Hugo's... Yes, those....

[daveon]

So... the fan categories seem to have gone well - general approval from me all around there anyway.  Watching Chris was a joy and seeing James Bacon be the grown up in the room, having spent a chunk of the con being the grown up for him was amusing too...

Inception won - which was good as the only actual adult movie on there.

I voted hard *against* the Dr Who block because I really didn't think they were particularly strong stories and there was something amusing about how apoletic some people were getting over F**k Me Ray Bradbury that meant I had to vote for it.  Yes people, I am *that* immature really.

I didn't much like For Want of a Nail, but I did Vote for Emperor of Mars, so that's all good.

However, Best Novel.  What on earth were people thinking?  Dervish House was the best Novel on the list by far, with Feed and 100,000 Kingdoms both excellent novels too.  I was pretty shocked to enjoy Feed, and also shocked at my emotional reaction to it.

Any hoo... it's a popular vote and it tends to get skewed to the US when the Con is in the States...

Which gets me thinking...  The UK has a talented crop of authors who've yet to win a Best Novel Hugo and, rightfully should...  Assuming London wins their bid, and I can say comfortably that the team running the bid are unlikely to fall foul of a Westercon 66 situation now...  this means that British Authors will have probably their best chance in a while with the books in market in 2013, so, based on my fuzzy understanding of the process - probably books beining written next year.

I would like to see a strong British field for a British Worldcon and would like, in no particular order, to see Ian McDonald overcome the travesty that was 2005; or Al Reynolds recognised, because his latest works are full of awesome; Charlie Stross to come out strong with an SF novel; even, on the outside edge something new from Peter Hamilton, or for Steven Baxter to remember what he *used* to write.

Anyway, given the nature of the Hugo's I think the best chance for some of these world class authors to get the win they deserve is going to be by having a home ground advantage.

Something to think about chaps!

Which also makes me think, sexist git that I have been - Justina Robson, Liz Williams, you should be focused on this too... and I'll stop now before Farah Mendleson and/or Cheryl Morgan spot this and give me a list of other British writers to pimp.

Comments

[drpaisley.livejournal.com]

I don't think Blackout won due to US preference. It was much more a "Connie has a book out! Look, it's two books!" thing. I agree concerning Dervish House. Best of the lot by a long shot. Sad that Kraken missed the ballot by 6 votes.

But it's not as though the UK is a reliable voting bloc. While the 2005 Glasgow Worldcon had all UK novel nominees, the 1995 version had an all-American slate.

As for the short form, I promoted Rachel Bloom from the get-go, and spent the con with a "Official Ray Bradbury Impersonator of Renovation" button on. I saw her at the Hugo Losers Party, but she was always surrounded by far bigger names than I (all of them), so I chose not to bother her.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I think things had significantly changed in British SF publishing between 1995 and 2005, at least in terms of authors who were not Ian Banks. I think it's more likely that the UK could field an even better range of authors this time around.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Dervish House was great but difficult. Feed and 100k were great and accessible. Not so thrilled with the other novels.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Ha! I'd pressed reply before I read the last line. Lucky I read things twice :-)

[daveon.livejournal.com]

:p

[fjm.livejournal.com]

ps. I also think our cousins the Australians may benefit from a UK con: I for one will be encouraging people to nominate and vote for Jonathan Strahan.

[pauldormer.livejournal.com]

Agree with you about Feed. Don't usually like zombie stuff, but I really enjoyed that. In the end, I voted it second behind The Dervish House. But I did enjoy Blackout more than I thought I would. Haven't read All Clear.

Speaking as the 2005 Hugo administrator, I'd like to point out that at Interaction we ended up with an all British shortlist for Best Novel, something that had to be pointed out to me after I'd done the sums. I hadn't noticed.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether I should count as a "British" author for Hugo purposes -- I benefit unfairly in the US from having an agent who lives in New York and being sold first to US publishers: I'm hugely more visible on the other side of the pond from here!

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I suspect, and hope, in that regard that you and Al Reynolds will be on an even footing by next year. His stuff appears to be arriving in Hard Cover in our B&N which it wasn't previously. But point taken.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

I'd vote 'quality book' over 'local author' but then I believe in affirmative action and quotas too ;-)

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Well, I think that there's some problems with the geography of Worldcon attendance which makes this trickier to manage.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

I wasn't suggesting an actual quota; I was noting a collision between principles ;-)

(it's clear in MY head!)

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

In my humble opinion Inception was not as good a film as How To Train Your Dragon.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Meh. I could have, and have watched How to Train Your Dragon on a plane and felt ok about it. I cannot say the same for Inception. It needed the big screen.

Perhaps I read too much Philip K Dick as a teenager but it felt like the kind of movie they should have been making from his work rather than the ones they typically have.