The Hugo’s (and why only 23 people really care)!
As you read in yesterday’s Vacation from Hell post, I’ve been away for awhile. So in the past few days I’ve been making a concerted effort to catch up on all the myriad things I’ve fallen behind on. Something interesting I’ve discovered is that whilst disconnected from the interwebs its hard to shake the feeling that you’re missing out on “everything”. Step away from your phone for a day or two and you’ll get this nagging sensation, born from being out of the loop, that some really cool shit is going down.
Inevitably, upon arrival you quickly discover that, in the grand scheme of life, not much has really changed. We are creatures of equilibrium which means, for the most part, things stay more or less how they’ve always been. Kinda depressing to take two weeks off only to return and discover people are arguing the same old shit.
So it goes.
Anyhow, the latest flame up revolves around this years Hugo Awards. Now, for those unfamiliar, the Hugo’s are pretty much the Oscars or Golden Globes of Science Fiction/Fantasy. The goal is to find the best works of the year and give them their due credit. Easy, right?
Well, no… unfortunately it’s not that simple because the pool of participants eligible to vote is minuscule by comparison to the greater SFF fan-base. Only individuals who attended last years world-con are eligible to take part in the nomination and voting portions of the awards. What sorts of numbers are we looking at? Less than 2,500.
Not very big, really. Not when one takes into consideration a couple key factors. One, the people most likely to attend world-con? Fairly well-established authors who make a point of going every year as an opportunity for professional networking, and their fans who’ve come specifically to see them. Already this skews the award/nomination process towards well-established authors with a strong fan-base as witnessed by the repeated nominations of said authors year after year.
Whatever, that’s the way of the world. You got to put in your time and take your licks rising to the top. Once you’re there, you don’t have to work as hard to stay there. I’m pretty sure that’s one of Newton’s Laws of Thermodynamics or something. If not, it should be.
Well, anyways, that’s one problem with the voting procedure for the Hugo’s. The second is that a relatively small group of people voting along similar lines can greatly sway the outcome of the awards. Which is more or less what’s happened this year with a group calling themselves the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies.
I’m not here to wade too deep into the ideological reasons for this groups formation, or to offer a panacea for future events. I’m here merely to point out that ‘gaming’ the system is totally possible, and that’s a problem, but the thing is, it’s always been a problem. Now it’s simply more visible.
Personally, I couldn’t give a shitcicle (an icky flavored popsicle if ever there were one) one way or the other because the Hugo’s, and their microscopic voting pool, are still fundamentally flawed. This needs to be fixed before I can take the Hugo’s seriously anymore.
Anyways, enough hullaballoo about that. I want to talk about the actual nominees (specifically in regards to the Best Novel category.)
*deep breath*Oh, goodness. I had a huge post written out and WordPress decided to up and delete it. Grawwwwww!!! ANTHONY SMASH!!
Okay, let’s try this again. Please, electronic deities, don’t smite me again.
The Dark Between the Stars – Kevin J. Anderson. Anderson is immensely popular, having written for Star Wars, StarCraft, and the Dune prequels with that Herbert kid, so if anything, this nomination seems more like a lifetime achievement nod. Was the book really so good as to be nominated for the Hugo? Possibly, but judging by how little people were talking about it in 2014, I venture to say probably not. Also, if you check Amazon you’ll see that the kindle version of this book is selling for a whopping $15, which is a dollar more than the paperback. Sorry, Anderson, but you’ll never see a penny from me with a ludicrous price point like that.
Lines of Departure – Marko Kloos. This is the second book in a very popular military sci-fi series. I heard barely anything about this book in 2014, so who’s to say if it was really ground breaking. I’ve picked up the first two books in the series and will report back shortly.
Ancillary Sword – Ann Leckie. This nomination actually upsets me. Ancillary Justice won the Hugo last year for reasons that had little to do with the quality of writing and almost entirely to do with the interesting handling of gender relations. Is that enough reason for Justice to have won the Hugo? Actually, yeah. I think it is. Is it enough for Leckie to win twice in a row? Not a chance in hell. Shit, if you want to award a book solely on the merits of its society and interesting gender roles, give it to The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.
The Goblin Emporer – Sarah Monette. This book generated a huge buzz in 2014 and I think it’s totally fitting that it be here. Of all the books listed, this would be my choice for the win.
Skin Game – Jim Butcher. I just recently started reading Butcher and I’m through the first four books in the Dresden Files. Overall they are interesting, well written, and entertaining. Do they deserve a Hugo? No. No. No. Skin Game is like book 10 in the Dresden Files, so perhaps like Kevin J. Anderson, they are attempting to give Butcher a lifetime achievement award, but based on the merits of a single book I don’t think this nomination holds water. Though, hey, I could be totally wrong.
Now, real quick, here’s an interesting factoid to prove how important fandom can be and how this years concerted push by a group of like-minded voters has disrupted the Hugo status quo. This is the first year, excluding 2012, where neither John Scalzi, Charles Stross, or China Mieville were nominated for the Hugo since 2002. Think about that. Every year since 2002, one of those three authors was nominated for the Best Novel. Are they each fantastic writers, of course. Is it suspect that they are continually churning out what can be considered the Best Novel of the year? I think so.
Recently, on his blog, Scalzi (who I have an immense amount of respect for) gave his perspective on the voting procedure for the Hugo’s. He pretty much comes out and says voting “No Winner” might be the best solution for this years…lackluster selection.
Personally, I can’t help but feel that Scalzi is a little chuffed with his book, Lock In, not quite making the cut this year. Interestingly enough, I think Lock In was one of Scalzi’s best books ever. Definitively better than Redshirts which won the Hugo back in 2013, in my opinion.
So it goes.
As it is, I’ve lost all interest in this years Hugo’s. What’s the point in caring about an award that has such a fundamentally flawed voting system? Meh.
I want to add something constructive to the conversation rather than just tearing down the perceived flaws of this system and the disappointment I feel towards this years finalists, so below I propose my own list of nominees.
Words of Radiance – Brandon Sanderson. This guy has won for Best Novella, but never for Best Novel. I think it’s past time. If we’re handing out lifetime achievement awards it might as well go to Words of Radiance which, as critically reviews would put it, is Sanderson’s best work yet.
First 15 Lives of Harry August – I haven’t read this yet, but from the buzz it generated in 2014, I can’t understand how it got passed over. Seemed like a shoe-in. As did my next two nominees:
The Three Body Problem and City of Stairs. These books were wildly popular and had the sort of critical acclaim that makes a hooker blush. One of these two books should have made the cut.
Lock In – Seriously, Redshirts was a cop-out award, but this one actually deserves the nomination. What can ya do? Karma is weird like that.
In the end this is all wasted time and we’re all competing for internet points.
Does any of it really matter? No. Should everybody get their panties out of a twist? Probably. Should we all get together, hold Brandon Sanderson down and break his fingers so he can’t keep putting out 1,000 page epics every other month? Definitely.
Just kidding, please don’t hurt Brandon. He seems like a lovely guy.
Exactly right. This is what is wrong with the publishing industry. They are a bunch of snooty hoidy-toits who sit around saying “this is good” and “that is good” and “pass the caviar”. I have read some fantastic science fiction this year by some excellent authors who will never win anything or who may never be best sellers. Great post!
There seems to be a “cool kid clique” within Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Someday I hope to be on the inside of said clique (at which points I will shotgun caviar like a fratboy doing kegstands) but for now I’m just gonna whine about how it’s unfair. With that said, I wish there was another way for new amazing authors to get the publicity they deserve. Any ideas?
TWITTER!!! – …and Tweetdeck. I’m having some success with it. Not to mention personal e-mail lists.
The biggies just keep getting bigger! Another one of your off the cuff, bad-ass honesty posts that I really enjoy!
Heh, I was thinking at the supermercato the other day, when I passed the book rack on the endcap across from the chicken and sausage section, that certain authors needed to… um, stop. James Patterson, I’m looking at you. He has TWO bestsellers on the NY Times top 10.
Then I thought, “Hey, you know what would be a good plot, would be… chicken is 4.99 a pound with Ralph’s club card?!” I looked around, and seeing no one else noting my great fortune, chucked two packages of chicken into my basket and danced a victory dance. They weren’t even breast tenders, those were the real deal. I hate cutting out those tendons, don’t you? My chicken is supreme. I could have helped James Patterson buy another Jaguar… or I could have lucious, hormone filled chicken breasts. Why does everyone I meet think I’m a woman? Anyway…
Remember the movie Amadeus? Back to the plot, Salieri:
An envious new author decides to stalk and kill all the authors on the NY times best seller list so his books will have a chance. And the title?! Aw, this is too perfect. Wait for it…
“Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
You write half, I’ll write half, we’ll split the proceeds, Anthony, whatya say?
Haha, funny! but Bone Clocks beat you to it. Sort of.
What? No!!!!!!! Darnit. I’ll fall back on the plot to steal Stephen King’s keyboard, which magically writes his bestspellers. After the protag goes through all sorts of convolutions to get the keyboard, he wins in the end, gets the keyboard, and hooks it up to a computer to write the next King bestseller. And the words come on to the screen:
“Jack Torrence thought: Officious little prick.” Oh no! It’s the shining. That’s all this keyboard will type.
Good, huh?
First: Chicken, yum. Share or die. ‘Nuff said.
Second: Bone Clocks was another one of those books that had a massive following this year. FromCouchtoMoon what are your thoughts on it? Was it award worthy this year? I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet but David Mitchell is kind of hit or miss for me.
Third: Dead Men Tell No Tales sounds like an instant bestseller. So I’m gonna have to pass on account of my earnest desire to forever remain obscure. What other story pitches ya got? Anything more Twilight’esque?
I’m very much against slate voting, and being a very progressive person I’m also against much of the vitriol coming from the various right-wing slates, but I do have to say that it pissed me off to have a mediocre book like Ancillary Justice win the biggest award in sci-fi. I wish other progressives like me would be honest enough to state that. This kind of crap is what gives the right-wing motivation. I don’t think they could do what they are doing if truly great works were winning, regardless of their political slant.
Reblogged this on J Barron Owens and commented:
I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with this blog post!
Thanks for the reblog, Barry. I’m glad to have located a like minded individual on this topic!
I think that IF the Sad Puppies and Rabbit Puppies where gaming the Hugos’ system to demonstrate its flaws as a system, then ignoring the ideology behind them wouldn’t be an issue. But they aren’t doing that at all, and if one of them wins a gong you can bet it will be going on their cover in a flash (and “Hugo Award Nominee” in the meantime…). They recognise the benefit and want in. End of.
I think a comparison to the Oscars is worth making. Also a flawed system, if in a different way… but no one is very surprised that minority interest junk like the Atlas Shrugged comedy two-parter wasn’t in the running, nor any of the Christian lite (not right, well, not necessarily) entertainment, TV movie level, straight-to-Blu-Ray fare. These movies aren’t nominated at least as much because they aren’t good enough as (arguably) because of their ideological baggage.
In the case of the Hugo now, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say both sides of that are in play. I’m yet to read a full book by any of the Vox Day crowd, life is way too short to waste dragging myself screaming to the end, but I’d say I’m flattering them by association with Hollywood’s dreck: these are not award-worthy pieces, at least not any award you don’t buy from a promo website. The fact that, ideologically, some of the participants are offensive to the contemporary mainstream is the cake’s icing… bitter lemon flavour, perhaps.
I thought Ancillary Sword a good novel, btw. I think it won for more than just containing some typographic gender gymnastics!
Andrew, this is a fantastic reply. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
First, let me apologize for my comment about Ancillary Justice. I was being flippant and disrespectful to Anne Leckie who deserved the award for many reasons beyond the “gender gymnastics” (I adore that term by the way. I’m stealing it for myself. Don’t even try to stop me). I just have some sour grapes in my mouth over Ancillary Justice, which is my own baggage, and takes nothing away from Leckie’s story.
With that said, I will be disappointed if Sword wins this year. It was a good book, but not as good as the first, which incidentally, might not matter, because it could be the best book on the ballot. I still need to read Goblin Emporer before I decide one way or the other.
For myself, I’ve always tried to read everything on the ballot. To give them fair consideration and judge them accordingly. But, between you, me, and the entire internet, I’ll say this: I refuse to read anything from Vox Day. But that doesn’t mean I won’t read the books and stories he helped get nominated.
Are any of them award worthy pieces? Good question. One I can’t answer until after I read them all. But the reason I feel I have to read them, is because you get people like Kloos who was on Day’s slate without his knowledge or consent. Should he be penalized by association? Nah. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and read his stuff. Will I like it? Meh, who knows. I hope so. That would be wonderful.
Oops – in addition to any typos/ingrained auto-errors of mine, I meant to say “Ancillary Justice” at the end there. I’ve not read Sword.
Nope, nope, nope! You had typos, you lose! Them’s the rules of the internet!! Muahahaha!
Curses.
Anyway, after I thumb-typed my thoughts here someone put me onto another post that is well worth checking out. It punctures some things I said here (like about the actual value to a writer) of winning a Hugo, and I found it generally pretty insightful about the deeper problems with sf’s award culture – that is, puppy-related problems aside.
http://www.ericflint.net/index.php/2015/04/16/some-comments-on-the-hugos-and-other-sf-awards/
Damn you, Andrew. I just lost an hour of my morning reading that! Fantastic read, by the way. He articulates a couple arguments I was trying to make (and probably failed), but also makes a few arguments I hadn’t considered.
His perspective on the yearly status of the awards, and their narrow purview in respect to the markets demand (short fiction vs. long) was especially interesting.
Thank you for pointing this out. The root of this all, and the argument I tried to make (though probably unsuccessfully), is less about the Sad Puppies and more about the underlying flaws inherit in the system as a whole.
Great read!