Hugo further discussion
(I'm still all excited about the Campbell ballot. I think Jay's at Norwescon this weekend, but I was tempted to call up Tim and say "Dude! You're on the Campbell ballot!" But I figured (a) it's a little late to be calling people, and (b) he already knows, since they presumably check with nominees before making the official announcement. But still. Dude! Y'all are on the Campbell ballot!)
Okay, some serious commentary:
As usual, I haven't read any of the novels. But I'm pleased to see the Stross there; been planning to read that one.
Not many surprises in the short fiction; most of the stories listed were on various Year's Best lists and ToCs. I've only read about half of them. The usual distribution of sources: a bunch from Asimov's, a few from Analog and F&SF, a couple from other magazines (in this case SCI FICTION, which is also nice to see), and a couple from original anthologies. Except that I don't think I've ever seen a Writers of the Future story make the ballot before. I think it was the first of Jay's Campbell-eligible sales to appear in print. And incidentally, I'm pretty sure this is Jay's first year of eligibility rather than second.
Four of the Dramatic Presentation Long Form items are the expected ones; the surprise to me (and the only one I haven't seen) is 28 Days. In Short Form, the expected Buffy finale and Gollum acceptance speech, plus three episodes of Firefly (to my surprise).
Pro Editor: No surprises; five of the usual six. (David Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden practically alternate in this category; this year it's Hartwell. I still find it odd that Realms stories and Shawna McCarthy never make the ballot.)
Pro Artist: Four of them are the same as the last three years; the only difference is Frank Frazetta instead of David Cherry (2003) or Michael Whelan (2001-2002).
Semiprozine: Four of them are the expected ones. In the fifth slot, on the one hand I'm pleased to see a magazine that publishes fiction (The Third Alternative); on the other hand, I'm disappointed to see Speculations fall off the list, for (I think) the first time in years. Also, I'm kind of disappointed to see two SFWA-qualified prozines in the semipro category; they don't qualify as prozines on circulation grounds by Hugo standards, but a magazine can declare itself to be a prozine and therefore ineligible (which is what we've done) even if it doesn't have a 10K circulation. On the other hand, I certainly can't begrudge Interzone and TTA their spots on the ballot; all I'm really saying here is that I'd love to see some of the good semipro-by-SFWA-standards fiction-oriented magazines make the semiprozine ballot. . . . It'll be interesting to see if IZ makes next year's ballot, with the recent departure of David Pringle as editor; if both IZ and TTA make the ballot next year, that'll be two Andy Cox-edited magazines.
Fanzine includes the usual four, plus what appears to be turning into the usual fifth: Cheryl's Emerald City. Cool beans. And Cheryl's also on the Fan Writer ballot for what I think is the first time—congratulations, Cheryl!
The Fan Artist ballot is the same as last year, and three of them have been on the ballot for several years now. And Frank Wu appears to be turning into a regular in that category—congratulations, Frank!
I already talked about the Campbells, and I'm not gonna talk about the Retrospective Hugos except to say that 1953 appears to have been an astonishingly (Astoundingly?) good year for sf. Zowie. Well, okay, I'll talk about it just a little, just to point out some difficult choices: Fahrenheit 451 or More than Human? "It's a Good Life" or "The Nine Billion Names of God" or "A Saucer of Loneliness"? Duck Dodgers or The War of the Worlds? Boucher, Campbell, Gold, Pohl, or Wollheim? Bonestell, Emshwiller (that's Ed, not Carol), Finlay, or Freas? (I'm tickled that Freas is on both the ballot for 2003 and the ballot for 1953.) Voting is gonna be tough. I hope someone manages to publish the short fiction from the retro ballot online; some damn good stuff there.
Okay, enough from me.
