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He's got a point though. Local-support voting has happened before, if not to the same extent - there are only so many Canadian SF writers writing books. It's unfortunate that some years have a wealth of good nomineees and others don't. For instance, Donald Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis was also far superior to Sawyer's Hominids but, being published in December 2001, it didn't even get a nomination because of the heavyweight competition for that year.

Still, I think Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis is one of the great underestimated books of the last few years, perhaps as a side effect of the disappointment with the hyped-up second Foundation trilogy from the killer Bs a few years earlier. Similarly, Vernor Vinge's book Marooned in Realtime was much better than his later Hugo-winning (and quite good) A Fire upon the Deep but also didn't get properly recognized for its visionary insight until much later. I think that there are some indications that PhC may prove equally prophetic. I also find it highly ironic that Kingsbury's first novel, Courtship Rite, lost out to Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Edge in 1983. Hopefully, Kingsbury will find time to write a few more good novels so that he can get the recognition he deserves.

He's got a point though. Local-support voting has happened before, if not to the same extent - there are only so many Canadian SF writers writing books. It's unfortunate that some years have a wealth of good nomineees and others don't. For instance, Donald Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis was also far superior to Sawyer's Hominids but, being published in December 2001, it didn't even get a nomination because of the heavyweight competition for that year.

Still, I think Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis is one of the great underestimated books of the last few years, perhaps as a side effect of the disappointment with the hyped-up second Foundation trilogy from the killer Bs a few years earlier. Similarly, Vernor Vinge's book Marooned in Realtime was much better than his later Hugo-winning (and quite good) A Fire upon the Deep but also didn't get properly recognized for its visionary insight until much later. I think that there are some indications that PhC may prove equally prophetic. I also find it highly ironic that Kingsbury's first novel, Courtship Rite, lost out to Isaac Asimov's Foundation's Edge in 1983. Hopefully, Kingsbury will find time to write a few more good novels so that he can get the recognition he deserves.

SFWA (pronounced "sif-oh-wa" I think) is an international organization, but the acronym does stand for "Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America." In order to vote for the Nebula Award, you have to be an Active member, not just an Associate member; the requirements include sales to qualifying professional markets, so not any sale will get you to that status. Thinking of the Nebula as an Oscar is not a bad idea.

If you look at the very good list of works that won both the Hugo and Nebula, you'll see there's reasonable correspondence between fan popularity and popularity among professional writers, especially when you consider how many works are worthy of the honors. Pros, just like fans, aren't immune to buzz or author reputation.

The idea of sending an AI for aliens to interrogate reminded me of something, and after a bit of Googling I found what I was looking for.

In the Fountains of Paradise, a certain Mr. Arthur Clarke proposes an alien civilisation communicating with others by means of the 'Starglider' probe - basically a small, easily-accelerated device with a highly advanced AI on board. Naturally, our own Solar System is the temporary host for of one of these, and as an aside, it disproves the entirety of our religious works in the matter of a few minutes after some foolish groups decide to transmit them to it...

... is paying those buddhist monks not to bitch when you tear down their temple...

The "Beggars in Spain" series by Nancy Kress deals with humans engineered to need no sleep. Thus, they work more, study more and are richer and more powerful.

So I'll vote for Gore in Florida on behalf of my Texan swapmate, and he'll vote for Nader in Texas on my behalf. It's not Single Transferable Vote, but it's the best system available.

You can do this too.
Find a friend you can trust who usually votes against your candidate, and agree among yourselves that you will both vote for your favorite third-party candidates. It's that simple.