Hugo Awards nominations

[dc]

The Hugo Awards nominations have been announced. Here are the nominations in three of the categories:

Best Novel

Learning the World – Ken MacLeod
A Feast for Crows – George R.R. Martin
Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
Accelerando – Charles Stross
Spin – Robert Charles Wilson

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Batman Begins
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Serenity
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

Battlestar Galactica: “Pegasus”
Doctor Who: “Dalek”
Doctor Who: “The Empty Child” & “The Doctor Dances”
Doctor Who: “Father’s Day”
Jack-Jack Attack
Lucas Back in Anger
Prix Victor Hugo Awards Ceremony (Opening Speech and Framing Sequences).

Some thoughts...

The novels: Ken MacLeod’s Learning the World has been on my must-read list since I heard him talking about it at a panel at Interaction. It sounds fascinating. Both the George R.R. Martin and the Charles Stross books sound interesting; I have no idea what the Robert Charles Wilson book is about at all. Old Man’s War’s description seems pretty tedious, but it must have something going for it. Whatever it is, it certainly isn’t the cover, which is pretty naff and would probably ensure I didn’t even look at it if I saw it in a shop.

DP Long Form: If there is any justice, Serenity will win this.

DP Short Form: Is this the first time a Hugo Ceremony has been nominated for a Hugo? The recursive aspect appeals to me. I wonder, too, if Lucas Back In Anger will be shown to the people at L.A.con IV, and if so, what they will make of it (there were sections where some of the Americans looked a bit puzzled at the British cultural references). What some of us were worried about has happened, though. Instead of one stonking episode of Doctor Who getting nominated, three (well, four really) stonking episodes have been nominated. That will probably split the vote and ensure it doesn’t win for any of them. Of them, Doctor Who: “Father’s Day” was (I thought) the weakest by far — in fact, the weakest of the whole series, I thought (I would much rather have seen “The Unquiet Dead” nominated, myself) — which doesn’t by any means make it bad. The quality of “season 27” was superb. “Dalek” and “The Empty Child”/“The Doctor Dances” were probably the peaks, though, and very difficult to separate in quality. I would, myself, go for “Dalek”, purely on the grounds that as well as being just bloody fantastic, it was a superb re-imagining of an iconic element of the original series. “Dalek” should win it, but I suspect this is going to be another good year for Battlestar Galactica.

Comments

[wibbble]

Learning the World is great: we picked it up because we heard him talking about it (and reading a pre-published extract) at a Book Festival event in 2004. I've been really impressed with the MacLeod stuff I've read so far.

But then again, I've also been impressed by Charlie Stross' stuff, although I've not read his latest yet.

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

Yes, MacLeod is superb. Odd thing, though: every time I read one of his books, I hate the first chapter or so, and then suddenly I find I’m loving it. The only book of his I haven’t yet managed to get into at all is the third one in the Engines of Light series. Must have another crack at that.

It was simply a couple of comments in the course of a panel on another topic entirely that made me think, MUST read Learning the World! Damn it, can’t afford to get it until next week!

[wibbble]

I also quite like reading /local/ authors. These are guys that hang out not that far from where I live.

You can definitely tell that Stross is from Edinburgh - all you need to do is read 'Singularity Sky', where the Festival descends and turns some poor mostly innocent planet completely upside down...

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

I agree with the local thing completely. And I really, really must read Singularity Sky. I have let life interfere too much with my reading in the past few years. :)

[tanngrisnir.livejournal.com]

I have just noticed that the best novel nominations, arranged in alphabetical order by author’s surname, is also arranged in order of decreasing title length. I have no idea why I find that amusing.

[highstone.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much sold on Ken; having bought and read most books Mr. MacLeod has produced, I am very mindful that I have (so far) neglected to buy 'Learning The World'.