Hugo Award Nominees, 2012

*Reads nomination list. Climbs into bomb shelter.*

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/04/07/the-hugo-award-nominees-2012/

I think Embassytown will win the novel. I liked ADwD, but it wasn't the best book in the series by a long shot.

It will be a close call between Game of Thrones and Harry Potter Part 7.5 for long form show.

Just my $0.02.

I loved Embassytown and just started Among Others and really like it so far. The other nominees for best novel I own but have not read yet. It looks like a really good group though. I'm also excited to read the short fiction. Some really good names there.

Terrible novel shortlist. Leviathan Wakes is regressive and I'm surprised it's proven so popular. Embassytown is over-rated. Not read Among Others or Deadline, though I've heard mixed reports on both (though, to be fair, the Walton sounds far and away the best of the two). As for the ASoIaF, well perhaps they're rewarding him for actually finishing the book...

Cue "overrated" thread discussion...

As evidence, I offer my review of Embassytown here :-)

Oh, and my review of Leviathan Wakes is here.

Yes, this is indeed key evidence that you consider something overrated. Good job!

;)

If a book appears on three award shortlists - the BSFA Award, Clarke and Hugo - and I don't think it belongs on any of them... then by definition I thought it over-rated.

Ah, further evidence that you consider something overrated. Bang up job, Ian. :D

Was Stephen King's 11/22/63 ineligble for nomination? It was my favorite science fiction novel of last year. Embassytown was not my cup of tea. I'd really hate to think it was the best of the year.

Ian (et al.)> Is there a scifi-specific equivalent of, say, the Television Critics Association Awards or the National Book Critics Circle Award? If not, why not? (Any why don't you start one? Seriously.)

There's the Clarke Award, which is juried rather than popular vote. But it may be time for a critics award in UK sf. Not that I consider myself a critic.

#12 by iansales> You write critical reviews of science fiction novels, films and television. Anything beyond that is splitting hairs. ;)

I think you should do it, Ian. Or try to get someone else to. :D

Seriously, you could require that any nominees/winners have to have an actual critical review as part of the award that explains WHY they deserve the award.

#12 & #13 Ian & brightcopy

I think there is a lot of merit in brightcopy's suggestion, but I realise it would be a lot of work for what would be a lorry load of grief from many directions.

Like a number of people I know I would read the Hugo nominated fiction each year and make what I considered to be sound, objective assessments and evaluations before voting. Then the final results come out and I find that the rest of the world has not been as diligent, and the most "popular" writer wins regardless of the value of their particular piece of work. I know it's a "popular" vote, but at this stage the Hugo's have sunk to the level of the Euro-vision Song Contest and I am retiring from voting in this particular pageant.

What irks me about books other than the "best" book winning is that the best book then gets forgotten. What happens is that the Hugo winning book gets the sales and the also rans are forgotten by all but the dedicated few.

My first experience of the Hugo was when I saw "Hugo Award Winner" on Ursula K. Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness". I loved this book and felt that the "Hugo" label was a mark of quality. Now I know better.

> 6

Ian,

I just read your review of Leviathan Wakes and I've got a few words for you: Captain Yao. Female. Apparently of Chinese ancestry and in command of a Martian capital ship; reads like diversity to me :)

Two more words just occurred to me as I was writing the above: Julie Mao, Miller's obsession in the book. Not exactly a shrinking violet, and also apparently of Chinese ancestry. So, *methinks you might have to *re-thinks that part of your review, yes?

*Sorry, I couldn't help myself...

**edit**

Interesting. I wanted brackets around those letters 's,' but got the highlights instead; kinda like the look.

They're not exactly major characters, are they? Julie Mao is dead when he finds her - and the book is about a white male's perceptions of her, anyway. I don't recall Yao having much space in the narrative either.

Looks like a bit of a toss-up this year. Just finished reading the novels except for Deadline, which I have no intention of reading as I hated Feed (though considering it almost won last year, I must have been the only one). Deadline might possibly win because Grant/McGuire seems to have become very popular.

My personal choice will be ADWD, but then I'm a huge GRRM fanboy. Is it his best novel? No. But it was the one I most enjoyed last year. Plus, I still can't believe ASOS got passed over for a bloody HP book. GRRM has said though he doesn't expect to win and with the Hugo voters who knows.

Embassytown was very good and Mieville has been very popular lately. That being said he may have won too many awards the last few years to win again. We'll see.

I just finished Among Others last night. A good little story. Loved the bibliophile main character and it was worth it just for the literary SFF references alone. That being said, despite also having magic and fairies, the story didn't seem to be anything more than that.

While Leviathan Wakes is a classic space opera story, I did enjoy it quite a bit. Not sure it'll be good enough to win, but then it did make the short list so I could be wrong.

I enjoyed Deadline, but as the middle part of a trilogy which cannot be read as a stand alone work, I cannot vote for it. As I have no intention of reading through all the volumes of Song of Ice and Fire having already failed to read Game of thrones twice, A Dance with Dragons is also out.

Among Others is an unusual fantasy book mainly about science fiction to 1980. However I felt the fantask plot about the twins and their mother and magic was somewhat unsatisfactory.

Embassy town I have not yet read, and apart from The City & the City I have problems reading China Meilville's output, but I will read it in the next few months.

Leviathan Wakes I have not yet seen. I am currently waiting to see if Chicon 7 get permission to include it in their voters pack.

As for short fiction I only have Paul Cornell's work, and an waiting to see what is in the voter's pack. John Scalzi has posted links to all the short stories http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/04/13/your-weekend-reading-the-2012-short-story-... , and I suspect some of the rest is also available on-line.