Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1105 - Hugo Awards again - Hey Mom Reprint

Paris 1986

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1105 - Hugo Awards again - Hey Mom Reprint

Hi Mom,

In this week's reprint feature, I thought I would divert from the usual maudlin survey of old post when I was more deeply in the throes of grief.

Then again, I will return to this theme. I feel an instant connection when I learn of someone who loses a parent. An author I follow just lost her father, after having lost her mother years before. My Dad's still here, Mom, and so I am very thankful and grateful for that amazing gift. It makes missing you easier.

But there I go, getting a little maudlin.

My original point was that I chose this post for reprint because I had been on the lookout the other day for posts I had written on the Hugo Awards. Oddly, this post did not come up when I searched the phrase "Hugo Awards." Really?? The original post had been titled "Hugo Awards," and so one would think this would naturally come up in a text search. What gives Google? Sometimes I wonder if I am close to exceeding the limit for free Google, but last I checked, I had many gigs to go.

So, as I shared, I was writing about the Hugo Awards the other day in this post about Saul Williams' Neptune Frost.

This year's Hugo Awards (for 2018) will be announced at Worldcon in San Jose, California on August 19th.

There are many categories, but the best novel category is a great collection of work.

Best Novel

• The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi (Tor)
• New York 2140, by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
• Provenance, by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
• Raven Stratagem, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
• Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty (Orbit)
• The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

N.K. Jemisin has won the last two Hugo Awards for best novel (2016 and 2017) for her excellent Broken Earth series. These awards have not been undeserved. But will she win for the third and last book in her trilogy? I have not read the other five books. In fact, I have only read Scalzi's book on this list (so far), but I read Jemisin's first Broken Earth book, I read Leckie's past efforts in the Ancillary series, and though I have considered starting up Robinson's novel, I have not delved into yet. I must confess that I have not heard of Mur Lafferty, who is surely a great writer if on this list.

In any case, I felt it was a good time to share the great Hugo debate of a few years ago.

Thanks for listening, Mom.

Good luck to this year's Hugo nominees.

FROM - http://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2015/08/hey-mom-talking-to-my-mother-44-hugo.html

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #45 - HUGO AWARDS

Hi Mom, And now for something completely different. HUGO AWARDS!!

For those not in the know, check out HUGO AWARDS WIKIPEDIA. The Hugo Award is best described as a popular vote (as opposed to Nebula, which is given by the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), which is an organization exclusive to those with suitable publishing credits in the field). The Hugo Award collects the votes of fans who attend (and/or register to attend or just register with rights to vote) the World Science Fiction Convention, known as SASQUAN this year due its location in Spokane. Washington.

picture taken by Liesel
at Seattle's SF museum

Mom, I know you have zero interest in science fiction and even less in the current controversy surrounding the Hugo Awards. But since this blog charts on ongoing conversation with you, Mom, and this is a conflict I have been watching since the beginning of the year when the Hugo nominations were announced, I am going to collect the things I have read and a few thoughts here. When you were still alive and physically present, you would have listened to me describe all this nonsense. I am not sure I talked about it while you were still with us. It seemed more important to talk about school or Y&R. But I have been wanting to collect my readings about the Hugo Awards and now is as good a time as any.

The SASQUAN convention at which the Hugos will be given starts today.  I have been posting about the Hugos and following the controversy for some time. I have also been cobbling together this blog post for some time. I had wanted to post this before voting for the Hugos ended as it did on July 31st. But then it seemed more important to write about you, Mom, at least more often than not. And yet today also seems like a good day to unleash this content as it's the first day of SASQAUAN, and now I can post about winners after the awards are given on Saturday night.

The links I provide here do a great job of giving a tour of the controversy regarding the Hugos if you want to really dig into it.

I am going to crib George RR Martin's summary of the Sad Puppies issues as it is the bets on eI have seen to encapsulate the controversy. In a nut shell, the story goes like this.

The actual Sad Puppies opposition to the Hugo Awards ballots and method for granting one of SF's two most presitigious awards goes back three years. Some fans have argued that the Hugo Awards have been "taken over" by SJWs (Social Justice Warriors). Those arguing this supposition feel that the awards have become rigged so that only left-leaning, liberal, SJWs win Hugo, while those who are not part of that clique are left out or even black-listed.

Originally, when sad for not being nominated, the self-proclaimed Sad Puppies argued that the Hugo exclusion is political while others claim that it is religious in nature. Others decry the SJWs for racial prejudice, claiming that "straight (cis) white males" are excluded from the awards to promote an SJW agenda. And lastly, many Sad Puppies argue that the Hugo nominees represent boring stories and works of art unpopular with the masses whereas Sad Puppies write good old, entertaining SF and Fantasy yarns in the tradition of great masters like Heinlein.

Thus, these Puppies vowed to take back SF by creating slates of works for people to nominate to effectively "take back" or even "take control" of the Hugo ballot. Some people associated with Puppies have claimed that if SF fans ever want to re-claim their precious awards that they will have to accede to the demands of the Sad Puppies (or Rabid Puppies which is another group).

Those are the bare bones of the issue, though it's detailed in grander scope and breadth in the following links, some of which are from mass media outlets. You can find George RR Martin's comments via a link, too. If you do not know, as I know you may not, Mom, George RR Martin is the author of Game of Thrones and its series known as The Song of Ice and Fire.

And that's about it. Read on if you wish. I will be back later, maybe next week, with who wins the Hugo.

Voting ended on July 31st but if one was inclined to vote in the future, information could be found here: Voting for the Hugo Awards via SASQUAN

Original declaration of the 2015 PUPPY SLATE


ROUND-UP OF PUPPY AND NON-PUPPY LISTS


VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE - Scalzi


PRETTY much EVERYTHING Puppy related and on "Hugo Neepery" can be found here:

The Compleat Litter of Puppy Roundup Titles


GOOD DUO TO READ

STARTER - 

Destroy the myth, destroy the culture by Patrick Richardson

RESPONSE - 

You Can’t Take Back What You Already Have by John Scalzi


GOOD COLLECTION OF QUOTES AND STUFF

The Left Paw of Darkness 5/16

FROM A SAD PUPPY - why-sad-puppies-3-is-going-to-destroy-science-fiction

ON DROPPING THE NOVELETTE CLAUSE - An open letter to the WSFS about unintended consequences

PUPPY HISTORY AND COMMENTARY - WHY PUPPIES ARE SAD AND ALWAYS WILL BE

MAJOR MEDIA

WSJ - The Culture Wars Invade Science Fiction - Online campaigners are pushing to give SF’s annual Hugo Awards to popular space yarns, not more literary fiction or tales of diversity

San Francisco Book Review on Puppygate

NEW REPUBLIC - Science Fiction's White Boys' Club Strikes Back

BIG THINK -  Sci-Fi Hugo Awards Controversy Is a Cultural Proxy War


LOTS OF HUGO STUFF - Various

GEORGE RR MARTIN ON PUPPIES

CORREIA RESPONDS TO MARTIN

Some fantastic data analysis with actual charts and graphs!

Some Sad Puppy Data Analysis


MORE HUGO AND HUGO RELATED STUFF

This next link is one of the best on the whole puppies situation. However, to read David's remarks you have to have Facebook.

DAVID GERROLD ON HUGOS AND PUPPYGATE


Some rhetoric by a blogger casting John Scalzi as a bully. Not directly Hugo related but in the same vicinity.

John Scalzi and the Bully Kool-Aid

The next five links are all HUGO related and additional information on the entire conflict if you are REALLY interested.

Puppies in Their Own Words

Two from Eric Flint:

WHAT THE HELL, LET’S DO IT AGAIN – STILL MORE ON THE HUGO AWARDS

AND AGAIN ON THE HUGO AWARDS

Puppygate – Winners and Losers | Cheryl's Mewsings

The Latest Hugo Conspiracy Nonsense Involving Me | Whatever

Not at all about Hugos, but since so much ire is directed at Scalzi, when he signed his big deal with Tor, there was lots of of complaining from Scalzi opponents on the Internet. Here's some smart reaction to all that hoopla.

My Inevitable and Utterly Redundant John Scalzi Multi-Million-Dollar Deal Hot Take | Matt Wallace

I figured this post should have a picture of my Mom in it. This seems like a fitting enough picture. Here's our family (minus my Dad) on our trip to Europe in 1986.

Paris - 1986

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 46 days ago


- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1508.19 - 12:04















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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 1128 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1808.05 - 10:10

NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.