John Scalzi's Redshirts Wins Hugo Award for Best Novel

The Hugo awards were presented last night, providing recognition to the best science fiction of the past year. The award for Best Novel was presented to John Scalzi for Redshirts, a comedic work playing on the trope of low-ranking officers frequently getting themselves killed in sci-fi works. Best Novella went to Brandon Sanderson for The Emperor's Soul, and Best Novelette went to The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi by Pat Cadigan. Best Graphic Story was awarded to the creators of Saga. Best Dramatic Presentation (long form) was given for Joss Whedon's The Avengers movie, and (short form) was presented for the "Blackwater" episode of the Game of Thrones TV show. The Best New Writer was Mur Lafferty. Here's a full list of the nominees and winners.

Comments

I have the book but haven't read it yet.

[taxman_10m]

The reviews on Amazon made it seem mediocre at best. Really, there was no better science fiction this year?

Re:I have the book but haven't read it yet.

[washort]

Probably there was. The Hugos seem to be given to a particular set of people as a matter of course.

Re:I have the book but haven't read it yet.

[OzPeter]

The reviews on Amazon made it seem mediocre at best. Really, there was no better science fiction this year?

I read the book and really liked it. I suspect that the reviews are not the best because the book changes course in the middle and morphs from purely comedic to something that makes you have to think in order to enjoy it.

But really?!!?!?! You base your opinion of a book that you actually own, but have not yet read, on Amazon reviews??????

Re:Sci-Fi?

[wonkey_monkey]

The Hugos are for science fiction and fantasy.

Re:There's no money.

[santosh.k83]

Money is necessary when there's competition in society. When society transitions to cooperation (and not what passes under that name today), only organisation would be necessary, not money.

Re:Sci-Fi?

[swillden]

Another interesting side to the "tech as magic" notion is the work of authors who define rigorous frameworks for their fictional magic. Then magic becomes technology, just technology that's based on different (and fictional) physical principles. Much of golden age sci-fi was about exploring the impact of logical extensions of technology on social structures. Today there's a lot of fantasy that postulates interesting magic and explores its impact on social structures.

Of course, at the end of the day all good stories are about people. I love good stories that use really innovative and mind-twisting technology/magic as a backdrop, but while great ideas add spice great storytelling is about emotional reaction, and that means people.