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Hugo voting - Best Professional Artist
Nov. 1st, 2024 07:11 pmVoting
- Micaela Alcaino
- Alyssa Winans
- Dan Dos Santos
- Tristan Elwell
- Galen Dara
- Rovina Cai
( assorted notes )
[hugos 2014] Graphic story, part 2.
Jul. 22nd, 2014 07:32 pmpsuedo-live-blogging the second half of reading the Graphic Story section for the Hugos.
3. Girl Genius, part whatever. I persisted to the end of the section, but I really really didn't see the point. Urgh. Nice to know that there are examples of That Genre I'm Not Interested In where there are major female roles, but I didn't find this any more appealing than the last time I invested more than two minutes trying to find out what the appeal of Girl Genius is. I had expected to like this more than Saga, but nope.
4. The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who - I'm guessing this would have been better on paper, because I scrolled through far too much gumph to get to story. And then I got halfway through before I got bored. Cute premise, and more story than the Girl Genius, but just not interested.
At this point, if it wasn't for the xkcd story, I'd be noping out of this category. But there is one left to read....
3. Girl Genius, part whatever. I persisted to the end of the section, but I really really didn't see the point. Urgh. Nice to know that there are examples of That Genre I'm Not Interested In where there are major female roles, but I didn't find this any more appealing than the last time I invested more than two minutes trying to find out what the appeal of Girl Genius is. I had expected to like this more than Saga, but nope.
4. The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who - I'm guessing this would have been better on paper, because I scrolled through far too much gumph to get to story. And then I got halfway through before I got bored. Cute premise, and more story than the Girl Genius, but just not interested.
At this point, if it wasn't for the xkcd story, I'd be noping out of this category. But there is one left to read....
5. Meathouse Man. Urgh - before even starting it I'm not sure about it. And the cover - hmm. Better than the Who comic, anyway. The first couple of pages of the story are horrendously off-putting. At that point, I'm thinking that if there isn't some purpose to this, I'll be really angry about having put the effort it - this is one of those situations where I really would like there to be trigger warnings on published fiction, so I could check them and find out what I'm likely to be in for. And I hit about a third of the way through, and I just couldn't be bothered. It might be a boy meets girl story, it might be a boy meets girl and everything turns out alright in the end after much angst and heartbreak, but I wasn't invested and I've already read a couple I struggled to get all the way through.
Conclusion - only one of these that I'm enthused about, and two I'm willing to vote for.
[hugos 2014] - graphic stories
Jul. 19th, 2014 10:00 pm in the process of reading the graphic story section. Comments in order of reading
1. Saga (Volume 2) - urgh. Beautifully drawn, interesting plot, lovely world building, but I found it hard going. A bit too much political thriller. In Space! for my liking.
2. Time (xkcd) - ooh, loving this one. Some of it is a bit 'self-aware watch me do science and philosophy', but I'm certainly fascinated. (see http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/)
1. Saga (Volume 2) - urgh. Beautifully drawn, interesting plot, lovely world building, but I found it hard going. A bit too much political thriller. In Space! for my liking.
2. Time (xkcd) - ooh, loving this one. Some of it is a bit 'self-aware watch me do science and philosophy', but I'm certainly fascinated. (see http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/)
[hugos 2014] - more on Correia
Jul. 19th, 2014 06:20 pm So, Larry Correia, on his blog made the statement:
"I said a chunk of the Hugo voters are biased toward the left, and put the author’s politics far ahead of the quality of the work. Those openly on the right are sabotaged. "
And now I've read two of the nominated novels, and and partway through the other two novels**.
Correia isn't going to lose out because of his politics. Nor even for the politics that he has written in the nominated novel. Pretty sure other 'end of days'***novels have done well in these kinds of awards. And he isn't going to lose out for the lack of vision - there is some pretty spectacular world building in the section I've read so far.
Nope. If he loses, it's on the quality of the writing. It just isn't on a par with the other 3. Even when I was enjoying Leckie's story (and at this point, Stross'), I was still fascinated by the beautiful writing. How the words were put together - which is why I described it as having to turn off my genre-reading brain, and turn on my Literachur reading brain, because it was the multiple layers and the clever things Leckie was doing with sentence structure and point of view that made it worth continuing.
* http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/04/24/an-explanation-about-the-hugo-awards-controversy/
** not counting wheel of time - it's a completely different animal.
*** too lazy to check the truth of this assertion
"I said a chunk of the Hugo voters are biased toward the left, and put the author’s politics far ahead of the quality of the work. Those openly on the right are sabotaged. "
And now I've read two of the nominated novels, and and partway through the other two novels**.
Correia isn't going to lose out because of his politics. Nor even for the politics that he has written in the nominated novel. Pretty sure other 'end of days'***novels have done well in these kinds of awards. And he isn't going to lose out for the lack of vision - there is some pretty spectacular world building in the section I've read so far.
Nope. If he loses, it's on the quality of the writing. It just isn't on a par with the other 3. Even when I was enjoying Leckie's story (and at this point, Stross'), I was still fascinated by the beautiful writing. How the words were put together - which is why I described it as having to turn off my genre-reading brain, and turn on my Literachur reading brain, because it was the multiple layers and the clever things Leckie was doing with sentence structure and point of view that made it worth continuing.
* http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/04/24/an-explanation-about-the-hugo-awards-controversy/
** not counting wheel of time - it's a completely different animal.
*** too lazy to check the truth of this assertion
[hugos 2014] - novels
Jul. 18th, 2014 09:14 pmOf the five works nominated in the novel category of the Hugos, I've finished 2, started one, am about to have a go at the fourth, and am categorically not going to even give the last one (Wheel of Time) a chance.
Mira Grant - Parasite: loved this from the beginning, didn't quibble about the science until at least a day after I finished it. Likely to be my first pick. Despite the zombies.
Ann Leckie - Ancilliary Justice: momentarily difficult to get in to, but the underlying premise dugs its hooks in and is still affecting my dreams. While I love the world building, the writing, and (evenutally) the characters, it didn't quite overtake the Grant. However, given that it nearly made me miss my bus-stop on the way to work, it gets pretty high ranking.
Charles Stross - Neptune's Brood: While I'm liking what I've read so far, I'm not engaged. Aesthetically, I can see that it is well written, and the world building is 'interesting'. But I really really don't want to go back to it. [I'm on page 69 of 338, and the idea of reading that much more of the story makes me want to read *anything else*. In all seriousness, I picked up a book I abandoned half finished months ago in preference].
Larry Correia - Warbound: This is the one I'm about to start. I'm unimpressed by the cover - will see how the rest goes. And the end of this weekend, I'm going to put aside the novel category, and read the others. If I'm not motivated to finish this (or the previous) they are going to have to go further down the list than the ones that kept me enthralled.
Mira Grant - Parasite: loved this from the beginning, didn't quibble about the science until at least a day after I finished it. Likely to be my first pick. Despite the zombies.
Ann Leckie - Ancilliary Justice: momentarily difficult to get in to, but the underlying premise dugs its hooks in and is still affecting my dreams. While I love the world building, the writing, and (evenutally) the characters, it didn't quite overtake the Grant. However, given that it nearly made me miss my bus-stop on the way to work, it gets pretty high ranking.
Charles Stross - Neptune's Brood: While I'm liking what I've read so far, I'm not engaged. Aesthetically, I can see that it is well written, and the world building is 'interesting'. But I really really don't want to go back to it. [I'm on page 69 of 338, and the idea of reading that much more of the story makes me want to read *anything else*. In all seriousness, I picked up a book I abandoned half finished months ago in preference].
Larry Correia - Warbound: This is the one I'm about to start. I'm unimpressed by the cover - will see how the rest goes. And the end of this weekend, I'm going to put aside the novel category, and read the others. If I'm not motivated to finish this (or the previous) they are going to have to go further down the list than the ones that kept me enthralled.
