2020 Hugo Finalists

[j***@panix.com]

https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/

It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

[Kevrob]

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Official website info:

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

Kevin R

[Kevrob]

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

James Davis Nicoll has back-to-back nominations for best fan writer!
(4th lifetime.) Way to go, James.

Kevin R

[Moriarty]

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

What happens to the awards if/when WorldCon is cancelled?

-Moriarty

[Kevrob]

Post by Moriarty

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

What happens to the awards if/when WorldCon is cancelled?

The committee has converted ConZealand into a virtual con.

See:

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/03/25/conzealand-special-announcement

You can buy a supporting membership now. or wait for the
adjusted pricing for a full membership to get all-access
online. 15 April is when they expect to have that ready.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/03/25/conzealand-special-announcement

If you really want to splash out, buy the full membership
before the rates change. I'm sure they can use the extra
cash!

Kevin R

[Moriarty]

Post by Kevrob

Post by Moriarty

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

What happens to the awards if/when WorldCon is cancelled?

The committee has converted ConZealand into a virtual con.
https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/03/25/conzealand-special-announcement
You can buy a supporting membership now. or wait for the
adjusted pricing for a full membership to get all-access
online. 15 April is when they expect to have that ready.
https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/03/25/conzealand-special-announcement
If you really want to splash out, buy the full membership
before the rates change. I'm sure they can use the extra
cash!

Thanks for the info. I may "attend".

-Moriarty

[Thomas Koenig]

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

Seems like men have forgotten how to write SF novels.

[Kevrob]

Post by Thomas Koenig

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

Seems like men have forgotten how to write SF novels.

Please don't start that again.

Kevin R

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by Thomas Koenig

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

Seems like men have forgotten how to write SF novels.

Nah, we've just caught up with them.

[James Nicoll]

Post by j***@panix.com
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Does anyone know how to quote material from the web to usenet without the
various quote and apostrophe symbols getting mangled?

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by James Nicoll

Post by j***@panix.com
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Does anyone know how to quote material from the web to usenet without the
various quote and apostrophe symbols getting mangled?

I'm running windows so I just copy from the website, paste it into
Notepad, make any corrections there and then copy from Notepad to
Thunderbird.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by James Nicoll

Post by j***@panix.com
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Does anyone know how to quote material from the web to usenet without the
various quote and apostrophe symbols getting mangled?

I'm running windows so I just copy from the website, paste it into
Notepad, make any corrections there and then copy from Notepad to
Thunderbird.

I have a script that does most of that, though I keep adding to it:

tednolan.net/misc/to_ascii

save that and then run

tclsh8.6 to_ascii < infile > outfile

if you don't have tclsh8.6, "expect" should work. Just does the translation
issues, doesn't try to reflow long paragraphs into 80 column lines.

[Garrett Wollman]

Post by James Nicoll

Post by j***@panix.com
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Does anyone know how to quote material from the web to usenet without the
various quote and apostrophe symbols getting mangled?

Yes, supply an appropriate content-type for whatever encoding the text
you paste ends up being in. Unfortunately this is going to be highly
platform- and editor-dependent. Emacs under X11, which I'm using,
defaults to UTF-8, but because I use a creaking ancient newsreader
from the 1990s I had to manually enter the content-type header.

I'm quoting tor.com's version of the Best Novelette nominees here,
with "curly" quotation marks:

“The Archronology of Love”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, April 2019)
“Away With the Wolves”, by Sarah Gailey (Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Fantasy Special Issue, September/October 2019)
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, July-August 2019)
Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin (Forward Collection (Amazon))
“For He Can Creep”, by Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com, 10 July 2019)
“Omphalos”, by Ted Chiang (Exhalation (Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf; Picador))

-GAWollman

[Thomas Koenig]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Thomas Koenig

Post by Kevrob

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/04/08/hugo-and-retro-hugo-finalists-announced

Seems like men have forgotten how to write SF novels.

Nah, we've just caught up with them.

The "I" component in that PID controller must be set pretty high.

80 years of all-female Hugo lists now?

[Titus G]

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Best Novel
==========
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow

I don't know the first three but did not really enjoy the Hurley novel I
have read and would not attempt another.
First of the other three, hmm, I would not like to choose between the
Martine and McGuire yet.

[Andy Leighton]

Post by Titus G

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Best Novel
==========
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow
I don't know the first three but did not really enjoy the Hurley novel I
have read and would not attempt another.
First of the other three, hmm, I would not like to choose between the
Martine and McGuire yet.

If it helps _The Light Brigade_ is very different to anything else
Hurley has written - both in subject matter and in tone and structure
too IMO. It is a worthy nominee (and was one I nominated too - and I get
very few of mine on the final ballot).

[James Nicoll]

Post by Andy Leighton

Post by Titus G

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Best Novel
==========
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow
I don't know the first three but did not really enjoy the Hurley novel I
have read and would not attempt another.
First of the other three, hmm, I would not like to choose between the
Martine and McGuire yet.

If it helps _The Light Brigade_ is very different to anything else
Hurley has written - both in subject matter and in tone and structure
too IMO. It is a worthy nominee (and was one I nominated too - and I get
very few of mine on the final ballot).

The other voters and I seemed to in synch this year; about half my novel
and novella picks made it onto the final ballot. But there was a lot of
good stuff out last year and I could imagine a ballot just as good with
no works overlapping with this particular version.

(there are large swaths of the ballot I don't nominate for: novelette and
short story, for example, and the moving picture stuff)

[Titus G]

Post by Andy Leighton

Post by Titus G

Post by j***@panix.com
https://www.tor.com/2020/04/07/announcing-the-2020-hugo-award-finalists/
It's a rather long list and I don't feel like wrestling with the formating.

Best Novel
==========
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow
I don't know the first three but did not really enjoy the Hurley novel I
have read and would not attempt another.
First of the other three, hmm, I would not like to choose between the
Martine and McGuire yet.

If it helps _The Light Brigade_ is very different to anything else
Hurley has written - both in subject matter and in tone and structure
too IMO. It is a worthy nominee (and was one I nominated too - and I get
very few of mine on the final ballot).

The first 20+ % began as a standard “break or shape the new army
recruit” exposition of a dystopic society, imaginative technology and a
clear split between the haves and have-nots in attitudes. Then it became
interesting as the real story unfolded so thank you very much for the
recommendation as it was an enjoyable and challenging read despite her
obsession with blood, violence and mass murders.

[Titus G]

The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
2020 Hugo Finalist for Best Novel.

This was another brilliant read. I enjoyed the concept, the plot and the
characters but for me there was too much angst, too much insecure self
analysis and were those women lesbians or not? Why not just say so one
way or the other?
A while back there was a discussion about whether the gender of an
author determined or could be determined by content but I didn't pay
much thought to it till reading this and think it could be categorised
as feminine as in regard to awareness of and concern for the feelings of
self and others.

I have yet to read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and my choices are
still between A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine and
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire.

[Carl Fink]

Post by Titus G
I have yet to read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and my choices are
still between A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine and
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire.

I'm enjoying Memory way more than I expected to.

[Titus G]

Post by Carl Fink

Post by Titus G
I have yet to read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir and my choices
are still between A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine and
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire.

I'm enjoying Memory way more than I expected to.

Luckily I had no expectations expect for the Hurley which was miles
better than expected.

Best Novel Hugo Finalists My ranking.
=========================
4 The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
6 Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
3 The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley
? A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
? Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire
5 The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow

Gideon is just another smart alec 18yr old girl with superhuman
abilities fighting against personal oppression. Being able to command
bones to rise from the earth is too idiotic for me to cope with although
my three year old lab cross remains unconvinced judging by the
unwelcomed holes in my back yard. Skeletons and dead people behaving as
if alive is also too much for me so I didn't get very far with my fellow
country person's entry which I rate six.
But my choices are personal based on what I enjoyed and not on a more
analytical basis which more widely read actual voters will have.