My novella "The Erdmann Nexus" has been nominated for a Hugo. Naturally, this pleases me enormously. However, I do not expect to win. No, this is not a posturing humility -- I have three sound reasons for my non-expectation. First is that I am against some very tough competition: Ian McDonald, who is one of the best SF writers alive; Cory Doctorow (with Benjamin Rosenbaum), who is a rising star; and Charles Coleman Finlay and Robert Reed. I hear especially good things about the Finlay, which I haven't read yet.
Second, I sometimes win Nebulas, but I lose Hugos. It's a different voting crowd. "The Erdmann Nexus" takes place in an old-age assisted-living facility, with (mostly) elderly characters, and I'm not sure that will appeal to the young fans who throng Worldcon.
Third, and perhaps most controversial, is the gender issue. I have looked at the statistics; female writers win more Nebulas than their gender proportion in SFWA -- and far fewer Hugos. This year's ballot includes only four women: me, Kij Johnson, Elizabeth Bear, and Mary Robinette Kowal. There are no women among the novel nominees. Obviously, women do win some Hugos -- I have one, and Connie Willis has 1,078 -- but that's not the way to bet the probabilities.
However -- all together now, in chorus -- "It's an honor just to be nom-in-a-ted."
And it is.
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young fans who throng Worldcon
Have you LOOKED at the Worldcon crowd lately? Boomers dominate, as they have since the 1970s.
Oh, and congrats!
David -- Are you suggesting that boomers are ready for assisted-living facilities? :)
Not in most cases, but many of them are dealing with parents who are...
If the Hugos really are Boomer-dominated, this could lead to a huge peak in geezer choices as the Boomers reach their mid-70s:
"You can't vote for STARSHIP TROOPERS - it won half a century ago!"
"So what! It's still the only good book out there!"
(*SATIRE*)
Congratulations. The Erdmann Nexus is a fantastic story...
All I can say is, when Willis received her first Hugo in the year 941, I was really moved. It completely overshadowed the promotion of Oda the Severe to Archbishop of Cantebury.
Damn good and damn right, Nancy!
I'll be in Brockport the week of 5/16 to cheer my friend Carol. She's getting her doctorate!
Might the Rochester sf crew have dinner that Saturday evening at a restaurant of your choice, on me?
Nancy, I was looking at the Hugo 2009 novel nominations, and is it my imagination, or are 4 of the 5 books nominated, well, juvenile fiction? Sure I know adults enjoy them also and I loved the Graveyard Book, but it is a coincidence? Frankly, I shy away from a lot of juvenile fiction as frankly, it plays it safe. Most juvie books play by "kids book rules" meaning they're pretty clean, limited sex, kids aren't the subject of violent crimes, etc." you know.. kids book rules...
I can understand that's fine, for that audience, but there are some great books also written that aren't for the 15 & below audience.
What do you think?
Have you looked at many juvenile books lately? There is lots of sex, violence, and mayhem -- often with kids as victims. The times, they are a-changin'.
I read both the Graveyard Book & Zoe's Tale, both nominated for best novel and while I haven't read the others - i would definitely rate these as "for kids only". If they were movies, they would barely earn a PG rating.
I don't mean to come down on these authors, they're decent books. I was just wondering if the nomination of so many "juvenile books" for best novel was signifying a shift towards less "hard and gritty" work and more of an embrace of the "twilight" and "harry potter" crowd.
Maybe it is time to embrace a new audience, those of us who read scifi in the 70s, 80's 90's like a different sort of book than someone in their early 20's maybe or late teens.
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