Buckle up because there is going to be another wave of drama here. GRRM old white manned it up while hosting the Hugos. From lauding the racist and fascist dude who they just removed the name of from an award this year to not bothering to pronounce nominee/winners names correctly if they happened to not be old white guy friendly it was a disaster and has caused a bunch of uproar.
I'd be mildly sympathetic on the name thing if the con staff hadn't gathered phonetic spellings and this wasn't fucking pre-recorded. That's not a momentary slip of the tongue or stumbling in the heat of the moment that just plain old not giving a fuck about the nominees. Toss that in with the the reminiscing about how Heinlein sort of won 3 Hugos in 9 years and that's totally the same as Jemisin winning 3 in 3 years for a trilogy.
The actual award winners were pretty great. Aside from Gideon the Ninth being ROBBED! (It wasn't, A Memory Called Empire is very good.) The winners featured a bunch of new awesome authors with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Who the voters choose gives me hope for things going forward and I'm hoping this was a last gasp kind of thing from the old guard who just grumble and NOT write books all day.
I think I'm going to become one of those people who harangues Martin to finish writing because of this.
Better option: Enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s ever expanding fantasy universe. All the fun of a big fantasy epic and it comes out on time.
Though with the track record of most epic writers I’m sympathetic to anyone that would want to avoid his latest stuff til it’s finished.
---
I think the only nominee I didn’t like was The Light Brigade which was definitely a personal taste thing. Guess I’ll check out A Memory Called Empire next.
I think I'm going to become one of those people who harangues Martin to finish writing because of this.
Better option: Enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s ever expanding fantasy universe. All the fun of a big fantasy epic and it comes out on time.
Though with the track record of most epic writers I’m sympathetic to anyone that would want to avoid his latest stuff til it’s finished.
---
I think the only nominee I didn’t like was The Light Brigade which was definitely a personal taste thing. Guess I’ll check out A Memory Called Empire next.
I don't care for Sanderson's big novels and I'm just going to harass him for the fun of it. Pretty sure its been too long of a gap for me to really care.
I think I'm going to become one of those people who harangues Martin to finish writing because of this.
Better option: Enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s ever expanding fantasy universe. All the fun of a big fantasy epic and it comes out on time.
Too bad the quality of his writings is inversely related to the length of them.
Short stories through novellas: Excellent ideas that don't overstay their welcome.
Novels: Ok, could do some pruning.
Epic sagas: Oh god!
I'm checking the awards and lot of repeat candidates from last few years. Especially in the smaller categories.
They also awarded '45 retro hugos, which is cool. I just don't get how you can award in series category, which usually spans at least a decade.
I think I'm going to become one of those people who harangues Martin to finish writing because of this.
Better option: Enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s ever expanding fantasy universe. All the fun of a big fantasy epic and it comes out on time.
Too bad the quality of his writings is inversely related to the length of them.
Short stories through novellas: Excellent ideas that don't overstay their welcome.
Novels: Ok, could do some pruning.
Epic sagas: Oh god!
Series is a recently-added Hugo and it actually has pretty specific category rules for minimum length to keep people from yanking it around too much.
The Retro Hugos are awful, and have frankly outstayed their relevance, so I hope they are retired now that we've run out of years they weren't awarded.
I think the best thing GRRM could do with his time is literally never write another book, tbh; at this point there is literally no long-time fan for whom the reality of Winds of Winter will match their expectations.
His egregious performance at this year's Hugos was a terrible personal choice, but the concom that went through with it was also culpable here.
I didn't take your meaning from your previous post because I didn't read your use of "on the nose" to imply "fewer votes were made", le shrug
I mean the Hugos have always been about a clique voting. The retro Hugos simply make it more obvious because it seems like it's a clique within the clique.
It was interesting watching the awards, this year - in part because it was the first time I've ever actually participated in them, since it being in NZ is unusual enough that I really wanted to go. I'll admit, I was already disappointed, because I'd booked travel and a trip that all ended up not happening, due not to NZ restrictions, as it turns out, but because none of the nominees would have been able to actually arrive. However, watching - I definitely got the impression that Martin didn't practice, or pay attention, in part because of the virtual nature - and that those issues should have really been addressed prior to the broadcast. I definitely think that the organizers should have gone back on the pronunciation, at the least. It was particularly irksome, because I'd actually read the entire slate as part of the voting process, and definitely felt that the nominees were pretty strong, overall, so having yet another stupid action overhang their achievement is annoying.
It was interesting watching the awards, this year - in part because it was the first time I've ever actually participated in them, since it being in NZ is unusual enough that I really wanted to go. I'll admit, I was already disappointed, because I'd booked travel and a trip that all ended up not happening, due not to NZ restrictions, as it turns out, but because none of the nominees would have been able to actually arrive. However, watching - I definitely got the impression that Martin didn't practice, or pay attention, in part because of the virtual nature - and that those issues should have really been addressed prior to the broadcast. I definitely think that the organizers should have gone back on the pronunciation, at the least. It was particularly irksome, because I'd actually read the entire slate as part of the voting process, and definitely felt that the nominees were pretty strong, overall, so having yet another stupid action overhang their achievement is annoying.
a lot of folks are feeling this grief--it's such insult to injury, on top of an incredibly strong slate, that so many people were excited for this worldcon and then the state of the world crashed down around it.
I was on Worldcon 75, when they visited Helsinki. I don't know if they had pronunciation guides then, but lot of names were butchered that weekend. (I noticed mostly Finnish names. I assume other non-anglo names fared as poorly)
The Hugo award parts were mostly boring, but everything else was fun. From panel discussions, to table reading by book authors.
My favourite show of the con was a retro-Radio Drama on stage about exploration mission to Mars. It was made by a local troupe and they did sound effects on stage with washing boards, fans etc.
Away from the current issues, I was recently thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to just blanket read all Hugo award winners, or even all nominees. Any glaring exceptions I should watch out for?
Away from the current issues, I was recently thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to just blanket read all Hugo award winners, or even all nominees. Any glaring exceptions I should watch out for?
Honestly, all the nominees for best novel / novelette / short story this year were worth reading. I do feel that Gideon the Ninth was my pick, but there wasn't anything I'd say was weak, or bad - I enjoyed some more than others, but they were all good. I'd particularly point out "This is how you Lose the time war" as worth reading, because it was genuinely excellent.
Away from the current issues, I was recently thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to just blanket read all Hugo award winners, or even all nominees. Any glaring exceptions I should watch out for?
Not until a few years back. I think 2017 was the last time assholes managed to fuck around with the ballot and it was really minor, like a single short story and an editor nomination.
I did this a few years back and still try and get around to any I'd missed and it has definitely been worth it.
I would love to personally recommend the entire back catalog of FIYAH mag because they were fucking robbed tbqfh (and yes, I say this as a slush minion at Uncanny, FIYAH kicks ass and absolutely deserve some love. buy a subscription, tell your friends.)
Gideon was my fave of the novels that were up, but literally everything in short, novelette, novella, and novel this year were stunning stuff. (and a number of friends and colleagues in there so picking faves is literally impossible anymore.)
(I was expecting Memory to win novel, though, because the Hugo voting audience has some predictable patterns; stuff that evokes the classics of a certain era is going to edge out stuff that's face-punchy with newness because the Hugos are a nostalgia award even when the ballot isn't being jerked to hell and back--but we haven't seen major puppy barking since voting adjustments went in... I wanna say 2017)
I have proselytized pretty dang hard for Gideon, it is a tremendously fun read and I've reread it multiple times
But if I actually had to vote for an award, I think I'd still give it to Memory Called Empire. That book is fun and engaging and also has a ton of ideas that it really does a great job examining.
It's no kind of diss on anyone to lose to Memory, it is very very good
Kana on
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
I cannot begin to describe how hype I am for both of the next books in those series (teixcalaan & locked tomb)
((I have already read Harrow thanks to an early early arc but tbh I'm very ready to crash through both of those books at a clip))
ANYWAY
Yeah I don't think I was truly surprised by any of the winners but this was a banner year and I'm so glad of it compared to years in very recent memory where I had to hope no one would win in some categories
Away from the current issues, I was recently thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to just blanket read all Hugo award winners, or even all nominees. Any glaring exceptions I should watch out for?
Grabbed the list of nominees for the wordy stuff off their site. Winners in bold. Was Emergency Skin good? Her writing in the Broken Earth wasn't bad, but by the end of the third book I was actively rooting for
Operation Moonfall since I'd managed to develop an unhealthy dislike for most of the characters over the course of the series.
List of Nominees below.
Best Novel
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
Best Novella
This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)
In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)
The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga Press/Gallery)
Best Novelette
Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))
“Omphalos”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
“Away With the Wolves”, by Sarah Gailey (Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy Special Issue, September/October 2019)
“For He Can Creep”, by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com, 10 July 2019)
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2019)
“The Archronology of Love”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, April 2019)
Best Short Story
“As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)
“Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2019)
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons, 9 September 2019)
“A Catalog of Storms”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2019)
“Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, by Rivers Solomon (Tor.com, 24 July 2019)
“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, May 2019)
daveNYC on
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
Since Gardner Dozois Died in 2018, I have no mainstay sci fi yearly anthology for short storeis. What is everyone's now favorite shorty story anthology editor?
Definitely going to pick up the print version of Locked Tomb.
The narrator for the audiobook of Gideon did their best but that cast was way too big to keep straight with just one voice.
I absolutely cannot imagine trying to keep that straight from an audiobook.
I was referencing the character list alot. And in print its probably a little easier because most of the character names have their house number in them
Since Gardner Dozois Died in 2018, I have no mainstay sci fi yearly anthology for short storeis. What is everyone's now favorite shorty story anthology editor?
I really like the editorial taste of Jonathan Strahan, personally.
I wish fewer mag editors were curators for best-ofs as I really feel like John Joseph Adams and Neil Clarke are not particularly independent anthologists
(tho JJA at least has annual guest editors and appears to mostly be a seal of approval for his best ofs)
Away from the current issues, I was recently thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to just blanket read all Hugo award winners, or even all nominees. Any glaring exceptions I should watch out for?
If you're interested in reading future Hugo nominees and winners. I recommend becoming a supporting member of the next years Worldcon. That's $50 currently and it helps.
You can nominate freely any eligible novels, short stories, fanzines.. etc for consideration.
Even more importantly, when it is time to vote, you'll get a digital voters package.
It includes pretty much every chosen nominee with few exceptions. I got the 2017 voting package and it included all short stories, novellas, Campbell nominees, novels, graphic novels, related works etc. Only thing in my voting that was 'only' an excerpt was the posthumous Carrie Fisher memoir book. Also no movies and tv-episodes, but that's understandable.
Posts
It is absolutely worth the click through on that url.
I'd be mildly sympathetic on the name thing if the con staff hadn't gathered phonetic spellings and this wasn't fucking pre-recorded. That's not a momentary slip of the tongue or stumbling in the heat of the moment that just plain old not giving a fuck about the nominees. Toss that in with the the reminiscing about how Heinlein sort of won 3 Hugos in 9 years and that's totally the same as Jemisin winning 3 in 3 years for a trilogy.
The actual award winners were pretty great. Aside from Gideon the Ninth being ROBBED! (It wasn't, A Memory Called Empire is very good.) The winners featured a bunch of new awesome authors with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Who the voters choose gives me hope for things going forward and I'm hoping this was a last gasp kind of thing from the old guard who just grumble and NOT write books all day.
That said:
I think I'm going to become one of those people who harangues Martin to finish writing because of this.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Better option: Enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s ever expanding fantasy universe. All the fun of a big fantasy epic and it comes out on time.
Though with the track record of most epic writers I’m sympathetic to anyone that would want to avoid his latest stuff til it’s finished.
---
I think the only nominee I didn’t like was The Light Brigade which was definitely a personal taste thing. Guess I’ll check out A Memory Called Empire next.
I don't care for Sanderson's big novels and I'm just going to harass him for the fun of it. Pretty sure its been too long of a gap for me to really care.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Too bad the quality of his writings is inversely related to the length of them.
Short stories through novellas: Excellent ideas that don't overstay their welcome.
Novels: Ok, could do some pruning.
Epic sagas: Oh god!
They also awarded '45 retro hugos, which is cool. I just don't get how you can award in series category, which usually spans at least a decade.
HP. Lovecraft literally died in 1937!
Strong disagree.
The Retro Hugos are awful, and have frankly outstayed their relevance, so I hope they are retired now that we've run out of years they weren't awarded.
I think the best thing GRRM could do with his time is literally never write another book, tbh; at this point there is literally no long-time fan for whom the reality of Winds of Winter will match their expectations.
His egregious performance at this year's Hugos was a terrible personal choice, but the concom that went through with it was also culpable here.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
I seriously can't imagine a version of the book that won't get panned by all but the nardiest of grogs, tbh
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
They exist for the old white men to mostly push their glasses up and "well actually" about older, deader white guys
They're an exceedingly wanky anachronism, for the most part
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
Again, sounds like just a narrower demographic of Hugo voters to me.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
I mean the Hugos have always been about a clique voting. The retro Hugos simply make it more obvious because it seems like it's a clique within the clique.
a lot of folks are feeling this grief--it's such insult to injury, on top of an incredibly strong slate, that so many people were excited for this worldcon and then the state of the world crashed down around it.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
The Hugo award parts were mostly boring, but everything else was fun. From panel discussions, to table reading by book authors.
My favourite show of the con was a retro-Radio Drama on stage about exploration mission to Mars. It was made by a local troupe and they did sound effects on stage with washing boards, fans etc.
Honestly, all the nominees for best novel / novelette / short story this year were worth reading. I do feel that Gideon the Ninth was my pick, but there wasn't anything I'd say was weak, or bad - I enjoyed some more than others, but they were all good. I'd particularly point out "This is how you Lose the time war" as worth reading, because it was genuinely excellent.
Not until a few years back. I think 2017 was the last time assholes managed to fuck around with the ballot and it was really minor, like a single short story and an editor nomination.
I did this a few years back and still try and get around to any I'd missed and it has definitely been worth it.
I would love to personally recommend the entire back catalog of FIYAH mag because they were fucking robbed tbqfh (and yes, I say this as a slush minion at Uncanny, FIYAH kicks ass and absolutely deserve some love. buy a subscription, tell your friends.)
Gideon was my fave of the novels that were up, but literally everything in short, novelette, novella, and novel this year were stunning stuff. (and a number of friends and colleagues in there so picking faves is literally impossible anymore.)
(I was expecting Memory to win novel, though, because the Hugo voting audience has some predictable patterns; stuff that evokes the classics of a certain era is going to edge out stuff that's face-punchy with newness because the Hugos are a nostalgia award even when the ballot isn't being jerked to hell and back--but we haven't seen major puppy barking since voting adjustments went in... I wanna say 2017)
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
But if I actually had to vote for an award, I think I'd still give it to Memory Called Empire. That book is fun and engaging and also has a ton of ideas that it really does a great job examining.
It's no kind of diss on anyone to lose to Memory, it is very very good
((I have already read Harrow thanks to an early early arc but tbh I'm very ready to crash through both of those books at a clip))
ANYWAY
Yeah I don't think I was truly surprised by any of the winners but this was a banner year and I'm so glad of it compared to years in very recent memory where I had to hope no one would win in some categories
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
Grabbed the list of nominees for the wordy stuff off their site. Winners in bold. Was Emergency Skin good? Her writing in the Broken Earth wasn't bad, but by the end of the third book I was actively rooting for
List of Nominees below.
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
Best Novella
This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)
In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)
The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga Press/Gallery)
Best Novelette
Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))
“Omphalos”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))
“Away With the Wolves”, by Sarah Gailey (Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy Special Issue, September/October 2019)
“For He Can Creep”, by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com, 10 July 2019)
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2019)
“The Archronology of Love”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, April 2019)
Best Short Story
“As the Last I May Know”, by S.L. Huang (Tor.com, 23 October 2019)
“Do Not Look Back, My Lion”, by Alix E. Harrow (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, January 2019)
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, by Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons, 9 September 2019)
“A Catalog of Storms”, by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2019)
“Blood Is Another Word for Hunger”, by Rivers Solomon (Tor.com, 24 July 2019)
“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, by Nibedita Sen (Nightmare Magazine, May 2019)
The narrator for the audiobook of Gideon did their best but that cast was way too big to keep straight with just one voice.
That was probably my favorite book of the year. Waiting on my wife to buy the sequel, am very curious to see where the worldbuilding goes from here.
I absolutely cannot imagine trying to keep that straight from an audiobook.
I was referencing the character list alot. And in print its probably a little easier because most of the character names have their house number in them
I really like the editorial taste of Jonathan Strahan, personally.
I wish fewer mag editors were curators for best-ofs as I really feel like John Joseph Adams and Neil Clarke are not particularly independent anthologists
(tho JJA at least has annual guest editors and appears to mostly be a seal of approval for his best ofs)
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
If you're interested in reading future Hugo nominees and winners. I recommend becoming a supporting member of the next years Worldcon. That's $50 currently and it helps.
You can nominate freely any eligible novels, short stories, fanzines.. etc for consideration.
Even more importantly, when it is time to vote, you'll get a digital voters package.
It includes pretty much every chosen nominee with few exceptions. I got the 2017 voting package and it included all short stories, novellas, Campbell nominees, novels, graphic novels, related works etc. Only thing in my voting that was 'only' an excerpt was the posthumous Carrie Fisher memoir book. Also no movies and tv-episodes, but that's understandable.