My 2015 Hugo Awards Ballot

Tonight (July 31) at midnight PDT is the deadline for voting in the Hugo Awards, which celebrate science fiction and fantasy. I'm short on time today, so I'm mostly keeping this post to a list of my votes. If you're curious why I voted "No Award" so many times, The Guardian posted a pretty good summary of the issues today, and File 770 has a fairly comprehensive log of the ongoing debate between what I'll call the reactionaries and the futurists. I'll just say I appreciate multiple viewpoints and fiction that reflects some thoughtfulness about issues, as opposed to straight action-adventures steeped in one dominant mindset. Also, I strongly favor voting one's conscience as opposed to slate voting designed to crowd out independent thinking.


Notes:
I'm leaving out any work to which I didn't assign a rank, which includes almost everything below "No Award."
Robert J. Bennett's "City of Stairs" was actually my favorite novel of 2014, but it wasn't on the ballot. My first and second votes in that category could easily have been reversed.

Best Novel
    Rank        
    2        Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
    3        The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (Tor Books)
    5        Skin Game by Jim Butcher (Roc Books)
    1        Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books)
    4        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Novella
    Rank        ----------------------------
        1        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Novelette
    Rank        ----------------------------
      1        The Day the World Turned Upside Down by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Lightspeed, April 2014)
      2        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Short Story
    Rank        ----------------------------
      1        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Related Work
    Rank        ----------------------------
        1        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Graphic Story
    Rank        ----------------------------
    1        Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt  (Marvel Comics)
    2        Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery written by Kurtis J. Weibe, art by Roc Upchurch (Image Comics)
    4        Saga Volume 3 written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
    3        Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick written by Matt Fraction, art by Chip Zdarsky (Image Comics)
    5        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
    Rank        ----------------------------
    1        Captain America: The Winter Soldier screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, concept and story by Ed Brubaker, directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (Marvel Entertainment, Perception, Sony Pictures Imageworks)
  ----------------------------------------
Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
   (didn't vote at all)
----------------------------------------
Best Professional Editor (Short Form)
    Rank        ----------------------------
        1        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Professional Editor (Long Form)
    Rank        ----------------------------
      1        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Professional Artist
    Rank        ----------------------------
    1        Julie Dillon 
    2        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Semiprozine
    Rank        ----------------------------
    3        Beneath Ceaseless Skies Scott H. Andrews
    1        Lightspeed Magazine John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Rich Horton, Wendy N. Wagner, and Christie Yant
    2        Strange Horizons Niall Harrison
    4        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Fanzine
    Rank        ----------------------------
    3        Black Gate John O'Neill
    1        Journey Planet James Bacon, Chris Garcia, Alissa McKersie, Colin Harris and Helen Montgomery
    2        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Fancast
    Rank        ----------------------------
    1        Galactic Suburbia Podcast Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)
    2        Tea and Jeopardy Emma Newman & Peter Newman
    3        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Fan Writer
   Rank        ----------------------------
    1        Laura J. Mixon 
    2        No Award
----------------------------------------
Best Fan Artist
    Rank        ----------------------------
    2        Ninni Aalto 
    3        Brad Foster 
    1        Elizabeth Leggett 
    5        Spring Schoenhuth 
    4        Steve Stiles 
----------------------------------------
The John W. Campbell Award (not a Hugo)
    Rank        ----------------------------
    1        Wesley Chu 
    2        No Award


More notes:
"Skin Game" was fun but not Butcher's best work, and he was listed on the slate that I oppose.
I haven't seen 3/5 of the movies, but I can't imagine that I would have liked any of them better than "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." "Guardians of the Galaxy" was great fun, but there was one really jarring moment; I might have ended up liking something else better.
I haven't seen any of the short-form dramas, so I didn't vote there.
I've read some of Black Gate's pieces and enjoyed them, and the editor apparently got caught up unawares in the controversy. I'd rather that one win than any of the other slate nominees in Best Fanzine, so I gave it a ranked vote below No Award even though he withdrew from consideration (past the deadline).