2012 Hugo Voter Packet Posted, Sorta

Chicon 7 has posted Part I of the 2012 Hugo Voter Packet, making digital copies of many award nominees available to Worldcon members.

Part I includes all the fiction categories (Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story), plus Pro Artist and Fancast.

There also are samples from writers nominated for the Campbell Award, which is not a Hugo but is voted upon at the same time.

The committee is releasing the Hugo Voter Packet in stages because of technical problems with the downloads for such categories as Best Fanzine. Michael Thomas, who supervises the HVP, explained:

In the final testing before going live, our volunteer IT staff discovered a bug that was preventing consistent downloading of the categories with larger files. They’ve been working around the clock with our ISP to fix the bug or to find a workaround so that these categories can be released to the members.

“Larger files,” eh? So has The Drink Tank #300 proved too big to squeeze through Chicon’s fiber-optic cable and left it looking like an anaconda after breakfast? Or has the Internet failed to decide what to make of an unprecedented digital issue of Banana Wings? Surely my fanzine is behaving itself.

You Worldcon members can get started reading Part I immediately if you have your Chicon 7 PIN and Membership #. Just head over to the login page.

Not everything will be available in multiple e-book formats. The publishers of each work control what file formats Chicon is allowed to provide. Some were unwilling to permit anything other than a watermarked PDF.

If you don’t have your PIN and Membership # handy, you won’t have long to wait until the committee’s e-mail arrives with a copy of this information. They’ve predicted the e-mails will all be sent within 24 hours.

The content on Chicon 7’s special page for Best Fancast nominees is open to all. Those links will take you to the nominees’ websites where you will be able to download a representative 2011 episode by following directions on their website.