Really appreciate your honesty Whitney! Especially your picks of books that you didn't necessarily enjoy yourself, but still recognise their qualities. I'd be really interested to hear your take on the novellas list!
This video has great timing! I can't wait to see the long list, including who declined the nominations. I'm doing a personal project where I read books that came out in 2022 for 5 years and see if my nominations would change with having more time to read (and possibly reread the ones I did nominate). I always wonder if the Hugo's tend to popularity more because of the short turn around of reading and nominating. I am definitely going to check out the books in your snubbed section.
Wow what a cool project! You’ll have to let me know what you think when you finish…. 🤔 such an interesting idea. I wonder if that would change my votes also….
I am really surprised that Children of Memory did not make the list. I've had no interest in reading it but, every booktuber I watch loves this book. Even Matt of Bookpilled liked this book, and he has some of the highest standards when it comes to quality of plot, quality of character, and quality of prose. If Matt doesn't like a popular book he says so e. g. Three Body Problem.
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is the book I was most disappointed to not see on the list. Babel not being on the list was shocking. According to her editor, Kuang did not decline the nomination, and I don't think any other best novel nominees declined either. I also don't think that Chinese voters did much at all to move the needle in the novel category, but I guess we'll see when the long list comes out after the award ceremony.
I hope you are right about this- but i dont know any other ways to explain the list this year and the snubs… I havent read jimenez, but if u recommend I will pick it up…
I feel the same way about the Hugo nominees this year. There are so many good books that came out last year, and it's a shame none of them got the acknowledgment they deserve.
It’s a popularity contest as some said, essentially you can lobby votes. Hugo’s have seem to have had drama for awhile, for example Toni Weisskopf was nominated for an editor Hugo some years ago and out of spite nobody won and she got second (1st place going to “No Award”).
I think that the Hugos, like other genre/entertainment awards over the years, have become less about what is actually good and more about what organizers think you should like.
I have now read Legends & Lattes after your comments on this video and really loved it. I haven't read 'cosy fantasy' for a long time but this book was like slipping into a warm bath. The characters were well drawn and fun, and the story explores the importance of dreams and friends. And if you liked Legends & Lattes may I suggest you try a much earlier 'cosy fantasy' called 'Another Fine Myth' by Robert Asprin which has the engaging characters and the added bonus of being laugh out loud funny in places.
Really appreciate this video Whitney. I don’t read a lot of contemporary fiction so this helps me pick some books to read. I’ve read Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and enjoyed it. I also have The Mountains in the Sea by Ray Nayler on my TBR.
Glad it was helpful! Not everyone enjoyed mt in the sea as much as I did- and i admit its not in my top 10, but i still liked it and I hope you do too. There are so many good books being weitten that are slipping by unnoticed!
I'd say if we're talking about genre-redefining, then Gideon the Ninth is practically the prototype, I'd urge anyone to try it. That may or may not cover Nona the Ninth which suffered a bit from middle book syndrome - although it did do some weird stuff.
I've had it on my tbr mainly because of the necromancy theme although moved a little bit down my list since I've heard mixed opinions on it. It seems like you either love it or hate it, at least from what I've heard. I'll still read it at some point once i clear out more of my immediate tbr.
There's an alternate case to be made where Gideon didn't redefine anything, rather it mashed together too many genres into a Frankenstein monster. I loved the spooky mystery whodunit in a haunted house vibe, but it got stretched thin. For me the entire ending devolved into Hollywood and the romance became cheese fondue. I'm glad the romance resonated with people though.
I am amazed how easily the Fantasy genre was accepted since : "The Hugo is widely considered the premier award in science fiction" historically and by concept ! On another hand i totally agree with you about the dropping quality of science fiction and the "twist" regarding themes which basically use the science-fiction part as a frame for, i don't know, whatever else genre and i feel betrayed by this phenomenon. To give some solid sense to what i say even since 1970's a representative figure of science fiction from France (Jacques Sadoul i think ) noted that the new literature genres rising (read : fantasy) are merely using sci-fi as a frame not truly representing it so, yeah, this is an old issue. Again, each to its own but don't make it "standard" for everybody. Such a pitty the new generations will not pass the : "cosy - cute/magic" trends ... and perhaps others....I think you perfectly observed this when you said : "genre defining"..the science part is slowly dying...
The whole speculative fiction genre feels like it suffered for any work that was getting prepared for release after the mid point of the Covid pandemic. Almost anything I've read from the last couple years has veered away from heavy subjects and heady concepts. Like authors and readers just didn't have the energy to engage at that level. That said, two of the last 3 winners were big dense idea books from Arkady Martine with Murderbot sandwiched in between. The Tchiakovsky books - I don't think the ideas or writing quite rises to the level of Hugos. They're good, but in no way that novel. I personally have been using my time to go back to other excellent books in the past few years that I didn't get the chance to read when they came out. In the absence of really really excellent writing and ideas together, I guess the Hugo nominators kind of defaulted to some familiar names with Scalzi and Kowal and Muir. Not every year ends up celebrating the best of the best. There's down years. Honestly we've been spoiled in the past decade - decade and a half to have had a great run of amazingly written works with fantastic ideas. As writers and readers adjust to the new "normal" of this world, I think there will be more engagement with ideas and see some excellent works emerge in the coming years.
I love your optimism and attitude and hope that you are proven right. Until then I do think there are books out there with those ideas but they arent getting recognized. For example any book with mention of pandemic is getting skipped over because its “too soon” which is fair but also not esp if it was written prior to and then published after. So timing plays into it to i suppose.
This just shows that we have very different points of view over nomination. I enjoyed Legends and Lattes and have already ordered the prequel, but it doesn't feel to me like it deserves a nomination, whereas Kaiju absolutely does and is what I would vote for if I had membership. L&L was just fun but nothing more than that to me, and while it started a trend I don't consider it innovative because cosy low stakes fantasy existed before it, they just didn't get so much attention (the pandemic no doubt helped with everyone craving cosy).
Would love to hear more about your opinion of kaiju. What about it was what you loved? I’m more than happy to be convinced…haha And absolutely respect different opinions, it makes for fun discussion…
@@secretsauceofstorycraft Honestly it's as simple as Kaiju is a book I keep thinking about over a year after I read it, and already want to reread. There are definitely books I regard more highly than Kaiju which would have been eligible, but none that were nominated. Furysong by Rosaria Munda for example is excellent (but that whole trilogy tends to be overlooked even in the YA fantasy market let alone by the adult SFF fans who vote for the Hugos). The Justice of Kings would also have been a great choice.
Thanks, Whitney, for your great review. You have a lot of valuable insight into the process and more importantly, the content of this year's nominees. I value honesty and integrity over hype, any day. Glad to see the channel is growing. Keep up the great work!
We can understand why readers and writers gravitated towards cozy stories during these years. But we can also have big ideas not propelled by conflict, as explained in Le Guin's short essay "Conflict." We can also look for sociological storytelling instead of hero narratives.
Great thoughts and discussion. I mostly agree, although, unfortunately, for me, High How We Go In the Dark was the worst book I read last year. Opening story was excellent. The rest were not, and I felt nothing. A shame, because it was heavily hyped before release.
I definitely feel like voters were looking for emotional connections this year, which certainly shifts what turns up. Mountain in the Sea well deserved it for sure, though certainly everyone I've seen who didn't like it was because of characters/lack of connection, so for me it makes sense with the current lean. The award has gone through periods of being more pulpy/action/adventure leaning, I think it can get back on track, but with things like booktok hype machining books, Ill be curious if that affects it more in coming years instead. If you havent , you should check out the Ursula K LeGuin award list, more ideas focused for sure.
Thanks for another great video Whitney! Really respect your honesty and your high expectations for sci-fi, especially for such prestigious awards. Very refreshing to hear some fair criticism of books, something that's usually glossed over on Booktube. Keep up the great work :)
Interesting video. Thanks! Of the novels nominated, I only read Kaiju. I think it's a very mediocre book. Turns out, I'm not much of a Scalzi fan. A lot of those you think should have been nominated, I read and loved.
Maybe you should do some kind of summary of the disaster that was Hugos 2023 and to be positive maybe include how it seems that there are people trying to make 24 a better experience (including people having resigned as a result of 23).
Maybe- but i still am waiting for Hugos to redeem themselves in my eyes. I dont know that my summary of what happened would add anything to discussion that others havent already said. But i appreciate the suggestion!! Will think on it.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft maybe you are right. But you do seem to be chronicling the Hugos as part of your content and not going over it even just in a short video, will kinda leave a gap in your coverage 🙂 I am assuming that later in the year you will cover Hugos 24 and then you will have all of the old stuff out of the way. And I agree, the Hugos has taken a severe blow in terms of reputation.
Love your channel. I felt the same way about this year's nominees, kind of lackluster. But we know the Hugos have not always picked the books with the most lasting value, like They’d Rather Be Right in the 1950s. I'm not sure when that book was last in print and I don't know of much of anybody reading it. Most of who I have heard talk about it have called it the worst SF book ever. So there is definitely a problem with immediately picking what is the best. I think such awards should wait a while and then look back to see what is still being read. Then you would see the books that really do have lasting impact.
Interestingly- several folks have mentioned that the recency of the awards is a real problem for some of the quality control and I strongly agree with that. Its hard to get all the new books just when they come out- and books out end of year get forgotten about… as do the books that out in january. Its a toss up I suppose.
I think Scalzi hit a low with Redshirts, a book almost entirely driven by oh so terribly witty banter, and he's never really come back from it. He'd already employed a really cheap trick in The End Of All Thing spoiler follows, when he brought out the missing comma thereby changing the meaning of the title.. OK I digress. After Redshirts he just got boring by relying on banter that just wasn't as smart as he thought it was, which is a shame.
Thanks for bringing me up to speed on this topic. I should probably pay more attention to current Hugo's but after seeing the drama, maybe not, lol. As always, great content and video.
I have no desire to read any of the nominated books, but that happens alot with the Hugo's. When I saw the list of 2022 Forthcoming Books nothing appealed to me. I dont think I read anything published in 2022. This year has been much better and I still have a Murderbot coming. I worry about the books on your bookshelves...if it's so hot that it melted your clock the books might burst into flames!
It was mostly just life getting too busy -- grad school, parenthood, etc. I still read SF, but in a sort of random way, and not necessarily current. Actually, it is sort of like when I first started in 4th grade, scouring the library for books with that rocket & atom sticker on the spine, and buying Ace Doubles at the newsstand for $0.35. I just finished a Connie Willis binge that started when I picked up a copy of Doomsday Book during COVID-19 lockdown.
Kobo says Nettle & Bone is 83k words (over 40k), so novel approved. 👍6-7 hour read. Wow, Tchaikovsky's Ogres is right on the line between novel & novella at 40k words, 2-3 hr read. Maybe juried awards are more meaningful?
Agree. I did not even use my voting rights this year. I just did not see anything worth standing next to past Hugo Winners. So many good books did not make the list. Ones that pushed story and fought to show interesting concepts.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft lol... Just saying the books that made it, I don't hate on. I just feel a book to win the Hugo needs something special. All in short hand, 🤣. I can only aspire to write well enough to feel I deserve a nomination to the award, let alone win one.
@@RAHowes oh I get it. Its not that I dont enjoy many of these books its just that they dont challenge oboubdaries or do anything special for genre. Which is what i wanted… but i guess not what everyone else wanted. Comfy books have a place, just not the hugos
You must be reading my mind, or something? Adrian Tchaikovsky deserves all the awards. As for the Hugo, over the last ten years or so (who's counting?) it has become mired in controversy that just sucks all my joy out of the award. Sad, but true, and remarkably of little consequence in the bigger scheme of things.
Well I didn't know about any of these picks until I watched this and your disappointment is totally understandable. How Mountain in the Sea didn't make it is baffling. Babel and Sea of Tranquility were great too. Really surprised about Sea of Tranquility considering how popular the author is due to Station 11. You aren't alone in your disappointment!
Just discovered this video and your channel. For me the Hugo's have been meaningless for many years. I have read and enjoy books nominated or that won over the years but the fact that something is nominated or wins holds no interest for me nor influence what I read or try. The Nebula, BSFA and Clarke awards seem to be more along my lines. Had to laugh at the comments about the Scalzi book, not much innovation with his books in a long time.
I listened to your video without knowing what the novel nominations were, so I was very curious to find out what the books were....and whether I agreed with you. And....well.....yikes! I'm pretty shocked at the low impact (I won't say "quality") of the selections. I think you understated it, frankly. I share your disappointment completely. Not that these are poor books, but if the Hugo awards don't reward ground-breaking content in science fiction, then they serve no redeeming purpose as far as I'm concrned.
Yes. Lots of things about the hugos were speculation unless you are on the hugo team (which im not) - and timing helps too. This video was published before all the crazy went down.
Stop Apologizing!! We listen and like your reviews because of your biases - likes and dislikes. So much trash is trying to pass as good sci-fif that it should be called out. I admit the only nominee I tried was "The Spare Man" and it was trite and tried too hard. I realize there is a desire to - how to say it nicely - for sex, age, gender, orientation, political views, etc playing a bigger role but this necessarily means good books are ignored. Tchaikovsky, Sea of Tranquility, Pluto Shine - all deserved a nomination.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I saw it praised by Alastair Reynolds. a few hidden jewels - Patricia Anthony (Brother Termite, Cold Allies (chilling), Happy Policeman (murder, dark humor, aliens) / Paul Hardy - LIterary scifi (Unusual, original) / Felix Palma's "Map" Trilogy. The first (Map of Time - Victorian England) Andrew's love is a victim of Jack the Ripper, a feminist falls for a man leading the revolt against machines in 2000 and Wells discovers time travel has its faults. I've read it in the original Spanish and prefer the English translation. Finally (whew), "Mission" (Paul Kidd)- the best "gotta leave Earth and bad things happen" novel ever. I called it "erudite, poetic and glorious", so perfect it almost makes you cry when faced with the garbage for sale. (I had 3 copies!!)
I kinda gave up on the Hugos back when a Harry Potter book won. The next year Neil Gaiman wins with American Gods. Both fine books, but have about as much to do with science fiction as Jersey Shore
I feel like Adrian Tchaikovsky has been so prolific and leagues above the rest of the field these past few years that they feel like its unfair to everyone else to properly judge all of his work. Glad to see Ogres on the novella list because it was amazing, but the quantity and quality of both long, complex works, as well as novellas, that that man has been putting out is truly astounding.
Gideon: I really liked it, but the "lingo" was a bit too modern. Harrow (2nd book) is poorly written. Adrian Tchaikovsky: Besides Haruki Murakami, AT is my favorite author. 671 subscribers (when I found the channel bc of #NewAlliance) and 5k now. Well deserved.
Hm…. Well i do plan to give gideon at least one more chance, maybe on audio… Good taste with A.T.! And yes! Thank you on the subs! It is still kinda shocking to me. Hope to continue this trend💪 🤗
Because there are a lot of kinds of sf. Big ideas books are just one kind. Some of us also enjoy smaller, more personal, WELL WRITTEN books that explore how different ideas affect us, whether big or small. I think a lot of the big idea books are written by authors who are poor writers, aside from their big ideas.
Really appreciate your honesty Whitney! Especially your picks of books that you didn't necessarily enjoy yourself, but still recognise their qualities. I'd be really interested to hear your take on the novellas list!
I did mention briefly the novellas toward the end… i loved ogres but i do need to read several of them still to form more solid opinions…
Hugo is like a high school popularity contest. As an award it's not very informational about good reads.
Im sad to agree with you
This video has great timing! I can't wait to see the long list, including who declined the nominations. I'm doing a personal project where I read books that came out in 2022 for 5 years and see if my nominations would change with having more time to read (and possibly reread the ones I did nominate). I always wonder if the Hugo's tend to popularity more because of the short turn around of reading and nominating. I am definitely going to check out the books in your snubbed section.
Wow what a cool project! You’ll have to let me know what you think when you finish…. 🤔 such an interesting idea. I wonder if that would change my votes also….
I am really surprised that Children of Memory did not make the list. I've had no interest in reading it but, every booktuber I watch loves this book. Even Matt of Bookpilled liked this book, and he has some of the highest standards when it comes to quality of plot, quality of character, and quality of prose. If Matt doesn't like a popular book he says so e. g. Three Body Problem.
Hahah - you are right! He’s always honest. It makes it fun to watch…
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is the book I was most disappointed to not see on the list. Babel not being on the list was shocking. According to her editor, Kuang did not decline the nomination, and I don't think any other best novel nominees declined either. I also don't think that Chinese voters did much at all to move the needle in the novel category, but I guess we'll see when the long list comes out after the award ceremony.
I hope you are right about this- but i dont know any other ways to explain the list this year and the snubs…
I havent read jimenez, but if u recommend I will pick it up…
I feel the same way about the Hugo nominees this year. There are so many good books that came out last year, and it's a shame none of them got the acknowledgment they deserve.
🔥 agreed.
It’s a popularity contest as some said, essentially you can lobby votes. Hugo’s have seem to have had drama for awhile, for example Toni Weisskopf was nominated for an editor Hugo some years ago and out of spite nobody won and she got second (1st place going to “No Award”).
😲 i didnt know that…. But yeah doesnt surprise me
I think that the Hugos, like other genre/entertainment awards over the years, have become less about what is actually good and more about what organizers think you should like.
This is probably and sadly true
Refreshingly honest, and all the more useful because of it. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
I have now read Legends & Lattes after your comments on this video and really loved it. I haven't read 'cosy fantasy' for a long time but this book was like slipping into a warm bath. The characters were well drawn and fun, and the story explores the importance of dreams and friends. And if you liked Legends & Lattes may I suggest you try a much earlier 'cosy fantasy' called 'Another Fine Myth' by Robert Asprin which has the engaging characters and the added bonus of being laugh out loud funny in places.
Never heard of it!! But i will check it out, thank you for the suggestion.
Really appreciate this video Whitney. I don’t read a lot of contemporary fiction so this helps me pick some books to read. I’ve read Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and enjoyed it. I also have The Mountains in the Sea by Ray Nayler on my TBR.
There are so many issues with Mountain in the Sea… I read it and I suggest giving it a miss.
Glad it was helpful! Not everyone enjoyed mt in the sea as much as I did- and i admit its not in my top 10, but i still liked it and I hope you do too. There are so many good books being weitten that are slipping by unnoticed!
I'd say if we're talking about genre-redefining, then Gideon the Ninth is practically the prototype, I'd urge anyone to try it. That may or may not cover Nona the Ninth which suffered a bit from middle book syndrome - although it did do some weird stuff.
🤔 well i do plan to try it again, maybe on audio this time…
I've had it on my tbr mainly because of the necromancy theme although moved a little bit down my list since I've heard mixed opinions on it. It seems like you either love it or hate it, at least from what I've heard. I'll still read it at some point once i clear out more of my immediate tbr.
There's an alternate case to be made where Gideon didn't redefine anything, rather it mashed together too many genres into a Frankenstein monster. I loved the spooky mystery whodunit in a haunted house vibe, but it got stretched thin. For me the entire ending devolved into Hollywood and the romance became cheese fondue. I'm glad the romance resonated with people though.
I am amazed how easily the Fantasy genre was accepted since : "The Hugo is widely considered the premier award in science fiction" historically and by concept ! On another hand i totally agree with you about the dropping quality of science fiction and the "twist" regarding themes which basically use the science-fiction part as a frame for, i don't know, whatever else genre and i feel betrayed by this phenomenon. To give some solid sense to what i say even since 1970's a representative figure of science fiction from France (Jacques Sadoul i think ) noted that the new literature genres rising (read : fantasy) are merely using sci-fi as a frame not truly representing it so, yeah, this is an old issue. Again, each to its own but don't make it "standard" for everybody. Such a pitty the new generations will not pass the : "cosy - cute/magic" trends ... and perhaps others....I think you perfectly observed this when you said : "genre defining"..the science part is slowly dying...
Wow both depressing and a little heartbreaking 💔 i hope that isnt true but thank u for your perspective, will reset my expectations….
The whole speculative fiction genre feels like it suffered for any work that was getting prepared for release after the mid point of the Covid pandemic. Almost anything I've read from the last couple years has veered away from heavy subjects and heady concepts. Like authors and readers just didn't have the energy to engage at that level. That said, two of the last 3 winners were big dense idea books from Arkady Martine with Murderbot sandwiched in between. The Tchiakovsky books - I don't think the ideas or writing quite rises to the level of Hugos. They're good, but in no way that novel. I personally have been using my time to go back to other excellent books in the past few years that I didn't get the chance to read when they came out. In the absence of really really excellent writing and ideas together, I guess the Hugo nominators kind of defaulted to some familiar names with Scalzi and Kowal and Muir. Not every year ends up celebrating the best of the best. There's down years. Honestly we've been spoiled in the past decade - decade and a half to have had a great run of amazingly written works with fantastic ideas. As writers and readers adjust to the new "normal" of this world, I think there will be more engagement with ideas and see some excellent works emerge in the coming years.
I love your optimism and attitude and hope that you are proven right. Until then I do think there are books out there with those ideas but they arent getting recognized. For example any book with mention of pandemic is getting skipped over because its “too soon” which is fair but also not esp if it was written prior to and then published after. So timing plays into it to i suppose.
This just shows that we have very different points of view over nomination. I enjoyed Legends and Lattes and have already ordered the prequel, but it doesn't feel to me like it deserves a nomination, whereas Kaiju absolutely does and is what I would vote for if I had membership. L&L was just fun but nothing more than that to me, and while it started a trend I don't consider it innovative because cosy low stakes fantasy existed before it, they just didn't get so much attention (the pandemic no doubt helped with everyone craving cosy).
Would love to hear more about your opinion of kaiju. What about it was what you loved? I’m more than happy to be convinced…haha
And absolutely respect different opinions, it makes for fun discussion…
@@secretsauceofstorycraft Honestly it's as simple as Kaiju is a book I keep thinking about over a year after I read it, and already want to reread.
There are definitely books I regard more highly than Kaiju which would have been eligible, but none that were nominated. Furysong by Rosaria Munda for example is excellent (but that whole trilogy tends to be overlooked even in the YA fantasy market let alone by the adult SFF fans who vote for the Hugos). The Justice of Kings would also have been a great choice.
Thanks, Whitney, for your great review. You have a lot of valuable insight into the process and more importantly, the content of this year's nominees. I value honesty and integrity over hype, any day. Glad to see the channel is growing. Keep up the great work!
Glad it was helpful!
I LOVED Nettle & Bone. So good, ran to read Thornhedge and That was wonderful too!
I'm so glad!
We can understand why readers and writers gravitated towards cozy stories during these years. But we can also have big ideas not propelled by conflict, as explained in Le Guin's short essay "Conflict." We can also look for sociological storytelling instead of hero narratives.
🔥 i can support this
Great thoughts and discussion. I mostly agree, although, unfortunately, for me, High How We Go In the Dark was the worst book I read last year. Opening story was excellent. The rest were not, and I felt nothing. A shame, because it was heavily hyped before release.
Yeah- i can understand. What did u think of mickey 7 ? If you read it?
I definitely feel like voters were looking for emotional connections this year, which certainly shifts what turns up. Mountain in the Sea well deserved it for sure, though certainly everyone I've seen who didn't like it was because of characters/lack of connection, so for me it makes sense with the current lean. The award has gone through periods of being more pulpy/action/adventure leaning, I think it can get back on track, but with things like booktok hype machining books, Ill be curious if that affects it more in coming years instead.
If you havent , you should check out the Ursula K LeGuin award list, more ideas focused for sure.
Thanks for another great video Whitney! Really respect your honesty and your high expectations for sci-fi, especially for such prestigious awards. Very refreshing to hear some fair criticism of books, something that's usually glossed over on Booktube. Keep up the great work :)
Thank you so much!!
Interesting video. Thanks!
Of the novels nominated, I only read Kaiju. I think it's a very mediocre book. Turns out, I'm not much of a Scalzi fan.
A lot of those you think should have been nominated, I read and loved.
Yeah its a pity
Great video. This was a sincere viewpoint and I could tell you had thought through this very carefully. Great job and thanks
I appreciate that!
I have DNF'ed Gideon as well.. Just couldn't care.. It had a huge marketing machine behind it.
Im glad i’m not the only one…
Maybe you should do some kind of summary of the disaster that was Hugos 2023 and to be positive maybe include how it seems that there are people trying to make 24 a better experience (including people having resigned as a result of 23).
Maybe- but i still am waiting for Hugos to redeem themselves in my eyes.
I dont know that my summary of what happened would add anything to discussion that others havent already said. But i appreciate the suggestion!! Will think on it.
@@secretsauceofstorycraft maybe you are right. But you do seem to be chronicling the Hugos as part of your content and not going over it even just in a short video, will kinda leave a gap in your coverage 🙂
I am assuming that later in the year you will cover Hugos 24 and then you will have all of the old stuff out of the way.
And I agree, the Hugos has taken a severe blow in terms of reputation.
Love your channel. I felt the same way about this year's nominees, kind of lackluster. But we know the Hugos have not always picked the books with the most lasting value, like They’d Rather Be Right in the 1950s. I'm not sure when that book was last in print and I don't know of much of anybody reading it. Most of who I have heard talk about it have called it the worst SF book ever. So there is definitely a problem with immediately picking what is the best. I think such awards should wait a while and then look back to see what is still being read. Then you would see the books that really do have lasting impact.
Interestingly- several folks have mentioned that the recency of the awards is a real problem for some of the quality control and I strongly agree with that. Its hard to get all the new books just when they come out- and books out end of year get forgotten about… as do the books that out in january. Its a toss up I suppose.
I think Scalzi hit a low with Redshirts, a book almost entirely driven by oh so terribly witty banter, and he's never really come back from it. He'd already employed a really cheap trick in The End Of All Thing spoiler follows, when he brought out the missing comma thereby changing the meaning of the title.. OK I digress. After Redshirts he just got boring by relying on banter that just wasn't as smart as he thought it was, which is a shame.
Im sad to agree 😭
Thanks for bringing me up to speed on this topic. I should probably pay more attention to current Hugo's but after seeing the drama, maybe not, lol. As always, great content and video.
Fair enough! Hahah…. There is alotta drama and i’m not even “in the know” either. Thanks for watching
The Hugo has fallen a long way in recent years.. It has become a microcosm of society. Be diverse, don't offend, blech..
Im sad to say i might agree, although i still have hope every year….
I have no desire to read any of the nominated books, but that happens alot with the Hugo's. When I saw the list of 2022 Forthcoming Books nothing appealed to me. I dont think I read anything published in 2022. This year has been much better and I still have a Murderbot coming.
I worry about the books on your bookshelves...if it's so hot that it melted your clock the books might burst into flames!
Hahaha 🤣 the easier to absorb them tho….
Im pumped about the new murderbot too! And i daresay the novellas were decent.
I wnat to know who make the thumbnails of your videos. They always look awesome
I do! Haha thanks. I have been using midjourney lately to generate some of my characters or ideas, then use photoshop to edit them.
Cool... AI helping everyone to do their jobs. Wait until AI does book reviews and recommendations😮😮😮
Interesting ... I left fandom ages ago, and no longer keep current with SF.
Aw i’m sad to hear that, but i’m sure you had your reasons…
It was mostly just life getting too busy -- grad school, parenthood, etc. I still read SF, but in a sort of random way, and not necessarily current. Actually, it is sort of like when I first started in 4th grade, scouring the library for books with that rocket & atom sticker on the spine, and buying Ace Doubles at the newsstand for $0.35. I just finished a Connie Willis binge that started when I picked up a copy of Doomsday Book during COVID-19 lockdown.
You can do a video on the winners. I don't get much news on the hugo awards.
Maybe ill do a community post- they will be announced this sunday!
Sea of Tranquility was amazing, I can’t believe it didn’t make the list.
So many books didnt make it :( so sad
Kobo says Nettle & Bone is 83k words (over 40k), so novel approved. 👍6-7 hour read. Wow, Tchaikovsky's Ogres is right on the line between novel & novella at 40k words, 2-3 hr read. Maybe juried awards are more meaningful?
Not sure what right answer is on juried awards or not…. But thanks for looking up nettle and bone!! Seemed shorter than that…. 🤷🏼♀️
Its too bad. Movies , Music and now Books. I guess we will have to just have to watch booktube.
Mindblown 🤯 -- ur right!
Agree. I did not even use my voting rights this year. I just did not see anything worth standing next to past Hugo Winners. So many good books did not make the list. Ones that pushed story and fought to show interesting concepts.
🔥
@@secretsauceofstorycraft no hate on those that made it... But... Hugo's.
@@RAHowes i’m not sure i understand this last reply. Haha sorry 😣
@@secretsauceofstorycraft lol... Just saying the books that made it, I don't hate on. I just feel a book to win the Hugo needs something special. All in short hand, 🤣.
I can only aspire to write well enough to feel I deserve a nomination to the award, let alone win one.
@@RAHowes oh I get it. Its not that I dont enjoy many of these books its just that they dont challenge oboubdaries or do anything special for genre. Which is what i wanted… but i guess not what everyone else wanted. Comfy books have a place, just not the hugos
You must be reading my mind, or something? Adrian Tchaikovsky deserves all the awards. As for the Hugo, over the last ten years or so (who's counting?) it has become mired in controversy that just sucks all my joy out of the award. Sad, but true, and remarkably of little consequence in the bigger scheme of things.
Yeah you are right….. on alll counts!!
Well I didn't know about any of these picks until I watched this and your disappointment is totally understandable. How Mountain in the Sea didn't make it is baffling. Babel and Sea of Tranquility were great too. Really surprised about Sea of Tranquility considering how popular the author is due to Station 11. You aren't alone in your disappointment!
👍🏻 and also 👎…… here’s hopin for next year 🥂
Just discovered this video and your channel. For me the Hugo's have been meaningless for many years. I have read and enjoy books nominated or that won over the years but the fact that something is nominated or wins holds no interest for me nor influence what I read or try. The Nebula, BSFA and Clarke awards seem to be more along my lines. Had to laugh at the comments about the Scalzi book, not much innovation with his books in a long time.
Its sad about scalzi and hugos…. Esp since i only discovered them seriously when i started my channel
Sadly I've felt a bit 'meh' about the Hugos over the last few years :(
I feel the same sadly
I listened to your video without knowing what the novel nominations were, so I was very curious to find out what the books were....and whether I agreed with you. And....well.....yikes! I'm pretty shocked at the low impact (I won't say "quality") of the selections. I think you understated it, frankly. I share your disappointment completely. Not that these are poor books, but if the Hugo awards don't reward ground-breaking content in science fiction, then they serve no redeeming purpose as far as I'm concrned.
🔥 🚀 👍🏻-- i’m both glad and sad to hear this. I wish hugos had better choices
I think Scalzi’s book KPS was more of a YA book
Enjoyed Ogres😊
Yay!!
It felt like a YA book with how superficial it was-
You seem to admit to not knowing much about what is going on.
Yes. Lots of things about the hugos were speculation unless you are on the hugo team (which im not) - and timing helps too. This video was published before all the crazy went down.
Stop Apologizing!! We listen and like your reviews because of your biases - likes and dislikes. So much trash is trying to pass as good sci-fif that it should be called out. I admit the only nominee I tried was "The Spare Man" and it was trite and tried too hard. I realize there is a desire to - how to say it nicely - for sex, age, gender, orientation, political views, etc playing a bigger role but this necessarily means good books are ignored. Tchaikovsky, Sea of Tranquility, Pluto Shine - all deserved a nomination.
Pluto shine??? I havent heard of this. Going to look 👀 now…..
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I saw it praised by Alastair Reynolds. a few hidden jewels - Patricia Anthony (Brother Termite, Cold Allies (chilling), Happy Policeman (murder, dark humor, aliens) / Paul Hardy - LIterary scifi (Unusual, original) / Felix Palma's "Map" Trilogy. The first (Map of Time - Victorian England) Andrew's love is a victim of Jack the Ripper, a feminist falls for a man leading the revolt against machines in 2000 and Wells discovers time travel has its faults. I've read it in the original Spanish and prefer the English translation. Finally (whew), "Mission" (Paul Kidd)- the best "gotta leave Earth and bad things happen" novel ever. I called it "erudite, poetic and glorious", so perfect it almost makes you cry when faced with the garbage for sale. (I had 3 copies!!)
oups... you really won't be happy with the winner
Yeah…. Disappointment either way i guess 🙈 maybe next year will b better…
I kinda gave up on the Hugos back when a Harry Potter book won. The next year Neil Gaiman wins with American Gods. Both fine books, but have about as much to do with science fiction as Jersey Shore
Haha 😂 hugos are technically fantasy too… but i get it. I dont understand everyone’s obsession with american gods. It wasnt good,IMO.
The Hugo covers speculative fiction, including fantasy.
I feel like Adrian Tchaikovsky has been so prolific and leagues above the rest of the field these past few years that they feel like its unfair to everyone else to properly judge all of his work. Glad to see Ogres on the novella list because it was amazing, but the quantity and quality of both long, complex works, as well as novellas, that that man has been putting out is truly astounding.
🔥 i agree!!! He has more work coming too!
Gideon: I really liked it, but the "lingo" was a bit too modern. Harrow (2nd book) is poorly written.
Adrian Tchaikovsky: Besides Haruki Murakami, AT is my favorite author.
671 subscribers (when I found the channel bc of #NewAlliance) and 5k now. Well deserved.
Book 3 kind of explains why everyone talks like a meme lord from 2010.
Hm…. Well i do plan to give gideon at least one more chance, maybe on audio…
Good taste with A.T.!
And yes! Thank you on the subs! It is still kinda shocking to me. Hope to continue this trend💪 🤗
@@secretsauceofstorycraft I think you should start with The Vanished Birds by Jimenez since you seem to like idea heavy science fiction more.
how can sf not be about big ideas
Ask this years hugo voters….
Because there are a lot of kinds of sf. Big ideas books are just one kind. Some of us also enjoy smaller, more personal, WELL WRITTEN books that explore how different ideas affect us, whether big or small. I think a lot of the big idea books are written by authors who are poor writers, aside from their big ideas.
I know that _this_ is a minority opinion: I'd like to see a _literate_ author win a Hugo. Yeah, I know, I reach for the stars.
Ooof 😅