Monthly Archives: April 2010

Holey Hugo Ballot!

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Nothing like this has ever happened before.

Sure, plenty of times fans have discovered things missing from the final Hugo ballot. In 2007 everybody noticed there were no Japanese stories at all even though the Worldcon was in Japan. But at least everybody was missing the same thing.

This week, wherever I turn some fan is complaining that a crucial nominee has been left off his 2010 Hugo final ballot. But it’s never the same one! I’m positive only a diabolical super-villain could orchestrate the disappearance of something different from each fan’s Hugo ballot.

And what things are missing?

One fan claimed Dave Langford’s name is gone from its usual place, after 31 consecutive years as a Best Fanwriter nominee. That can’t be right.

Then I thought maybe it was, seeing Airlock Alpha had titled Dennis Rayburn’s latest feature “Something Is Missing From Hugo Nominations”. In the footer it says “Dennis Rayburn is a professional fan writer,” so what other category could he possibly be writing about?

But Rayburn had nothing to say about Langford! He said there was something else missing from his Hugo ballot. No matter how long he stared at the list of Best Dramatic: Short Form nominees “Torchwood: Children of Earth” was nowhere to be found.

So thanks to Rayburn’s article I wasn’t surprised when I read John Scalzi also had found an error in the Best Dramatic: Short Form category on his Hugo ballot. Except (here’s the really scary part) the missing nominee was another show entirely!

…while, yes, I get that lots of fans really like their Doctor Who, I think having it constitute 60% of the slate might suggest nominators aren’t looking at the whole range of sf/f entertainment options available to them. LIKE STARGATE: UNIVERSE, PEOPLE. Sorry, that just slipped out

Don’t give up, John. Your show is probably on lots of people’s ballots. (Everyone please check and let him know that you found it.)

In the meantime, this is unquestionably the biggest crisis to strike the Hugo Awards since that one Scott Dennis took credit for solving (Smofs, you know which one, *wink**wink*).

We just better hope that the 2010 Hugo Voter Packet for members of Aussiecon 4 will have everything it’s supposed to. More, if possible.

Endlessly Fascinating J.R.R. Tolkien

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Brian Gottesman’s guest post on Mental_floss, “10 Things You Should Know About J.R.R. Tolkien,” is a selection of anecdotes, insights and trivia sure to appeal to fans with an insatiable interest in one of the most admired authors in fantasy. That the items are written in an engaging style is more important than that they come as a surprise. However, this was news to me:

His poem “Bagm? Blom?” (“Flower of the Trees”) might be the first original work written in the Gothic language in over a millennium.

No kidding?

Down in the comments there is also a wonderful quarrel between two self-appointed copyeditors. You can tell what it’s about from the final nitpick:

No, chain mail isn’t redundant. There is also Scale mail armor. You can say “mail armor”, but that still leaves the question of Scale vs. Chain to be answered.

I also applaud a commenter who recommended Diana’s book about Tolkien, Lewis and the Inklings, The Company They Keep.

[Thanks to Steven H Silver for the link.]

Jeanne Robinson Update

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Spider Robinson gave friends and fans the latest distressing information about Jeanne’s cancer treatment on April 5:

Jeanne’s doctors have ended her chemotherapy. There’s nothing more chemistry can do for/to her. Radiation was never an option. She is therefore now in Palliative Care Phase. We asked roughly how long this stage might last—repeatedly—and the only answer we got was, “somewhere between a month and a year—more or less.”

Click the link for more of Spider’s thoughts about the short-term and the best ways to support them at this time.

[Thanks to David Klaus for the link.]

Renovation Mails First Progress Report

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The 2011 Worldon’s Progress Report #1 was mailed this week. But if you’re the kind of fan who can’t wait for a paper copy to come in the mail, you can read a PDF copy online right now. (Same applies if you aren’t even expecting a copy in the mail because you’re coincidentally not a member. Oops, I blabbed.)

I recommend Patty Wells’ “Chair’s Message,” which hits a real grace note.

The full press release follows the jump.

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A Well-Versed DUFF Winner

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By John Hertz (upon hearing fans selected him as the 2010 Down Under Fan Fund delegate):

It’s grand to hear I won DUFF!
Evidently your votes were Quant Suff! [1]
I’ll go to the con!
I’ll meet folks, party on!
I may not sleep much!  I’ll be tough!

[1] Alfred Bester joke for Keith DeCandido; The Stars My Destination ch. 2 [2]

[2] Footnote for Claire Brialey

A Few Fan Hugo Thoughts

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There are six nominees in the Best Fanzine category, from which a tie for fifth place can be deduced. (Me and Sherlock, you know.) Who can say, maybe File 770 was the beneficiary again? It was last year, receiving just enough votes (30) to share the bottom rung with Banana Wings, an honor in its own right. 

In 2010, the Best Fanzine category — with 298 votes — had more participation than three of the non-fan categories. Very often in Hugo history the fan categories have trailed the field in numbers of voters who nominated anything, but that record was mitigated this year.

Last year there were 257 voters making nominations in the Best Fanzine category, meaning in 2010 participation jumped by about 16%. There was a general increase in Hugo nominating ballots — Aussiecon 4 broke the record, after all — so it’s hard to guess whether the robust showing in the Best Fanzine category is due to the overall growth, to the change in the  rules opening it to blogs and websites, or to specific attempts to rally votes like the one made for StarShipSofa.

Obviously, looking over the familiar titles nominated again in 2010,  there wasn’t a tsunami of change which I find curious. It will be interesting to see the nomination stats when they are released. Were many newly eligible publications nominated and just didn’t get a critical mass of votes, or did voters continue to see the category in a traditional light despite the change? I’m guessing the former — not that my predictive track record is much to go on. But here’s my reason — even when paperzines were the only potential nominees there would be a huge number of titles receiving a trivial number of nominations, while just a small number of zines managed to generate the few dozen votes needed to become finalists.

Or another possibility is that voters took to heart the idea advanced by John Scalzi and echoed by Cheryl Morgan that their blogs were not fanzines or related works, setting an example to the effect that bloggers should be recognized in the Best Fanwriter category (then they also deflected attention from themselves by encouraging fans to vote for those who had not yet won.) Certainly the largest influx of newcomers was in the Best Fanwriter category, with first-time nominees James Nicoll, Lloyd Penney and Frederik Pohl (though it may be observed how long it has taken them to become overnight sensations.) 

Perhaps greater change will follow when voters have more information to stoke their enthusiasm. The very publication of the nominating stats will raise voter consciousness about which ones will benefit from a push. And when you look over all the Hugo categories, the importance of constituencies and identity groups in producing votes is self-evident.

John Hertz Is 2010 DUFF Winner

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John Hertz of Los Angeles has been voted the Down Under Fan Fund delegate to the 2010 Worldcon in Australia. 

North American DUFF Administrators Steve and Sue Francis said, “It required all 4 rounds of vote redistribution to determine the winner.”

Hertz began the runoff with a clear plurality, 48 first-place votes out of 131 cast, and maintained a substantial lead until the automatic runoff produced a majority.  The voting statistics are given in the Francis’ report: 2010 DUFF Results (PDF file).

Wooster’s Comments on Invented Languages Book

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By Martin Morse Wooster: I finished Arika Okrent’s In the Land of Invented Languages (Spiegel and Grau, 2009). The book mentions sf fandom in several places. She attended a Lojban conference that was held at the 2006 Philcon. She also discusses Suzette Haden Elgin’s feminist language Laadan, and discusses Wiscon’s role in promoting discussion of this language. She also says that Lojban adapted some of Laadan’s features, and did so because of Lojban founder Bob LeChevalier’s connections with fandom. Finally, there are several chapters about Klingon, and the work of Lawrence Schoen’s Klingon Language Institute is discussed.

I wouldn’t say that artificial language fandom is something that spun off of sf fandom (except for Klingon) but rather that artificial languages are something that fans are interested in.

Diana would want to know that Tolkien is discussed, including his creation of Quenya. But I thought the Tolkien discussion was rather slight.

2010 Hugo Nominations

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The 2010 Hugo Award nominees have been announced by Aussiecon 4.

BEST NOVEL (699 nominating ballots)
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Tor)
The City & The City by China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
Wake by Robert J. Sawyer (Ace; Penguin; Gollancz; Analog)
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)

BEST NOVELLA (375 nominating ballots)
“Act One” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 3/09)
The God Engines by John Scalzi (Subterranean)
“Palimpsest” by Charles Stross (Wireless)
Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow (Tachyon)
“Vishnu at the Cat Circus” by Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker (Subterranean)

BEST NOVELETTE (402 nominating ballots)
“Eros, Philia, Agape” by Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/09)
“The Island” by Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)
“It Takes Two” by Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)
“One of Our Bastards is Missing” by Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)
“Overtime” by Charles Stross (Tor.com 12/09)
“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” by Eugie Foster (Interzone 2/09)

BEST SHORT STORY (432 nominating ballots)
“The Bride of Frankenstein” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s 12/09)
“Bridesicle” by Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)
“The Moment” by Lawrence M. Schoen (Footprints)
“Non-Zero Probabilities” by N.K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld 9/09)
“Spar” by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)

BEST RELATED WORK (259 nominating ballots)
Canary Fever: Reviews by John Clute (Beccon)
Hope-In-The-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees by Michael Swanwick (Temporary Culture)
The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction by Farah Mendlesohn (McFarland)
On Joanna Russ edited by Farah Mendlesohn (Wesleyan)
The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of SF Feminisms by Helen Merrick (Aqueduct)
This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is “I”) by Jack Vance (Subterranean)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY (221 nominating ballots)
Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Written by Neil Gaiman; Pencilled by Andy Kubert; Inked by Scott Williams (DC Comics)
Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State Written by Paul Cornell; Pencilled by Leonard Kirk
with Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona and Ardian Syaf (Marvel Comics)
Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages Written by Bill Willingham; Pencilled by Mark Buckingham; Art by Peter Gross & Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, David Hahn; Colour by Lee Loughridge & Laura Allred; Letters by Todd Klein (Vertigo Comics)
Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio;
Art by Phil Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse Written and Illustrated by Howard Tayler

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – LONG FORM (541 nominating ballots)
Avatar Screenplay and Directed by James Cameron (Twentieth Century Fox)
District 9 Screenplay by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell; Directed by Neill Blomkamp (TriStar Pictures)
Moon Screenplay by Nathan Parker; Story by Duncan Jones; Directed by Duncan Jones (Liberty Films)
Star Trek Screenplay by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Directed by J.J. Abrams (Paramount)
Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter; Story by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, & Thomas McCarthy;
Directed by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION – SHORT FORM (282 nominating ballots)
Doctor Who: “The Next Doctor” Written by Russell T Davies; Directed by Andy Goddard (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who: “Planet of the Dead” Written by Russell T Davies & Gareth Roberts; Directed by James Strong (BBC Wales)
Doctor Who: “The Waters of Mars” Written by Russell T Davies & Phil Ford; Directed by Graeme Harper (BBC Wales)
Dollhouse: “Epitaph 1” Story by Joss Whedon; Written by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon; Directed by David Solomon (Mutant Enemy)
FlashForward: “No More Good Days” Written by Brannon Braga & David S. Goyer; Directed by David S. Goyer; based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer (ABC)

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM (289 nominating ballots)
Lou Anders
Ginjer Buchanan
Liz Gorinsky
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Juliet Ulman

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM (419 nominating ballots)
Ellen Datlow
Stanley Schmidt
Jonathan Strahan
Gordon Van Gelder
Sheila Williams

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST (327 nominating ballots)
Bob Eggleton
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio
Daniel Dos Santos
Shaun Tan

BEST SEMIPROZINE (377 nominating ballots)
Ansible edited by David Langford
Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, & Cheryl Morgan
Interzone edited by Andy Cox
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal

BEST FAN WRITER (319 nominating ballots)
Claire Brialey
Christopher J Garcia
James Nicoll
Lloyd Penney
Frederik Pohl

BEST FANZINE (298 nominating ballots)
Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
Banana Wings edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
CHALLENGER edited by Guy H. Lillian III
Drink Tank edited by Christopher J Garcia, with guest editor James Bacon
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith

BEST FAN ARTIST (199 nominating ballots)
Brad W. Foster
Dave Howell
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Taral Wayne

THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (356 nominating ballots)
(Not a Hugo Award. This is an award for best new Science Fiction writer of the past two years, sponsored by Dell Magazines and administered by the current Worldcon committee.)
Saladin Ahmed
Gail Carriger
Felix Gilman *
Seanan McGuire
Lezli Robyn *
* Second year of eligibility

The full press release appears after the jump.

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