Hugos Part 7 – Best Related Work and Campbell Award
I’m running out of days to post these things! I still have Long Form Dramatic Presentation and Novel to go! At least I’m almost done! Just the behemoth! Exclamation point!
OK, now that I’ve finished hyperventilating, I can discuss the two awards above, joined only because I spent all of yesterday finishing off Dervish House (Black Out/All Clear must excel if it wants to get top spot from me), and I don’t have enough days left to post them all individually. You will forgive me, no?
Best related work: Easy for me. Writing Excuses. I love this podcast. The guys have insightful things to say, their topics are interesting, I love the guests, and it’s short… but not too short. I’ve listened to all of them, not just season 4. They are all good. It seems, too, that this is the year of Writing Excuses. I can’t wait to see how they fare (for the uninitiated, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler are up for the Campbell and Graphic Story, respectively, and Dan’s editor is up for Long Form editor). Other than Chicks Dig Time Lords, I wasn’t all that enthused with anything else, so I’ll just be voting for those two.
- Writing Excuses, Season 4, by Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells
- Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea (Mad Norwegian)
- Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001, by Gary K. Wolfe (Beccon) – Read Online Excerpt [PDF]
- The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing, by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg (McFarland)
- Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907–1948): Learning Curve, by William H. Patterson, Jr. (Tor)
For the Campbell, I was already familiar with three of the authors, and I’ve skimmed the other two. It’s tough, I didn’t give myself enough time to actually read the work offered, so I don’t know if I will vote in this category, since it wouldn’t be totally fair to Lev and Lauren. If I do vote, though, Dan Wells will get the top spot (unless I read more before the deadline (doubt it!)), like so:
- Dan Wells
- Saladin Ahmed
- Larry Correia
- Lauren Beukes
- Lev Grossman
I became engrossed in I Am Not a Serial Killer, and went out and immediately bought the next book in the series, of course to let smolder in the stacks around here. I really enjoy Saladin’s take on the genre, and I really like the story of Larry himself. I feel like I am in the same boat, carving out bits of time here and there around my hectic life to get a few hundred words down here or there. Easier now that I have something portable to write on.
Should I be this scrupulous? I don’t know. I read another blogger’s take on best novel; he did not read and is not voting for Cryoburn merely because he hadn’t read the rest of the series, and it would be unfair to the author. Might also be unfair to discount the author this way. I’ll make my decision on ballot day.