File 770 is having ISP problems, so if the site goes down again, here is an open thread/substitute gathering place for File 770 refugees.
The comment setting is so that every poster must have a previously approved comment. I’m not always at the computer, so be patient if I don’t get to your comment right away.
Testing…
You’re approved now, so it should work.
Testing the File 770 refugee waters…
You’re approved now, too, Lis.
Sub-scrib-ing! 🙂
*staggers onto shore clutching a loose oar from the File 770 lifeboat; kisses sand*
You’re approved now, too, so post away.
Godstalk!
Testing also, at a time when Cora could be on.
Count me in.
Now listening to: Alastair Reynolds’ The Prefect
I guess I better see if I can exist, just in case I suddenly have an unstoppable urge to comment and there is no File 770 in sight. Thanks for the refuge.
Whee! Thanks, Cora!
lafayette i am here
File 770 withdrawal can be rather taxing…
Okay, I approved everybody, so welcome and post away.
Wait, what?! We’re getting TAXED because of this, too?!
Now there’s a fine idea!
Leaving a first comment. Thank you for this thread, Cora!
Beepity boop
Mike just posted this on Facebook so I’m going to appertain myself a beverage in pre-celebration:
Mike Glyer
File 770 status: Working on migration to a new ISP. I won’t be posting a roundup today. I also notified commenters that any added at this point probably won’t be backed up. So I’ve leaped from the plane, and am waiting for the chute to open.
Thanks for the update, Mike and Charon. Fingers crossed that everything goes well.
For anybody going through pixel scroll withdrawal, I just posted the weekly link round-ups at the Speculative Fiction Showcase and the Indie Crime Scene.
So here’s where everybody went to
Yes! Come on in, the water’s fine!
hmmm
It won’t let me subscribe, some mix-up with emails
Just checking if it’ll let me comment with the other one.
Laura, try checking under “Pending” here:
https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?option=comments
If you write your name slightly differently (in your case, you included your middle initial on one comment and omitted in in the other) or use a different e-mail address, the system believes you’re a new commenter and puts you in moderation. But I have approved you now for the second time.
I’ll be offline for a couple of hours now, so anybody without a previously approved comment may have to wait a while before being approved.
Well, I can say that File 770 being down has been good for my Hugo reading. 🙂
Same here.
Speaking of which, does anyone have any idea when the packet is coming out? Or did I miss an email?
I saw quite a few “getting my submission in” tweets and comments about a week ago, so my wild guess is that they’re *aiming* for the end of the month, but aren’t saying because they don’t want to guarantee it.
Thankfully, there are a lot of Hugo finalists to read online even without the packet.
Gah, my post is stuck in moderation for too many links, so here it is without the links.
I got curious about when it’s usually released and checked the File 770 archives.
In 2017, it came out on May 17.
In 2016, it came out on May 28.
In 2015, it came out on May 18.
In 2014, it came out on May 30.
In 2013, it came out on May 19.
In 2012, a partial packet was released on May 19, with several more installments after that, with the full packet out on May 30, and as I recall, it kind of turned into a CF, with people not knowing what was available, which parts they’d downloaded, and which they still needed to download, so I think that they learned it was best to release it all at once when it was complete.
So probably not for awhile yet.
Commenting for the sake of commenting. Or something like that. 😉
I got curious about when it’s usually released and checked the File 770 archives.
In 2017, it came out on May 17.
In 2016, it came out on May 28.
In 2015, it came out on May 18.
In 2014, it came out on May 30.
In 2013, it came out on May 19.
In 2012, a partial packet was released on May 19, with several more installments after that, with the full packet out on May 30, and as I recall, it kind of turned into a CF, with people not knowing what was available, which parts they’d downloaded, and which they still needed to download, so I think that they learned it was best to release it all at once when it was complete.
So probably not for awhile yet.
You’re out of moderation now, JJ, complete with links.
Ditto for Cassy B. and Cat Rambo.
Cassy B checking in; thanks, Cora! I hope we won’t need this space but it’s generous of you to host it.
Tick and test!
Currently reading the Stone in the Skull but might switch to Hugo novelettes soon.
Your comment ended up in the spam folder for some reason, but I approved you now.
I’m currently mixing in the Hugo short fiction with my other reading. Luckily, they’re short, so it’s easy to dip in. I’m somewhat underwhelmed by the short story category so far, though I haven’t yet read all of them.
I am completely underwhelmed by the short stories and have finished all of them. I only liked one and appreciated one without really liking it. Hope other categories are more fulfilling.
It’s not like the puppy years, thank goodness, but I found the short stories I’ve read so far this year somewhat… lacking. They were okay, but not really outstanding. Plus, there is one story (JJ and Meredith know which one) that I really don’t like.
PS: For some reason, you got sent to the spam folder. No idea why.
I felt two were very good; another was good but didn’t wow me; another was pretty good but I can’t really buy the premise; one was very good till the ending, sigh; and one didn’t work for me at all.
So, a mixed bag, but some worthy contenders.
After the puppy poo years, stories which are okay, but not outstanding are a good problem to have.
Even the one I hated is better than most of the Puppy stuff.
Since we dislike the same story, it definitely is. It’s not nearly as bad as even the dull, “What is the point of this?” puppy stories, let alone the really awful ones by JCW and the like.
As far as the short stories go, I liked two a lot, appreciated what two were doing but my socks stayed firmly on, disliked one (which, er, almost everyone else seems to love), and outright hated the last. My favourite short story from the year didn’t make it onto the final ballot, sadly.
I’ve now read all of the short story finalists and there was one story I liked a whole lot, one which was better than I remembered on second reading, two which were okay, but not “knock your socks off” good and two I disliked in a “I can see what you’re trying to do here, but it doesn’t work/carries a lot of nasty, unintended messages” way.
I knew which one had the unintended messages and yeah I really, really did not appreciate it at all. I have two kids, each of whom have their own special quirks and the more I think about that story the madder I get really.
I agree that this is much better than the puppy years. At least my overwhelming response this time was not WTF did I just read with a side helping of was that really a whole story?
I’m pretty sure it’s the same story, cause it seems to have rubbed a lot of us the wrong way and with good reason, too.
Elisa: I am completely underwhelmed by the short stories and have finished all of them. I only liked one and appreciated one without really liking it. Hope other categories are more fulfilling.
You’re not alone. My reaction to each of the four fiction categories this year has been almost uniformly 1/3 “meh”, 1/3 “hell, yeah!”, and 1/3 “OH HELL NO”. But that’s pretty much typical for most years. Last year was a bad one for my taste; I really didn’t care for most of the fiction finalists, and put several things below No Award. The fact that I have 2 in every category that I really like this year seems like a bonus by comparison.
I’m pretty sure that the story you dislike is the one that Cora, Meredith, and I all hated — and like you, every time I think about that story, I just get more angry. It’s definitely going below No Award.
I’m still dithering between last place and “No Award” for that story, but it’s inching closer to Noah every time I think about it, because it keeps making me angry. And yes, I’m pretty sure that Elisa is talking about the same story.
Though I was actually pretty happy with last year’s fiction finalists. Not everything was to my taste, but except for the JCW story and the dino porn, there was nothing I outright hated, just “not really my cup of tea” stories.
I am pretty sure I remember the discussion you had about it on one of the File 770 treads and I am virtually sure we are all talking about the same story. Horrible pun but it ‘turned’ me off and I have decided that I am definitely putting it under award because the meta messages are just so horrible. It is such a throwback too with the a mothers whole purpose is to sacrifice herself for the family in addition to the other awful messaging. Just aaaaaa! You would think someone would have stayed wound up just to try and have some words with the maker. Bleck!
I bow before your puns. 🙂
Thanks everyone! Especially JJ. I have been panicking slightly about the serieses so I was hoping for sooner. Oh well.
Testing.
I recently finished Eleanor Arnason’s _Hwarhath Stories_ (highly recommended if you like genuinely alien-seeming aliens) and am most of the way through Emily Wilson’s translation of the _Odyssey_ (which isn’t exactly genre, though arguably man-eating giants and gods taking an active part in the adventure put it at least near fantasy).
It looks as if File 770 is down again. But this thread is still open.
Thanks, Cora 🙂
testing–is File 770 back down? I tried to check in after lunch and it wouldn’t come up.
Yes, I will need to be approved. ::waves::
Hi, Beth. You’re approved now. File 770 was down for me earlier, then it went up again.
Looks like it’s down again.
And it’s back. Or maybe it was just me.
It was up when checked it earlier.
@Lenore Jones: It was slow for me just now, but then came up. I checked this site…
https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/file770.com
…but that’s misleading. It said file770.com was down, but it did load for me – just not quickly. Maybe not quickly enough for downforeveryoneorjustme.com to decide it was up, though. So take sites like that with a grain of salt…but FYI in case you haven’t used it before, that CAN (not always) be helpful. 😉
Thanks, Kendall. It might well have just timed out, and it did work again later. The current ISP seems a bit slow.
Today I can post as long as I only type a few lines. Perhaps Shoggoth wants me to stop talking so much. 🙂
Regarding your Nebula analysis, Ms. “what about the white menz!” must have missed the photos of finalists, since front and center the one indie finalist was a SWM who self-publishes milSF AND he was quite dapper in his Marine officer dress uniform.
If a SWM Marine indie milSF guy can get in, I think the menz are just fine. No indie writers of any other sort made it. He should be the Puppies’ platonic ideal, and here he was at SF’s lit’rary awards.
I’ve approved your comment, so you should be able to post now.
Regarding the Nebulas, it’s remarkable how the usual suspects completely ignore Jonathan P. Brazee, probably because he doesn’t fit the narrative that indie authors and/or straight white men who write military SF won’t be nominated for the big genre awards. On the other hand, Jonathan P. Brazee writes a lot of female protagonists, so maybe he’s not pure enough for them. And I agree that he looked very dashing in his uniform.
Not to mention that the Nebula shortlist this year also included Lawrence M. Schoen, Matthew Kressel, Richard Bowes, K.M. Szapara, Daryl Gregory and Sam J. Miller (who even won), all of whom are male and white.
File 770 seems to be down again, so time to revive this thread.
Thank you, Cora, for continuing to provide this refuge during the terror of the DDOS attack. (Yes, I know it’s only a guess at this point. Just thought I’d go for drama.)