- The Hugo nods are out. Naomi Novik is the lone woman in a fiction category: For shame. There are still some fine, fine works on the ballot though, and some excellent peoples. Bonus: Ben Rosenbaum responds to his nom.
- Ed considers hobbits, controversially.
- The lovely and recently hot-book-dealed Sarah Prineas posts about setting goals as a writer and has already inspired lots of people to do the same. I’m sure I’ll post more on this when I get a chance.
- Betsy at Fusenumber8 renders her verdict on the various Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows covers that are circulating. I can’t agree more with her assessment on the middle one — National Lampoon indeed! She also points out that getting your teeth carved into fairies is CREEPY.
- The world’s first known case of semi-identical twins. (Via Jenny D.)
- Colleen Mondor posts a round-up of some highlights from Margo Rabb’s blog tour (which is just finishing up), in case you’ve missed them. Rabb’s book looks utterly fab.
- Ysabeau on Diana Wynne Jones’ excellent and hilarious and recently reissued Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
- Ed has links to the Best American Fantasy stories that are online.
- Leila at Bookshelves of Doom has the scariest Wizard of Oz dolls EVER. I don’t get the doll thing either.
- Paul Collins on the incredibly long-lived Lee Merriwether.
- Congratulations to The Millions on four years!
- Erin joins the chorus of recommendations for Then We Came to the End.
- In case you’re wondering, I haven’t posted about the exhumation controversy over Harry Houdini because I’ve decided he would HATE it. He may have been a showman, but he had more class than this publicity stunt for a bad book and Bess’s family agrees. If you want to read a book about Houdini, start with Kenneth Silverman’s Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss
(although his Poe biography is even better). Tidbit of the day from the Silverman book: Houdini had an affair with Charmian London, Jack’s wife. - Meanwhile, in happier news, Carrie Frye, the original tingler in the alley, has returned.
6 thoughts on “Thursday Hangovers”
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You know, as dispiriting as the gender balance is, I think I’m actually more dispirited by the lack of Japanese works. This is basically selfish: I know M. Rickert and Jo Walton and etc etc are out there, I don’t need an award to point them out. But I have almost no idea what Japanese sf is out there, and I was looking forward to having some pointed out to me by (presumably) relatively informed voters.
Ah well. I’ve seen suggestions that Japanese fans typically join conventions late, and may as a result have missed out on nominating this year. But there’s always next year …
I find it dispiriting because it’s not surprising.
I was expecting the Japanese stuff to show up next year anyway, so I didn’t have my hopes up yet…
G, you might be interested in this:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6426192.html
I picked it up yesterday because I’m a huge fan of Jason Lutes’ art, but the content is pretty good.
I’m always a bit perplexed by complaints about the gender balance of awards nominations, especially when there are no specifics attached. Which works by female authors did you think should have been nominated, and — equally important — which of the nominated works should they have displaced?
That’s part of the problem, Keith — I could easily come up with enough deserving works by women to fill the entire ballot (not that I’m saying that would be the solution). The problem with the gender IMbalance is that it troublingly ignores the fact that much of the best work in the field is being done by WOMEN. In and of itself, the lack of women in the fiction categories gives an outdated (I hope) picture of what is happening in the genre.
I actually disagree with you that naming other works I wish were on the ballot would mean I have to name which ones would have been displaced (I’m sure Niall will oblige!). And I don’t have time to name them all, but off the top of my head, the best short story and novella I read last year were by Liz Hand and M. Rickert, neither of whom appear.
Well, I have the problem that I didn’t read many US sf novels published last year, full stop; I read Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millett on its first UK publication, and would have no problems seeing that grace a Hugo ballot, but obviously that used up its eligibility in 2005. I can say that short fiction-wise I would probably have nominated L. Timmel Duchamp’s “The World and Alice”, M. Rickert’s “You Have Never Been Here” and “Map of Dreams”, and Greer Gilman’s “Down the Wall”, and that I was expecting to see Jo Walton’s Farthing in the novel category. Some other suggestions are made here, as part of a mind-boggling thread.