Weird Kitties: Best Related Work Open Thread
For obvious reasons one of the categories I find most interesting, and one of those No Award triumphed in, Best Related Work is basically (and was indeed originally simply called) the nonfiction category for books about science fiction. I’ll almost certainly be nominating Alexandra Erin’s John Scalzi is Not a Very Popular Author And I Myself am Quite Popular, it being one of the funniest things I’ve read this year, and may do Space Helmet for a Cow, which I should probably finish and write a review of.
Speaking of which, as the lack of reviews the last two weeks suggest, those have rather dried up. There’s one or two in my e-mail that I’ve not posted because I’ve been waiting to get to the 3-4 I’ve been doing per post, so if anyone wants to oblige, snowspinner at gmail and whatnot.
Also, I was happy to see that George R.R. Martin’s first Hugo recommendations post included suggesting Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form), a work I’m near-certain to have on my ballot, but had been assuming would be an idiosyncratic dark horse. And, more broadly, that Martin is doing Hugo recommendations, this being a conversation I continue to maintain we need to have loudly and in public.
Anyway, here’s the Hugo Wikia’s (incomplete as ever) list of eligible works. What are you planning on nominating?
November 7, 2015 @ 5:58 am
I suspect that I’ll be nominating A Mild Curiosity in a Junkyard amongst other things.
After much consideration, I have decided that I am not going to nominate anything relating to the Puppy Kerfuffle. Even though Camestros Felapton’s “Map” is just fantastic.
Hmmm, I hope those links work, because I can’t preview my comment to find out..!
November 7, 2015 @ 9:26 pm
I am going to limit the number of Puppy related nominations in Best Related and Best Fan Writer categories. I personally wouldn’t nominate my map – it had its brief moment in the sun but it is about as insular a commentary on the Puppy kerfuffle as you can get 🙂
At the same time I hope some works on the Puppy Kerfuffle get a nod. We shouldn’t pretend it didn’t happen but it shouldn’t get more attention than it deserved on the grounds of not rewarding other people’s tantrums.
November 7, 2015 @ 6:53 am
Uhm, tricky. As I mentally review those things that I’ve read and enjoyed, I find that most of them I liked because I’m part of that fandom to some extent, and I’m now suddenly wondering if I liked them because of what they’re about rather than because of their own merits. I’ll need to sort that out before I do actual nominations. Nevertheless, at this point, ‘The Doctors Are In’, ‘TARDIS Eruditorium #6’, ‘Many More Lives Of Batman’. ‘Dark Star’ look like something I’ll want to chase down.
November 7, 2015 @ 10:30 am
Tardis Eruditorum 6 should definitely be on there, but at least there’s Guided by the Beauty of Their Weapons (vote for Phil!)
That all said, my money’s on “You’re Never Weird on the Internet” because Felicia Day as a huge fanbase and all the stuff related to Puppies is probably wearying at this point for most of the voters who probably want to get back to business as usual.
I may be wrong.
November 7, 2015 @ 10:50 am
I’d probably end up nominating Welcome to the Multiverse, but that may be on some level be to get Andrew a Hugo nomination (would California Dreaming be eligible? It feels like it’s the better work). Obviously TARDIS Eruditorium 6/Recursive Occlusion will be on my ballot, as will the John Scalzi one Phil mentioned. Parkin wrote a Doctor Who book recently, Oh, and The Very Soil came out in March. Would a podcast be eligible for this… no wait, we would’t want to give Vox Day a hugo, now would we. Even if it was for being an idiot about The Wasp Factory.
November 7, 2015 @ 10:57 am
Provided it’s wrapped up by the end of the year, I’ll nominate Adam Whitehead’s whole series of blog posts, A History of Epic Fantasy:
http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/history%20of%20epic%20fantasy
If it’s still ongoing, I suppose I’ll pick one particularly good post from it.
November 7, 2015 @ 2:33 pm
Doctor Who: Impossible Worlds: A 50 Year Treasury of Art and Design looks lovely.
I don’t know if The Compleat Discworld Atlas belongs in this category or a fiction one; I remember Terry being greatly amused that the original Discworld Mapp topped the non-fiction charts. “After all, it was a real map.”
March 11, 2016 @ 2:03 pm
For consideration: THE SYNOPSIS TREASURY: A Landmark Collection of Actual Proposals Submitted to Publishers, edited by Christopher Sirmons Haviland, published by WordFire Press, Feb 2015.
A collection of actual story submissions to publishers by grandmasters, Hugo and Nebula award winners, international bestsellers and rising stars of science fiction and fantasy, including H.G. Wells, Jack Williamson, Andre Norton, Robert A. Heinlein, James Gunn, Frank Herbert, Ben Bova, Piers Anthony, Michael Bishop, Joe Haldeman, Terry Brooks, Robert E. Vardeman, Orson Scott Card, David Brin, Connie Willis, Janny Wurts, James P. Blaylock, Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Bruce Coville, Margaret Weis, Nancy Varian Berberick, Robert J. Sawyer, Sara Douglass, Louise Marley, Roberta Gellis, Ian R. MacLeod, Julie E. Czerneda, Jacqueline Carey, Irene Radford, Judith Tarr, Chris Roberson, and Eldon Thompson, plus editorial feedback by Frederik Pohl and Damon Knight, and an introduction by former Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey, Betsy Mitchell.
March 11, 2016 @ 2:05 pm
http://hugonoms2015.wikia.com/wiki/The_Synopsis_Treasury