Hugo 2014 Discussion Thread

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by jscarbo

The only vote I'll reveal at this point is that I voted for Ancillary Justice as Best Novel. In my opinion, it stood out so far above the other nominees that I don't care whether disclosing my vote influences anyone else. I though it was one of the better SF novels I've read in recent years. For those who haven't read it, Amazon still has it one sale for $1.99: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00BAXFDLM

(Link cleaned up in quote.) That's a publisher promotion, so it should be good wherever you shop.

I haven't gotten to AJ yet, and at this point I'll probably wait until the sequel comes out, but everything I've heard has been quite positive. I can't say from personal preference whether I think it should win, but it's obviously a worthy contender.

[QuantumIguana]

I read Ancillary Justice, it was good, I'll pick up the sequel. The award I really like is the Yugo Awards, given to the best books that weren't written. I nominated Harry Potter and the Chamber Pot of Secrets one year. It's awarded at Diversicon, but I can't make it this year.

[Laine]

I think I am now officially old. I found the retros more entertaining than the new works.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Laine

I think I am now officially old. I found the retros more entertaining than the new works.

Well, I read the retro short stories and the retro novelettes and found them very old fashioned and boring and lacking. It was very hard to get engaged in a story where the main point seemed to be to present new scientific stuff (which is not new now for an sf reader) and where the story and telling if it was rather bad.

[DrNefario]

I thought what I read of the retros was mostly really poor. I've only voted on the shorts, because I couldn't get all of the missing items in the other two short categories, but I thought 4 of the 5 short stories were just plain dire. Maybe that's a little strong: the Del Reys were so-so. Of the three novelettes I've read, the Robert E. Howard was the only one I thought worked effectively, and I think that just shows that horror was in a healthier state than SF in 1938.

[Pete731]

I'd have to agree about the retro Hugo's. Maybe it's just that I've gotten used to modern styles, but they weren't as entertaining as I'd hoped.
Well, I've registered my votes, with a last minute change or two. Now I'm anxious for August 17th to come around so I can find out the winners!

[Laurablue]

I just finished voting (but I didn't vote for retro Hugos, and I ignored the movie, tv show, and editor categories). I enjoyed the process, and the books and stories varied widely enough that it didn't start to feel tedious. I read several novels that I probably would not have read otherwise. I was also impressed by the quality of the fanzines.

[jscarbo]

I didn't vote for the retro fanzines but had no trouble voting for the novels, novellas, novelettes or short stories. Fortunately, I'd already read most of them multiple times over the years and was very familiar with the entire body of works of all of the authors. I agree that many don't stand up very well to the test of time and seemed dated by today's standards but I felt that I had to judge them by the standards of their day and by their influence on the genre and on other writers.

Best editor, artist and dramatic presentation were also no-brainers for me. How could you not vote for John W. Campbell (at the time he was editing not only Astounding but also Unknown), Virgil Finlay, and for Orson Wells "War of The Worlds".

[Laurablue]

I was unfamiliar with most of the retro selections, and I realized I didn't have time to give a fair reading to any of the categories or even to track down what wasn't included in the voter's packet. I didn't commit to voting until part-way through June - next year I will start earlier in order to get through more categories without feeling rushed. I like the idea of reading the retro selections because I haven't read SFF of that vintage to any extent.

I think I could have justified voting for John W. Campbell though. . .

[DrNefario]

Very pleased to see that Ancillary Justice won the Best Novel Hugo, and saved the award.

The other results are on the Loncon front page, http://www.loncon3.org/ along with a PDF download of the voting breakdown. (Also interesting to see that I was right in my guess that Neil Gaiman had declined the nomination. If only I could remember where I predicted that. Was it this thread?)

I'm also moderately pleased that Sword in the Stone won the Retro Hugo. I didn't actually think that highly of it when I read it last year, but it was the only one of the Retro nominees that I had already read, so my 100% record is still complete.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I'm also moderately pleased that Sword in the Stone won the Retro Hugo. I didn't actually think that highly of it when I read it last year, but it was the only one of the Retro nominees that I had already read, so my 100% record is still complete.

Is this the T.H. White book? I read it not so long ago, and was not terribly impressed by it. Very disappointed by the whole series, in fact. I bought the omnibus edition, struggled through "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Queen of Air and Darkness", and gave up at that point.

[Lemurion]

I'd read almost everything on the retro ballot - all the novels, all the shorts and 4/5 of each of the novellas & novelettes - and the only one I truly agreed with was Who Goes There?

I really wanted Doc Smith to win for best novel, but that may be bias on my part.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is this the T.H. White book? I read it not so long ago, and was not terribly impressed by it. Very disappointed by the whole series, in fact. I bought the omnibus edition, struggled through "The Sword in the Stone" and "The Queen of Air and Darkness", and gave up at that point.

Yes, the TH White "classic". I can't help wondering if people were really voting for the Disney film, although I didn't think it was a strong shortlist.

I bought the omnibus, too, but haven't even made it to the second book.

[jscarbo]

Overall, I agreed with most of the winners, particularly the "Best Novel" award for Ancillary Justice. I was a bit surprised by the rankings below first place in some categories.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by jscarbo

Overall, I agreed with most of the winners, particularly the "Best Novel" award for Ancillary Justice. I was a bit surprised by the rankings below first place in some categories.

Instant Runoff ballots can be that way. Personally, I'm just glad none of the "campaigns" won; that would've set a really bad precedent. Yes, there are flaws in the system; that's no excuse to deliberately abuse them.