by lacker on 10/25/23, 3:50 PM
I used to really love the Hugo and Nebula awards but over time they seem to be shifting away from the harder science fiction that I like the best, more in the fantasy direction. I miss the days of Hugo winners like Neuromancer, A Fire Upon the Deep, Green Mars, The Diamond Age, The Windup Girl, The Three-Body Problem.
That might be just tracking what gets written nowadays rather than the opinions of the people giving out the awards, though. And I did really like Babel (which won the Nebula this year although I guess was not a finalist for the Hugo) and N K Jemisin's work (three Hugos in the past decade).
by lscdlscd on 10/25/23, 1:33 PM
The Children of Time series is fantastic! I'm glad that Adrian Tchaikovsky is getting more well deserved recognition.
by A_D_E_P_T on 10/25/23, 2:12 PM
The Hugo Awards have really come to represent the views and tastes of a narrow clique. I don't know to what extent this was always the case -- my impression of the Awards in the 90s and 00s was that they strived for more objectivity -- but it's quite flagrant right now. And it's unfortunate, as they go HARD for very soft science fiction which reads a lot more like fantasy...
by progne on 10/25/23, 1:18 PM
The Scholomance series by Naomi Novak is quite good, her best and I've liked all her books. Yes it's a Potter derivative, but doesn't feel derivative but inventive and de-disneyfied.
by dcminter on 10/25/23, 2:07 PM
"Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes" by Rob Wilkins really is excellent. If you enjoyed Pratchett's novels and are interested in his life then you will get a lot out of it. It's much better written than I expected of an authorized biography; not a hagiography at all, it showed his feet of clay as well as his halo. Some of it, of course, is very amusing.
Be warned, however, that it covers Terry's deterioration with alzheimers' without pulling its punches much. There were a couple of points where I had to put the book down for a bit and take a break because it was too sad.
by pseudo0 on 10/25/23, 2:03 PM
She-Hulk received a nomination, clear evidence that the Hugo Awards are now an anti-signal.
by TheAceOfHearts on 10/25/23, 1:13 PM
Barely recognize any of the books or authors there, especially the winners.
I've listened to Travis Baldree narrate Cradle, so I'm probably gonna check out his Legends & Lattes book.
It didn't win, but I read The Scholomance which is listed in the series section. If you're interested in unconventional magic systems then I'd recommend it.
Nettle & Bone was the big winner. Reading the blurb doesn't immediately call out to me. Worth checking out?
by slothtrop on 10/25/23, 1:20 PM
Is it typical of Hugo Awards for fantasy to be so strongly represented, vs sci-fi?
by gertrunde on 10/25/23, 2:07 PM
Nice to see Nnedi Okorafor get an award, while I've not read the book that won the award, I've enjoyed other books they've written.
by jmartrican on 10/25/23, 1:51 PM
I didn't know the Hugo Awards has so many award. I naively though it was just best sci-fi book because I would see lists of Hugo award winners by year and see only one book per year and they were all sci-fi.
by jnsaff2 on 10/25/23, 1:44 PM
I don't get the hype about Everything Everywhere All at Once .. quite a letdown. Nowhere close to Rick and Morty it had been compared to.
Severance however was pretty good.
Children of time - amazing.
by asicsp on 10/25/23, 1:09 PM
Good to see Travis Baldree winning Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Legends & Lattes was one of my favorites reads last year - looking forward to the prequel next month.
by tromp on 10/25/23, 1:23 PM
"The hugo award" sounds eerily similar to the Dutch town of "Heerhugowaard" where I grew up...
by mi_lk on 10/25/23, 12:53 PM
Little surprised that such a renowned sci-fi award is hosted on a plain WordPress site. A welcome surprise.