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Back in 1995, I attended the Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland. http://www.worldcon.org/

On the schedule booklet was a message which declared that it (the booklet) was sponsored by "Wizards of the Cost".

Serendipity or Prophecy? You decide.

0) Read a book. If you want good SF, you could just start with the Hugo Award winners. At your local bookshop or library. But that will make you dissatisfied with what is presented as SF on network TV....

for this. His Answer won the Hugo for best short-short story in 1983. It is three pages long and worth the read. He makes it available "for free" on his website. http://www.spiderrobinson.com/melancholyelephants. html.

Spider Robinson is the author of the "Calahan's Crosstime Saloon" series which inspired the "alt.callahan's" usenet newsgroup.

The Hugo, as most slashdotters are probably well aware is a major fan-voted award for excellence in science fiction and fantasy related literature and art. The Hugo is awarded in several categories each year at the Wold Science Fiction Convention.http://www.worldcon.org/

Note that I am Not Mr. Robinson!
(just a fan)

Great, if not moderately obscure, reference. Foundation is a great series.

Obscure? It was voted the Hugo Best All Time Series. http://worldcon.org/hc.html#ats

This reminds me of the time that an issue of Sandman won the World Fantasy Award, and the committee immediately changed the rules to prevent a comic book from ever winning again.

As for the Hugos, it looks like one comic actually managed to win: They created a one-off "Other Forms" category in 1988 for Watchmen.

Actually, the Hugo Awards are explicitly for both fantasy and SF:

Section 3.3: Categories.

3.3.1: Best Novel. A science fiction or fantasy story of forty thousand (40,000) words or more.

3.3.2: Best Novella. A science fiction or fantasy story of between seventeen thousand five hundred (17,500) and forty thousand (40,000) words.

Etc etc.

I'm all for the World Fantasy Awards -- I won one in 1987 and I was a judge this year -- but they're not different from the Hugos in that they're for fantasy and the Hugos are "for SF". They're different in that they're a juried award and the Hugos are a popularly-voted one. You're mixing apples, oranges, prosciutto, and turpentine.

I sometimes wonder if the adults that enjoy these books have not yet been exposed to real fantasy.

Well, it's not like she's won any major SF awards or anything, so I guess not.

I beg to differ.

Pshew. Who the hell'd ever agree with you?

There's nothing "probably" about it. If you let anybody use your trademark without permission you can, and eventually will lose it. Years ago, a group of dentists wanted to hold a world-wide conference of dentists, and call it "Worldcon." The trademark owners for the World Science Fiction Convention had to tell them they couldn't use it, even though there was no real conflict.

can somebody explain to me why I shouldn't consider the failure of this to become a movie anything other than a benefit to mankind?

Worldcon is trademarked by the World Science Fiction Society. They were really not thrilled with the "Worldcon" headlines. The Worldcon Mark Protection Committee is going to get you!

Of course! I think the World Science Fiction Convention should give a Hugo award to the Best Open Source Documentation.

Then folks like me, who program more than write, would actually have a chance of winning a Hugo.

On the other hand, I don't want my Open Source documentation to be mistaken for science fiction...

Gibson is one of the all time great sci-fi storytellers.

To this day neuromancer remains one of the best sci-fi tales of the modern age. Reading it for the first time when I was 13, I didn't understand it all. In fact I didn't understand most of it until I had re-read it a few times. Perhaps this is why it was not a critical success immediately. Either way, they eventually came around, and within two years the book had won the big three.

The real reason I loved the book as a kid was because of Case! He was one of the guys who made me want to grow up to be a code cowboy (even if I didn't come close). Gibson gave the nerd a sexy and dangerous side that put the cyberpunk genre on the map, soon after every would be 'hacker' was longing for 'cyberspace' just like Case was:

A year [in Japan] and he still dreamed of cyberspace, hope fading nightly.... He'd see the matrix in his sleep, bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void.... The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the Pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. But the dreams came on in the Japanese night like livewire voodoo, and he'd cry for it, cry in his sleep, and wake alone in the dark, curled in his capsule in some coffin hot el, his hands clawed into the bedslab, temperfoam bunched between his fingers, trying to reach the console that wasn't there.'

A master at the top of his game.

What makes Spider Robinson a commentator on SF, Sci-Fi or anything else other than pablum?

And as for the 'Speculative Fiction', well, he isn't a writer of that either.

Read Ursula K. Leguin's "The Disposssed"(Hugo, Nebula)

And yet, if you read the actual rules for the Hugo Awards, it clearly states that "Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science fiction or fantasy"

From the
constitution of the WSFS:

3.2.1: Unless otherwise specified, Hugo Awards are given for work in the field of science fiction or fantasy appearing for the first time during the previous calendar year.

Admittedly, prior to Harry Potter the winning novel has never been fantasy (Lord of Light and To Your Scattered Bodies Go are probably the closest, and few people would characterize those as anything other than SF). But fantasy often wins in the short fiction catagories.

Some people take their fun way too seriously. The hugos are a classic example of this. It's just a vote by a group of geeks attenting a yearly international party. Your local mayor probably gets more voter turnout in the local election.

See you at Torcon.

Some people take their fun way too seriously. The hugos are a classic example of this. It's just a vote by a group of geeks attenting a yearly international party. Your local mayor probably gets more voter turnout in the local election.

See you at Torcon.

Thankfully, there is the Association of Science-fiction and Fantasy Artists which gives an annual award (The Chesley Award).

The Chesley awards are presented each year at the World Science Fiction Convention, which this year (later this month, in fact) is in San Jose.

The convention has an extensive art show, with many artists exhibiting their work.

There is even a 'real-world' gallery devoted to space art.

So, although the 'serious' art world looks down on this type of art, there are venues, and a market, for this work.

Yes, I know, the rules specify the field of "science fiction or fantasy." And I have nothing against fantasy; I read a little. But last year's Harry Potter novel didn't belong there. Fantasy is a different genre and has its own awards.

None of the other 48 award winning novels are fantasy. About the closest are the Zelazny winners (Lord of Light, ...And Call Me Conrad) and To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Farmer). Those are clearly science fiction at the core, but with some fantasy-like setting.

Yes, I know, the rules specify the field of "science fiction or fantasy." And I have nothing against fantasy; I read a little. But last year's Harry Potter novel didn't belong there. Fantasy is a different genre and has its own awards.

None of the other 48 award winning novels are fantasy. About the closest are the Zelazny winners (Lord of Light, ...And Call Me Conrad) and To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Farmer). Those are clearly science fiction at the core, but with some fantasy-like setting.

Frank Herbert - Dune. It didn't win the Hugo Award for nothing.

George Orwell - 1984. Dated,yes. But also timeless.

The Hugo Award is a popularity contest. To quote from the page:

...and determined by nominations from and a popular vote of the membership of [the World Science Fiction Society].

It doesn't cost very much to buy an advance supporting membership. I wish this page for the current Worldcon still had the prices for advance membership posted, but that info was probably removed when the deadlines passed. The prices were probably not too much different than next year's Worldcon. Act now; for just $35 USD, you too will be able to nominate and vote the Hugo for works first published in 2001.

*** Ponderoid

I wish I had read that before I posted, but the Hugo Award Rules appear to be non-existant :\

But doesn't the majority of readers associate the Hugo with hard sci-fi? Are they trying to dilute the meaning of award?

There are only two type of Heinlein books reviews, those who like them, and those who don't. I've noticed that the good reviews focus on the societal and cultural ideas of the book, while the bad reviews focus on the situations or characters with which Heinlein presents his ideas. So decide what you like, and you'll know if Heinlein is for you.

On a personal note, the fantasy of 3 young girls fulfilling my every whim is appealing, which is one of the reasons why I thought it was good book.

bh

A wrinkle in time. by Madeleine L'Engle
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - (Note: get a copy of The AQnnotated Alice by Martin Gardner
The hobbit. by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anything by Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Alan Dean Foster, or Piers Anthony
Darkover (any of the books) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orsen Scott Card
The Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.

A decent collection of Science fiction, mostly suitable for children

Also, Please attend the Worldcon, this year it's in Chicago followed by Philadelphia, PA, then San José. We have a lot of things for you and your children.

of course, our little one is only 6 months old. Mostly he's an excuse to reread Harold and the Purple Crayon

I aplogogise for any redundancies. This list took awhile to compile and find the links, especially as the co-author was breastfeeding at the time...

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• 'Cordelia's Honor' by Lois McMaster Bujold.
• 'The Moon is Hell' by John W. Campbell. (Although that's pretty hard to find these days)
• 'On Basilisk Station' by David Weber. (A good introduction to SF, and available free online! See the Baen Webscription site. (Free registration required).
• 'A Fire Upon the Deep' by Vernor Vinge

• 'Hyperion' by Dan Simmons
• 'Steel Beach' by John Varley
• 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' by Robert A. Heinlein

Most importantly, make sure you really want us. We may be serious income for a city, but we're also a headache. If you want our cash without being willing to seriously cater to us, then forget it. On the other hand, if you really cater to us, we'll hand over our money in the form of taxes without much worry.