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Hugo Award Voting Open
FortKnox writes "This is from SciFi Storm:
It's time for the Hugo Award (Best in Science Fiction) nominations and voting for 2001. You can vote if you get at least a Supporting Membership in The Millennium Philcon or ConJosé (location of worldcon). I haven't read much current SciFi (still working on some Heinlein works), but some of the /. readers might be interested in putting in their opinions."
Dang, there's a p-o'd moderator out there today...this is about the n-th funny post I've seen modded down as "offtopic." Maybe the dude needs to get laid or something...sheesh.
Seriously, guys, lighten up!
But what does my opinion matter, I just vote here. It's not like I have any money or anything.
I would disagree. As an example, if you've ever read Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars / Green Mars / Blue Mars series, you would agree that there is a great deal of plot depth. When I read these sci-fi novels, I was captivated not by the technology, but by the characters. Each one was believable with motivations, hopes, and fears and it was their interactions in the plot that made the book, not the technology.
I would also recommend that you read anything from Larry Niven. Niven has an almost magical way of wrapping a great story around a fascinating bit of science. (What was that quote about science being so advanced to a primitive technology that it is indistinguishable from magic?
I look at it like this: I use the winners of Hugos and Nebulas as starting points for my book shopping list. Winners of these go on my list - I know that if they've won an award like a Hugo they are more than a scientific manual. I've been doing this for years and have yet to be disapointed.
Just my 2 cents
Hmmm...
That sounds like a bit of the classic 'science fictions isn't real literature' argument. My ap English teacher in high school, a huge 2001 fan, put it to me this way: It takes a certain skill to write what you see or what is known; It takes a whole different kind of intelligence to write about that which has not yet happened or that which will never happen.
As to plot depth, I must question how many science fiction books you've actually read. Many science fiction books press ideas and topics that more contemporary genres shy away from. Lem for example, in his book Solaris, examines the inner space we lock away while exploring the outerspace which is open to all. Of course what you get out of a science fiction book, like any other book, depends upon what you put into it. If you set to work reading and simply blow it off in your mind as spaceships and kid's shit -- well you won't notice the details which pull it together.