:40, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Hugo Award nominations here.  Did you know that anyone can vote for the Hugos?  Intro music by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and you'll still get extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!) Some things we mention, more info about some of these in the monthly free email from Patreon:  -A.K. Larkwood, The Unspoken Name -Jen Lyons -Tamsyn Muir -Dune -Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House -Tor Essentials Line -The Hobbit -Psychopomp -Neon Hemlock -Ancillary Review of Books -Nerds of a Feather -John Scalzi -Ursula K LeGuin -Terry Brooks -Prairie Oyster  -L Ron Hubbard, Dianetics  -John Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction -Robert Jackson Bennett, Shadow of the Leviathan series -Shatter the Sun: Queer Tales of Untold Adventure

    1hr 25min

  7. 8 Jan

    Canticle for Leibowitz

    Join us as we discuss the seventh Hugo Award winner: Robert A. Miller's Canticle for Leibowitz.  Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is Josh Nudell, historian and speculative fiction fan. You can find Josh on Bluesky @jpnudell.bsky.social and more of his writing on his website.  From about 6:19 to about 23:53, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  New intro music by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and you'll still get extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!) Some things we mention, more info about some of these in the monthly free email from Patreon:  The Great Gatsby Isaac Asimov, Foundation Series  Farenheit 451 Oral Traditions  The Wandering Jew Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Antipopes. "bicephalous old tomato woman" Benedictines Battle of Monte Cassino Preservation of Knowledge, especially in England and Ireland Everyone who has lived has probably thought of themselves as the most modern: Ashurbanipal II and Cleopatra  "Long history" Hav by Jan Morris — intro by Usula K. LeGuin Monastic movements How the Catholic Church canonizes saints  Dune Sequel to Canticle: Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman Cyclical model of history https://reactormag.com/hugo-nominees-1961/

    1hr 5min

  8. 11/12/2025

    Starship Troopers

    Join us as we discuss the sixth Hugo Award winner: Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers!  Host: Christine D. Baker, a historian who lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find her at @klaxoncomms.com‬ on Bluesky or follow what she's reading at her website: https://klaxoncomms.com/reading/ This month's guest is journalist and long-time Doctor Who podcaster, Warren Frey, @freyburg.bsky.social, from Radio Free Skaro. From about 4:18 to about 27:30, Christine is recapping the book, which has A LOT of spoilers. The rest of the episode isn't spoiler free, but that section goes through the plot in detail.  Some things mentioned in the episode:  Leo Laporte MacBreak  1960 Hugo nominees Proceedings for the Institute for Twenty-First Century Studies Theodore Cogswell Anthony Boucher, founder of SFF Poul Anderson Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll  John Scalzi's Old Man's War Paul Verhoeven Joe Haldeman The Forever War  Jo Walton on the 1960 Hugos: https://reactormag.com/hugo-nominees-1960/ New intro music by Breakz Studios! Come find us on patreon for more info: https://www.patreon.com/cw/hugohistory/posts (Sign up for the free tier and you'll still get extra details, links to references, and images of primary sources!)

    1hr 8min
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About

Join us in discussing all of the Hugo Award winners beginning in 1953. Updated monthly. SciFi/Fantasy.

Information

  • Creator
    Christine D. Baker
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Hugo History

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