Hugos

Nominations for the 2014 Hugos are allegedly now open. I have nothing eligible. For my reference, here are the 2014 Hugo-eligible stuff I've read or seen:

Novels

Hurricane Fever - Tobias Buckell
Zero Sum Game and Half Life - S.L. Huang
Valour and Vanity - Mary Robinette Kowal
Seat of Magic - J. Kathleen Cheney
Lex Talonis - R.S.A. Garcia
Cibola Burn - James S. A. Corey
Defenders - Will McIntosh
The Burning Dark - Adam Christopher
A Darkling Sea - James Cambias
The Immortality Game - Ted Cross
Time Heist - Anthony Vicino
Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie
A Crack in Everything - Ruth Frances Long (need to check eligibility on this - only published in Ireland)
Locked In - John Scalzi
(Note: Andy Weir's The Martian is not eligible - self-published in 2012)
ETA 1/28/15:
Trial By Fire - Charles E. Gannon

Long Form:

Interstellar
Edge of Tomorrow
Hunger Games
Guardians of Galaxy
Space Station 76

Related:

Invisible - Jim C. Hines

Changing the Hugos

So, Brad Torgersen wants his Sad Puppies 3 slate to change the Hugos. Well, good on him. A man's got to have a goal.

No, seriously, good on him. If he really wants to change the Hugos, as opposed to Larry "Turbo" Corriea*, great. Come on down. Hell, one of his changes, putting comic books as a permanent category, might be something I could be arsed to drag myself into a business meeting for. At any rate, my reply to his call for change:

Brad: I see a lot of assertions of facts that are not in evidence. You say, for example, that gamers aren’t represented at Worldcon. Except Tobias Buckell, my dinner companion one night at Worldcon, is a big gamer. As is game player John Scalzi, who’s written for games. Jim C. Hines got into SF writing via Dungeons and Dragons. I could go on, but my point is Worldcon is lousy with gamers.

I would also point out that, if you want to add a category for games, all it takes is going to the business meetings at two Worldcons (one to introduce the amendment, the second to approve it.) IMO, adding a comic book / graphic novel category would be a good thing. (Look up Kevin Standlee for guidance on changing the rules.) [I don't actually game, so I'm agnostic on the game category.]

You say, “They [most fandom] know absolutely nothing of the Futurians, nor of SMOFs, nor of the arcane and occasionally turbulent contest of personalities that rumbled through written SF in the 1950s and 1960s: Campbellians vs. New Wave.” You know how I found out about all of this? I went to my first Worldcon in Reno in 2011! There were (and usually are) a whole bunch of people at these events who are new to the whole fandom thing.

I guess, Brad, if you really want to change the Hugos, do what Chuck Gannon did – go to Worldcon! (I met Chuck there – we had a nice chat.) Bring your friends. Hell, bring your enemies too. We’ll be in Spokane – a short flight or a day’s drive from you.


* guy I knew in the Navy had the nickname "Turbo" because he emitted a constant high-pitched whine.