Hugos?

I spent the weekend watching and waiting for news of the Hugo awards; authors I enjoy, people I know, and some online acquaintances made their way to the 2013 LoneStarCon to engage in some socializing, pick up their awards, and participate in some panels.

Tobias Buckell posted an in-person write up of his experiences at the Con. It gives a really nice first person account of his time in San Antonio and makes me just a little bit jealous. I’m looking forward to seeing (if someone had enough forethought) or hearing more about the Future Energy panel that Buckell and Naam were part of. It sounds like there was some good debate about space solar (including discussion of the economics of shooting mass into orbit to have it return energy, and the potential of weaponization of space solar). I also wonder how much power economization played in this discussion. And, to wit, if anyone is looking at ways to reduce the role profit motive plays in projects of this nature. If you have this video please send me a link.

Also, there were a number of writers’ workshops, and boy oh boy what I would not have given to have been a fly on the wall in at least one of them.

Kudos go out to all the winners, in fact, all the writers and the many people who were considered this year. I’ve read three of the five novels that made it into consideration and I can imagine that it was a tough choice in the end between these. If you follow Bujold‘s serial you may be wondering how this will impact future Vorkosigan contributions. I sure hope there is more coming.

Scalzi walked away with the honors this year and he deserves it, Redshirts was pure JS. The slapstick, the sarcasm, and the constant twisting of tropes only got better with Wil Wheaton reading.  Redshirts delivered where some of Scalzi’s more recent fuzzy contributions fell flat, and I hope I can smack him a hearty high-five in person some time soon.

Best Novel

• Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas, John Scalzi (Tor)
• Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW)
• Blackout, Mira Grant (Orbit)

Best Novella

• The Emperor’s Soul, Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
• After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
• “The Stars Do Not Lie”, Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)
• On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
• San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, Mira Grant (Orbit)

Best Novelette

• “The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi”, Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)
• “In Sea-Salt Tears”, Seanan McGuire (Self-published)
• “Fade To White”, Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
• “Rat-Catcher”, Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)
• “The Boy Who Cast No Shadow”, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)

Best Short Story

• “Mono no Aware”, Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, VIZ Media LLC)
• “Immersion”, Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld, June 2012)
• “Mantis Wives”, Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, August 2012)

I posted the rest of the contestants and winners who are wordsmiths because a) these are publishers (including self publishing) which I need to keep better track of and b) because I need to read a lot of these authors.