Here We Go Again (Hugos)

~ Cheryl

Yeah, it is that time of year again. And with the nominations deadline only a few days away all of the perennial issues are raising their heads.

I understand that I have once again been left off the Sad Puppies slate. What do they think they are doing? Do these people have no idea how EVIL I am? You would have thought that if they wanted to destroy fandom they could at least have recruited the help of someone who is alleged to have done it, several times. It’s tough being anathema these days. None of these young whippersnappers know who they are supposed to abhor.

Meanwhile Kevin has, as usual, been patiently explaining to people how the rules work. His latest post is all about how you don’t get a second shot at eligibility if you are published once electronically and again in another year on paper. He thinks people get confused because they somehow think that electronic publication is “not real”. I suspect it is far more likely that it is just fans of particular works wanting to nominate their faves as often as possible, regardless of anything awkward like eligibility rules.

Of course there will still be people who will argue that something published electronically is a totally different thing when published on paper. In which case I’ll ask for it to be published on microfiche, or carved on clay tablets, and see if it is eligible yet again.

Mind you, it would help if the publishers themselves understood this. A book I was really looking forward to nominating next year is Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff. It is a great little feminist YA fantasy, and Maria is Finnish so it would stand a real chance of getting on the ballot in Helsinki. The paper edition was published in January, but the publishers put the ebook editions out in November last year. So I am afraid, Finnish friends, that if you want to nominate it you have to do so this year.

Another book that is likely to cause confusion is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It came out from Hodder & Stoughton last August, but it was self-published by Chambers in 2014 and was actually short-listed for the Kitschies last year, so it has missed the boat. Chambers is still eligible for the Campbell, though, so if you love the book perhaps you should nominate her for that.

On Twitter today I noticed that people are still complaining that they are “not qualified” to nominate. We go through this every year, and I am so very tired of having to make the same point time after time. There are no eligibility requirements for voting other than that you have consumed the material you are voting for, and that you are a member of WSFS because you have a membership in one of the appropriate Worldcons (2015, 2016 or 2017). All that you achieve by self-disqualifying is hand control of the awards over to people who are less moralistic than you are.

I note (because everyone else is doing it) that I am eligible this year. However, as far as I can see that’s only in Fan Writer. I have done stuff like this, and this in 2015, though I suspect it is hardly my best year. Next year I will have at least two eligible short stories, which will be much more fun.

Anyway, enough moaning. I need to get my arse in gear and actually register a ballot.

PS: Kevin is totally eligible in Fan Writer for all of the hard work he did explaining the rules (Hugo and Business Meeting) to people in the midst of the Puppy storm last year. Mike Glyer deserves a medal too.

13 thoughts on “Here We Go Again (Hugos)”

    1. Linda:

      Well, if the 2015 WSFS Business Meeting is nominated for BDP Long Form, I think there’s a legitimate case to be made for you, as Sasquan’s WSFS Division Manager, to be named as the Producer of said work, and for me as the Director. Although that would put me in a difficult position, given my WSFS MPC Chairmanship.

    2. Well, there are two answers for that. The first is that I don’t follow your social media presence as obsessively as I follow Kevin’s, so I probably haven’t seen most of what you wrote.

      The second is that when people are talking about who is doing good work explaining Hugo & WSFS issues to fandom the likelihood is that they’ll mention Kevin and Mike, but not you, because sexism.

      If you have specific things you’ve written, by all means point me at them.

      1. I meant that I wrote the WSFS BM minutes this year and they topped out at over 130 pgs. But I don’t blog.

  2. Dear Cheryl, where do you find the information that Maresi was out as e-book in 2015? I cannot find that anywhere (and was of course hoping for next year, what with Worldcon in Finland and all!). On Amazon it says the Kindle edition was out in January 2016, just like the paper edition.

    1. Hi Maria, I bought it last year. Amazon may have changed what they say on their website, but there’s no doubt it was on sale. We checked it out on behalf of another award, and it appears to have been on sale worldwide through Kobo last year.

      On the other hand, the copyright page in the Kindle version says that both the copyright and publication date are 2016. It is all very murky. I’m talking to Kevin about it and I’ll do another post later today.

  3. My publisher answered thus: “We didn’t publish the ebook early, but I think I know the source of the confusion – we noticed in early January that amazon were showing the pub date of the ebook as 27th November, at which point we asked them to correct their mistake, which they did. You can see it’s now showing properly online. It certainly wasn’t on sale on 27th November as the ebook didn’t exist then!”

  5. I’ve already got Mike Glyer on my ballot. I was under the impression Kevin had said he’d decline a nomination for Fan Writer. Am I misremembering? Because I certainly think he deserves it.

    1. Well so do I, but I am a teensy bit biased here. A whole bunch of people at BASFA have put him on their recommendation list.

      Kevin?

      1. I would be flattered at being offered a slot on the shortlist, but I am not sure I could accept it, given my position as Chairman of the WSFS MPC. I’m not required to decline such a nomination, per previous precedents, but it would put me in a tricky situation.

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