Three Dr. Who nominations but not a single Lost episode, what with all of the time traveling going on? Hmmmmm. "The Constant," might be one of the best episodes ever written for the small screen.
Who's the favorite for Novel this year? Is China at the top? I'm so behind on current fiction!
The Constant was the year before last, IIRC. My choice from last year's episodes would have been been LaFleur, although The Variable was much more overtly SF.
I'm also surprised at the lack of BSG. The finale was pants, but some of the earlier episodes in Season 4.5 were pretty good, like Sometimes a Good Notion and the mutiny two-parter.
Of the five DOCTOR WHO specials we got last year (and at the end of 2008), only Waters of Mars is really good enough to warrant a nomination. The rest were weak, although The Next Doctor did have a 400-foot-tall Cyberman shooting up Victorian London with auto-firing cannonballs, which is kind of cool.
Interesting list. Of the best novels, Valente's is my personal favorite (how weird is it that antipope had a story by the same title in the novella category? Never seen that weird sort of synchronicity before). Simply gorgeous. That said, I suspect Valente's (and Bacigalupi's) are outside shots at winning. I'm thinking this may be Miéville's year.
Pleased that This is Me, Jack Vance! is on best related, but it seems to me it's probably more a sentimental choice than anything -- Vance is a wonderful character, and I enjoyed reading the book for what it was, a narrativeless series of amusing or interesting vignettes more-or-less chronologically in order. It seems to me Vance and Clute are frontrunners at this stage, though, just based on name recognition and importance in the field (Mendelsohn is collecting a really extensive body of critical work, though, so who knows...)
A whole lot of Dr. Who in the Dramatic Short category. I'm cheering for "Epitaph One", but I suspect it' all but certain to be the good doctor's day (yet again).
I think Valente's novel is fairly polarizing: it is (unfortunately) the only one of the novel nominees I've managed to read, and I disliked it profoundly and heartily, and it seems to me to be the kind of book that will provoke those reactions.
Yeah, I have that sense from the comments I've seen out there, which is why I figure it's a long shot for the win. But I just love Valente's imagination and prose to pieces.
I would have liked to see Daniel Abraham's The Price of Spring in there, among eligible works that didn't make it to the short list, but getting the final novel in a four-part series nominated was a pretty tough sell.
Thanks, George. Anyone know when they release the # of nominations that each nominee received? I nominated a piece that didn't make it, and want to see if they were close.
Wow, the power of LiveJournal -- I got the news of my Campbell nomination a week ago, the same day my twins were born. But I've been so busy changing diapers that I didn't realize I was in the clear to announce it until seeing this! Getting pooped on by bossy little 5lb. people helps keep one humble, I suppose.
Thank you, sir! One boy, one girl -- instant nuclear family! The only SF-nal tribute involved is my daughter's middle name, Octavia. Though I suspect my son will be more than happy to economically exploit me in appropriately Gernsbackian fashion :P
Hi! No book out yet, though I've just wrapped up a quasi-Islamic heroic fantasy novel which will shortly be shipped off in search of agents. I talk about that project a bit in this interview:
wow. Islamic fantasy. Is anyone else doing that? That sounds like fun. I'm not islamic, but I would definitely give it a try.
I think people involved in the hugo/John W. Campbell awards should talk to the people who run it. One reason to have the Campbell awards is to give new writers some recognition. It does not do much good if they don't list their work so people like me (who might BUY their work) can find it easier.
They should also include a link to their websites when they list the nominations.
As someone who has met both seanan_mcguire and gailcarriger, I am excited to see both of their names up for the Campbell, and am fervently hoping for a tie, so I don't have to feel bad for one or the other.
Looking over this year's list of Hugo finalists, the thing that leapt out at me most were the nominees in the three short fiction categories, novella, novelette, and short story.
What's startling about this year's list -- to me at least, being the dinosaur that I am -- is that the traditional paper magazines are hardly represented, after decades of dominating these three categories. There are three stories from ASIMOV's and one from INTERZONE... but nothing from F&SF, nothing from ANALOG, nothing from REALMS OF FANTASY. Instead we have nominees coming from e-magazines, websites, small press mags, and anthologies.
The times they are a-changin', I guess.
I suspect this will only hasten the oft-predicted end of the traditional genre magazines. The conventional wisdom, up until very recently, was that you could maybe get better money selling to an anthology or an e-mag, but if you wanted a Hugo nomination, the old digests were still the place to be.
Not any more, it would seem. And given how little they pay, if they are no longer the awards showcase they were, one wonders why anyone would want to give them first look at a strong story.
To what degree does a non-North American location explain this? The percentage of non-N.A. attendees will be way up, I'd guess, and I'd further guess that reading the traditional magazines is less common outside of the U.S. and Canada. Webzines and sites like Tor.com are certainly a lot more available in Australia than Asimov's, F&SF, and Analog, at a guess.
That said, I'm reminded of clarkesworld's chart showing the increasing presence of online fiction in Locus Magazine's end-of-year recommendation lists. It's a definite trend, and it's going to keep going. End of an epoch, indeed.
Believe it or not, RoF has never snagged a Hugo recommendation. Nebulas, but no Hugos.
As to where to sell your shorts ...shrug. I have an obvious bias for RoF since I work with that mag, but I don't think there is a such thing as a perfect market. Everyone is better than someone in some respect, be it response times, readership numbers, who offers illustrations to stories, which venues win the awards, pay rates, method of submission, how long you have to wait to see an accepted story published, etc. I think it all boils down to what is most important to each writer.
It's probably more indicative of the internet. As pointed out by a Hugo Award administrator, the vast majority of ballots submitted were online. (I heard only 4% were paper ballots). That would suggest that you're definitely seeing a shift, but whether sustainable or not, I don't know, as one data point doesn't make a trend, as yet. But I suspect so.
Perhaps a shift . . . though the short form editor category is still dominated by the digest editors, and two professional anthologists. So change, if so, is coming, in some categories, and perhaps in others, later?
George: Anyway you can tell us which you like best? My understanding is you read alot of science fiction and fantasy. I have seen alot of positive reviews of boneshaker. The guys at Elitist Book Reviews (some of Brandon sanderson's friends) did not like it.
I have liked Robert Sawyer in the past. I liked Flash Forward (the TV show is VERY different from the book).
You write in the genre and we like your writing, if you have a few minutes could you do a short blog on which stories you liked best (of the ones you read) or maybe your favorites for the past year? Would help me with my reading list. I like to read books that authors I like recommend.
Here is one book tip from me. You said you like the Pillars of the Earth. Check out The Cathedral of the Sea. It is a translation from spanish, but very good. Takes place in Barcelona in the late middle ages. The authors does a VERY good job talking about the culture and politics of the city while being entertaining.
contemplative
grrm
Comments
Who's the favorite for Novel this year? Is China at the top? I'm so behind on current fiction!
...ryan
I'm also surprised at the lack of BSG. The finale was pants, but some of the earlier episodes in Season 4.5 were pretty good, like Sometimes a Good Notion and the mutiny two-parter.
Of the five DOCTOR WHO specials we got last year (and at the end of 2008), only Waters of Mars is really good enough to warrant a nomination. The rest were weak, although The Next Doctor did have a 400-foot-tall Cyberman shooting up Victorian London with auto-firing cannonballs, which is kind of cool.
Pleased that This is Me, Jack Vance! is on best related, but it seems to me it's probably more a sentimental choice than anything -- Vance is a wonderful character, and I enjoyed reading the book for what it was, a narrativeless series of amusing or interesting vignettes more-or-less chronologically in order. It seems to me Vance and Clute are frontrunners at this stage, though, just based on name recognition and importance in the field (Mendelsohn is collecting a really extensive body of critical work, though, so who knows...)
A whole lot of Dr. Who in the Dramatic Short category. I'm cheering for "Epitaph One", but I suspect it' all but certain to be the good doctor's day (yet again).
I would have liked to see Daniel Abraham's The Price of Spring in there, among eligible works that didn't make it to the short list, but getting the final novel in a four-part series nominated was a pretty tough sell.
I'm curious as well. A number of my own favorites didn't make the cut.
Despite my annual exhortations, too few people nominate.
That's still not many compared to the number of people who could nominate, which has to be 6000 or so, but it's still an improvement.
Boys or girls? If boys, I hope you named them Hugo Gernsbach Ahmed and John Wood Campbell Ahmed.
http://www.blakecharlton.com/2010/03/wr
The Campbell and Nebula nominations, though, are based on my short fiction, and there's links to all of that work here:
http://www.saladinahmed.com/wordpress/b
Thank you kindly for your interest!
I think people involved in the hugo/John W. Campbell awards should talk to the people who run it. One reason to have the Campbell awards is to give new writers some recognition. It does not do much good if they don't list their work so people like me (who might BUY their work) can find it easier.
They should also include a link to their websites when they list the nominations.
What's startling about this year's list -- to me at least, being the dinosaur that I am -- is that the traditional paper magazines are hardly represented, after decades of dominating these three categories. There are three stories from ASIMOV's and one from INTERZONE... but nothing from F&SF, nothing from ANALOG, nothing from REALMS OF FANTASY. Instead we have nominees coming from e-magazines, websites, small press mags, and anthologies.
The times they are a-changin', I guess.
I suspect this will only hasten the oft-predicted end of the traditional genre magazines. The conventional wisdom, up until very recently, was that you could maybe get better money selling to an anthology or an e-mag, but if you wanted a Hugo nomination, the old digests were still the place to be.
Not any more, it would seem. And given how little they pay, if they are no longer the awards showcase they were, one wonders why anyone would want to give them first look at a strong story.
End of an epoch, maybe?
That said, I'm reminded of
As to where to sell your shorts ...shrug. I have an obvious bias for RoF since I work with that mag, but I don't think there is a such thing as a perfect market. Everyone is better than someone in some respect, be it response times, readership numbers, who offers illustrations to stories, which venues win the awards, pay rates, method of submission, how long you have to wait to see an accepted story published, etc. I think it all boils down to what is most important to each writer.
I have liked Robert Sawyer in the past. I liked Flash Forward (the TV show is VERY different from the book).
You write in the genre and we like your writing, if you have a few minutes could you do a short blog on which stories you liked best (of the ones you read) or maybe your favorites for the past year? Would help me with my reading list. I like to read books that authors I like recommend.
Here is one book tip from me. You said you like the Pillars of the Earth. Check out The Cathedral of the Sea. It is a translation from spanish, but very good. Takes place in Barcelona in the late middle ages. The authors does a VERY good job talking about the culture and politics of the city while being entertaining.