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Nebula Award Winners, Hugo Nominees Announced
CBNobi writes "The 2002 Nebula Award winners have been announced this weekend. The winner for best novel was American Gods by Neil Gaiman (reviewed here at Slashdot), and the winner for best script was LotR:The Fellowship of the Ring. The nominees for the 2003 Hugo Awards have also been announced; Episodes of Enterprise, Firefly, and Buffy are all nominated for best short form dramatic presentation, and LotR and Spirited Away are among the nominees for best long form presentation."
Hmmm,
Firefly - Cancelled (and it was just getting fun)
Enterprise - Might be cancelled soon
Buffy - Wrapping up the series? (don't watch it, but recall the wife mentioning it.)
Should it be seen as a sign of the times that the nominees are all either going or gone? Makes you wonder about the intelligence of the masses. Oh wait, we already know about the intelligence of the masses.
Unfortunately, it also says way too much about how short-sighted TV executives are nowadays.
:( ) like reality shows because reality shows have relatively low cost of production per hour. Even with its exotic locales, the best-known reality show (Survivor) is still a bargain compared to shows like the now-cancelled Firefly, the soon-to-end Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and the potentially-cancelled Enterprise.
TV executives frequently do not like hour-long dramas due to the high cost of production per hour; they still (unfortunately for us TV viewers
The days of a network letting a show find its audience are long over. You'll never see anything like how NBC allowed Hill Street Blues to eventually become a big hit again.
I finished Kiln People last week after a slow two weeks of slugging through it. Flat-out one of the most boring books I've ever read. Interresting ideas, but one boring book.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
That's an amusing troll; it's a little too reactionary to be convincing, however.
For what it's worth, China Miéville, who was nominated, is considerably further to the "left" than Ian McLeod; in fact Mr Miéville has stood for Parliament on behalf of a political party you would no doubt dub "sophomoric Marxist".
Not everyone subscribes to the last-man-standing-wins model of American capitalism.
I guess the Joss Whedon, Rick Berman & Brannon Braga mutual admiration society didn't leave any room for something watchable.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
That there are two substandard Enterprise episodes on the Hugo nomination list is proof enough that the folks making the nominations are totally insane. I mean, come on "A Night in Sickbay" is widely considered one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever committed to film.
no it's really just the opposite. people treat "art" as this holy thing that isn't supposed to be something enjoyable.
I hope this is a troll.
"Americans bad. Capitalism bad. Socialism good. Drugs good. High technology cool, but the best technology (computers and aerospace) is American. Don't ask us to reconcile that." - you seriously can't think of what sort of people might subscribe to these views?
"I'm glad to see the Nebula voters have voted for right-thinking, American-proud authors like Gaimain, and avoided socialist anti-American clap-trap like McLeod[.]" Sorry, have I missed something, do the Klan and NRA write sci-fi now?
Ian McLeod is Scottish, for a start. I know it seems like a subtle difference, but at least try and get it right.
Ian Mcleod is a socialist and has written some pretty intersting stuff about how the future might work if you do not accept the inevitability of near-future societies that are nation-state economies driven by Capitalism. He nails the US, because of its arch-Capitalist nature, and ironically tags the UN as behoven to the US.
I guess he got pretty fed up with seeing the future solely portrayed as a Captialist utopia, something which he disagrees with. It's nothing personal, just another point of view.
Please remain calm, there is no reason to pani... wait, where are you all going?
Oh man, this was an awesome book. It actually got passed around in my group of friends... one guy who doesn't read a whole lot really loved it. It's weird, that'd never happened before. It really is a great book.
OK, maybe it's me, but I didn't find "American Gods" particularly enjoyable. In fact, I found it to be pretty lame. If that was the best Science Fiction novel of the year, I guess I have a better understanding of why I tend not to read much SF.
I think it was actually a fairly slow year for SF. Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Years of Rice and Salt" got good reviews, but for me it dragged - I couldn't even finish it. Maybe I'll try again. David Brin's "Kiln People" was better, but it wasn't his best.
To be honest, I think it's been a slow decade for SF. Many of the Great Ones of the genre - from Asimov to Zelazny - are gone, and the younger generation seems to still be searching for its voice.
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
At 3+ hours, The Fellowship of the Ring gives new meaning to the term "long form presentation." ;-)
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
I'm glad to see the Nebula voters have voted for right-thinking, American-proud authors like Gaimain
LOL! Neil Gaiman is British.
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
And IMHO, its found it in Wil McCarthy. If you haven't read The Collapsium, do so now. Reasonably hard science fiction by someone who can actually write? Sign me up!
Seriously, there's a lot of good new science fiction and space opera authors popping up recently. Some good fantasy authors too. Most are still finding their way and struggling to stand out amidst the tide of mindless Tolkien clones and talentless hacks, but they are there. And then there's older space opera/sci-fi authors, like Bujold, that're still doing good work. I think the '90s was the slow decade, and what we're seeing now is a resurgance.
As for TV, give up on the American networks already. They haven't produced anything worthwhile since Next Generation and Babylon-5, and they're not going to anytime soon. Not while they treat the viewer as an inconvenient obstacle between them and their money and use legislation instead of innovation to protect their revenue. Turn to Japan for your sci-fi TV fix, and watch shows like Crest of the Stars (and Banner of the Stars, and the other soon-to-follow sequel series), Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Gundam, Macross, and the new Ghost in the Shell TV series.
(Anime sci-fi shows named off the top of my head. There's a couple dozen other great ones you can find if you look.)
Actually, Ken McLeod wrote Cosmonaut Keep. I haven't read it, but I imagine it can't be too different in political views from his other books like Stone Canal and The Cassini Division, both of which I didn't enjoy. Ian McLeod wrote other stuff, which I've never read.
How do you vote anyway? :)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Pretty slow, but there were some highlights, like David Weber/Baen coming out with War of Honor (the first book to _ever_ include a CD in the back which contains the entire series and lots more books).
:-)
There should be an award for "Best Publishing Innovation of the Year."
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Come on. How could an episode revolving entirely around the erotic dreams of the Captain about his super-hot Vulcan first officer NOT win a Hugo?
Go Charlie!
Apart from writing great science fiction Charlie writes the Linux column in the UK's Computer Shopper magazine.
or do these sci-fi and fantasy awards seem like people in these sectors of entertainment simply jerking each other off, because the long standing awards groups don't give them the recognition they feel they deserve.
Don't get me wrong, i love sci-fi and fantasy. But some of the shows up for awards in the hugos, don't deserve any type of nomination or recognition. As for the nebula awards, I don't get to read much(I am too lazy, and I grew up in america so I don't know how to read), but shouldn't critical and/or monetary success be enough. I mean if people buy your book or a critic whose opinion you value says it is good, do you really need an official award or nomination saying it is a good piece of writing?
Beer Die is the game of champions Learning To walk my own path.
IMO, the only reason that American Gods has any popularity is because of Slashdot. (I myself read it because of the glowing review it got here.) But I think it has to be the most overrated book I have ever had the displeasure to read. I found it mind-numbingly boring for vast sections of the book and whenever the story did manage to veer into interesting territory, Gaiman skillfully managed to yank it back into mind-numbing territory in quick order.
Glad to see it didn't make the Hugo Award list.
Enterprise gets 2 nominations and Whedon gets 3?
How about dumping the Trek spinoffs and put a couple of episodes of Farscape in. I'll put 'Prayer' up agaist 'Night in SickBay' any day of the week. And 'Carbon Creek' pales up against 'Kansas'.
Also, this shows you how important mindshare is. By many peoples account, Firefly was a show with potential, but it wasn't really good yet. But Whedon's name on it made people believe that it has to be great and deserves an award.
Solaris was easily the most 'sci-fi' movie of the year but Spiderman gets a nod instead?
D
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I think this just goes to demonstrate your point even further, that networks are only thinking short-term these days.
Is there not a single competent businessman among the bunch? A competent businessman would think long-term instead of going after short-term gain.
What are the networks going to have left when the reality tv ratings drop off? Nothing.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
One relatively new author that I like is Alastair Reynolds. He is a scientist who works for the ESA currently and he is a reasonably good writer too. However, he is British and his books are generally released about a year earlier in the UK than in the US. His first two books "Revalation Space" and "Chasm City" are reasonably easy to find in the US. His third book "Redemption Ark" should be out in June in the US.
Impersonating Tycho from Penny Arcade since before there was a PA.
I'd have a hard time calling Alias sci-fi. The only sci-fi aspects (rather then fairly realistic and current science) are the Rambaldi storylines, and given what we've seen so far, I'm more inclined to call that fantasy then sci-fi.
;-)
It's a hard call because that storyline is so small and not-well exposited (to keep it mysterious) that you can't get a "feel" for it. I call it fantasy because right now the artifacts are basically working like magic, returning life to long-dead things and so on.
I admit that my current #1 theory to explain Rambaldi is that he is indeed a space alien who couldn't or wouldn't go home, but that's my theory, not official show theory.
Last night I just discovered fansubbed versions of _Last Exile_. Awesome visual style harkening to the WWI era of aircraft mixed with Star Wars pod racing. Just plain *Frikin' A*. Get it from Anime-Kraze as a Bit Torrent download.
I always get the shakes before a drop.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
But my dilemma is this, I've read all Sci-Fi/Fantasy from Asimov, Niven, Vance, but have not yet finished all the works of the old masters.
Can any younger (or at least more flexible) Slashdot reader suggest a few authors that they've read and liked? I don't want to get into serials right now, perhaps something that is sort of standalone would be better as an introduction to a new author, I think.
Newsfollow.com
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Been watching that, but I didn't mention it here. Its more steampunk or fantasy than science fiction so far. There are others that are borderline sci-fi, but they tend to be more "X in space". (Stellvia, for example, feels a lot like Azumanga in space.)
Alias isn't sci-fi/fantasy?
Heute die Welt, morgen das Sonnensystem!
...so damn stupid you can't understand why would anyone watch it.
ha! hey there -- so my husband and pals read slashdot regularly and one of his buddies messaged me in SILC to tell me about this post. all you people who hasn't read SF since the old greats should read my book (it's a finalist for best related book). it's called better to have loved: the life of judith merril. she was my grandmother, known as the little mother of science fiction. more info
It also has a disturbingly complete necrology of recently deceased members of the SF community. It seems like every other headline is "So & so dies," but that's to be expected with all the graying pulp era artists, writers, and fans.
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
Pretty clearly a Zelanzy plot with Lindskold doing all of the writing, but it wasn't bad overall. (It helps that I like Chinese mythos stuff, even if this wasn't very Chinese.)
Let me also second Aliaster Renyolds as someone picking up the slack: Revelation Space and Chasm City aren't bad at all.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
One caveat with Stephenson - "Big U" is an interesting attempt to satarize a behemoth of a university, probably his first book. He hadn't developed his amazing chops yet. I worship the man, but I think he'd agree this is not worth the time.
Zodiac was pretty good. Strong narrative, some good characters. You can see the emergence of some geek-friendly themes. It lacks the absolute truckloads of storytelling talent he lavishes on subsequent books, but for many writers this would be their best book ever.
Snow Crash was AMAZING. Has the aforementioned truckloads. Very funny, surprising consistency all the way through. Nothing sacrificed for a laugh, but many of them fit. And a fine backdrop of whimsical neurolinguistic mysticism driving it. Great characters. Absolutely great. Each is hip - or wants to be - in a different way. It's male dominated, but there is a very strong female character that feels real, like the author has actually met a female in person. Even minor characters are fully fleshed out in a few deft strokes.
Diamond Age - AMAZING Very good at pulling heartstrings, fascinating look at nanotach. More of a "realistic" feel than Snow Crash. (Neither good nor bad in itself, but some readers might find S.C. too enjoyable/easy)
Cryptonomicon - awesome. Staggering. (Especially if you have to carry it a long way) This is a more complex narrative, with two sets of characters in two time periods. Amazingly, they fit together and not just at a tangent point. It is rich with historical insight, and it has tons of stuff for those who get a hard-on for computer security.
On a side note - I may have spotted him at Norwescon this weekend. Not really sure. I happened to be raving about him at the time and may have invoked him.
And Nemesis isn't up for one. How strange. (ha.)
Not everyone subscribes to the last-man-standing-wins model of American capitalism.
True. Those who reject it are known as "idiots."
There are smarter people in the world than you. Once you realize this fact, I mean REALLY internalize it, life will start making a whole lot more sense to you.
Ahhh... welcome back old friend. We've missed you.
Hey, this is interesting. Give the guy a cigar :)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
RickHunter is right on Bear. Be Careful.
Moving Mars is great. Eon and Forge of God were great, but feel dated now. Damn cold war ending. Forge of God is still worth reading, its one of my all time favorites. Avoid Anvil of Stars at all costs. Dinosaur Summer was weak too. Blood Music is a cool concept but the story never quite gelled.
Same for Darwin's Radio. Im missing a few that I have read plus there are many more. It doesnt sound like a very positive review, but honestly, I really like reading him stuff.
As has already been mentioned, the two Enterprise episodes up for consideration are perhaps the worst ever. Hell, I'd pick Quark's mother rubbing Grand Nagus Zek's ears (from one of the most-hated DS9 episodes) over Archer and his dog in a "decontamination gel" scene. The writing on the series usually seems to be a rehash of technobabble-heavy TNG episodes, not to mention the fact that all episodes are either written by or come from ideas by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. The running Temporal Cold War plotline is kept so ambiguous that I doubt the producers even know where they're going with it (altho they have sadly missed many opportunities to make some funny Quantum Leap jokes). I have found the acting, even in widely acclaimed episodes such as "Future Tense," to still be somewhat wooden and stilted. A lot of the characters seem to be shoved to the background (see Trip and Mayweather... or are they the same character? Geez, I don't know, it's not like I've seen an episode that really makes it clear). About the only good thing I can find in the show is the all-CGI special effects, and those would be much better employed if they were, say, used to go back and redo one of the Dominion War ship battles from DS9 (which are spectacular already). Hopefully they won't let this one drag on interminably for seven years only to come to a convoluted ending...
Idiot, fucking idiot, you completely missed the fucking point! Dramas take YEARS to get large followings. If they were competent, they'd be supporting shows that had a chance of being really good, instead they go and cancel everything that isn't an instant cash infusion.
When the reality shit bombs, they will have nothing keeping them stable for years.
Silly AC, get a clue before you go flaimbaiting.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
They are technology so advanced that it appeares to be magic, and that's not scifi? Seems like they do a hell of a job selling it.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
I would like to congratulate fellow Twilight Tales member Richard Chwedyk for winning the Nebula for Bronte's Egg and for allowing Twilight Tales to post it on the Web site.
<blatant plug>
If any Sci-Fi or Horror fans visit Chicago, come to Twilight Tales on Monday night for Chicago's longest running (10 years) genre specific reading group.
</blantant plug>
In a world that is Free and Open, who needs Windows and Gates?
That's rich. Look up the etymolgy of the word "idiot." It derives from the Greek word, "idiotes" meaning a private person, someone who does not particiape in public life. To the ancient Greeks, a private person who thought only of themselves was stupid, and so the word eventually took on it's current meaning.
So in the original sense of the word, those who subscribe to the last-man-standing-wins model of American capitalism are "idiotes," or private people unconcerned with civic responsibility.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
She's one of my favorites, and I have considered her a Grand Master ever since I read "The Disposessed," one of the best SF stories about anarchist society that I have ever read.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
True. But he lives in Minnesota now. . .
Looks like Michael Swanwick got a lot of nominations this year. I hope he picks up a Hugo or two, he's a great underrated writer.
Check out Stations of the Tide if you haven't read any of his stuff yet. Great book, very much in the vein of The Void Captian's Tale by Norman Spinrad.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
Ohhhhh... kay. I guess if we all spoke ancient Greek, you might have some kind of point here. "Four thousand years ago, X meant Y! Isn't that insightful? X really means Y!"
I don't think I have a word for a person who either doesn't understand or deliberately tries to ignore what "idiot" means. "Idiot," it seems, isn't strong enough.
Judging from the review of American Gods, I have to ask... Is there any science in it?
I object to that article, and to the next reply.
Starhunter (with Michael Pare) is excellent sci-fi. Why didn't it get any nominations?
I don't have an opinion on Kiln People because I haven't read it and probably never will. But your review sums up my reaction to the last couple of Brin books I've read. Like many "hard" SF writers, Brin has two nasty flaws: he dreams up INTERESTING IDEAs faster than he can make up actual stories to go with them; and he hates to discard an INTERESTING IDEA once he's put any work into it, no matter how absurd and illogical and just plain stupid the INTERESTING IDEA actually is.
He's not alone in having this problem, of course. Even some of my favorites (Neal Stephenson comes to mind) do it. But Brin's always been worse than anybody, and its finally overwhelmed the positive aspects of his work. So I guess I'll never find out how the Uplift Wars turn out. Oh Well!
*shickt* *sssssthwack* *thunk *thunkthunk* *ZOT-rumble-rumble*
According to the article and to Torcon 3's Web site, "Ted Chiang respectfully declined his nomination for the Best Novelette category." Anybody know which novelette, and why?
Yes, my hauling out the ancient Greek definition of the word "idiot" in this case is a variation of the old "I'm rubber, you're glue" argument, but it fits the situation. You were being infantile, I was infantile right back, but it sounded smart, unlike you're original insult, which sounded, well, idiotic.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton