Hugo Awards - Other categories
Apr. 22nd, 2014 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackNovella, Novelette and Short Story
I need to read all of these. I would like to read more short fiction, but I find it harder to start than novels. I don't know anything about any of the entries, except that many of Ted Chiang's other stories were absolutely amazing.
BEST RELATED WORK
I've not read any of the other entries, but Kameron Hurley's we-have-always-fought essay was very good. (I liked some of her older essays even more, but that was justifiably prominent.)
BEST GRAPHIC STORY
I've not got to Volume #13 in Girl Genius yet, but the rest were very good.
I've not watched xkcd's time yet, but I think it's a very good thing that interesting stories in innovative mediums are nominated.
I've not read any of the others either, but I've heard generally good things about them.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
I've not seen Gravity, but I give it lots of props for being science fiction about the space program we actually have, rather than giving up on the actual future and imagining interesting futures we'll never reach, or retelling an existing story, or making up some nonsense about a comet. I know it's skating close to the edge of "science fiction", but I think some stories about cutting-edge science are fine. I need to see several films in this category to judge, but I provisionally hope to put this first.
Pacific Rim could have been a lot better, but half of it was awesome and half of it was ok. Someone made the point that it often succeeded in ways you didn't expect -- for instance, the Russian pilots had no lines, but they were well characterised simply by their appearance. I provisionally put this second.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I hear this was pretty good, but I've not heard it added significantly to the first film. Third.
Frozen. I hear this was really good, but I don't feel the good things about it were significantly fantasy. Fourth.
Iron Man III. I'm pleased to say that any of these films, I'd be happy to see win, but I'm putting Iron Man last. I love the marvel cinematic universe, but I'm bored by all the iron man films, even though many people loved them. What happened in this film? I don't remember. Iron Man whined a lot. The worldbuilding was retconned to give him uber-winning powers at the last minute, which he then gave up for no reason. The antagonist was based on a comic book about a racist chinese stereotype guy. The movie changed that to racist arab stereotype guy, who modelled himself after a racist chinese stereotype, and who turned out actually to be a completely fictional terrorist made up by a white guy. THAT'S NOT BETTER! I thought the arab terrorist was the only interesting character in the film. So, um, it was ok. But I liked everything else better.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
Blah blah blah doctor who blah. Some of doctor who is very good but I'm sick of voting for it now. The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot was sweet, but I'm not sure if it deserves to win or not.
GoT is great, and I hear this was a good episode, but I'm not especially excited whether or not we go on giving it more hugos, because I feel people have got the message already, and there's no way of enjoying this episode separately from enjoying the whole season.
I've not previously heard of Orphan Black but I should see it.
BEST FAN WRITER
I've already mentioned I like Kameron Hurley a lot.
I've followed Abigail Nussbaum for ages, with mixed feelings. I feel like she always says something interesting and clever, but often leaves me coming back annoyed after a couple of days thinking "but that actually wasn't right at all". I'm not sure if that translates into "very good" or not (although I hope it's seen as complimentary).
JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER
Max Gladstone wrote Three Parts Dead which deserves to be more widely known. Gods gain mana from worship, which is used to run cities. Gods are primarily defined by complicated magical contracts. The protagonists work for a magical law firm arbitrating those contracts, and investigating when a god is assassinated. Multiple female main characters with no love interests. I think I'd describe it as "urban fantasy but in a fantasy world" if you see what I mean. I love the world, but I don't think the novel will stick with me.
Wesley Chu wrote Lives of Tao, about ancient alien intelligences which form symbiotic relationships with famous, successful humans, and by accident the protagonist who's a bit of a nerdy slob. The book walks the line between "tedious humour at the protagonist's expense" and "witty banter between the protagonist and someone who used to be genghis khan" and comes down on both sides of it at various times. Again, I liked the setting, but wasn't that grabbed by the book.
I've not read the other authors, but I'd say both the above are above-average for a new author, and I'd like to read more Gladstone.
I need to read all of these. I would like to read more short fiction, but I find it harder to start than novels. I don't know anything about any of the entries, except that many of Ted Chiang's other stories were absolutely amazing.
BEST RELATED WORK
I've not read any of the other entries, but Kameron Hurley's we-have-always-fought essay was very good. (I liked some of her older essays even more, but that was justifiably prominent.)
BEST GRAPHIC STORY
I've not got to Volume #13 in Girl Genius yet, but the rest were very good.
I've not watched xkcd's time yet, but I think it's a very good thing that interesting stories in innovative mediums are nominated.
I've not read any of the others either, but I've heard generally good things about them.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
I've not seen Gravity, but I give it lots of props for being science fiction about the space program we actually have, rather than giving up on the actual future and imagining interesting futures we'll never reach, or retelling an existing story, or making up some nonsense about a comet. I know it's skating close to the edge of "science fiction", but I think some stories about cutting-edge science are fine. I need to see several films in this category to judge, but I provisionally hope to put this first.
Pacific Rim could have been a lot better, but half of it was awesome and half of it was ok. Someone made the point that it often succeeded in ways you didn't expect -- for instance, the Russian pilots had no lines, but they were well characterised simply by their appearance. I provisionally put this second.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I hear this was pretty good, but I've not heard it added significantly to the first film. Third.
Frozen. I hear this was really good, but I don't feel the good things about it were significantly fantasy. Fourth.
Iron Man III. I'm pleased to say that any of these films, I'd be happy to see win, but I'm putting Iron Man last. I love the marvel cinematic universe, but I'm bored by all the iron man films, even though many people loved them. What happened in this film? I don't remember. Iron Man whined a lot. The worldbuilding was retconned to give him uber-winning powers at the last minute, which he then gave up for no reason. The antagonist was based on a comic book about a racist chinese stereotype guy. The movie changed that to racist arab stereotype guy, who modelled himself after a racist chinese stereotype, and who turned out actually to be a completely fictional terrorist made up by a white guy. THAT'S NOT BETTER! I thought the arab terrorist was the only interesting character in the film. So, um, it was ok. But I liked everything else better.
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
Blah blah blah doctor who blah. Some of doctor who is very good but I'm sick of voting for it now. The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot was sweet, but I'm not sure if it deserves to win or not.
GoT is great, and I hear this was a good episode, but I'm not especially excited whether or not we go on giving it more hugos, because I feel people have got the message already, and there's no way of enjoying this episode separately from enjoying the whole season.
I've not previously heard of Orphan Black but I should see it.
BEST FAN WRITER
I've already mentioned I like Kameron Hurley a lot.
I've followed Abigail Nussbaum for ages, with mixed feelings. I feel like she always says something interesting and clever, but often leaves me coming back annoyed after a couple of days thinking "but that actually wasn't right at all". I'm not sure if that translates into "very good" or not (although I hope it's seen as complimentary).
JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER
Max Gladstone wrote Three Parts Dead which deserves to be more widely known. Gods gain mana from worship, which is used to run cities. Gods are primarily defined by complicated magical contracts. The protagonists work for a magical law firm arbitrating those contracts, and investigating when a god is assassinated. Multiple female main characters with no love interests. I think I'd describe it as "urban fantasy but in a fantasy world" if you see what I mean. I love the world, but I don't think the novel will stick with me.
Wesley Chu wrote Lives of Tao, about ancient alien intelligences which form symbiotic relationships with famous, successful humans, and by accident the protagonist who's a bit of a nerdy slob. The book walks the line between "tedious humour at the protagonist's expense" and "witty banter between the protagonist and someone who used to be genghis khan" and comes down on both sides of it at various times. Again, I liked the setting, but wasn't that grabbed by the book.
I've not read the other authors, but I'd say both the above are above-average for a new author, and I'd like to read more Gladstone.