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The Hugo awards, being the favorite they are with SN readers, are out again!
As posted at The Vox.
The first-ever threepeat of the Hugo Awards — the prestigious, long-running fantasy awards handed out annually at WorldCon — just issued a giant rejection of right-wing gatekeeping in the struggle to diversify the world of science fiction and fantasy writing.
N.K. Jemisin's groundbreaking fantasy series the Broken Earth trilogy has won critical acclaim, been optioned for development as a TV series, and received numerous accolades from the sci-fi and fantasy community. And on August 19, it achieved yet another milestone when Jemisin became the first author in the Hugos' 65-year history to win back-to-back awards for every book in a trilogy. Jemisin won the award for Best Novel three years in a row, starting with The Fifth Season in 2016, The Obelisk Gate in 2017, and now The Stone Sky in 2018.
Meanwhile, The Verge reports:
The 2018 Hugo Awards were held last night at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, California. The Hugo award, voted on by members of the fan community, is considered the highest honor for science fiction and fantasy literature.
Like the previous couple of years, women almost completely swept the awards. N.K. Jemisin took home the top honor for The Stone Sky, the third installment of her Broken Earth trilogy. Other winners include Martha Wells for her first Murderbot novella All Systems Red, Suzanne Palmer for her novelette “The Secret Life of Bots,” and Rebecca Roanhorse for her short story “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (Roanhorse also took home the John W. Campbell Jr. Award for Best New Writer.)
Jemisin’s win gives her a history-making hat trick: she’s won the top award for each Broken Earth installment, the first two having been for The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate. It’s a significant achievement, earned for Jemisin’s groundbreaking writing, blending of genres, and outstanding storytelling.
The complete list of nominees can be found in The Verge's story. Additional reporting can be found at the Guardian, on TOR.com, and elsewhere.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday August 22 2018, @07:45PM (13 children)
I used to take the Hugo awards, and all the nominees, as solid recommendations. About 15-20 years ago, the general quality of the nominees and winners started to decline. For the past 10 years or so, I look at them as authors to be avoided.
I haven't read Jemisin's novels, but I did suffer through an excerpt of the first one. Word salad. She claims that it is science fiction, but there's no science to be found. She took a story, placed it in the future, and that's it. The futuristic elements make no sense. One tidbit I remember from the excerpt I read: hundreds of years in the future, with no maintenance whatsoever, asphalt roads remain in perfect condition. That kind of inaccuracy would be acceptable in otherwise decent space opera, but the writing itself is just dreadful. I honestly don't think the author knows basic grammar.
So why did she win the Hugo? Because she's a minority woman. It is no coincidence at all that nearly all of the winning authors are women, and a great many are minorities and/or non-heterosexuals. Today, the Hugos are all about progressive politics. This last round of awards, with Jemisin winnin an unprecedented third time? The Hugos have proven their utter irrelevance. Pay them no mind. Surely other awards will be founded, to honor well-written books regardless of their author's gender, race, or sexual orientation.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Wednesday August 22 2018, @09:02PM (3 children)
You say the Hugos got bad between 10 and 20 years ago. Do you assert that they have been dominated by "progressive politics" for that long? Or could something else be responsible for the shift in Science Fiction that you find distasteful?
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @09:07PM (2 children)
African American transexual woman wins three years in a row. What further evidence do you need?
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @11:01PM
Maybe she didn't win *because* she was black, but because she overcame the handicap of being educated in black American school system. In SJW America, only the best lose.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday August 23 2018, @01:46PM
How about even one single sentence criticizing her work instead of her identity?
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @09:17PM
From the first book in the trilogy:
I guess one way to win 3 awards is to drag the book out over 3 installments. Note that they were released in subsequent years.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RandomFactor on Wednesday August 22 2018, @10:29PM (3 children)
Sounds like the Oscars and Emmys. Those are basically a flat list of "avoid at all costs" with only quite rare exceptions.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 22 2018, @10:57PM
Unless you are a SJW, in which case coonchick scifi might appeal to you.
(Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday August 23 2018, @07:06PM (1 child)
So true, it's very hard for a white guy's movie or TV show to win an Oscar or an Emmy. The Emmys are all politics, that's why, despite nominations, The Apprentice never won -- even though it should have many times over. Absolutely horrendous, folks. RIGGED!!!!
(Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday August 23 2018, @08:40PM
(cont) I got screwed out of an Emmy in 2015. Everybody thought I was going to win it. In fact, when they announced the winner, I stood up before the winner was announced. And I started walking for the Emmy. And then they announced the most boring show on television, The Amazing Race. Piece of crap. Which is worse and which is more dishonest – the #Oscars [twitter.com] or the Emmys?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday August 23 2018, @02:20AM (3 children)
I'm curious, what do you consider good SF? Heinlein? Maybe Asimov? Niven? What's the most recent work you rate highly?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 23 2018, @03:20AM (2 children)
can't speak for bradley13, but:
- anything by John Scalzi
- Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon series, also Black Man
- Charles Stross -- the Laundry and Merchant Princes series
all relatively recent, all pretty freakin' awesome, all "real sci-fi" in my book (grew up in the 80s reading Asimov, P.K.Dick, Heinlein, etc.).
Anything else out there in the "if you liked the above, you might also..." category?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Webweasel on Thursday August 23 2018, @08:58AM
Charles Stross is awesome, accellerando is one of my favorite books.
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 23 2018, @04:17PM
I watched the new series called Altered Carbon on Netflix. I may have to take a look, if the books are even better.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"