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2023 Hugo Awards

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Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#51

Post by alephxyz »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #47

The Hugo Awards have really come to represent the views and tastes of a narrow clique. I don't know to what extent this was always the case -- my impression of the Awards in the 90s and 00s was that they strived for more objectivity -- but it's quite flagrant right now. And it's unfortunate, as they go HARD for very soft science fiction which reads a lot more like fantasy...

Voting is open to all attendees of the World Scifi Convention and they usually get thousands of votes now. It's possible that you find the winners too "mainstream" but accusing them of being cliquey doesn't make sense.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#53

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

brookst wrote: post #45
swayvil wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An absence of preaching X does not necessitate preaching Y. We can also do without any preaching at all. Scifi is large. That other stuff is small.

The problem is defining “preaching”. In my limited experience, those who complain about feminism usually see having a strong female protagonist as offensive preaching. I read a LOT of SF. I cannot remember the last book I read that I would consider “preachy” about feminism. What are some examples that bother you?

Not OP, but I've definitely read books by authors I otherwise enjoy which I'd consider to have lecturing segments in them. I'm hesitant to name specific examples though...

I think something similar happens with politics. Some people say they don't want politics in their media, but what they usually mean is they don't want half-assed and shallow political takes. If you're going to take on a serious and important topic then you need to do a great job, otherwise you're just detracting from the experience or trying to farm brownie points from your tribe.

I love strong and complex female leads. But I want the story to focus on their journey and struggles. Not to receive multiple lectures on how women are just as capable as men. It's just bad writing when it fails at the core tenet of "show, don't tell".

I recently read a book which dealt with colonialism as a central theme. The author did a great job with some aspects of the story, but they made all the villains incredibly shallow and one dimensional. This is then used to lecture the reader on why colonialism is bad. I don't even disagree with the points that were being made, but I thought it was a poor vehicle for the message.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#54

Post by cantaloupe »

lscdlscd wrote: post #12

The Children of Time series is fantastic! I'm glad that Adrian Tchaikovsky is getting more well deserved recognition.

I haven’t read The Children of Time, but I would highly recommend Tchaikovsky’s Final Architecture trilogy. It’s been my favorite series I’ve read in a few years.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#55

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

alephxyz wrote: post #51
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #47

The Hugo Awards have really come to represent the views and tastes of a narrow clique. I don't know to what extent this was always the case -- my impression of the Awards in the 90s and 00s was that they strived for more objectivity -- but it's quite flagrant right now. And it's unfortunate, as they go HARD for very soft science fiction which reads a lot more like fantasy...

Voting is open to all attendees of the World Scifi Convention and they usually get thousands of votes now. It's possible that you find the winners too "mainstream" but accusing them of being cliquey doesn't make sense.

WorldCon is not representative of all readership. Its website even notes: "The Hugo voters are good at finding and nominating good works, and do talk among themselves, so word spreads." [1] They seem to do an awful lot of talking among themselves, I'll give them that.

Besides, it doesn't take a whole lot of nominations to get something onto the ballot. An energetic and motivated clique can capture the whole thing.

And surely it's apparent that they reward a certain type of work, and disregard others. For e.g., Analog Magazine -- which specializes in hard science fiction -- didn't pick up a single short story or novella nomination.

[1] - https://www.thehugoawards.org/submitting-your-work/

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#56

Post by TheCoelacanth »

pseudo0 wrote: post #38

She-Hulk received a nomination, clear evidence that the Hugo Awards are now an anti-signal.

Best Dramatic Presentation categories are borderline meaningless. Hugos are literary awards, not TV or film awards. Voters don't take those categories seriously.

2023 voting details aren't available yet, but for 2022 it only took 26 nominations out of 1368 nominating ballots to make it onto the final ballot for that category.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#57

Post by KingMob »

gertrunde wrote: post #43

Nice to see Nnedi Okorafor get an award, while I've not read the book that won the award, I've enjoyed other books they've written.

Okorafor hates the Harry Potter comparison, but I'll say it: The Akata series is like if HP had 10x wilder magic, was 100x better written, and was set in Nigeria.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#58

Post by TheCoelacanth »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #55
alephxyz wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voting is open to all attendees of the World Scifi Convention and they usually get thousands of votes now. It's possible that you find the winners too "mainstream" but accusing them of being cliquey doesn't make sense.

WorldCon is not representative of all readership. Its website even notes: "The Hugo voters are good at finding and nominating good works, and do talk among themselves, so word spreads." [1] They seem to do an awful lot of talking among themselves, I'll give them that. Besides, it doesn't take a whole lot of nominations to get something onto the ballot. An energetic and motivated clique can capture the whole thing. An…

Traditional print magazines like Analog are at a huge disadvantage in popularity contest awards like the Hugos because they are only available to subscribers.

Hugo winners usually come from magazines that make their stories available for free online.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#59

Post by dkarl »

brookst wrote: post #46
progne wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Novik doesn't just copy the teen-angst-life-is-so-unfair vibe, but efficiently includes it in her world building. She justifies it. By the end of the series it's clear that the her universe is indeed impressively unfair ... which is core to her protagonists' motivation to do something about it and drives the plot.

Agreed, but from my perspective as very very far removed from adolescence, I had to give up because I found it whiny and predictable. As a teenager I probably would have related more. God knows I was whiny and predictable enough.

Even as a teenager, I knew that "it turns out all your emotional angst is vindicated by objective reality!" was a bullshit fantasy, but even knowing that, I needed it to sometimes be the answer. The older I get, the more I'm able to revisit that stuff without cringing and appreciate that it was just an emotional outlet.

Re: 2023 Hugo Awards

#60

Post by MightyBuzzard »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #47

The Hugo Awards have really come to represent the views and tastes of a narrow clique. I don't know to what extent this was always the case -- my impression of the Awards in the 90s and 00s was that they strived for more objectivity -- but it's quite flagrant right now. And it's unfortunate, as they go HARD for very soft science fiction which reads a lot more like fantasy...

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