Well, this is certainly unexpected. I thought making the New York Times list was the most surprising thing that would happen with Still Just A Geek, but … Still Just A Geek is a finalist for the 2023 Hugo, in the Best Related Work category!
I have been nominated for a few things in my life. I’ve even won a few. But I have not won way more often than I have. Based on my experience, the “I won!” thing is awesome for a short time, but where that euphoria fades quickly, the genuine honor of “I was nominated!” lasts forever. With that in mind, I looked at the other nominees this morning, and … I think it’s very unlikely I’ll be making space for a Hugo statue in my house. But that’s okay! I got to reach out to my TNG family today and tell them about it, and everyone who replied made me feel the love and pride that I imagine kids feel from parents who love them unconditionally.
If Still Just A Geek wins in its category, it’s going to be awesome. I’m not going to lie: I think it would be pretty great if I got to have a Hugo in my house, next to my Tabletop trophies. But if it doesn’t, the excitement, joy, and gratitude I feel that my story even made the finalists this year will never go away, and I get to have that whether I get the statue or not.
Voting on the final ballot begins on July 10, and we’ll find out who gets the award at World Con in October.
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Amazing news! Congratulations 🙂
Yay! Grats!
I am 2/3rds of the way through Still Just a Geek, and am gobsmacked. Very well done!
I’m so damn proud to know you.
Aw, man. Shut up.
Speaking of Scalzi, the episode of The Big Bang Theory with THAT portrait of Wil was on re-run on British TV a few days ago. It’s sort of like a super-secret Easter Egg for us true Will fanbois.
Congratulations – excellent news. 🙂
You’re right…being nominated is the best thing! Winning would be cool as well but even just sitting in a list next to Terry Pratchet is freakin’ awesome!
Wow, congrats Wil! Well deserved. Now to figure out how I can get you to sign my copy…
Congratulations! What awesome news! 🎉
I recently just finished reading ‘Still Just a Geek’ and I wanted to thank you for such an incredible book. I smiled and laughed, yet also got saddened and tearful throughout. Loved the growth and confidence you have gone through and gained, it’s wonderful to see how fulfilling and happy your life has become. And thank you for informing myself, and every other geek out there, that it is okay to love and embrace ourselves in that context. It’s okay have so much love and passion for ‘LOTR’, the wonderful world of books, video games, music, or wrestling (shout out to AEW). Learning to embrace and be proud of who I am.
Amazing! Congrats!
That is awesome! Congratulations.
So proud uncle wil. <3
You are a good human and I learn how to be a better person more from you than my absent parents so thanks for also being my internet dad. You are the best one I have.
Hi Mimi and Wil, I’m catching up on the blog here and saw this comment. I’m way older than Wil and I think of him as my Internet dad AND brother. What a fierce advocate for people who had willfully awful parents, in my case also a father. On Father’s Day (another blog post nearby here by Wil) I nearly come out of my skin when someone at a store says “Happy Father’s Day” to me (thinking I have one I guess, or a good one). A platitude, but a poor one. You don’t know what everyone’s story is and it is a trigger. He’s been long deceased but as with Wil, there are some memories ingrained in you, ones you can’t repeat, one at least I’ve only told a therapist. I have looked up to father figures, a few, my whole life, and it gives me comfort. Wil gives me comfort through the love he has for his family with Anne and his trenchant, intelligent writing. Thank you, Wil. I just wish you’d go a little easier on yourself and let those awful people go.
As for the Hugo award, you deserve all the good and if it doesn’t happen, maybe next time, next book.
Doing the happy dance for you! It is a well written and thought provoking book.
Huge congratulations! It’s such a well deserved nomination ❤️
Nice work.
Congrats! I’ve no vote this year (no intention of going to Chengdu!), but a nomination is cool and a win would be awesome and very well deserved!
FYI for those who don’t know: You don’t have to go to the con to vote for the Hugos. A supporting membership ($50) lets you vote for this year’s finalists and nominate for next year’s. For some people, that’s a lot of money, so if you’re on the fence about a supporting membership, wait for for the Voter’s Packet to come out. That has many (but not all) of the nominated works in it, in whole or in part, that you can download and read. Some years, it’s well worth the money just in terms of the Packet itself. (It had the whole Wheel of Time series in it when Wheel of Time was nominated for Best Series.) Other years, you don’t get quite as much. (And it’s usually the publishers that decide whether or not a finalist is included in the packet, NOT the authors.)
Congratulations!!! I’m very happy for you. 😀
Congratulations, Wil! (And remember that your internet “family” of readers is just as proud of you as your TNG family is!)
As for being nominated, I remember George Bailey proudly proclaiming “I’ve been nominated for membership in the National Geographic Society.” Congratulations!
Congrats Wil!
It’s a bit of a risk of quoting something from Scalzi when he’s popped in here himself, but I’m going to do it. He has said on multiple occasions that, while wining is great and would be preferred, he reminds himself that ALL of the finalists for these awards are really good works and that they ALL are worthy of winning. By getting this far, you’ve already created a work that worthy of winning the Hugo. Now it’s just a matter of finding out which of the worthy entries gets to take home the trophy.
Congratulations & fingers crossed!
“Actor, personality, HUGO NOMINATED AUTHOR, and all-around nerd” – super-happy for you!
(also the Scalzi-Wheaton love is the kind of love that I love)
And kudos to Wil for getting the terminology right – he’s a Hugo Award “finalist,” not a “nominee.” (The terminology was changed a few years ago after one-too-many cases of people with one nomination when the Long List was published – entirely possibly from themselves – describing themselves as “a Hugo Award nominee.” Technically correct, but misleading.)
Congratulations! I’m embarrassed to admit that it never even occurred to me that it could be a nominee for this category.
PLEASE tell us that you’re going to go to the convention in Chengdu. The venue is brand new and looks amazing, and I’d love to hear your take on the whole thing.
I really hope you win. I’m almost done listening to audio book and I love it.
Regardless of the outcome, I just want to say…
– You are an incredible father,
– You are a wonderful writer, and
– You are enough
Reading of this has made my day! I recommend the audiobook verson of Still Just a Geek to everyone.
Yeah! so proud of you. so cool!
I’m so excited for you! This also made me realize I STILL haven’t actually opened the package with my pre-ordered copy. facepalm It’s turned into a sort of ‘In Case of Severe Existential Crisis, Rip Cardboard Tab’ sort of totem in my head, evidently. XD
LeVar must have been especially thrilled: “Our Wil got nominated for a book award!”
Congratulations!
Huge congratulations, Wil! Well deserved!
Howly crappity crap!
That’s fantastic!
Great news! Good luck!
Wil, being a small time author, I’m freaking proud of your new book, and hope huge success for you. Keep it up.
Dear Wil Wheaton,
I wanted to make sure to make this comment on a post about your book. First of all, huge congratulations! This is amazing! I have been reading your book for these last few days and I absolutely think that this nomination is deserved.
Secondly, I heard about Still Just A Geek and, having seen TNG and gotten addicted to Tabletop and listened to your narration of Ready Player One, I knew I needed to read it, so I put in a request at my library – and on my request, they actually bought it, and I am lucky enough to be the first person to ever check it out. This is momentous for me for a reason you probably wouldn’t expect.
In late 2020, when the world was in deep pandemonium, I was involved in a car accident that involved my sedan and a semi truck. I have no memory of the event. I’m still living with the aftereffects. I have metal in me in places I didn’t before. I had to re-learn how to walk. And, most importantly for me anyway, I’m having to re-learn how to read for enjoyment.
I don’t want to go into my laundry list of injuries because they creep people out and it’s too damned long to really go into, but I will mention the one here that’s pertinent: my traumatic brain injury. TBIs don’t tend to heal. You end up with them forever. But your brain can learn to function around them for the most part – yay for human neuroplasticity. One of the things I lost with my injury was the ability to maintain focus long enough to actually read. Specifically, I mean reading text. Like, you know, the thing books are made of.
After two years of effort, I managed to regain enough focus to read graphic novels and manga, so I’ve been able to delve back into things like ElfQuest and Vinland Saga. I would keep trying to check out books when I visited the library (I’m a regular; libraries are awesome) and found many I would’ve loved to actually take in, but I’d find myself skipping over entire paragraphs, my brain erasing the text in between, and I couldn’t retain any of the information I’d tried so hard to take in. So, even though I’d gotten my library to buy your book and even though I went home so happy to have it in my hands, I was terrified my brain would do the same thing it’d done so far and only take in bits and pieces as I read through.
This morning, I sat for five hours and actually read through two thirds of your book. I had music playing in the background to soothe what feels like ADHD, and I actually read your book. I have retained information from your book. Your writing, which is so beautifully conversational and so relatable that it feels like talking with an old friend, managed to get through the brain fog that my TBI has left me with. It’s just a start, it’s true. It’s one book, but it’s one book more than I’ve been able to read in three years, and I wanted to tell you that your work has made that difference for me.
Thank you for writing Still Just A Geek, and for being that geek, that human, that so-relatable personality that I know has reached more people than me. You do good things, sir, and I’m glad you’re here.
Thank you for sharing your story with me. I wish you continued, gentle, healing. I hope you enjoy the rest of my story.
Dear Wil Wheaton,
I am a long time fan that lives in Australia. I have been watching Trek since I can remember, starting with TMP back in 1980 with my mum on an early Betamax (!).
I’m 49 and have been a Paramedic since 2003. My love of Science was encouraged and focused while watching you and your friends on TNG solve problems and help those in need.
I have long suffered from crippling anxiety and depression, but managed to push through that and take on an amazing but sometimes very emotionally taxing role in my community. I like to think that I’ve treated everyone I have met with compassion, empathy and kindness. I firmly believe that Trek has shown me that being the best version of yourself is the best way to approach the world.
Unfortunately, back in 2018 I had a very heavy patient fall on me and cause severe spine and shoulder injuries that have caused me ongoing crippling pain that never goes away. I have had countless surgeries and treatments and the pain, last week, finally beat me.
I tried to hang myself.
I woke up in Hospital with an hysterical family, a very sore neck, and the very real anguish that I have to keep suffering for longer. I was devastated.
The doctors moved me into an Adult Acute Psychiatric wing where some medication trial and error has reduced my pain to about half of what it was. I can breathe again. I can see some small, tiny distant faint star of hope in a very black sky.
I am doing better, but today had a huge fight with my wife (who is amazing, but having to deal with watching me self destruct has been awful for her). I was sitting in my room at the ward today and just wanted it all to stop (again). I had a plan, the pills and the motivation to finally get out.
I would do it tonight.
Then, quite by accident I came across your “WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER” skit (fucking rolling on the floor btw). I thought, “This guy is amazing and funny and wise” and I felt like you too had struggles with your own demons of anxiety and depression and I wanted to hear your story.
So I started to read your blog and then decided to get “Still just a geek”. What I’ve read here resonated has with me so much I’ve just been sitting here crying, laughing and nodding through the whole darn thing.
I felt seen. I feel heard.
I called my wife and kids. I spoke about how I feel and how much I want them in my life and how much I want to keep living and trying to get better and live with this. We’re working on stuff.
So today I chose to live. I want to be the best husband and father I can be. I want to see my kids grow up, fuck up, learn, love and live. And I want you to know how your stories have made me feel. How much they resonated and affected me.
Words are inadequate to thank you, as you undoubtedly already know, but I thought you might like to know how much your stories have meant to me today.
You saved my life and I will always be grateful for these right words at this right time.
Take care Mr Wheaton and LLAP.