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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."
I don't think it was the plot of famous sci-fi books that made them worth reading, but the analysis of technology on a social being (humanity). So, part of the allure of sci-fi is answering the question: "How are very powerful computers / space travel going to affect the human race?"
I think people, in general, feel that we live, at least to some degree, in those worlds already, thanks to overzealous advertising (advertising's true purpose, btw, is to portray a fantasy world in which you wish you could live, but thats another post) so there is less interest in the answer.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Well, since WorldCon 2001 was in late August, and the winner of the Best Novel was "Harry Potter", and this isn't reflected on the Hugo website, I'm really getting disappointed with these awards.
The Seiun (Japanese Hugo) and the Nebula are still better representations of SF and Fantasy works, since their voting is done a little better and less of a clique setup. I mean, how does Harry Potter win over George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords and Robert J. Sawyer's Calculating God?
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
Of course, when one considers the time the great sci-fi novels of the past were written, there wasn't much in terms of plot then either. I'm currently reading Heinlein's _Stranger In a Strange Land_ and, aside from the mission to Mars, the majority of the book has to do with human social interaction. The greatest works of sci-fi have little to do with science and more to do with the human condition. The novels that concentrate on science and technology don't win awards.
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LilDebbie
"You can vote if you get at least a Supporting Membership in The Millennium Philcon or ConJosé (location of worldcon)."
Presumably, if you are a member of one of these groups, you would receive notification from them that it's time to vote. So why waste the space on Slashdot alerting a bunch of people to vote on something they can't? I'll be more interested when the results of that voting has been published, but not until then.
This is analogous to posting a link to the AMPAS website when it's time to vote on the Oscars. With the exception of CleverNickname (Slashdot's token celebrity), none of us are likely to be voting for them, either.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
There just isn't the plot depth necessary to carry these 'novels' these days.
Please give us some examples of what you are talking about. I've read a number of science fiction books in the last couple years that would stand up against any classic SF for character, plot, and exploration of science contributed cultural changes.
Bear, Benford, Brin, Card, Gibson, Haldeman, Moran, Robinson, Sheffeild, Simmons, Stevenson, Vinge(both of them), Willis, and others I've forgotten have written books in the last ten years that really left me thinking after closing the cover.
There are certainly a large number of formulas these days and many authors who live inside them crafting very readable but unimpressive works to pay the bills. You can find these staples of the genre choking every supermarket bookstand. But equally, there are authors that don't publish nearly as often but produce works that after reading, you put the book on the shelf because this one is NOT going back to the bookstore.
slashdotters have to read Greg Egan.
(1) he is a programmer.
(2) he writes exciting but surreal multidimensional stories that actually explain quantum mechanical ideas (espc. "many worlds") more than they exploit/exagerate them.
I have no idea if he has written anything recently to actually win a Hugo.
btw, Stanislaw Lem is another must for ultra-logical or mathematical cream of the crop science fiction.
-pyrrho
I used to actually respect the Hugo awards. I learnt better. Especially after last year - best novel: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Even ignoring questions about how good it is (although I have strong opinions about that) the fact is that it simply isn't Science Fiction. And "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as best Science Fiction movie? (Great film, though). If the Hugos mean anything, they should at least be given to work in the correct genre.
:) Although there doesn't seem to be a lot of competition.
Off course, this year at least we know what the best movie will be - LotR. So the tradition of SF awards going to non-SF films will continue in all it's glory.
Ursula K. Le Guin's two 2001 releases, The Other Wind and Tales From Earthsea, were some of the most amazing books I've ever read.
I've learned more from reading Ursula Le Guin than I can even express. If you haven't read this author yet you are missing out!