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Sad Puppies
Jan. 18th, 2015 04:58 pmSo, one of the more tedious arguments from the Sad Puppies is this:
there is no way you can convince me that Redshirts was a better story than 2312 as advanced by Brad Torgersen. My reply:
Well, I for one couldn’t finish 2312. It was tedious and the lead character was about as likable as the second day of diarrhea. Vorpatril was okay, but on reviewing my records my vote was (1-2-3) Crescent Moon, Blackout and Redshirts. As I recall, Redshirts didn’t go over the top until the 3rd round, so I suspect that for the median voter Redshirts was the least objectionable.
Circling back on the “Oh the Hugos of yore were grand” take a gander at what great classics actually won. 1958s Hugo was “The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber. No novels in 1957. (Eligible works include stuff by Clarke, Asimov and Fred Pohl.) 1955? They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley. (Who and who?) Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit Will Travel” was eligible. In 1964, Here Gather the Stars (alt: Way Station) by Clifford D. Simak beat out Heinlein (Glory Road) AND Frank Herbert’s Dune (on the ballot as “Dune World” serialized in Analog.) The Cold Equations came out in 1954, was in a “Best of” anthology of 1955, yet did not win the short story category.
Does anybody want to argue that “Here Gather the Stars” is better than Dune? (First, has anybody ever even heard of it?) Or that nothing was worth while in 1957? I could go on here, but my point is made – awards are inherently subjective. Sometimes the givers of the award get it “right” and sometimes they don’t.
there is no way you can convince me that Redshirts was a better story than 2312 as advanced by Brad Torgersen. My reply:
Well, I for one couldn’t finish 2312. It was tedious and the lead character was about as likable as the second day of diarrhea. Vorpatril was okay, but on reviewing my records my vote was (1-2-3) Crescent Moon, Blackout and Redshirts. As I recall, Redshirts didn’t go over the top until the 3rd round, so I suspect that for the median voter Redshirts was the least objectionable.
Circling back on the “Oh the Hugos of yore were grand” take a gander at what great classics actually won. 1958s Hugo was “The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber. No novels in 1957. (Eligible works include stuff by Clarke, Asimov and Fred Pohl.) 1955? They’d Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley. (Who and who?) Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit Will Travel” was eligible. In 1964, Here Gather the Stars (alt: Way Station) by Clifford D. Simak beat out Heinlein (Glory Road) AND Frank Herbert’s Dune (on the ballot as “Dune World” serialized in Analog.) The Cold Equations came out in 1954, was in a “Best of” anthology of 1955, yet did not win the short story category.
Does anybody want to argue that “Here Gather the Stars” is better than Dune? (First, has anybody ever even heard of it?) Or that nothing was worth while in 1957? I could go on here, but my point is made – awards are inherently subjective. Sometimes the givers of the award get it “right” and sometimes they don’t.
