Ex Urbe

Jo here. I’m delighted to be writing to celebrate that Terra Ignota is nominated for a Best Series Hugo. I feel this is utterly deserved, and hope very much that it will win, though really the nomination is the important part — finding one the best is much harder than finding the five or six best in a year, and I think Terra Ignota is certainly one of the best series of this year, or indeed any year. All four volumes are out now, the series is complete, and, in my opinion, thoroughly excellent. Many thanks to everyone who nominated it, and it’s very exciting to think more people will read it because of the extra attention it will get because of this nomination.

Jo is the one here writing because this is so great and Ada cares so much, and Ada has a disability where extremes of emotion, even good emotions like joy, can send her into a pain spiral that might flatten her for days. She’s just coming off medical leave and getting back to teaching (Papal Election course this quarter!) and starting a new novel (with Vikings!) and she is totally thrilled and excited to have Terra Ignota nominated for a best series Hugo, and she wants to thank everyone who nominated it, and yet she can’t, not the way she wants to engage with it, because if she does she’ll get too ill to work at the things she also really cares about and also really wants to do. This sucks, you know! I’m sure you all understand, or even if you can’t quite understand you’re sympathetic, not judging in any way. But she gets so overwhelmed by this kind of thing that it’s just best if I post an announcement and let you know: she’s really, really pleased, and she’s doing her best to be calm and productive.