Hugo Awards 2014 announced.
The award for best graphic story goes to “Time” by Randall Munroe. - (this in case if you missed the story of time).
The Hugo Awards, presented annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugo Awards are voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”), which is also responsible for administering them. The announcement was made on Sunday evening, August 17, at the ExCel Convention Centre in London, England. 3587 valid ballots were received and counted in the final ballot.
The lists of prior years' winners bring up a treasure trove of names and stories. What Hugo Award winning stories come to mind for you?
[UPDATE: Wikipedia has a list of winners for best novel available on a single page.]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:48PM
Lord of Light is my favorite Hugo Award winner. Delivers a hard punch in the gut to religious excess and falsity.
The one little thing I still puzzle over in the story is just what message Sugata was trying to say by willingly starting a fight he knew he could not win. The other characters in the story didn't know either.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by martyb on Saturday August 23 2014, @04:28PM
Scanning down the list of winners on Wikipedia, I've read over 2 dozen of the stories. Looking back, it seems I'd find a Hug-Award-winning author, read that story, and then read their back catalog and then their current production. Among them, Heinlein, Niven, Clarke, Asimov, and Herbert were all on my list of authors to follow.
The most memorable novels that come to mind are "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" (Heinlein), "Ringworld" (Niven), "Rendezvous with Rama" (Clarke), "Foundation" and "I Robot" (Asimov), and "Dune" (Herbert). Granted, those Asimov stories were not Hugo winners, but they were still enjoyable reads which also changed how I looked at the world.
It seems that I transitioned from Science Fiction to fantasy novels at that point, and then have let things slide for about a decade. Possibly reflecting the times in which they were written, the SF stories evoked a world with marvelous possibilities. Now I hear mostly of works with a dystopian bent. Does anyone write more 'optimistic' SF these days? I'd appreciate any suggestions on other authors/stories.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 23 2014, @06:18PM
I think Neal Stephenson is working on an optimistic sci fi project called... Google says it's called Hieroglyph. That might be worth looking into.
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Saturday August 23 2014, @05:36PM
Looks like the news story did this for me this time around.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 23 2014, @05:47PM
whitman price and haddad last years looooooosers
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday August 23 2014, @07:26PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 24 2014, @01:02AM
I didn't start poo-pooing it until this [xkcd.com] comic was released. What a chickenshit self-righteous little cocksucker. If I had the opportunity to shake Randall's hand I'd instead smack him in the mouth with a rolled-up newspaper.
I'll laugh when XKCD is banned for its offensive remarks towards certain professions after Randy's favored homosexual liberal nanny-state overlords gain political power and turn on him in the next couple decades.
That being said, I'll bet Randy hung out on Slashdot a lot.
(Score: 1) by bziman on Sunday August 24 2014, @01:42AM
Ethanol-fueled, you say some insightful things sometimes. And sometimes, you're a dick. Shut up.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday August 24 2014, @02:17AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday August 24 2014, @12:46PM
So you can't stand the truth? Well, too bad for you.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Techlectica on Sunday August 24 2014, @05:18PM
Yep, as far as I'm concerned that's one of his better comics. But there's a lot of knee-jerk anti-authoritarian geeks out there who don't like being called on their BS. Authority often does need to be challenged when it becomes isolated and loses touch with ordinary needs, especially these days. But some people who are used to challenging authority and doing their own thing will particularly dislike being told when they are off base.