Hugo Awards 2007

[odo]

This is the final result (from http://www.sfawardswatch.com/)

* Best Novel: Rainbows End - Vernor Vinge
* Best Novella: “A Billion Eves” - Robert Reed
* Best Novelette: “The Djinn’s Wife” - Ian McDonald
* Best Short Story: “Impossible Dreams” - Tim Pratt
* Best Related Non-Fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon - Julie Phillips
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Pan’s Labyrinth - Guillermo del Toro
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who - “Girl in the Fireplace” - Steven Moffat & Euros Lyn
* Best Editor, Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
* Best Editor, Short Form: Gordon Van Gelder
* Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
* Best Semiprozine: Locus - Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong & Liza Groen Trombi
* Best Fanzine: Science-Fiction Five-Yearly - Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan & Randy Byers
* Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford
* Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu
* Campbell: Naomi Novik

I'm currently reading Rainbows End and I'm enjoying it, but I think Blidsight was much better. In fact I've read all the nominees but Eifelheim and Blinsight was my favourite.

 

[Hobbit]

Thanks odo: very prompt that is, too!

Any surprises there?

Not too surprised at the Vernor Vinge win. Locus and Dave Langford as well.

Doctor Who is a little surprise: one of the better scripts, but they must be pleased with that. And I'm pleased Pans Labyrinth won as well.

More thoughts?

Hobbit

 

[phil_geo]

Wow, I'm surprised at Impossible Dreams for short story. It was cute, but nothing original. I guess the charaters stood out as well written. I would have gone with House Beyond Your Sky for its prose, imagery and very high originality. I think it lost because of its incomprehensibility (I read it twice before I liked it).

 

[Nightblade]

Ah glad Pan's Labyrinth won. A bit dark but a great story. Can't say I agree with Doctor Who though - Never really got into that show, at least the latest one.

 

[thrinidir]

From all the winners -congratulations by the way!- I'm only familiar with Pan's Labyrints and I'm sorry to say I don't think anything special of it...

 

[Hobbit]

The actual ballot numbers are HERE (pdf document) and make interesting reading. Clearly voting does count: Dave Langford won by one vote....

Hobbit

 

[Werthead]

I haven't read the Vinge, mainly due to it only being released this month in the UK. It beat Temeraire, which is all to the good. Temeraire winning the Campbell was a bit ludicrous - Lies of Locke Lamora is far superior - but apparently Temeraire sold nearly ten times the numbers of copies as the Lynch and with Stephen King and Peter Jackson singing its praises, it certainly had the weight of publicity behind it.

I haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth, but I'm assure it is a sensational movie. The Prestige and Children of Men were both magnificent films as well.

Doctor Who had the award sewn up with three of the four nominations. The remaining nomination went to Battlestar Galactica, but for some reason the pretty good-but-not-spectacular Downloaded got the nomination rather than the awesome Exodus, Part II, which was also eligible.

Dave Langford wins Best Fan Writer almost automatically every year, so I can see people getting a bit tired of it. However, there is a reason for that. Ansible is funny, warm-hearted (which is good to see in an increasingly cynical and combative field of criticism) and extremely useful to read every month, if only for Thog's Masterclass (which by itself should tell you why Temeraire shouldn't have won). As much as I like Scalzi, he's not in the same league as an SF&F commentator as Langford.

My predictions for Denvercon 2008:

Best Novel: Brasyl by Ian McDonald. If there's any justice it should just beat off Black Man by Richard Morgan, with Red Seas Under Red Skies brining in the third place.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form): Heroes Season 1 is apparently being submitted as one body of work. If that is the case, it should just walk it.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): We'll have to see how Battlestar Galactica's Razor turns out. Otherwise maybe the Season 3 finale from that show or possibly the Life on Mars series finale. I think Doctor Who will do the hat trick again, probably for Blink.

Best Artist: Alan Lee for his work on JRR Tolkien's Children of Hurin.

Best Fan Writer: I think it's time for the bloggers to break through. William 'Stego' Lexner and Jay Tomio weren't far off the shortlist this year, so I think we can boost them up there next year. However, I think Pat from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist should be the overall winner. He could be the David Langford for the next generation

 

[Rob B]

I always find it interesting to see how the awards/nominated books intersect with the reading trends at SFFWorld. I know I've probably brought this little confluence up before.

For example, I saw very little talk of Rainbow's End here in the forums, while Watts's novel seemed to be one of the hotter Sf books from our forum members.

As for how the awards wound up being doled out, I can't say how I felt about the voting pool since I've only read His Majesty's Dragon.

Long Form Editor - I am kind of surprised Jim Baen didn't walk away with the award. This is, of course, without me seeing which books were edited by the nominated editors.

For artist, all the artists did nice work, but I think Picacio and Martiniere were head and shoulders above the competition - both in quantity and quality. But what I saw from each artist was good.

Campbell Award - Though I enjoyed Novik, Sanderson should have received the award, IMHO. Yes Novik published three books in a year, but Sanderson's Mistborn saga is a notch above Novik's Dragon books.

 

[RimWorlder]

according to a discussion and blog (don't have the links right now) Baen was winning until the final count.

It was also noted that he is probably eligible next year and there seems to be a nascent push on to get him the win.

 

[Yobmod]

I read all the short fiction winners, and was not particularly impressed - good but not going to be remembered in 10 years time (I also thought the wierd "House Beneath Your Sky" was far superior to to the prosaic romance of "Impossible Dreams".

I've only read the first few chapters of Rainbow's End, and so far it is very good. Vinge seems to write cutting edge near future techno-fiction better than Stross (and maybe Doctorow).

 

[Hobbit]

Yes: to answer a point made by Rob above, Rainbow's End has only just appeared here in Europe other than by import, which might partly explain it's lack of discussion (Even though there's no sign of Peter Watts here!) And what I've read of it so far, it is good. Not sure I'd agree with Yobmod that it's better than Stross or Doctrow, (different, yes) but it is engaging plotwise.

Hobbit

 

[Yobmod]

I'm reading Rainbow's End online - it was made freely available before the award. As were all the short fic winners, which might be a factor in their winning?


I've yet to be impressed by anything from Stross - good ideas, but the writing is still shaky. And Doctorow i've only read one book, and a couple of stories, so it is only a tentative judgment; Down and Out in the Magic kingdom is very good though.