Hugo time! Your packet is available! 2018

[Werthead]

Good to see Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme getting the nod, although sadly not for the Goodkind cover (we'll have to do that next year). 

Bambi could win a Hugo Award? Interesting.

[williamjm]

10 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Good to see Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme getting the nod, although sadly not for the Goodkind cover (we'll have to do that next year).

I hadn't noticed that. Is this his first nomination, in which case Goodkind might have inadvertently done him a favour by boosting his profile?

[Ran]

22 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

Any idea which rule change was effective to accomplish that, if any?  Is EPH or EPH+ going into effect on a permanent basis?

It's just EPH that did it. 3SV and EPH+ both failed to be ratified at last year's business meeting, but regular EPH proved a success last year, so much so that it seems to have put the slates to bed. Technically, a large enough, organized group can still game things, but the bar is a lot higher and the gains much smaller, so we won't be seeing a repeat of 2015 any time soon I think.

EPH was ratified and continues for this year. There's some sort of sunset clause or something in 2022, I forget exactly how it works, but so far it seems safe.

[kairparavel]

The YA award is kinda...hmm.

[Darth Richard II]

Not a fan of most of the Novels this year, but there sn't anything that makes me want to throw my shoe at anyone.

[Lily Valley]

Congrats to Clipping!   I'd really love to see more variety in the dramatic categories!  I was disappointed that Chuck wasn't nominated in ANY of the categories I put him in.    I had a couple of novels I was REALLY hoping to see on that list, Autonomous by Annalee Newitz specifically.  I liked three of the novels that made the list and nominated one of them.  Two of them I haven't read yet, so I'll be looking forward to that.  I had a bit of disappointment in the novella category as well.  There's one or two things in there that are in the "not for me" category, but I agree with Darth Richard, it's a good ballot.

On 3/10/2018 at 6:59 PM, Mr. X said:

While clipping. have said they won't campaign this year like they did for Splendor & Misery last year, I'm going to go ahead and point out that "The Deep" is eligible for short form dramatic presentation this year (or, as they joked on Twitter a while back, short short form).

[felice]

On 1/04/2018 at 8:19 AM, Ran said:

Can't speak to the literary stuff this year, having read so little, but quite surprised The Handmaid's Tale didn't get into either dramatic presentation category, and that The Expanse also failed to get a nod.

Do we need an Extra-Long-Form Dramatic category? Or perhaps just increase the runtime for Short-Form to something like three hours, if we don't want an extra category? These days most of the best TV comes in season-long arcs, not individual episodes, and it's pretty hard for any TV show to compete directly against big budget movies.

[williamjm]

1 hour ago, felice said:

Do we need an Extra-Long-Form Dramatic category? Or perhaps just increase the runtime for Short-Form to something like three hours, if we don't want an extra category? These days most of the best TV comes in season-long arcs, not individual episodes, and it's pretty hard for any TV show to compete directly against big budget movies.

It does look like TV series are better going for individual episodes at the moment given that only Game of Thrones has won the long-form category. I wonder if some of them could suffer from voters being split about whether to nominate them in short or long at the moment (of course they could do both, but maybe they tend to pick just one).

[Lily Valley]

Round up of free reading / excerpts from JJ over at file770 can be found here.  http://file770.com/?p=41534#comments  There's also a pretty good discussion of how / where to read the stuff from the series category on the original Hugo announcement.  I'll link it later, I'm suppposed to mow the lawn before work.    Boo.

[Seli]

On 01/04/2018 at 1:24 AM, kairparavel said:

The YA award is kinda...hmm.

Which is only to be expected. But at least it seems better than the graphic story category at its inception.

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

1 hour ago, Seli said:

Which is only to be expected. But at least it seems better than the graphic story category at its inception.

Yeah, graphic story category took several years to leave behind the times of yearly Girl Genius wins. Nevertheless I fully expect some of the obscure authors beloved by core Hugo voters will win this year. OTOH, Phillip Pullman is a big name (and it was quite decent book, IMHO), so who knows.

[Lily Valley]

While waiting for my packet, I'm going to look at the short stories.  Anyone got a favorite?

[Lily Valley]

This packet is ginormous.   I'm not sure what's an excerpt and what's a whole book yet.  My poor kindle is still trying to download.  I think it might pop.

[felice]

On 5/30/2018 at 3:32 PM, Lily Valley said:

This packet is ginormous.

Huh. I never got any notification the packet was available.

Currently reading New York 2140. I tend to find KSR's stuff to be worthy but a bit of a chore to get through.

[Lily Valley]

20 hours ago, felice said:

Huh. I never got any notification the packet was available.

Currently reading New York 2140. I tend to find KSR's stuff to be worthy but a bit of a chore to get through.

As far as I know, nobody did.  It's on their main page.  Once I'm at a computer, I'll edit the first post or start a new thread.  I tried to finish KSR'S Mars series.  Just couldn't.  Kind of dreading 2140, tbh.  Tell me what you think.

[felice]

4 hours ago, Lily Valley said:

As far as I know, nobody did.  It's on their main page.  Once I'm at a computer, I'll edit the first post or start a new thread.  I tried to finish KSR'S Mars series.  Just couldn't.  Kind of dreading 2140, tbh.  Tell me what you think.

I got an email about the packet this morning.

If you didn't like Mars, then it's probably not worth bothering with 2140 either. Though I should probably wait till I've finished before passing judgement; I'm not that far through yet.

Spoiler

But really, crazed polar bears going on a rampage inside a airship caught in a hurricane should be more exciting than this.

 

[Lily Valley]

14 hours ago, felice said:

I got an email about the packet this morning.

If you didn't like Mars, then it's probably not worth bothering with 2140 either. Though I should probably wait till I've finished before passing judgement; I'm not that far through yet.

  Reveal hidden contents

But really, crazed polar bears going on a rampage inside a airship caught in a hurricane should be more exciting than this.

 

That's the kind of thing I'm talking about.  "Tabling" a self-involved young woman shouldn't have been a boring and gross scene, either (Green Mars).  I'll be forever grateful to him for corrupting the phrase, "Wherever you go, there WE are."  I've pulled that one into my permanent vernacular, but not sure I can do another doorstopper right now.  I will before vote.

[felice]

On 6/10/2018 at 12:32 PM, Lily Valley said:

not sure I can do another doorstopper right now.  I will before vote.

You've probably got better things to do with your time; you know you aren't going to enjoy it, so unless you hate any of the other nominees, you may as well just leave this one off your ballot. It's not entirely awful, but it's got enough plot for a novella mostly submerged under fifty feet of infodump, and for me at least the prose isn't enjoyable enough to make up for it.

[Lily Valley]

On 6/15/2018 at 11:28 PM, felice said:

You've probably got better things to do with your time; you know you aren't going to enjoy it, so unless you hate any of the other nominees, you may as well just leave this one off your ballot. It's not entirely awful, but it's got enough plot for a novella mostly submerged under fifty feet of infodump, and for me at least the prose isn't enjoyable enough to make up for it.

That's harsh, and pretty much my problem with him.  After trying (so damn hard) with SevenEves last year-ish, I'll leave it off.  I've finished everything else except the the series.  Finished the Natural History books, read enough of this McGuire series to make up my mind and I think I'll take my time with the first of the others.  

I REALLY liked "Otherlands" and "Summer in Orcus".  Still need to get Rivers Solomon's book in a readable format.  What little I could get through in the pdf was excellent.  Finished Scalzi's Novel.  Another good one, but I already forgot what happened.

[felice]

2 minutes ago, Lily Valley said:

That's harsh, and pretty much my problem with him.  After trying (so damn hard) with SevenEves last year-ish, I'll leave it off.  I've finished everything else except the the series.  Finished the Natural History books, read enough of this McGuire series to make up my mind and I think I'll take my time with the first of the others.  

I REALLY liked "Otherlands" and "Summer in Orcus".  Still need to get Rivers Solomon's book in a readable format.  What little I could get through in the pdf was excellent.  Finished Scalzi's Novel.  Another good one, but I already forgot what happened.

The Scalzi was extremely readable, but possibly a bit lightweight for a Hugo. Six Wakes was more interesting, and I expect to enjoy the other three based on the authors' track records. I've also read and enjoyed Orcus and the Solomon (well, I'm not sure "enjoy" is quite the right word for Unkindness of Ghosts, but it's very good).

I'm not sure if I can justify voting in Series. I like McGuire (I get the impression you're not so keen), though I prefer her October Daye series, and Bujold is great, but I know nothing about the others and I'm not going to have time to evaluate them.