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Redshirts wins Hugo for Best Novel


Ser Scot A Ellison

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I will give it a try, I read the sample pages and it's much better than usual for him in terms of style, but Sanderson must've really outdone himself it to write a novella as good as On a Red Station, Drifting or Let Maps to Others (the latter wasn't on the ballot even though it really should've been IMO)

Pfft, what has quality ever had to do with the Hugos?

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Remember when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire beat a Storm of Swords? Yeah, you can stop talking about Redshirts being the worst book to ever win the Hugo now.

Oh puh-lease. I mean, for fucks sake, go look at the winners list. Goblet of Fire is probably one of the best 2 or 3 to win in the last 20 years.

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There's been a pretty dodgy run in the past three in particular - Blackout/All Clear was a total mess (and I normally love Willis) and The Dervish House was on the ballot, ffs. Among Others is a pandering, tooth aching, flimsy piece of nostalgia and now this.

2010 was tied between The Windup Girl and The City and the City, which seems respectable, but the years before that saw The Graveyard Book (winning over Anathem) and The Yiddish Policemen's Union (which I liked but is barely genre.) win.

(Before that it was Rainbow's End and Spin, both of which I think are vastly overrated, but it's harder to figure out there how much author name recognition and collective back slapping and the like was there and how much people really loved those books.)

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Speaking of movies, I loved Galaxy Quest so I'm very happy it's novelization is getting the awards regonition it never got itself.

Such an amazing movie. Sam Rockwell is perfect. Is Redshirts even 1/10th as good as Galaxy Quest?

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Did you nominate or vote? If you didn't, have you ever thought about it? It's something I saw mentioned in the 'reformation' thread (and other places) - a lot of eligible people don't take part in the process. What would increase the participation rate (and thus get Hugos that reflect more peoples' opinions)?

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Such an amazing movie. Sam Rockwell is perfect. Is Redshirts even 1/10th as good as Galaxy Quest?

One of the biggest problems with Redshirts is that Scalzi doesn't seem very familiar with Star Trek. It feels like a book written by a casual fan of the series. Galaxy Quest was clearly the work of a group that loved the shit out of Star Trek and that sort of enthusiasm is infectious.

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Worst Hugo winner ever by some margin.

Yeah, I think Redshirts is probably the worst winner ever.

It's a competitive field.

Imho, Bridecicle beats them. I can't think of any other EscapePod episode that I enjoyed so little that I actually got annoyed with EscapePod for even fielding it; it was jaw-dropping to hear later that a dumb story with such dumb science (and super-dumb sexuality) was even nominated for HUGO, let alone won. A reminder that "awards" are nothing but overhyped blogger opinion-posts, often by mediocre bloggers.

But Redshirts is probably Scalzi's least good work... not bad, but not good either. And now, Iain M. Banks - the IMHO best scifi author of recent decades, just passed away a few months ago - won't have any HUGOs. Not that his latest nom Hydrogen Sonata is as good as Algebraist (his previous nom). But now Banks is dead and hugo-less, and Scalzi won for "Redshirts".

HUGO, tsk. It's like a silly youtube channel with too many subscribers.

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Bridesicle was fine, although I really would have liked Spar to win that year. The 2011 result is in my opinion worse in that regard, with the least interesting nominated story winning.

And at least the Hugo didn't sink to the level of having That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made win **cough Nebula cough**

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Reforming the Hugos is probably impossible, but you can certainly influence them more. Next year's Worldcon is in London, which should mean a (somewhat) more ecelectic ballot, as long as the Brits remember to nominate.

Looking at the books this year, I think The Adjacent by Christopher Priest (who'd normally not even get in the front door of the Hugos) is a clear frontrunner. Hopefully Alastair Reynolds's new book will be good. A Gaiman nomination would seem likely. This year otherwise hasn't proven too great so far, but then I'm way down on my reading this year and may have missed some really good stuff.

Goblet of Fire is probably one of the best 2 or 3 to win in the last 20 years.

I wouldn't quite go that far, but IMO it's certainly better than Redshirts, Blackout/All Clear and Spin. The City and the City, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, American Gods, Blue Mars and Green Mars are much better winners. It's probably about a par with Barrayar and Doomsday Book. The other winners in that period I haven't read.

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