Hugo Awards: Not Enough Fantasy?

[kevin_standlee]

Some years ago, when a Harry Potter book won Best Novel, there was a protest at how terrible it was that Fantasy won a Hugo and that the "Hugo Judges" must Do Something about it. As I say in a comment there, I would like to put protesters of that ilk in with this poster who complains about there not being enough fantasy due to "the Hugo's blatant anti-fantasy bias." It would be amusing in a "Let's you and him fight" sort of way.

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

...were the mistake made to ever let her on another ballot....

If she publishes a work and the members of WSFS voted to nominate her, how could we keep her off it? Or are you under the delusion that the Hugo Award administrators are making value judgments about the "worth" of nominees?

If Rowling was such an unstoppable juggernaut, then how come the rest of the books in the series weren't nominated and didn't walk away with a string of Hugos? Oh, it must be that "anti-fantasy bias." You can't have it both ways.

The Hugo Awards reflect the opinions of the people who take the trouble to join WSFS and vote. Anyone who thinks the purpose of awards is to only reward works that suit his/her personal tastes is asking to be perpetually disappointed. Or else s/he should give out the "I Like These Things And You're Stupid If You Don't Awards" and see how much attention anyone pays to them.

[stegoking.livejournal.com]

Thanks for explaining the rules to me. I'm sure you did not hear about the boycott of voting for Rowling based upon her failure to show up to the Hugo Awards.

You don't have your ear to the ground of fandom or anything.

I have an idea... you could nominate the authors who have been nominated before, write pastiches that remind us of our childhood in SF, or who write interesting blogs. And then see how much attention anyone pays them.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you did not hear about the boycott of voting for Rowling based upon her failure to show up to the Hugo Awards.

That's rich. If we had a sustained boycott of every author who didn't show up for the Hugo Awards ceremony to accept his/her trophy, pretty soon there wouldn't be any Awards because there would be no ballots cast.

I'm so sorry that the Hugo Awards aren't what you want, which apparently is the "Give Awards To Things I Like Because Everyone Who Likes Anything Else Is Stupid And Conspiring Against Me."

By the way, there are only a handful of Hugo Award nominations this year that I am personally delighted about, such as (but not limited to) that for Girl Genius in Best Graphic Story. But I don't think that just because the Hugo Awards are not a perfect reflection of my own taste that there is some Grand Conspiracy trying to exclude works I like. It means my tastes are not perfectly congruent with the voters, that's all. And unlike you, I don't think that's a bad thing.