Friday 10 April 2015

The Hugo Kerfuffle.

I've been reading SF/F for a long time now, and of course I had heard about the Hugo Award. (Some of the books I read boasted their nomination, or their win, on the cover, after all.)

Until last year at the LonCon, I had not had much contact or knowledge about it, though. Then I got to vote (yay!) and to see the ceremony, and a friend of mine gave out one of the Hugos, and it was lovely.

This year I was technically allowed to nominate stuff for the Award, but I didn't get around to do it. Why? Well, nominating (and voting) takes time, since you have to read the stuff you want to nominate first. Unless... unless you are a weird person who is trying to piss in the pool.

This year, the nominations have been very slanted because a few people have put up a slate on the Internet, with nominations, and asked such lovely folks such as these at #GamerGate to buy a supporting membership and vote for the slated stuff. They did. The results? See here - Sarah has listed the slated nominees for your convenience.


There's Opinions Galore on this. George R. R. Martin. Kevin Standlee (who also explains how the No Award vote works). John Scalzi. Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

Me? I'm not having voting rights this year. I don't like the idea of having a slate, and I especially don't like the idea of "proving a point" and "show it to someone" using a very prestigious award... so I'll definitely be watching who gets a Hugo this year.

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