The Meetings Continue...

So postings will be brief.

On guns: Dick Metcalf, the guy who got fired from a gun magazine for saying reasonable things, commits reasonableness again.


On business: "Booth babes" actually hurt sales at conventions.

On health care: Most emergency room visits aren't needed, but going to the ER can reduce costs overall.

Hugos, or Here We Go Again

So, I see via various sources that Larry Correia is starting his campaign to get himself a Hugo. Now, I've read Larry's debut novel, Monster Hunters Incorporated, and voted for him for the Campbell Award. So, I have nothing against him or his work.

But. I only get five novel picks. One of them absolutely will be Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice. This book is an absolutely mind-blowing work, radically different than most SF novels. On the other hand, Monster Hunters Incorporated, while entertaining, is your basic "let's go kill some monsters" novel.

To compare apples to apples, as it were, Monster Hunters came out the same year as I Am Not a Serial Killer. As the title suggests, Not a Serial Killer not your typical novel. I can see how that book would edge out Larry's novel. Going to last year's list, even though Redshirts was not on the top of my list, you have to admit the idea of the characters in a TV show trying to fix their lot is unique.

In short, the reason Larry's not getting the Hugo love he thinks he deserves isn't because of his politics. It's because he's not writing stuff as good as what is getting the Hugo love.