This morning -- which is this evening at Aussiecon in Australia -- I lost another Hugo. "Act One" lost not to Kage Baker, to whom I lost the Nebula and Locus Award, but rather to Charles Stross's "Palimpsest." Here are the other fiction winners:
NOVEL: A rare tie, between THE WIND-UP GIRL (Paolo Bacigalupi) and THE CITY AND THE CITY (China Mieville)
NOVELETTE: "The Island" (Peter Watts)
SHORT STORY: "Bridesicle" (Will McIntosh)
What disturbs me a bit about this list is that there are no women on it. Female writers consistently win fewer Hugos than our representation in SFWA (which is roughly 40% -- a few years ago I counted). But we win more than 40% of Nebulas, looked at over forty years. I don't know why this is, but it's a long-standing pattern.
I wish I had been at Aussiecon. Win or lose, Worldcon is always fun. Next year -- Reno.
9 comments:
Isn't Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente?
Could be. Titles are not copyrightable.
Worldcon Needs Women!
I think both Stross and Valente had nominees called "Palimpsest" this year, confusingly.
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't win. I haven't read "Act One", but just downloaded it to read on my Kindle. Say, do you get paid when your books and stories are purchased by Kindle users?
I am going to Reno too!
I hope to see you there!
I *WILL* bring it...you don't need to ask...
Lou
The two female writers I felt who really missed out were Eugie Foster(whom I think was up against a large Peter Watt sympathy vote for his troubles with the law last year) and N K Jeminsin who lost to Bridesicle. I think Will McIntosh pushed all the right buttons to get a large segment of the vote since many of the women I spoke to were voting for it especially due to its romantic content.
I really liked Act One. I voted for it. But I think I was most disappointed by the result in the Best Related Book category.
The best thing about the two works titled "Palimpsest" was that the presenter of the shorter category couldn't say it and made some crack about unpronounceable names being allowed for shorter works (implying: but not novels). Ha ha.
After you pointed out the difference in Hugo/Nebula results I checked out both and thought that one difference may be that the Hugos are a fan award and the Nebula is an industry award and you would expect different voting patterns to emerge. Then I did a count of Hugo novel winners for the last 40 years. 14:40. That is 35%, so in reality the Hugos aren't doing all that badly.
I'm sorry to hear that "Act One" lost. It was my favorite story from last year's Asimov's subscription. I thought you might win this one.
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