[DiapDealer]

I'm not a big fan of the Hugos.

I'm not opposed to a most-actively-campaigned-for-amongst-a-small(ish)-pay-to-play-membership, popularity-based award system ... I'd just rather they didn't advertise themselves as being about "The Best," or "The Most Prestigious."

I mean seriously... nothing at all against Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) but am I supposed to believe that every novel she's written in the last four years is one of the year's five best? That each volume of her Newsflesh Trilogy was better than ALL of the other un-nominated SFF titles for those years?

The books of hers I've read are pretty good--they entertain--but there's nothing consistently stellar in them for her to be top-5 year-in and year-out. Her faction in the World Science Fiction Convention are just very motivated. Good for her.

I'm glad to see something as progressive, worthy and special as Leckie's Ancillary Justice on the "Best" Novel short-list. But the rest are pretty meh.

I take that back: Neptune's Brood is at least challenging and adventurous as far as Hard SF goes, but a love of (or at least more than a passing interest in) theoretical economics is probably required. Not my cup of tea, but I can at least recognize the award potential there.