This coming Friday, Hugo Awards final ballot voting will close at midnight, PST (3 am EDT). Please do not forget to vote. 2015’s Hugo Awards are perhaps the most important iteration of this sixty year old tradition since they decided to resurrect it in 1955.
I’ve gone with the so-called “nuclear option”: voting No Award in every category in which I was given no choice but to vote either No Award or for a work that only made it to the final ballot because of puppy-organized voting campaigns. Given those options there really is no choice at all.
I have also chosen to leave every single puppy-slated work entirely off the ballot in those categories that offered me the opportunity to make a legitimate choice. This following a reading of the puppy-endorsed works in each of those categories and the determination that they are not only undeserving of their placement because of vote mongering, but also undeserving because they are not Hugo Award quality works in my personal opinion.
All of the above with the full understanding that the absence of a win for any of the puppy-related works in any of the categories will most likely result in a re-doubling of efforts by puppies and their sympathizers in 2016, likely to include an almost incessant drum beat of BS, whiney bleating from August 22nd, 2015 until August 20th, 2016. (Same goes if the results are a mixed bag or even if the puppies sweep the Hugo Awards.)
Continuing in the political vein: File 770 reports that Sasquan has state that there have been 600 new ballots cast since 7/16 – nine days ago. That’s almost 70 ballots per day. If that pace is maintained, we’ll see close to another 500 ballots cast by the close of voting, bringing the total to somewhere in the region of 3,500 votes. Membership just passed the 10,000 mark, which means that fully 1/3rd of all members will have cast a Hugo Awards final ballot this year.
Complete speculation on my part, but as I’ve said before, the best voting strategy for the puppies is to flood the ballot box right at the end. Mike Glyer’s analysis tends to suggest that current results might be otherwise (here), but I remain wary.
I do not envy Kevin Standlee and the business meeting participants at all. (I’m seriously thinking of starting an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to purchase them valium or prozac or an all expenses paid trip to a day spa after….)
Speaking of Kevin Standlee: he has been doing yeoman’s work in preparing both himself, the Sasquan crew running the Business Meeting and potential participants for what is expected to be a very complicated and possibly contentious business meeting at Sasquan. Among those many preparations is the following video, taped with the help of the Westercon BM participants, that explains the basics of Worldcon BM parliamentary procedures. Good job Kevin!
Photo by Shawn McConnell
Speaking of videos: David Brin will be delivering a guest lecture on “Can Science Fiction Change the World” at Mythgard Institute later today. The online lecture is free to sign up for and you can find more details here.
David is, of course, the author of the Hugo Award winning novel Startide Rising, part of the Uplift series of books, recipient of numerous other awards, and can often be found participating in a wide variety of projects where science and science fiction meet.
Finally: R. A. Salvatore, author of the Demon Wars saga, Star Wars: The New Jedi Order and many other fantasy and gaming worlds-based works, will be appearing at Gibson’s Book Store in Concord NH on September 10th, where he will be presenting his latest novel – Archmage.
Amazing Stories is currently working on arrangements to videotape the event. You can learn more here.
DON’T FORGET TO SEND IN YOUR HUGO AWARD BALLOT!
