Context: I have absolutely no qualms about voting tactically against the sad puppies. They started it and I'm damned sure that, having tried to fix the nominations, they'll try to fix the vote too. Spoilers are rot13ed.
Novel:
Ancillary Justice. It's not the best thing ever, but neither Stross nor Grant are at their best, and it was jolly good. My main gripe with it is the astonishing coincidence at the start is rarire rkcynvarq, ohg fvapr gur cebgntbavfg vf sebz n phygher gung qbrfa'g ernyyl oryvrir va pbvapvqraprf, V thrff fur vfa'g ybbxvat, and since it's a trilogy perhaps the reader will get an answer later.
Neptune's Brood. This one also has a bit of a plot hole in my view in that jr qvfpbire gur zvffvat pbybal jnf n tvnag fpnz naq arire rkvfgrq ol abgvpvat nyy gur zbarl fgbyra nccrnevat ryfrjurer, ohg gura vg gheaf bhg gur zvffvat pbybal qvq rkvfg, vairagrq gur SGY qevir, naq jnf jvcrq bhg ol gur ivyynva. Fb, jurer'q gur nccrnevat zbarl pbzr sebz? Gurer ner nyfb n infg ahzore bs pb-pbafcvengbef va n fpnz juvpu nccneragyl qvqa'g rkvfg be jnf zhpu yrff jvqr va fpbcr guna jr rkcrpgrq. Other than that, it's perfectly competent Stross but by no means the best he can do.
Parasite. This is the perfect example of the real problem with the Hugos, which the sad puppies have constructed their conspiracy theory around; an author with a really solid back catalogue gets nominated for a book which is not really the best they can do. Parasite's OK, but it's not a patch on Feed or Discount Armageddon, and the big reveal at the end of the book is something we have known about, if we are not asleep, since somewhere around the start of the book. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ceb says "perhaps it is a study of someone in denial"... well, perhaps.)
No Award.
The Wheel Of Time. I don't disagree that it's elegible (and bluntly, anyone who was going to vote it above NA has already read the whole thing) but I do feel it's illegible, ha ha. It started as reasonable extruded fantasy product (not a high bar) and by about four books in had descended into complete drivel. Then why did you read seven books, David? I find it hard to stop once I've started, which is also why I've read about two thousand pages of dreadful torture porn by Peter F Hamilton, and no, I have not forgiven him for the ending to the Night's Dawn trilogy, one which would cause Snow Crash era Stephenson to fling the book from him in disgust.
Chronicles of wossname: sad puppy.
Novella:
Equoid: Well, it's the Laundry. I like the Laundry, and Stross does it rather well, and hence I enjoyed reading this, enough said.
Six-Gun Snow White: I suppose it's very clever but I'm not sure. I suspect Art may be involved.
Wakulla Springs: I enjoyed reading this more; I enjoyed reading it quite a lot. However, I think its claim to be genre is pretty tenuous.
No Award.
Chaplain's Legacy: Sad puppy.
Butcher of Khardov: Sad puppy, and come on, you're not even writing Warhammer 40,000 fanfic, tragic as that would be [1], but fanfic for a game which is a clone of 40K? The only circumstance in which you could not be last is if the ballot also included a man who makes Nick Griffin look like Ghandi.
Novelette:
Lady Astronaut of Mars: Good. Sad ending, and to have a sad ending you've got to make me care about the characters. Just right at this length.
Waiting Stars: I'd be entirely happy if this won, I just don't think it was as good as the Lady Astronaut. I didn't see the reveal coming, which is what I look for in a narrative structure.
Truth of Fact etc: really, really obvious. Not unreadably bad, but it didn't make me eager to find anything else by Chiang.
No Award
Exchange Officers: Sad puppy.
Opera Vita Aeterna: Sad puppy, written by a man who makes Nick Griffin look like Ghandi.
Short Stories:
I have a confession to make: I mistrust Art. I may have hinted at this up above. I don't agree with the conspiracy theorists that all we really want is a rip-roaring tale of guns and atommic xplosions that doesn't make one think any hard thoughts... but I do tend to prefer fiction where something happens and a narrative structure proceeds to a conclusion, and I find myself with a straight No Award here. The Campbells include short stories I would gladly have voted for here.
Best Graphic Novel, with 0 analysis:
Saga
Time
Girl Genius
Meathouse Man
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:
Can I vote for Pacific Rim just because it's mecha and kaiju?
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:
The Rains of Castamere: Not only was this well-executed, but it was quite a surprise to me because V'q ernq gur obbxf naq xarj gurer jnf znffvir bhgentr bire guvf rcvfbqr. V nffhzrq guvf jnf orpnhfr gurl unq gbarq qbja gur pneaviny bs pneantr sbe GI, creuncf xrrcvat Png nyvir. Va snpg, vg jnf sebz crbcyr jub'q abg ernq gur obbxf naq qvqa'g xabj vg jnf n snvgushy nqncgvba.
Spoiler for TV show TO DATE: url'ir fvapr qebccrq gur onyy ol abg univat Glevba zheqre Funr va pbyq oybbq, ohg gung'f nabgure fgbel.
Editor, Short Form:
I didn't get to these save the Adams compilation, where due to horrible spoilers I found myself skipping the editor intros, which is not really a swinging endorsement of his capacities. Hence, others in random order, NA, Adams.
Editor, Long Form:
Although Toni Weisskopf was sad-puppied, she is a jolly good egg and has edited some good stuff in the past, so no vote here. It would be nice if she'd condemned the nomination-rigging, but she presumably does have to maintain a reasonable working relationship with Baen's madder authors.
Pro Artist:
Harris: impressive cover art.
Staples: draws Saga which is well drawn.
Dara: different.
Dillon: bit formulaic.
Picacio: also bit formulaic.
dos Santos: oh, look, Tits McGee!
Fanzine:
Elitist Book Reviews is a sad puppy, so random ordering, NA, Elitist Book Reviews.
Campbell:
Gladstone: Very good novel - not as thick as many modern ones but I seem to have glommed 90% of it down in a evening which is usually a good sign. Strongest inducer of urge to buy more books.
Sriduangkaew: I read two of the shorts owing to time pressure. One was a tragic ending, which is a good sign because have to care about characters etc, the other one was well-written but elicited an infuriated cry of "But what happened NEXT!", see previous gripes about narrative structure etc.
Samatar: oh god words, I'm pages in and nothing has happened except I've read a lot of adjectives. Apparently well done but didn't grab me.
No Award.
I have no opinion about their relative positions, but I read all the Chu (which did not improve it, I think we got diverted somewhere on the way from the conclusion both sides are as bad as each other and ended up in a fists and guns finale because out of pages, sort of like a Fanthorpe on days when he was talking quickly) and only about 20% of the Naam (so for all I know it improves, but I doubt it).
[1] not because I think fanfic is bad or because I think it shouldn't be published - I enjoyed enormously (for example) Kim Newman's Hound of the d'Ubervilles which is Holmes AU - but because WH40K's lore is embarassingly bad and a grown adult should be a bit ashamed of writing unthinking fanfic for it. But, David, don't you have and enjoy all four of Ian Watson's 40K books which are clearly fine material by a fine author, bum-branding and all? Yes, but this footnote is too small to draw the distinction I'm looking for.
Novel:
Ancillary Justice. It's not the best thing ever, but neither Stross nor Grant are at their best, and it was jolly good. My main gripe with it is the astonishing coincidence at the start is rarire rkcynvarq, ohg fvapr gur cebgntbavfg vf sebz n phygher gung qbrfa'g ernyyl oryvrir va pbvapvqraprf, V thrff fur vfa'g ybbxvat, and since it's a trilogy perhaps the reader will get an answer later.
Neptune's Brood. This one also has a bit of a plot hole in my view in that jr qvfpbire gur zvffvat pbybal jnf n tvnag fpnz naq arire rkvfgrq ol abgvpvat nyy gur zbarl fgbyra nccrnevat ryfrjurer, ohg gura vg gheaf bhg gur zvffvat pbybal qvq rkvfg, vairagrq gur SGY qevir, naq jnf jvcrq bhg ol gur ivyynva. Fb, jurer'q gur nccrnevat zbarl pbzr sebz? Gurer ner nyfb n infg ahzore bs pb-pbafcvengbef va n fpnz juvpu nccneragyl qvqa'g rkvfg be jnf zhpu yrff jvqr va fpbcr guna jr rkcrpgrq. Other than that, it's perfectly competent Stross but by no means the best he can do.
Parasite. This is the perfect example of the real problem with the Hugos, which the sad puppies have constructed their conspiracy theory around; an author with a really solid back catalogue gets nominated for a book which is not really the best they can do. Parasite's OK, but it's not a patch on Feed or Discount Armageddon, and the big reveal at the end of the book is something we have known about, if we are not asleep, since somewhere around the start of the book. (
ceb says "perhaps it is a study of someone in denial"... well, perhaps.)No Award.
The Wheel Of Time. I don't disagree that it's elegible (and bluntly, anyone who was going to vote it above NA has already read the whole thing) but I do feel it's illegible, ha ha. It started as reasonable extruded fantasy product (not a high bar) and by about four books in had descended into complete drivel. Then why did you read seven books, David? I find it hard to stop once I've started, which is also why I've read about two thousand pages of dreadful torture porn by Peter F Hamilton, and no, I have not forgiven him for the ending to the Night's Dawn trilogy, one which would cause Snow Crash era Stephenson to fling the book from him in disgust.
Chronicles of wossname: sad puppy.
Novella:
Equoid: Well, it's the Laundry. I like the Laundry, and Stross does it rather well, and hence I enjoyed reading this, enough said.
Six-Gun Snow White: I suppose it's very clever but I'm not sure. I suspect Art may be involved.
Wakulla Springs: I enjoyed reading this more; I enjoyed reading it quite a lot. However, I think its claim to be genre is pretty tenuous.
No Award.
Chaplain's Legacy: Sad puppy.
Butcher of Khardov: Sad puppy, and come on, you're not even writing Warhammer 40,000 fanfic, tragic as that would be [1], but fanfic for a game which is a clone of 40K? The only circumstance in which you could not be last is if the ballot also included a man who makes Nick Griffin look like Ghandi.
Novelette:
Lady Astronaut of Mars: Good. Sad ending, and to have a sad ending you've got to make me care about the characters. Just right at this length.
Waiting Stars: I'd be entirely happy if this won, I just don't think it was as good as the Lady Astronaut. I didn't see the reveal coming, which is what I look for in a narrative structure.
Truth of Fact etc: really, really obvious. Not unreadably bad, but it didn't make me eager to find anything else by Chiang.
No Award
Exchange Officers: Sad puppy.
Opera Vita Aeterna: Sad puppy, written by a man who makes Nick Griffin look like Ghandi.
Short Stories:
I have a confession to make: I mistrust Art. I may have hinted at this up above. I don't agree with the conspiracy theorists that all we really want is a rip-roaring tale of guns and atommic xplosions that doesn't make one think any hard thoughts... but I do tend to prefer fiction where something happens and a narrative structure proceeds to a conclusion, and I find myself with a straight No Award here. The Campbells include short stories I would gladly have voted for here.
Best Graphic Novel, with 0 analysis:
Saga
Time
Girl Genius
Meathouse Man
Dramatic Presentation, Long Form:
Can I vote for Pacific Rim just because it's mecha and kaiju?
Dramatic Presentation, Short Form:
The Rains of Castamere: Not only was this well-executed, but it was quite a surprise to me because V'q ernq gur obbxf naq xarj gurer jnf znffvir bhgentr bire guvf rcvfbqr. V nffhzrq guvf jnf orpnhfr gurl unq gbarq qbja gur pneaviny bs pneantr sbe GI, creuncf xrrcvat Png nyvir. Va snpg, vg jnf sebz crbcyr jub'q abg ernq gur obbxf naq qvqa'g xabj vg jnf n snvgushy nqncgvba.
Spoiler for TV show TO DATE: url'ir fvapr qebccrq gur onyy ol abg univat Glevba zheqre Funr va pbyq oybbq, ohg gung'f nabgure fgbel.
Editor, Short Form:
I didn't get to these save the Adams compilation, where due to horrible spoilers I found myself skipping the editor intros, which is not really a swinging endorsement of his capacities. Hence, others in random order, NA, Adams.
Editor, Long Form:
Although Toni Weisskopf was sad-puppied, she is a jolly good egg and has edited some good stuff in the past, so no vote here. It would be nice if she'd condemned the nomination-rigging, but she presumably does have to maintain a reasonable working relationship with Baen's madder authors.
Pro Artist:
Harris: impressive cover art.
Staples: draws Saga which is well drawn.
Dara: different.
Dillon: bit formulaic.
Picacio: also bit formulaic.
dos Santos: oh, look, Tits McGee!
Fanzine:
Elitist Book Reviews is a sad puppy, so random ordering, NA, Elitist Book Reviews.
Campbell:
Gladstone: Very good novel - not as thick as many modern ones but I seem to have glommed 90% of it down in a evening which is usually a good sign. Strongest inducer of urge to buy more books.
Sriduangkaew: I read two of the shorts owing to time pressure. One was a tragic ending, which is a good sign because have to care about characters etc, the other one was well-written but elicited an infuriated cry of "But what happened NEXT!", see previous gripes about narrative structure etc.
Samatar: oh god words, I'm pages in and nothing has happened except I've read a lot of adjectives. Apparently well done but didn't grab me.
No Award.
I have no opinion about their relative positions, but I read all the Chu (which did not improve it, I think we got diverted somewhere on the way from the conclusion both sides are as bad as each other and ended up in a fists and guns finale because out of pages, sort of like a Fanthorpe on days when he was talking quickly) and only about 20% of the Naam (so for all I know it improves, but I doubt it).
[1] not because I think fanfic is bad or because I think it shouldn't be published - I enjoyed enormously (for example) Kim Newman's Hound of the d'Ubervilles which is Holmes AU - but because WH40K's lore is embarassingly bad and a grown adult should be a bit ashamed of writing unthinking fanfic for it. But, David, don't you have and enjoy all four of Ian Watson's 40K books which are clearly fine material by a fine author, bum-branding and all? Yes, but this footnote is too small to draw the distinction I'm looking for.
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I cackled out loud at your description of Butchers of Khardov, and then felt the need to read it + footnote out to my housemate.
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