So, the hugo awards are done for another year.
This year, there were two somewhat unpleasant voting slates, one of which I feel a little (but not very) sorry for, and the other I feel a sort of delightful glee at its whiny little head having been stomped on. There are certainly authors and creators I feel sorry for, as they found themselves caught up in it when they could have been on the hugo nominations without the slate, and have suffered as a result of being there.
I didn’t vote, partly because a) I’ve not read enough of the nominees and b) my arse was firmly in neutral, and I couldn’t find the clutch to get it into gear.
But mostly, I’m pretty happy with how things have come out.
The Two Slates
The Sad Puppy slate’s stated goals include a promotion of more blue collar, action oriented SF. I can see where they’re coming from with that. I don’t agree with it, but I can see their point from where I’m standing. There has been a lot more “worthy” than “wonder” in some of the recent lineups. I personally don’t see that as a problem, but it is a trend that’ll alienate some folks.
The Rabid Puppy slate’s stated goals were to take down the hugos because RAR! I AM SHOUTY ANGRY PSEUDO-RELIGIOUS RACIST MISOGYNISTIC DICKBAG! EVERYTHING NOT WHITE, MALE AND SIMPLE IS A SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR! THIS CHAIR IS A SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR AS IT SUPPORTS BROWN PEOPLE AS MUCH AS WHITE PEOPLE! PURIFY IT WITH FIRE!
The Awards
BEST NOVEL – The Three Body Problem
Cixin Liu (Translated by Ken Liu)
I’ve not read this one. I tried, but my brain chemistry decided to be obstructive and awkward. I’ll give it another go when my brain is cooperating again. However, Katrina has read it – it wasn’t to her taste, having too much of the feel of classic-era American SF. It wasn’t to her taste, but was declared to be totally hugo-worthy all the same.
What I managed to get through before my brain chemistry decided to throw its toys out of the pram again backed that up.
The Sad Puppies who want a return to SF like Asimov or Clark would probably have loved it. The Rabid Puppies… not so much.
The only thing I think was unfair in this category was Jim Butcher’s SKIN GAME coming in below no award as a reaction to the slate. It’s a good book. I don’t think it should have won , but I think it firmly deserved the nomination and was beaten by no-award as a result of having ended up on the sad puppy slate rather than on its merits.
BEST NOVELLA – No Award
The Sad and Rabid puppies had taken over this category. I tried reading some of them. They were bloody awful. Not even in terms of content – in terms of writing standard . They read like early 1990s schoolboys writing Warhammer 40,000 or Aliens fanfic… badly.
BEST NOVELETTE – The Day the World Turned Upside Down
Thomas Olde Heuvelt, translated by Lia Belt ( Lightspeed , 04-2014)
Haven’t read. I have it somewhere in my Lightspeed back issues, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t read it. If I did, I don’t remember it. Not going to comment beyond that.
BEST SHORT STORY – No Award
I’ve not read them, so won’t comment further. Generally I’ve found the authors nominated to be firmly not to my taste.
BEST RELATED WORK – No Award
See “Best Short Story”.
BEST GRAPHIC STORY – Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal
written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt, (Marvel Comics)
This is totally and utterly deserving. So were the other nominations, and I think this one may have pipped it on the grounds of having a non-traditional protagonist in Kamala Khan – a teenage pakistani-american.
It’s also action oriented and a hell of a lot of fun. It ticks the sad puppies boxes quite nicely – I think, if their stated goals are taken at face value, they’d love it.
The Rabid Puppies… not so much .
In terms of what it beat:
- Saga Volume 3 – Saga is excellent, and has a raft of believable characters, all of whom are relateable in some way. It also has action, adventure, sex, love, violence, people of all shapes, configurations, colours… It’s what I’d have picked to win, but am not disappointed that it was beaten.
- Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery , written by Kurtis J. Weibe, art by Roc Upchurch (Image Comics) – Rat Queens is great, but I wouldn’t peg it for hugo-ish-ness – mostly because the flow didn’t quite work for me and a lot of it felt a bit superficial. Not badly so, and it’s ahead of a lot of other comics, but enough to put it behind Saga and Ms Marvel in my mind.
- Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick , written by Matt Fraction, art by Chip Zdarsky (Image Comics) – Sex Criminals is weird and fun. I’m glad it got a nomination.
- No Award
- The Zombie Nation Book #2: Reduce Reuse Reanimate , Carter Reid (The Zombie Nation) – not read it. I’m not going to discount it based on slates, but I’ve had my fill of zombie stuff for a fair while.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM – Guardians of the Galaxy
Written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, directed by James Gunn (Marvel Studios, Moving Picture Company)
This was actually a sad puppy slate item which won anyway. Because it was good enough to deserve it, and was clearly going to get nominated anyway.
I don’t think it was the best of the nominees (I’d put that as Edge of Tomorrow, followed by a tie between this and The Lego Movie ), but it’s far from undeserving.
It also supports the Sad Puppies stated goals whilst remaining good, so I can see why they backed it. I’m glad it didn’t get the same treatment Jim Butcher got in best novel, but also sad that he got blocked when this got a pass.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM – Orphan Black: “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried”
written by Graham Manson, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions, Space/BBC America)
Totally and utterly deserving.
Everything else on the ballot also made me say “meh” – although I don’t know if I’ve seen the specific Grimm episode nominated. It’d need to be a step up from Grimm’s business-as-usual episodes to match Orphan Black, though.
BEST SEMIPROZINE – Lightspeed Magazine
edited by John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Rich Horton, Wendy N. Wagner, and Christie Yant
I have a subscription. I am rubbish at actually reading what comes in from that subscription. When I do, I see a lot of good, but not much that’s my taste right now.
Deserving, in my book, as evidenced by the fact I have a subscription.
I have no idea about the others in the field.
BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST, EDITOR (short form), EDITOR (long form), FANZINE, FANCAST, FAN WRITER
I am clueless in these fields. I lack enough knowledge to judge. No further comment.
JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER – Wesley Chu
The Lives of Tao and the Deaths of Tao are great fun . Action. Adventure. Aliens. Conspiracies. Car chases. Fights (both kung-fu and gun). Helicopters (I think I remember helicopters). Pizza. Spies. Sex.
If the Sad Puppies stand up for their stated goals, they should love this book. If they’re Rabid puppies in disguise, not so much.
I’m glad Wesley Chu got it. The only other name I knew on the list of was Eric S. Raymond, who I largely know of as a software / linux person rather than a writer.
The upshot
The upshot of all of this is a wholesale rejection of the Sad & Rabid Puppies. Which is good, for the most part. I think there may have been a baby or two in the bathwater (Jim Butcher, most notably), but a positive result from a sucky situation.
So, what’s my take on the whole mess
Do I think the process needs changing to prevent this being repeated next time? Sure. Do I think both of the nasty slates are 100% wrong in their stated purposes ? Actually, no .
I think that the organisers of this year’s Sad Puppy slate were dangerously close to a valid point, even if that point clearly wasn’t the goal of the majority of their supporters. I don’t think they’ve done a good job of articulating it, or a good job of advocating it. Pretty terrible on both fronts, actually.
I’m also not convinced that their stated goal and their actual goal matched up – I think that for a lot of the supporters, the stated goal was the acceptable face of something much nastier. But the fact that the acceptable face was a smokescreen doesn’t make it irrelevant.
In the written fiction categories, there has been a trend towards the highbrow and the worthy. Towards the deadly serious and the “dealing with serious concerns”. There’s not been much escapism or fun. There’s also been a tendency towards much more overt social commentary.
Except, this year, that’s not the case… and I think some of the sad puppies might be missing that because people keep telling them that the fun stuff isn’t good , or because they see that a lot of the good stuff isn’t fun .
So, I think that if they can get past the rhetoric, this year’s Hugos are great for anybody who seriously wanted what Sad Puppies purported