I think HarryT might be on to something about the popularity/quality thing. Art seems to be mostly subjective, so popularity might be a way of coming to large scale concensus. Especially in categories like the novel one, where all the works are by professional established authors, and are all highly edited. I'm not saying a jury selection (ala Clarke) is bad, but it risks being divorced from the readership at large.
On to the Short Story category!
This is an....interesting selection. None of them are what I would consider to be classic SF/F, or in some cases, at all. I do like fiction that pushes boundaries, and experiments are worthwhile, but some of these don't seem to really have any SF/F in them at all. In fact most of them would work as non-SF/F stories. I have heard that some people are not ranking/no awarding the entire category, which I did consider, and could see arguments for. Ultimately, I did decide to rank them, since they are all in the same vein, all borderline literary/non SF/F social stories. So judging them against each other is also valid IMO, and some of them are quite good. So without further ado....
1. The Ink Readers of Doi Saket
2. The Water That Falls On You From Nowhere
3. Selkie Stories Are For Losers
4. If You Were a Dinosaur My Love
|