Since my last post, some more reactions to the 2018 Hugo Awards have trickled in.
For starters, if you want to watch the Hugo ceremony with your own eyes, the video of the ceremony is now online. And if you want to admire the clothes worn by finalists, winners and presenters a little more closely, Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk share several photos they’ve taken before the ceremony, as does Alyshondra Meacham. Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk have also uploaded several photos of the Masquerade, so you can admire the amazing costumes.
At nerds of a feather, Joe Sherry shares his thoughts and reactions regarding the 2018 Hugo Award winners and also thanks everybody who nominated and voted for them.
Martha Wells, Hugo finalist in best series and Hugo winner in best novella, shares her experiences at WorldCon 76 and also offers her account of the Hugo ceremony. Martha Wells has also posted some photos of the Hugo Losers Party hosted every year by George R.R. Martin.
And if you want to see the dancing robots at the Hugo Losers Party in action, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro has you covered.
Hugo master of ceremonies and WorldCon 76 guest of honor Jon Picacio has posted an extensive con report at his website, including plenty of photos. He discusses the Mexicanx Initiative to bring 100 Mexican fans and creators to WorldCon 76 as well as the Chesley Awards, the Hugo ceremony and the Hugo Losers Party.
At Dreaming About Other Worlds, Aaron Pound weighs in on the 2018 Hugo Awards and 1943 Retro Hugo Awards and also takes a look at the longlists in the respective categories. Aaron also made the effort to add the author and editor names to the novels, stories, magazines, fanzines, fancasts, etc… on the longlist, which is very much appreciated, because it makes tracking down novels, stories, magazines, etc… easier.
In its editorial section, the Guardian shares its official view on science fiction, namely that N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy deserves its three Hugo Awards, because it is a gift to culture. It’s a lovely editorial and high praise for N.K. Jemisin (oh, how I wish that German newspapers would even have an official view on science fiction). Unfortunately, the comment section is full of pissed off puppies and the usual “I don’t care about an author’s race and gender, but I only read books by white men, because white men are objectively the best, not that I’d know, cause I don’t care about skin colour” concern trolls.
As for the “But what about the poor white menz” brigade, Desirina Boskovich has some facts:
speaking of statistical improbabilities, did you guys know that 10 percent of all ever Hugo Awards for Best Novel have been awarded to guys named Robert
(this is factual information)— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) August 24, 2018
I just did the count and six men named Robert won the Hugo Award for Best Novel over the years. Robert A. Heinlein won four best novel Hugos (as well as a bunch of Retro Hugos), Robert J. Sawyer and Robert Charles Wilson won one each. If you add in the short fiction categories, you get another five Roberts. Three of those are Robert Silverberg plus Robert Bloch and Robert Reed. You also get a whole lot of Johns, Jacks and Fritzes in the fiction categories. All the Fritzes are Fritz Leiber, by the way. Not that he hasn’t deserved it, but those who are worried that white men are an endangered species at the Hugo Awards would do well to remember that there are literally more Hugo winners who are white guys named Robert than there are Hugo winners who are writers of colour.
I found the Desirina Koskovich tweet as well as several other posts linked herein via File 770, which is not just an indispensible resource for every SF fan, but also deserves every single Hugo it has won. And everybody worried about Mike Glyer who was hospitalised a few hours before the Hugo ceremony and had to have a pacemaker implanted will be happy to hear that Mike is doing much better.
Also at File 770, Jo Van Ekern, who accepted File 770‘s Hugo on Mike Glyer’s behalf, shares her adventures at WorldCon 76, a San José hospital, the Hugo ceremony and the Hugo Losers Party. Turns out that Jo also injured herself outside the hospital, so that Hugo Award nearly landed two people in hospital.
As for future WorldCons, next year’s WorldCon will be in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. the concomm also asks everybody interested in participating in the programme to fill out the programme participant form and/or the programme idea suggestion form, because they cannot contact people who haven’t given their consent to be contacted due to the annoying GDPR law. I’m definitely attending WorldCon 77 in Dublin BTW and hope to see you there.
WorldCon 2020 will be called ConZealand and will take place in Wellington, New Zealand. File 770 has some relevant links as well as a cute announcement video, which even includes a welcome from New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
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