The Hugo awards were announced last night. I found out when I saw this tweet:
Than I discovered that the ceremony was going to streamed live. That never worked for me, by the way. It apparently worked for other people, but also had a habit of conking out. Maybe I was too impatient and didn’t wait long enough for it load when it was working. Don’t know.
Too bad the Hugos aren’t big enough to get TV coverage. That would be nice.
Instead, I found a place where someone was transcribing what people were doing in text. That was interesting. More amusing than the twitter #hugoawards hashtag, which I was also following. Too bad I found it when the ceremony was half over.
So . . . the awards. Redshirts by John Scalzi won best novel, which does not surprise me all that much. I haven’t read it, but it is pretty popular.
No, according to the Hugo statics, Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed placed fourth. I thought it would be closer to the top. Maybe second place.
I am also really happy Writing Excuses won a Hugo, too, for Best Related Work. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature is good, too, the little I’ve read of it (only snippets here and there.) It placed fourth, which makes me wonder. But Writing Excuses is really good, too. And less expensive. LOL
I read hardly any graphic stories, but when Saga won, twitter really exploded. It felt like it exploded. It felt like people were more excited than when the avengers won the long form dramatic award.
Also, Dr. Who was nominated three times in the same category? What’s up with that? So they are three different episodes, but still, it’s the same show!!!
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Story Treasury 
Nice post…thanks.
THANKS for stopping by my blog earlier too.
If you want the e-mail from Hachette, I can send it to you.
E-mail me and I will forward it to you. I am sure there is still time to make a reservation.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My It’s Monday, What Are You Reading
Sent you the email, thanks!
The live stream would work for 5 minutes, then not work, then work, then not work. It was VERY frustrating. watching the text feed and the twitter feed worked much better for me. My favorite thing about the live stream (when it worked) was that I can finally see what all these people look like!!
I wanted to see what they looked like too! And see their reactions when they won!
Streaming is great in principle but not always in practice.
Thanks for stopping by the Harem.
yeah, well, when it doesn’t work. 🙂
I voted for Redshirts in first place because the three codas did something special with the meta-fiction, but I would have been happy for Throne of the Crescent Moon to win. I voted it in second place because the language was so strong throughout, and, well, I wrote a whole review on what Ahmed did right.
But I’m actually surprised it came in fourth and not fifth. The other four competitors were all by very popular authors who rode their legacies to some votes. It’s no mistake that someone as insanely popular as Scalzi won, and that second place was Lois McMaster Bujold, who is tied with Heinlein for the most Hugo wins *ever*. That Ahmed even got in for his debut novel was huge. I think as his career deepens, and if he keeps putting in work this good, he’ll build up a similar fan base. Hugos are very hard for newcomers.
Yes, the Hugos are a popularity contest. I suppose I had irrational hopes for it.