Requisite Hugo Awards Commentary
I chose not to watch the Hugo Awards ceremony last night as it was too painful but today, the morning after I have a couple of opinions. Because of course I can't not have opinions. And I am going to fucking name names because BURN IT ALL DOWN.
- Hugo Awards are not Pokémon, you don't need to get them all and relentlessly campaigning for them every year at this stage of your career is...unseemly. SEANAN.
- If you are nominated in both a fan and a pro category, you should pick one. You can't be both on the same ballot--if you've been nominated in both, there's a good chance that the nominating ballots for the fan award came as a response to your campaigning. SEANAN.
- I feel very strongly about this because of all the major SFF awards, only one of them has fan categories and that's the Hugos. So while I understand that pros are fans, pros need to understand that there are extremely limited ways for the SFF community to acknowledge fan contributions in a formal way and to take a spot away from one of them while you have a nomination in a pro category sits very badly with me.
- I am also coming to the conclusion that there is a real need for folks to start recusing themselves so other people can have a chance. This is an issue up and down the ballot.
- I am delighted that Cat Valente was completely shut out, as she was a stone cold bitch to me at Readercon a few years ago (she made me cry after I was on a panel with her) and while I can hope that motherhood has made her kinder, I suspect it hasn't.
- Do any of y'all really believe that Strange Horizons is the only semi-prozine of their caliber which relies on a small army of volunteers to make each issue happen? I would love to see the other magazines recognize their unpaid staff the way Strange Horizons does. Also, they deserve to win a Hugo--they have been doing stellar work for over 20 years and they haven't won a single time.
- Cora Buhlert finally won Fan Writer! She does such fantastic work and I'm so glad to see her get the recognition she so richly deserves!
- I am simultaneously thrilled for Arkady Martine's win in Best Novel and sad about Ryka Aoki's loss of same.
- Suzanne Palmer is a dear, dear friend and I just hope she doesn't drop the Hugo on her foot and break it or anything like that. Be careful, Zan!
And I think that's it.
I am rereading what I've written and don't think I've told anyone to fuck off into the sun, much less a wealthy elderly white man. Who has at least a 20 year history of being an asshole to people at conventions.
And yet. Being white, male, and wealthy offers a plethora of protection. Do keep that in mind.
I will not be taking questions at this time. Or ever, really.
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