(1) PRELIMINARY PUPPIES. Vox Day issued his first “preliminary recommendations” today: “Rabid Puppies 2016: Best New Writer” (Preliminary, since he may change them based on feedback about eligibility, or for other reasons.)
To kick things off, we’ll begin with the Campbell Award: Best New Writer category:
- Pierce Brown
- Cheah Kai Wai
- Sebastien de Castell
- Marc Miller
- Andy Weir
There was a noteworthy exchange in the comments.
[Phil Sandifer] Just for the record, Vox, the only reason Andy Weir wasn’t on the ballot last year was the Puppies. Without you, the Campbell nominees last year would have been Chu, Weir, Alyssa Wong, Carmen Maria Marchado, and Django Wexler.
[VD] Oh, Phil, you’re always so careless. That is not the only reason. It is a reason. Had you SJWs favored Weir over Chu, he would have also been on the ballot.
In any event, since you all are such champions of Weir, I’m glad we will all be able to join forces and get him nominated.
(2) GRRM REQUESTS. After announcing that the Locus Recommended Reading List is online, George R.R. Martin explicitly said –
Just for the record, before the issue is raised, let me state loudly and definitively that I do not want any of my work to be part of anyone’s slate, this year or any year. But I do feel, as I have said before, that a recommended reading list and a slate are two entirely different animals.
— an announcement whose timing may be more relevant today than it would have been yesterday.
(3) LOCUS SURVEY. You can now take the Locus Poll and Survey at Locus Online. Anyone can vote; Locus subscriber votes count double. Voting closes April 15.
Here is the online version of the 46th annual Locus Awards ballot, covering works that appeared in 2015.
In each category, you may vote for up to five works or nominees, ranking them 1 (first place) through 5 (fifth).
As always, we have seeded the ballot with options based on our 2015 Recommended Reading List [this link will open a new window], mainly because this greatly facilitates tallying of results. However, again as always, you are welcome to use the write-in boxes to vote for other titles and nominees in any category. If you do, please try to supply author, title, and place of publication, in a format like the options listed, where appropriate.
Do not vote for more than one item in a category at the same rank (e.g. two selections ranked 1st); if you do, we will disregard your votes in that category.
File 770 is seeded in the Best Magazine or Fanzine category and would cherish your fifth place votes. Or twenty-fifth, for that matter – the competition is formidable.
(4) IT IS THE END MY FRIEND. And perhaps this is the right place to admire John Scalzi’s Whatever post title: “The End of All Things on the 2015 Locus Recommended Reading List”.
(5) STATISTICS. Brandon Kempner at Chaos Horizon began the month of February by “Checking Back in with the SFWA Recommended Reading List”. He prepared a change table and interpreted the rising fortunes of various novels, beginning with the greatest uptick —
What does this tell us? That Lawrence M. Schoen’s Barsk has emerged as a major Nebula contender, despite being lightly read (as of January 30th, this only has 93 ratings on Goodreads, 31 on Amazon, much much lower than other Nebula/Hugo contenders). That’s due in part to Schoen’s late publication date: the novel came out on December 29, 2015. That’s a tough time to come out, as you get lost in the post-Christmas malaise. A Nebula nomination would drive a lot of attention to this book. Schoen now seems like a very good bet for the Nebula, particularly when we factor in that he received Nebula nominations in the Best Novella category in 2013, 2014, and 2015. There’s clearly a subset of Nebula voters that really like Schoen’s work; a Best Novel nomination might be a spark that gets him more read by the rest of us.
(6) CONGRATULATIONS SCOTT EDELMAN. He did it! Scott Edelman celebrates a special sale in “Never give up, never surrender: My 44-year question to sell a short story to Analog”.
I’ve lost track of how many submissions I made to Analog during the intervening years, first to Ben Bova, then Stan Schmidt (for more than three decades!), and now Trevor Quachri. Were there 25 short stories? Fifty? It’s probably been more than that, but I don’t know for sure. And it doesn’t really matter.
What matters is—in the face of rejection, I kept writing.
What matters is—in the face of rejection, I kept submitting.
What matters is—I never took it personally. I knew that I wasn’t the one being rejected—it was only the words on the page that weren’t the right match.
(7) WILL EISNER AUCTION. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is auctioning books from Will Eisner’s personal collection.
Will Eisner wasn’t just the godfather of comics, a creative force who changed the face of modern comics — he was also a staunch advocate for the freedom of expression. In celebration of Eisner’s indomitable talent and advocacy, CBLDF is delighted to offer up for auction books from Eisner’s own personal collection!
All books in this collection come from the late, great Will Eisner’s personal library. The books from this collection are bookplated with Eisner’s own personalized bookplate, featuring his most famous creation, The Spirit. Most of the books in this collection are signed and personalized to the master himself by creators whom Eisner inspired over his illustrious 70-year career
The items are on eBay. The CBLDF’s post has all the links to the various lots.
(8) FAN ART AT RSR. I see that with help from eFanzines’ Bill Burns, Rocket Stack Rank terrifically upgraded its “2016 Fan Artists” content. Gregory N. Hullender explains.
With the help of Bill Burns, we’ve updated the Best Fan Artist page at RSR to include cover art from eFanzines (plus a few that Bill scanned by hand). This doubled the number of artists and tripled the number of images, making it comparable to the Pro Artist page.
(9) INCONCEIVABLE. Japan’s huge convention Comic Market, aka Comiket, which draws half a million fans (in aggregate over three days) expects to be bumped from its facilities in 2020. What could bump an event that big? The Olympics. Anime News Network reports —
Tokyo Big Sight, the convention center where Comiket is usually held, announced earlier that it would not be able to hold the convention between April 2019 and October 2020. Event spaces have been closing throughout the Tokyo area for the past decade. Tokyo Big Sight has also announced that industry booths at this summer’s Comiket would close after two days (instead of the usual three) to accommodate construction work to expand the building for the upcoming Olympics.
(10) TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF THE CANON. We might call this a contrarian view.
Given all the weird shit she's done since HP7, I do not accept that JKR is qualified to determine canon anymore. https://t.co/f8qDZODEe3
— Escaped from Dumpster to Elsewhere (@bruhsam) February 1, 2016
(11) TODAY IN HISTORY
- February 1, 2003 – Space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- February 1, 1954 – Bill Mumy, soon to be seen in Space Command.
(13) WOODEN STARSHIP. A Washington Post article about the renovation of the original Starship Enterprise model reveals it was mostly made from big pieces of wood. When ready, the Enterprise will be displayed in a slightly more prestigious spot .
Collum said the model had long hung in the gift shop of the Air and Space Museum on the Mall. Now it is headed for the renovated Milestones of Flight Hall there.
“The historical relevance of the TV show, and this model, has grown,” he said. “So it’s now being brought up into the limelight, and it’s going to be in the same gallery as the ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ [and] the Apollo 11 command module.”
(14) HOW GAMES INSPIRE ENGAGING FICTION. N. K. Jemisin in “Gaming as connection: Thank you, stranger” talks about the aspect of game play that challenges her as a writer. (Beware spoilers about the game Journey.)
I see a lot of discussion about whether games are art. For me, there’s no point in discussing the matter, because this isn’t the first time I’ve had such a powerful emotional experience while gaming. That’s why I’m still a gamer, and will probably keep playing ’til I die. This is what art does: it moves you. Maybe it makes you angry, okay. Maybe it makes you laugh. Not all of it is good, but so what? There’s a lot of incredibly shitty art everywhere in the world. But the good art? That’s the stuff that has power, because you give it power. The stuff that lingers with you, days or years later, and changes you in small unexpected ways. The stuff that keeps you thinking. Right now I’m trying to figure out how to recreate that game experience with my fiction.
(15) SF IN CHINA. Shaoyan Hu discusses“The Changing Horizon: A Brief Summary of Chinese SF in Year 2015” at Amazing Stories. Quite an impressive roundup.
Fandoms
There were more than 70 college SF clubs in China in year 2015. Compared to 120 clubs in 2012, the number was reduced. However, two independent fandoms, Future Affairs Administration in Beijing and SF AppleCore in Shanghai, were still very active.
SF AppleCore is the most important fandom in Eastern China. Last year, in addition to orchestrating the annual Shanghai Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival, SF AppleCore continued to operate on a regular base to bring about the public SF events such as AppleCore Party (speeches and gatherings of fans) and AppleCore Reading Group.
Future Affairs Administration was the backbone behind the 2016 Worldcon bid for Beijing. Although the bid was not successful, they organized the Chinese Nebula Award ceremony in 2014. Last year, this fandom was consolidated into a media platform for SF and technology related information, although the function for fan events still remained.
(16) WORLDS OF LE GUIN. The Kickstarter fundraising appeal for Arwen Curry’s documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin has begun. So far, 514 backers have pledged $39,699 of the $80,000 goal. The SFWA Blog endorsed it today:
Viewers will accompany Le Guin on an intimate journey of self-discovery as she comes into her own as a major feminist author, inspiring generations of women and other marginalized writers along the way. To tell this story, the film reaches into the past as well as the future – to a childhood steeped in the myths and stories of disappeared Native peoples she heard as the daughter of prominent 19th century anthropologist Alfred Kroeber.
Le Guin’s story allows audiences to reflect on science fiction’s unique role in American culture, as a conduit for our utopian dreams, apocalyptic fears, and tempestuous romance with technology. Le Guin, by elevating science fiction from mind candy to serious speculation, has given permission to younger mainstream writers like Michael Chabon, Zadie Smith, and Jonathan Lethem to explore fantastic elements in their work.
(17) CGI OVERDOSE? At Yahoo! News, “These ‘Star Wars’ Blooper Reels Show Exactly Why the Prequels Failed”.
The blooper reels for the Star Wars prequel films have been available for a while, but there’s a noticeable trend with all of them. Nearly every blooper — genuinely funny or otherwise — is filmed within a green screen backdrop.
[Thanks to Janice Gelb, JJ, Petrea Mitchell, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Gregory N. Hullender.]
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Yes, it absolutely has.
SAD PUPPIES 3: the 2015 Hugo slate
Bravo Lima Poppa on City of Blades: And I figured out who the first opposition figure was about 30 pages before the protagonists did (but I did have the edge of not running all over the place like they did).
Damn. That was my big problem with City of Stairs. Loved the writing, but the end twist was telegraphed many chapters too soon, and that was a big anticlimax. (I don’t know why that so disproportionately colored the experience of a book I otherwise thought very highly of, because a weak ending isn’t the end of the world, but my memory of the book is mostly of that disappointment.)
Actually the link from Hines does show them making a number of high-minded statements about making the awards include overlooked works.
Sort of. What is telling in those high minded statements is that they never actually identify any works that are being overlooked. When they do say “we want to nominate this”, their push point is never about the quality of the work, but rather the identity of the creator. That’s not good intentions, that’s a smokescreen.
Of course, the real problem is that even those kind of vague “high-minded” intentions were not followed up upon. Torgersen claimed a failing of the Hugos was that they weren’t honoring comic books by big publishers, and then didn’t put any on his slate. He claimed they wanted to get recognition for tie-in authors and their works, and then didn’t put any on his slate. He claimed he wanted to get lesser known people nominated, and then put very well-known authors like Butcher and Anderson on his slate. And so on. No matter what high-minded intentions one can mine out of the Sad Puppy statements, their actual actions have been anything but.
@DelRayva: from where I’m standing the entire community is owed an apology from the sad puppies for their incessant mud flinging, name calling and whining about ridiculous conspiracy theories, along with being forced to read mediocre to unreadable stories last year.
When that happens, I might consider accepting that they’ve changed their ways, as long as they don’t go back to their incoherent screaming about Marxists right after.
Seriously, I have no idea what your issue is but the pups of both flavours have done themselves no favours with their behaviour towards absolutely everyone else.
@Andrew M: once again, without the puppy shit in the nominations last year it looks like Weir would’ve placed second in the Campbell shortlist. Brad, Ted & co are the only reason he didn’t get into the shortlist, because they stuffed the nominations with their shit.
Shorter Del Rayva: Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf!
Good sea lion. Have a fish and a spot on my kill file.
On Radiance… I enjoyed the structure — very Citizen Kane! Or maybe Laura? — and the details, like the way she used film and whales, were really fun. Some of the narrators were more complicated than others and I understand why people might have a hard time with the shifting voices or with feeling like some of it was a slog. I did enjoy the ride and it stuck with me for a while afterwards, just trying to figure out what it was I just read. On balance, I don’t think it will be at the top of my nominations list, as much as I admired its inventiveness and quirkiness. It’s like the same things that gave it its dramatic pull — all the mystery and ambiguity — also made the characters hard to get a fix on. They were intriguing, but maybe not as affecting as I need to really love a book.
> “Anyone here finish City of Blades? … I figured out who the first opposition figure was about 30 pages before the protagonists did … The second was a bit of a surprise, but it fit with the character pretty well.”
My basic problem with City of Blades is that I figured out the basics of what was going on and who was doing it surprisingly early on, which kind of deflated all of the subsequent revelations. There was some good writing in it, but I thought it wasn’t on the level of City of Stairs.
So… I’m sorta annoyed that Larry Rostant didn’t get any love on the Locus list. His covers are some of my absolute favorites (i.e. Myke Cole’s UK editions, Peter V. Brett’s stuff, LInda Nagatas stuff).
As for the new puppy… I guess he just wants us to get back in shape for when they really start baying come short list time?
Today’s read — Broken Dolls, by Tyrolin Puxty
A story about a human in the body of a doll with no memories of her life before. I noticed a few eyebrow-raising choices from very early on — odd word choice, characters knowing things that seemed odd for them to know — that made it seem like it could have used one more thorough edit for details. I was willing to chalk those up to first novel problems, however, and see where things went. Unfortunately, this was a book that depended heavily on the final revelation of what was really going on, and that final revelation turned out to be … totally lame.
I’ll give it some points for it actually having the guts to make its main character a pretty terrible person. But then I’m taking them away again for a scene where the characters go to the ballet in the middle of a plague that’s apparently killing, at minimum, tens of thousands of people but probably more like millions, and there being no apparent problems whatsoever caused by this, not even staffing difficulties at the theater or something.
I will not be getting the sequel and it will not be going on my awards nominations longlists.
I’m still savoring Leckie’s “Ancillary Mercy”. That was one satisfying finale.
The newest troll’s Stylish tag is 31dedfe3199b67fc6bd08d0f09f62903, for anyone else inclined to use it.
@steve davidson, I fail to see the logic of your position. First you write:
And then follow up later in the same paragraph with:
If you do not assess all nominees on their own merits but instead eliminate from consideration otherwise worthy candidates because they’ve appeared on a slate, you are most certainly assisting VD and the Puppies in their efforts to have a material effect on the awards.
As I wrote upthread, you do you. We all have our own lines and areas where we feel we need to take a stand, but VD’s ridiculous Xanatos gambit thing (clue for the clown car: It’s not enough to declare that all conditions are victory conditions, they actually have to be victory conditions) does not deserve the hot air it takes him to trumpet it and I hate to see anyone responding in any way to anything he or the Sad Puppies do.
It’s a little early for me to block the new pup. They might improve.
~optimism!~
I’m holding off judgement on the new fellow until I see whether or not they apologize for the facts they got blatantly, provably wrong, and adjust their comments accordingly.
That tells you a lot about a person, I’ve always thought. If they say “Whoops! I was wrong,” that’s a different sort of person than either “I WAS RIGHT AND THE WORLD IS AT FAULT” or simply never mentioning it again in hopes no one will remember, and repeating the falsehood next time it’s convenient.
It’s attributed to several thinkers, but I can’t help but be reminded of:
“…you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.”
@Peace Is My Middle Name – I’m still savoring Leckie’s “Ancillary Mercy”. That was one satisfying finale.
Wasn’t it!? Such a good book, such an amazing series that just got better and better. It totally spoiled me for other writing for nearly a week, but it was worth it.
@Dann, I read a few issues of IGMS and decided it wasn’t really for me. I have never had any luck with Analog either and I haven’t subscribed to Asimov’s in 20 years. I really like Lightspeed and almost always find at least one thing that works for me in F&SF, Apex and Clarkesworld. If somebody started recommending particular stories from IGMS, I’d happily try again, but I’m usually shamefully behind in my short fiction reading, so I probably won’t seek out other magazines without prompting.
@Del Rayva – A similar apology is owed by the entire community for the way the Sad Puppies have been treated.
Why? I mean, sure, if there is going to be a round robin of apologies, I suppose I could come up with one and even be sincere about it, but in return I’d like one for the failed promise to nominate great, fun stories.
@Redwombat: “To err and not change, that’s truly to err.”
Analects XV.30
Never read IGMS. Never read Clarkesworld or Asimov’s or Analog, either. I have too big a reading list getting through the stuff that’s free or already piling on my nightstand/tablet without paying more money for more stuff I won’t get through. (I gotta stop backing literary kickstarters. I am up to my EYES.)
I suspect the answer to question of “why does no one mention it?” is because they’re behind the paywall without the name recognition of something like Analog, which I’d at least heard of before a year or two ago. It’s a very hard business model to make work in this day and age, and I say this is as a survivor of a paywall webcomic. (The owner of the site later apologized to me for having had faith in him. But really, it was the Wild West back then, and we didn’t know. We threw it all at the wall to see what would stick.)
You are 100%, certifiably wrong here. Did you miss the part where Torgersen announced “The Sad Puppies 3 SLATE” this time last year???
(Edited to add: ninja’d by Ultragotha – but maybe if ALL OF FANDOM points it out, maybe Del Rayva will finally read the part where “Sad Puppies 3” was ALWAYS intended to be a slate.)
Del Rayva: I was very disappointed to see good people who clearly stated their good intentions, and whose actions matched those stated good intentions, to have evil intentions imputed to them by the media… A similar apology is owed by the entire community for the way the Sad Puppies have been treated.
No. No, it’s not.
Firstly, the SFF community is not responsible for the way the Sad Puppies were treated by the media. The Sad Puppies themselves are responsible for that. You know, it’s that whole “personal responsibility” thing.
The original Sad Puppies campaign started out as a combination “Get Larry a Hugo / Make SJW Heads Explode” awards grab + political attack.
Sad Puppies 3 ramped the hateful rhetoric and false accusations up to 11 — DEMANDING that Hugo Awards be given to works of their choice because the SPs were supposedly some imaginary huge, silent majority which had been screwed for the last 10 — no, 20 — no, 30 — years by Worldcon voters (you know, those people who actually own the Hugo Awards).
The reception that the Sad Puppies received for this — both by the media, and by the SFF community, was brought on by their own actions.
Look, I’m sorry if you or any other Sad Puppies got suckered by the leaders of the Sad Puppies because you believed them when they told you that their slate was about “getting recognition for overlooked SF works”, when it was really about getting awards for themselves and their cronies and “making SJW heads explode”.
But, you know what? The Sad Puppy followers are all adults (leaving aside for the moment whether they actually behave as such). It’s their responsibility, when signing onto a cause and a campaign, to do due diligence and ensure that the contents actually match the label on the tin.
And it’s the responsibility of any Sad Puppy who finds out that they’ve mistakenly signed onto something very different than what they thought, due to false advertising, to either:
1) admit that they got suckered and disavow their former cause, or
2) admit that they’re okay with the actual purpose of the cause they signed onto, and take any lumps that come with being associated with people who are, variously and in combination: racists, sexists, misogynists, liars, morons, and immature twits.
The fact that not all Sad Puppies are any of those things is immaterial: they signed on to support it, and when they found out with who and what they’d chosen to affiliate, could have chosen to disassociate themselves from the Sad Puppy name.
Those who didn’t walk away at that point — well, at that point, they’ve become willing participants, and they cannot complain about being tarred with the same brush as the people with whom they’ve chosen to ally.
I’m so far behind on my short fiction reading I haven’t finished my copies of “If” and “Galaxy”.
redheadedfemme: I’m really surprised Ian Tregillis’ The Mechanical isn’t on it. I loved loved loved that book.
Matt Y: Have you read The Rising? I thought it continued the awesomeness well.
I will Fifth that sentiment. I loved both books — and I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of Clockworkpunk. But those books really have great character development and worldbuilding. I’m looking forward to the next one.
Radiance – As intrigued as I was by the idea of the storyline, I found it as much of a slog as everything else I’ve read by her. As a general rule, I don’t have a particular aversion to baroque language (Peake’s Gormenghast books are among my favorites), but for some reason I just can’t deal with it in her books.
I am finally getting around to reading Ancillary Mercy and enjoying it immensely. I’m also a little embarrassed to admit that it took me this long to realize that the name “Breq” is very similar to “break” or “broke,” and the character certainly is broken in many ways. I really should have noticed that sooner.
@Standback
Oh yes. I’m somewhat worried about this, as with 2 exceptions, my entire shortlist for novella, novellette, and short stories are from free sources.
@Del Rayva
(1) That’s an awfully mechanistic view of human behaviour. (2) Are you new to this? If so, I think you missed the considerable amount of discussion that took place last year. I believe @Wildcat mentioned that they had a post in moderation, I suggest you take a look once it’s released (it should pop up on Pg 3 of the comments)
Add me to the list of those who find Valente a slog. I don’t have a problem with linguistic extravagance in general: Maria Dahvana Headley works for me much better than Valente, for example, for unknown reasons.
@Del Rayva
The reason I impute homophobia to John C. Wright, white supremacism to Teddy Beale, and a mewling cowardice about immigrants, but especially Muslim ones, to both is because I am literate in English and read their blogs. The reason I called Sad Puppies a slate, and impute a manic discomfort with the LGBT to Torgerson is because I read the words on the page where Sad Puppies started.
Are you literate, Del Rayva? Can you read what these men write?
@Del Ravya
Regarding slates: It seems to me a slate is defined by its audience.
Put something in front of a bunch of people who are going to set aside their honest favorites and use it to converge on an acceptable set of second bests to increase their political power in the nomination process, and it’s a slate.
The label at the top does not matter. The number of items on the list does not matter (until that number becomes so great that it no longer boosts nominating power–somewhere between ten and twelve times the number of slots at a minimum.) The way the items were chosen does not matter.
The Puppy “recommended reading lists” are slates because the Puppies will use them to increase Puppy nominating power. Putting ten items per category on it instead of five dilutes its 10 to 12-fold unfair advantage by 50% but so what? How much unfair advantage is acceptable? Seems to me when you word the question correctly, the answer is obvious.
In the meantime, Jane Q Nobody could put up something labeled “2016 Hugo Slate” with exactly five items per ballot category and it would be in effect no slate at all because Jane Q Nobody is one nominator and no one else would follow it.
Slates are made by their audience and the Puppies are a slating audience; we’ve been watching them do it for years. I don’t need to wait until they cheat again to know they’re cheating.
@ Dann
You ask why no mentions of Intergalactic Medicine Show. I suspect your taste in stories simply differs from that of the rest of us. For instance you write:
I thought it was okay filler, not bad considering Grey hasn’t been writing very long (I think) but it would never have occurred to me to pick it as one of the year’s top five! So our tastes must be pretty different. Nothing wrong with that, of course, spice of life and all that. It’s great that Grey has fans!
But if that’s representative of Intergalactic Medicine Show I think I’ll stick to Lightspeed and Tor.com, which have had some stories I’ve really liked and which I think are generally are more likely to suit me.
k8 –
I’m digging it. I started it, stopped because I wasn’t feeling it, read something I was more interested in that was so cliche that I felt like I’d read it 100x before and when I went back to Radiance I’ve been enjoying it more. Hopefully I’ll enjoy it for more reasons than daring to be different by the end but right now I’m enjoying it just for the sheer playfulness of the language and how she’s developing her story.
Matt Y – From talking to people I know who have read Valente, people seem to either love or hate her writing. It doesn’t work for me, but the people I know who enjoy her writing mention the same type of thing with her language. I figure if we all liked the same things that life would be pretty boring.
Every book its reader. Every reader his/her book. /Ranganathan
@Cat:
Respectfully, I disagree.
I would not care for a world where popularity defines slates and obscurity absolves them. That would leave any reading list vulnerable to the accusation of being a slate simply by virtue of its being popular. It rather goes against the argument that slates artificially circumvent true popularity.
I would define a slate as something put forth intended to fill a ballot with works selected for reasons unrelated to quality.
It does not matter to me if the slate is on a major site with many viewers or is the work of a lone crank nobody has heard of.
However few viewers a slate has, it is still a slate.
Also, today’s title made me think of the Battle of Evermore, which led me to:
Waiting for the Pixels of Babylon, Waiting For The Eastern Scroll
and then of course we got to
When The Levy Breaks, You’ll Have No Place To Scroll
We Come from the Land of the Ice and Scroll
She’s Buying A Scrollway to Heaven
I Am A Traveler Of Both Time And Scroll
Let Me Take You To The Pixels, Can I Take You To The Scroll (From “Houses of the Scrolly” of course.)
In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to have a slate…
and then I started on the Lemon Song and fortunately the cat distracted me.
Nah. That was last years strategy. This is the year for nuance. It is the last year for puppy shenanigans for the marque awards. So this year I would suggest the “Guardians of the Galaxy Strategy”. If it is a puppy being promoted by puppies, well that’s one thing. But if it don’t make a damn… it don’t make a damn.
And if the pups want to claim victory because a award was presented to a good work with broad appeal – let them. Who cares what puppies say?
After next year, no one will.
Thanks Rev! That saved me a step.
(3) I have voted, and boy did I have a LOT of write-ins.
(5) If File 770 predicts the Hugos (as well it should, dammit), then “Barsk” may get a Nebula but not a Hugo. Because on the whole, F770 has read it and found it wanting. I adore every one of the author’s previous works, but “Barsk” sucked and blew IMO. Really surprised there isn’t more chatter there for “Radiance” because it’s good, has poetic language, and does Neat Stuff with structure.
IGMS isn’t bad, but it’s not OMG Hugo-worthy, either. It’s pretty middle of the road and safe. I guess if blah comfort reading is what you’re after, maybe it’s okay, but I want things that stretch my brain and make it go BOIIIING, or at least “Hmmm…” or maybe a giggle, a fist pump and a “YES!”
Clarkesworld or Strange Horizons or even the SJW Commie plot that’s Tor.com are much more likely to do that; ditto Uncanny and Lightspeed.
I read half of the issues of F&SF last year and they were gosh darn good — got a couple Hugo nominations out of them and there weren’t any stories I hated. Asimov’s isn’t as good as it used to be and Analog… well, I congratulate Mr. Edelman anyway. 🙂
@Peace: LOL! Hang onto those, they’ll be useful for the Retro Hugos in another 25-30 years.
Current reading: “Revisionary”, the 4th and (sob) final in Jim C. Hines’ “Libriomancer” series. I think everyone who loves fantasy and books should read this. And everyone else, too. Magical librarians!
k8 –
No doubt, wasn’t trying to convince you otherwise. Just was adding my own impressions and experience so far in contrast. By the end I may feel the same way as you.
I think Radiance is a unique and very good book that comes together nicely in the end. I’m glad I read it. I think the book I’m reading right now, The Philosopher Kings, is giving me more pleasure in its quite different way, however, and I could say the same of a number of other recent novels. I guess Valente’s thing isn’t my favourite kind of writing, but I think she’s awfully good at it.
JJ Said:
Yep. That pretty well nails it. Larry started his career marketing to gun nuts. Found out it was a pretty good strategy. Continued with his Hugos campaigns and then other authors in need of sales jumped on the band wagon. Puppies are just being taken for a ride.
The ride ends next year. Pups won’t fork over money if the impact on the nomination process is in proportion to their tiny numbers.
Matt Y – I didn’t think you were. It’s just one of those things that I find interesting when I hear people discuss her work. 🙂
While I typically bounce off of her writing for stylistic reasons, there was enough going on in Radiance with the plot, characters, and structure to compel me to finish. I was invested. I didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of reading it, but I was invested in what was going on. It was all very strange. Also, while this has nothing to do with the writing, the cover is absolutely fabulous!
Cheryl S…
Agree and disagree. Yes, if one leaves off good works because VD has spoken, VD has had an effect. On the other hand I don’t get this mandate to read everything including puppy poop. If it is puppy poop, just leave it off the ballet. Life is too short to read puppy poop that arrived at your doorstep on a slate. IMHO.
@Vasha: Haven’t read Valente yet so can’t comment there – but WOW, Maria Dahvana Headley! If her shorter fiction is anything to go by, I need to read all of her stuff!
ETA: and my thoughts on magazines: my go-tos for good stuff are Lightspeed & Nightmare — they’re really rocking the freemium model and I’m super excited for PoC Destroy…
That’s a pretty decent rule of thumb definition.
Last year’s extended discussion had crystallized my approach to slates: I wasn’t a blanket “No Award” voter but anything that got there via a slate had a higher bar to clear to avoid collecting a “No Award” from me.
I’m no automaton either as some Puppy supporters might think. If a new approach to slating is employed this year, I am perfectly capable of adjusting the way I vote in response. And I expect other Hugo voters are equally able to adjust should the situation changes.
@RedWombat
It’s been a long time since I rock and scrolled.
I can’t take the tears of a life with no scroll.
Let me F5, let me F5, let me F5
Baby, ’till I’m caught up.
Been a long time, been a long time, been a long scrolly, scrolly, scrolly
scrolly scrolly
time.
@RedWombat & Charon D.:
Scroll I’m Gonna Read You
…
Damn that’s all I’ve got, sorry.
Rickscrolled!
Maybe:
A Mighty Pixel is Our Scroll
Peace Is My Middle Name: I would define a slate as something put forth intended to fill a ballot with works selected for reasons unrelated to quality.
Soon Lee: That’s a pretty decent rule of thumb definition.
I would not agree with that definition.
It’s entirely possible that someone could publish and promote a slate of works that are genuinely believed (not just the lip-service of SP3) to be “quality”, with the intention of locking up the ballot.
Quality or not, it would still be a slate, and its intent would still be to obtain an unfair advantage for the works it is promoting.
@JJ,
Aargh, you’re right.
The documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin just surpassed its $80,000 goal in less than 2 days!
I was staring hard at the numbers just now to make them move (it finally worked).
k8 –
It truly is. I can’t say I’ve read another one of her books as of yet, but that cover got me to read this one. Great work by the publisher and artist for that. While I bounced off, then bounced back in to the writing style of the book, future reading of her work is absolutely going to depend on my mood at the time. Which is cool, like you said not everything works for everyone, and at least for me it can completely depend on what I’m feeling like reading that day.
@Oneiros: Headley wrote a novella, The End of the Sentence, together with Kat Howard whose stories I also like. I’m curious to get hold of that and find out how they work together.