Science Fiction/Fantasy Awards: The Hugos and Other Things
Recently the blogosphere has been somewhat up in arms about the whole SF/F awards thing, particularly the Hugos. After reading some of what Adam Roberts had to say and what some others said in response, I decided that I should give my two cents on the issue. Apparently there are two primary items that folks are discussing: the Hugo Awards aren’t getting enough votes (apparently a horrendously dismal amount); and whether or not awards like the Hugo, Nebula, etc. are worthless. My personal opinion on the voting problem for the Hugo Awards is that the folks that run it are simply outdated. Back in the day (assuming that they’ve run the Hugos relatively the same since when it first started out) there weren’t a lot of ways for folks to communicate about their favorite books. There was no Internet, telephoning people you didn’t know was pretty much impossible (or creepy), and basically the only way to really connect was either to go to one of those new-fangled conventions or hang around with a local SF/F group. In those days it made a lot of sense to have an award that was voted on by attendees of a convention. There weren’t a lot of books to read back then (so the big ones tended to shine through) and the folks who were likely to vote were already going to be at Worldcon. But with the invention of the Internet, the Hugo Awards are a bit outdated these days. The problem is that folks who can’t attend the convention aren’t likely to spend $50 to be able to vote on a favorite book, and those at the convention either aren’t voting because they don’t care, or aren’t voting for the same books (or something of that nature). The thing is, the Hugo Awards are a fan-based award (primarily speaking). Why is it that most fans can’t vote? Now, granted, $50 isn’t a lot, but if you can’t go to Worldcon, it’s kind of a lot of money just to be able to cast a vote. And with the economy in crummy condition, do you honestly expect anyone to fork out $50 to get to vote for an award that largely means nothing to them? My suggestion on how to fix the Hugo Awards to make them more appealing is to change the entire structure to allow for folks who haven’t paid to vote. Sure, that might tick people off, but at the very least you could make it so the votes of Worldcon members are worth more than non-Worldcon members (like Locus). This would get more people involved who don’t have the money to become a member. We have to remember that one of the largest audiences of SF/F is not a bunch of old guys with steady jobs; it’s teenagers and college kids. We’re the ones consuming these books in large quantities (especially fantasy). How many teenagers do you know that are willing to fork out $50 to vote? I don’t know any. I wouldn’t have. I’d rather have spent that $50 on movies and crap that I didn’t need. The Hugo Awards, in my opinion, forget about these folks precisely because they are outdated. This needs to change so that the Hugos do more than be remembered as “some award,” but become something more fans actually care about. And that’s where my thoughts on the whole “awards are rubbish” thing come in: To me, none of the awards really matter at all. While I think they are wonderful for the authors and probably have a good impact on sales, I don’t necessarily care. A book with “Hugo Award Winner” on the cover is not likely to make me jump with joy to read it. I simply don’t buy or read books that way. I think of these awards along the same lines as the Oscars. They’re more symbolic than anything else. But that’s me and I am in no way the only opinion. There are those who think the awards are garbage and worth nothing. I disagree. I think many do pay attention to the awards when buying books (or at least notice them in a good way). I think the awards need to exist to congratulate good authors for good genre writing. But I get the point. For folks who really don’t care, who hate the politics behind it, etc. awards really are valueless. That’s just the way it is. I also understand Adam Roberts’ point about SF/F awards having too much focus on the fanbase. I think there need to be more significant awards that don’t take fan-voting into account, but judging. This might sound screwed up, ignoring the opinions of fans, but fans tend to latch onto the same kinds of books and don’t always move outside of that comfort zone. The awards aren’t really about that; they’re about the best works in the genre. That has to be emphasized more. The Hugo is great for being a fan-voted award, but we need more judge-voted awards out there to make sure that none of the greats that folks might not have read or ignored for some reason slip through the cracks. What do you think about all this? If you liked this post, please stumble it, digg it, etc.
Video Found: The Emperor Gets a New Job
This video is hilarious! Can you imagine actually having to explain what happened to the Emperor when he was chucked down that shaft? Check it out: What do you think?
The Haul of Books Volume Five
And for another installation of The Haul of Books, I have a few more of those books I got from my good friend. It’s probably not a surprise at this point that I don’t actually have any room in my room for any more books (at least, not until I organize). Enough stalling from me, here are the acquisitions:First up are the following: Under the Healing Sign and The Magic and the Healing, and The Gnomewrench in the Peopleworks by Nick O’Donohoe, Hades’ Daughter and by Sara Douglass, Gods’ ConcubineThe Varayan Memoir by Rick Shelley, and Blade Dancer and Beyond Varallan by S. L. Viehl.And then there are: The Wounded Hawk by Sara Douglass, Destiny, by Elizabeth Haydon, Cloudbearer’s Shadow by Ann Marston, The Nameless Day by Sara Douglass, Sword and Shadowby Ann Marston, and The Wayfarer Redemption, Enchanter, and Darkwitch Rising by Sara Douglass.And there we go. What books have you bought/received lately?
Video Found: Ewok Gospel (w/ Billy Dee Williams)
(Stolen from Grasping For the Wind) There’s really only one thing that makes this video the greatest thing in Star Wars fan geekery since the Cops spoof “Troopers.” And that thing is the fact that Billy Dee Williams is in it (the guy who is remembered by SW fans as good old Lando). Check it out and enjoy:
Twenty-five Things (About Me): A Meme
I was tagged on Facebook for this, but because I don’t feel like doing this list there, I’m doing it here. Besides, this is what blogs are for. I officially tag anyone who wants to do this. The point is to make a list of twenty-five things about you, presumably stuff most people don’t know (or at least isn’t clear). This probably is an attempt to make people on the interwebs human or some such. In any case, here goes: Total Recall is one of my favorite movies for absolutely no logical reason whatsoever. The Matrix Revolutions is possibly my favorite music soundtrack ever. I think Battlestar Galactica (the re-imagined show by Ronald A. Moore) is the best science fiction show ever made. Period. It has overtaken Firefly without even a struggle. I applied to Oxford without any expectation to get in (in fact, I don’t even have my hopes up for it). I have actually gotten an A in a class without reading anything on the syllabus or paying attention to the lectures (not at UCSC, though). This might mean I was a bad student, but you should consider that if a student can not pay attention or read any of the books and still get an A, then the course wasn’t all that well put together, now was it? I have enough books to make the proportion of not-read to read close to 100 to 1. I have 13 leopard geckos and three common musk turtles with me where I live; my mother and her partner are caring for my bearded dragon and crested gecko (both of which they apparently love to death). I despise the following words: intrinsic, billfold, and lozenge. And by despise, I mean that I actually get angry shivers when I hear them. I’m agnostic, despite what anyone may assume from my rants against religion. I am afraid of horses. I have no desire to have any sort of wedding, and neither does my fiance. We just want to be married and move on from that moment. I rarely watch the following movies because they creep me out way too much (mostly because I saw them when I was a kid first): The Neverending Story and Ernest Scared Stupid I think American Cheese is an abomination and should be destroyed for the protection of all mankind. I considered, in my youth, converting to Islam, and then to Hinduism, and then to Buddhism, and then to Zen Buddhism, and then to Christianity, and then to nothing at all. Needless to say that none of these religions/ideologies did anything for me at all. I write short stories because I have limited time to devote to writing and they are somewhat easier for me to write and maintain interest. I still work on novels and have every intention of continuing, but shorts are simply easier for me at the moment. I have been told by people close to me that I am both a good writer and a crappy editor. Obviously I value their opinions to put up with that. I have also been told by two professionals in the writing field that I am a good writer (something I’ll be talking about later, I’m sure). I am a cancer survivor. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; survivor of almost six years now. No, I don’t want sympathy. It was no big deal. I don’t shave or cut my hair often because I despise the entire process of both (plus one hurts and the other costs money). I love to argue, so much so that I will even take up positions that are not representative of how I actually think just so I can keep arguing. I don’t know why. I believe that the U.S. Constitution is not all that hard to understand and that people who think it is hard to interpret are not very smart and shouldn’t be running this country. I am lactose intolerant, but refuse to drink or eat soy products because they are disgusting. I continue to drink or eat dairy products, even though I can sometimes have unpleasant reactions to them. I’d probably only quit if I found it it would actually kill me. I will be close to $21,000 in debt by the time I get my B.A. This is to preserve my ability to not have to waste money on a car or get a job so that I may focus on my schooling and other aspects of my life (such as trying not to go insane). I suspect that I will make someone else pay for it in exchange for me doing something nice for them. I am politically a moderate and believe that people who vote via party or religious opinion are idiots who shouldn’t be allowed to vote at all. Likewise, people who vote because Bill O’Reilly or someone equally as polarizing and moronic tells them who to vote for should probably be put in a mental institution or, at the very least, deemed mentally handicapped and sent to their own island without food or water. I am a member of the Modern Language Associate of America. And there you go! Hope you all enjoy.
Website Found: A History of Communications
It’s not every day that you find a chronology of every major communications advancement in human history. But that’s what this website is all about, or at least this page anyway. What is it?A History of Communications is the pet project of Nathan Shedroff, who apparently has not only a lot of time on his hands (the current version took him close to five years to put together), but a lot of patience. The project is an ongoing attempt to chronicle human advancements in methods of communication from paleolithic writings to cell phones. Why is it cool?Why isn’t it cool? If you’ve ever wondered just how we’ve advanced over the thousands of years we’ve been writing and talking, then this enormous chronology puts everything together for you. You can now see where the intersection between the creation of the Internet and the evolution of the computer is. The only downside as of now is that the timeline is incomplete. It’s extensive, but missing everything that occurred after 1998 and small bits and pieces here or there between what Nathan already has laid out. But, that’s really sort of irrelevant at this point, because at five years of work, this list is extensive enough to deserve a good look. So, go check it out and satisfy your historical curiosity (he also has a whole bunch of other strange stuff on his site, in case you’re interesting in poking around).