Journey Press Illustrator is Youngest Hugo Finalist Ever
Comic artist Lorelei Esther, illustrator for The Kitra Saga, is the youngest Hugo Finalist in the history of the award. On April 7, 2022, Lorelei was selected for the Fan Artist category for her unpaid works, including her celebratory pictures of DC Comics characters Tim Drake and Jon Kent’s official coming out.
The Hugo Awards are the Oscars of Science Fiction. Regularly since 1955, science fiction fans have cast their votes for their favorite authors and artists in categories like Best Novel, Best Short Story, etc. The Fan Artist category dates back to 1967, when fan/pro artist Jack Gaughan got the first award.
There have been young Hugo Finalists before – Robert Silverberg, who was 20 in 1956 when he was nominated for (and won) Most Promising New Writer, and Ron Smith, who was 19 when he was nominated for Best Fan Writer the same year. For 65 years, their record stood.
But Lorelei has set a new record, one which isn’t likely to be topped any time soon. She just turned 18 last month, which means the work that qualified her for this prestigious honor was all done before she’d even reached majority!
It is perhaps no surprise that she is receiving such laurels so young – Lorelei had an early start. By the time she was 7, she had already composed the comic Blue Bird. This first work impressed the folks at DC so much that Scott Snyder, the writer for Batman, created a superhero named Bluebird in honor of Lorelei’s creation!
Since then, Lorelei has worked tirelessly to improve her skills, even as physical disabilities affecting her hands impaired the creative process. At the age of 15, she embarked on her professional career, illustrating the YA novel, Kitra. Her work can also be found in Sirena and the upcoming Rogues in the House fantasy anthology, as well as the bookplate and shelf talker art that accompanies Journey Press titles.
It is likely that this Hugo nomination will be just the first of many honors. Lorelei has also secured many fans with her singer-songwriting skills as well as her writing. In fact, Lorelei was a co-Hugo Finalist last year in the Best Fanzine category for her work on the 4x Hugo nominee, Galactic Journey.
We at Journey Press are honored as anything to have Lorelei associated with our publishing house!
Authors Gideon Marcus, Janice L. Newman celebrate 4th Hugo nom
For the fourth time since 2018, the time-travel website Galactic Journey, founded by Gideon Marcus, and edited/contributed to by Janice L. Newman, has been nominated for the Best Fanzine Hugo.
Galactic Journey is a time machine to 55 years ago. Its writers live in the past, day-by-day, writing about science fiction, the space race, and much more. For them, today is April 10, 1967; yesterday was the 9th, tomorrow will be the 11th.
Crammed with entertaining articles written by some of the most knowledgeable folks in the genre, including professional space historian Kerrie Dougherty (Order of Australia), Gwyn Conaway (Design Guild member), Cora Buhlert (three-time Hugo Finalist for Fan Writer), and John Boston (Big Name Fan since the 1960s), Galactic Journey offers an insightful look into the past while shining sidewise a spotlight on issues of the present.
That’s because the website is not just a comprehensive historical archive–its purpose is also to rediscover the forgotten greats of the era who wrote works that still appeal today. It was thanks to the Galactic Journey that Journey Press encountered the great books I Want the Stars and Sibyl Sue Blue, and found the works to publish in Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women (1958-1963). Journeyers also came together to help curate the selection for Rediscovery, Volume 2.
Gideon and Janice (and Lorelei) previously won the Serling Award for their coverage of The Twilight Zone. They also were awarded the Space Cowboy in 2020 for their work with Galactic Journey.
Congratulations to Gideon at Janice! Good luck at the awards ceremony!
Journey Press 