Vernor Vinge died this month and was widely mourned — eloquently, too, by David Brin whose tribute is excerpted in File 770’s coverage, a post that went viral.
Even the announcement of the Hugo finalists, always a news item of great interest, could only command second place.
Here are the ten most-read stories of March 2024 according to dread Jetpack.
Were there stories in February’s Top 10 that didn’t have anything to do with the Hugo Awards? If you said yes – YOU WON! Somehow the “2024 Saturn Award Winners” made the list. That was the only one.
Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford’s “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” went viral, of course, linked by the mainstream media outlets including NBC News and the New York Times, and generated hundreds of comments of discussion here. The report holds the record as the second most-read post on File 770 and is on pace to overtake number one — “Greg Bear (1951-2022)” – within a couple weeks.
The story about Adrian Tchaikovsky saying he will no longer cite himself as a 2023 Hugo winner gained its large number of readers in a bit different way. Google started returning that at the top of the list for certain searches, even above the author’s own announcement. This doesn’t usually happen with File 770 stories — our SEO skills are still stuck in the Neolithic.
One final bit of trivia. Last month was the first time ever that not a single Pixel Scroll made the Top 10. Ordinarily the daily roundups fill a majority of the slots, and I often run a “Scroll-Free” supplementary list. Didn’t need to do that this month.
Here are the ten most-read stories for February 2024 according to dread Jetpack.
There weren’t many Top 10 stories in January that didn’t have something to do with the Chengdu Worldcon Hugo controversy. In fact, there were so many of those a big Chuck Tingle story that started off the month almost got pushed off the list. But not quite.
The 2023 Hugo nomination voting statistics were finally released on January 20 revealing four people’s work had been ruled ineligible without an explanation. Hugo Administrator Dave McCarty, who had worked with a team that included several Chinese members, insisted he could only provide the limited (and unilluminating) official statement they had agreed upon, and his manner of saying so inflamed those asking for more. The controversy expanded as people who analyzed the report’s statistics found they were problematic because the EPH calculations often could not be reconciled. Statements by Kevin Standlee, then chair of Worldcon Intellectual Property, Inc., that the Hugo service mark-holder had no recourse against the 2023 Worldcon committee fueled discussion by social media lawyers about the continuing validity of the marks. Those worries are believed behind the disciplinary measures announced by W.I.P. two days ago.
Here are the ten most-read stories for January 2024 according to dread Jetpack.
This thread is for posts about 2024-published works, which people have read and recommend to other Filers.
There will be no tallying of recommendations done in this thread; its purpose is to provide a source of recommendations for people who want to find something to read which will be eligible for the Hugos or other awards (Nebula, Locus, Asimov’s, etc.) next year.
If you’re recommending for an award other than / in addition to the Hugo Awards which has different categories than the Hugos (such as Locus Awards’ First Novel), then be sure to specify the award and category.
You don’t have to stop recommending works in Pixel Scrolls, please don’t! But it would be nice if you also post here, to capture the information for other readers.
The Suggested Format for posts is:
Title, Author, Published by / Published in (Anthology, Collection, Website, or Magazine + Issue)
Hugo or other Award Category: (Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Related Work, Graphic Novel, Lodestar, Astounding, etc)
link (if available to read/view online)
optional “Brief, spoiler-free description of story premise:”
Naturally the news about the Hugo finalist voting stats – one of File 770’s most-read posts of the year – was December’s number one post. Many wanted to see how the winners made it to the top.
On the other hand, sad news about the stabbing of Diana Paxson and her son was also a leading story. The assailant was arrested the next day and she told a local reporter they were “recovering well”.
Two Pixel Scrolls that featured updates about Cait Corrain, a debut author who was on Goodreads dropping one-star reviews on several others’ debut novels, also made the Top 10.
Here is what Jetpack tells us are the top 10 posts of December 2023. (And if you can’t trust Jetpack – eh, don’t answer that.)
What stories fired readers’ interest this year? At the top of the charts was File 770’s brief roundup about the court’s decision to reject the Internet Archive’s argument that “lending” digital copies of books was fair use rather than a violation of copyright. Posts here rarely go viral, but that one did.
In addition to breaking news stories, like the Hugo and Nebula news which always draw a lot of eyeballs, three widely appreciated articles also made this list: Steve Vertlieb’s tribute to Twilight Zone, Tammy Coxen’s ideas about the future of the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC), and Danny Sichel’s analysis of Ton Godwin’s perennially-controversial short story “The Cold Equations.”
Note: The Chengdu Worldcon committee released a list of Hugo finalists then a few hours later pulled it back because some items were incorrect. The File 770 post got an initial surge of hits when it was assumed to be the regular announcement. Then, oddly, after the post was redacted it continued to get a lot more hits. Maybe living up to that Stephen King analogy about when people see an orange cone at the roadside they start looking for a body. People came to look at the dead post.
When Dann asked, “Omitting collected works, who are the top 5 authors in your library by number of books on your shelves?” a lot of Filers wanted to play along, which made the November 12 Scroll the most popular post of the month.
And the leading non-Scroll post was Steve Vertlieb’s short report on attending The JFK Assassination at 60 symposium, which stirred many memories.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of November 2023 according to dreaded Jetpack.
The announcement of the 2023 Hugo Award winners naturally attracted the most eyes last month, it always does.
Tammy Coxen’s post “If You Love The NASFiC, Set It Free” vaulted into second place because of the discussion it ignited about a sensitive topic – drawing over a hundred comments.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of October 2023 according to dreaded Jetpack.
The Dragon Award winners post was the only news story to hold its head above the flood of Pixel Scrolls in September. However, Harlan Ellison news and the Big Book of Cyberpunk table of contents still drew many readers. And congratulations to Steve Vertlieb who wrote three articles that ranked in the “Scroll-Free Top 10”.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of Septembert 2023 according to dreaded Jetpack.
In a month with so many compelling stories – from the release of the Hugo Voter Packet to criminal charges against a fake Trump elector familiar in sff art circles – the Terry Pratchett stamp issue news was by far August’s most-viewed post.
Next after that came our coverage of F&SF’s official decision to rescind acceptance of a David A. Riley story, which had become the focus of a social media controversy.
Here are the ten most widely-read posts of August 2023 according to Google Analytics.