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This Year's Hugo Nominees Chosen

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the who-will-be-the-one dept.

wrinkledshirt writes "They've announced this year's nominees for the Hugo Awards. Wonder who the next Asimov, Brin, Gibson or [shudder] Rowling is going to be? Find out at Conjose."

9 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Whats wrong with rowling? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Article 3 - Hugo Awards

    Section 3.1: Introduction. Selection of the Hugo Awards shall be made as provided in this Article.

    Section 3.2: General.

    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.

  2. Re:Curse of Chalion by ckd · · Score: 3, Informative
    Now to wait until Diplomatic Immunity comes out in May.

    This is Slashdot! Why are you waiting for the dead tree edition? The no-evil-DMCA-protections WebScription edition is already fully available (and loaded into my Palm V...).

  3. Re:I don't believe.. by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 3, Informative

    Neuromancer won pretty much all of them; Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick award. I vaugely remember hearing that it's the only book to do so, but I could be wrong on that point.

    --
    Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  4. 21 votes gets you on the ballot by Allen+Varney · · Score: 2, Informative

    Amazing to see those "Range" statistics at the end of the press release. This tells the number of votes it took to get on the ballot. In the Short Story category, the nominated story with the least number of votes got 21 votes.

    There are SF writers who absolutely live and die based on whether they get nominated. A Hugo Award can jumpstart an entire career. In short fiction it only takes two dozen people to get you the thumbs-up!

    Of course, all the nominators have to have supporting memberships in ConJose, and those aren't cheap. Still, it seems like any writer who's two steps above sheer penury could buy memberships for a couple dozen friends and relatives -- under a variety of assumed names, of course -- and then get to wear the fancy "Nominee" ribbon on his convention badge.

    Personally, I can think of better ways to spend that kind of money.

    1. Re:21 votes gets you on the ballot by Elysdir · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not just short fiction. Note that it took only 44 votes to get on the ballot in the novel category, and only 486 people nominated novels. Only 626 people cast nominating ballots in any category, and that's an unusually high number of nominators; for the past few years, it's been more like 500 nominators total.

      A supporting membership in ConJose currently costs $35 (it was cheaper a few months ago), and entitles you to vote on the final Hugo ballot (but you don't get to go to the con). Usually about 2 to 3 times as many people vote on the final ballot as nominate, but that still means only about a thousand people decide which works get Hugos.

      So if anyone here thinks the Hugo ballot doesn't represent what they'd like to see winning awards, consider buying a supporting membership in ConJose and voting in this year's Hugos. Even better, consider buying a supporting membership in next year's WorldCon (TorCon), so that you can nominate next year.

      The more people participate in the process, the more accurate the results.

  5. Harry Potter is Fantasy by jbennetto · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  6. Re:contemporary sf by Onan+The+Librarian · · Score: 2, Informative

    Thank goodness, someone else has read Stapledon ! I've given away many copies of Last & First Men, and everyone who's read it comes back with the same response: "He's awesome !". Yes, he was. IMO, a budding SF writer can pillage a few pages out of Olaf and make himself a career out of the plunder. And I must agree with your assessment: Last & First Men is indeed beyond any description I can give it...

  7. Recent interview - and a review by moscow · · Score: 2, Informative
    There is an interview with Ken held in a pub around the corner from The Guildford Arms - The Cafe Royal, which features in his second published novel, The Stone Canal.

    The Zone website also has a review of Cosmonaut Keep by the same person (me!), who seems to quite like it.

    --
    Who would believe in penguins,unless he had seen them? Conor O Brien - Across Three Oceans
  8. Re:So why has no one here heard of Connie Willis? by captaincucumber · · Score: 2, Informative

    English humor? Haven't read that book, but Connie Willis lives across the highway from me, over in Greeley, Colorado, which is about as american as you can get. They have some a big rodeo festival over there every year, it even gets televised on TNN, I belive, yee-haw!!!