Hugo Nominations

[coalescent]

Right. The deadline is tomorrow, so it's about time for me (and every other Interaction or LACon IV member who hasn't done so) to be nominating for the Hugo Awards. I think I've decided on most of my Best Novel ballot:

The Summer Isles, Ian R. Macleod
Counting Heads, David Marusek
Living Next-Door to the God of Love, Justina Robson
Accelerando, Charles Stross

Given its limited print run, The Summer Isles presumably has little chance of actually making the ballot, but it's the best 2005 novel I've read. I haven't quite finished Counting Heads, but unless Marusek fluffs up the ending spectacularly it deserves a nomination. Living Next-Door to the God of Love and Accelerando both have flaws, but as far as I'm concerned those are outweighed by their considerable strengths. I regret that I haven't managed to get to Robert Charles Wilson's Spin, but don't think it's going to need my help to get nominated. (If it does miss out by one vote, you can all lynch me later.) The last nomination will go to ... er ... well, could be Learning the World, could be Transcendent, could be Double Vision. It'll probably depend on how I feel this evening.

In novella the three shoo-ins are Kelly Link's 'Magic for Beginners', Ian McDonald's 'The Little Goddess', and Paolo Bacigalupi's 'The Calorie Man'. The other two will likely be Yume No Hon by Catherynne M. Valente and 'The Emperor' by Lucius Shepard. Novellettes: Darryl Gregory's 'Second Person, Present Tense', Geoff Ryman's 'The Last Ten Years in the Life of the Hero Kai', possibly Vandana Singh's 'The Tetrahedron', possibly Cory Doctorow's 'I, Robot', possibly Link's 'Some Zombie Contingency Plans', possibly Chris Beckett's 'Piccadilly Circus', plus something from Strange Horizons. Short stories: 'Anyway' by M. Rickert, 'Heads Down, Thumbs Up' by Gavin J. Grant, 'Singing My Sister Down' by Margo Lanagan, and a couple of things from Strange Horizons. Given that I'm a judge for the BSFA's non-fiction award, I probably shouldn't say anything about my thoughts on related book (except to say that The Complete Calvin & Hobbes counts, right?)

And then we start to get to the categories where I have much less fixed opinions. Dramatic Presentation, for instance. I know I didn't get to the cinema much last year, but--other than Serenity--which films really deserve a nomination? Similarly for short form: if I'm going to go for a single episode of Battlestar Galactica, which one should it be? And what else was there to nominate? (Note: don't even bother mentioning Doctor Who.) Was 2005 just a bad year?

I haven't made a full survey of the Campbell Award website yet, but I'm thinking some of KJ Bishop, Karen Fishler, David Moles, Frances Hardinge, Holly Phillips, Steph Swainston, and Sonya Taafe. Who am I missing?

Artists and editors (aside from the magazine editors) I'm always underinformed about: if you want to pimp your choices to me, now's the time. I have firmer ideas about fanzine and fan writer (Claire Brialey for the latter, plus don't forget that bloggers count), but I'd still be interested to hear everyone else's thoughts. So: bring 'em on.

Comments

[peake.livejournal.com]

Let's be brutally honest, up until probably the late 70s, when most of the Worldcon attendees could be reasonably expected to have read most of the year's sf, the Hugos were a reasonable if far from infallible record of what was good in the genre. But since then they seem to have progressively less to do with anything that might be considered good or interesting in the field. The few occasions over the last 20 years when a worthwhile book has won, or even been shortlisted, seem abberations. Nowadays I suspect most of the voters are voting for friends, for past favourites, or for reputation rather than because they have actually read the work (I have a feeling that is probably also true for nominations). So it is a very long time since I have been able to muster anything more than a vague, cursory interest in the Hugos.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

All true, but to me, that's why it's important to encourage people to nominate in good faith. The number of nominations needed to make the final ballot is not so high (except in Dramatic Presentation Long Form, and possibly in Best Novel) that we can't make a difference. I won't have voting rights this year, since I'm not going to LACon, but if I can help get a decent ballot in place then hopefully those who are voting won't be able to screw up too badly. ;-)

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

There was a LibDem PPB some years ago in which John Cleese argued that if all the people who said they would vote LibDem if they thought the LibDems could win did vote LibDem then the LibDems would in fact win.

If I have Hugo nominating rights and some kind of informed opinion on at least some of the categories then at worst I spend some time reminding myself about the stuff I liked last year -- which is probably no bad thing in itself -- and then a few minutes with a computerised ballot form, so if the shortlists don't reflect my tastes I haven't exactly lost a great deal. I don't take Worldcon supporting memberships just to secure nominating and voting rights, but when I have the nominating rights anyway it seems daft not to use them, especially when, as you say, it really is the case that one person can make a difference.

In the same way I still vote in general elections, even if I'm living in a safe seat where I don't support the incumbent party. And even safe seats change hands sometimes...
---Mark