The Hugos

For those of you that don't know, there's a big dust up surrounding the Hugos this year. I won't go into it here. If you need a summary, just search "Hugos award" and you'll find any number of articles and blogs on either side of the issue or no side at all.

It would be erroneous, and honestly, disingenuous, to say that this is just another Hugos award year and we should treat it as such as some are trying to do. No one knows if this is just going to be known as one of those weird years that occasionally happen with any award or if this is the catalyst that causes the Hugos to self-destruct. And I can't pretend that this is a normal Hugos award season for me personally as I've never voted on the Hugos before.

But I am this year.

Many people feel that the slate nominees are undeserving of the Hugo nomination, even if no rules were technically broken. Logically, if enough people have never read a work, then maybe that work couldn't (and therefore, shouldn't) have gotten the nomination normally. But this isn't a normal year and they did get the nomination. We can't change that now. All we can do now is complain, walk away from the Hugos (temporarily or permanently) or try to do something about it.

There is a lot of debate about what that something should look like. From voting no award across the board to pretending that nothing strange has happened. There have been multiple people that have pointed this out, but it should be said here. How can we say that the slate nominees were undeserving of the nomination if we've never read the work? To debate the issue properly, one should have all the facts first. So, I opted for this - to read, watch or listen to everything and everyone that received a nomination and to document (as objectively as possible) my own opinions about each work.

This is going to be quite the undertaking. Going into this, the only thing I've read/watched/listened to is The Lego Move. That is a lot of media left to consume, especially on a deadline.

I just got an email today that they are hoping that the voter packet will be available by the end of May. I know I can't wait that long to get started, so I'll have to find what I can on the internet and jump right in. Here's to having all my free time consumed by the Hugos.


A note about comments: I have no idea if anyone will find this blog, let alone want to comment on it, but I want this to be absolutely clear. Comments will be moderated with an iron fist. Discussion is healthy and heartily encouraged by this blogger, but respect will reign supreme. If you can't manage that, this is not the place for you.