The 2018 Hugo Award winners were announced on Sunday night at World Con in San Jose. Frequent readers will recall that I made a prediction regarding the Best Novel Award.
Let’s see how my prediction of a Jemisin triple crown panned out.
Those are the Best Novel Hugo Award results from 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. Besides Jemisin’s sweep, note the declining voter participation. Both data points tell a story about World Con’s fortunes that runs counter to the SF SJW narrative.
Simon and Schuster author Catherynne Valente–calling it now: child of lapsed Catholic Boomers who wanted to give their daughter a “unique” name without realizing people can’t hear the wonky spelling–sparked a Twitter tussle with indie author Robert Kroese over Sad Puppies. Despite the marked absence of a 2018 Sad Puppies campaign.
Total lack of imagination confirmed. Even the CHORFs’ tweets are derivative. I can unpack Valente’s TwitSpasm in one image.
One almost feels pity for Valente and her fellow travelers. They know that their part of the industry is in a nosedive. They know the SJW freak show that’s overrun their conventions is driving fans away in droves. They know tradpub is dying, and they know they can’t replicate their success on the level playing field of indie without the NY cartel to prop up their careers.
Sure, a few tradpub darlings will get to be among the lucky few whose books are still peddled at Costco. Judging by the way Tor unceremoniously dumped their former golden boy Scalzi in favor of the unimpeachably diverse N.K. Jemisin, Valente had better declare she used to be a dude if she wants a piece of that Costco action.
Indie is the industry. Newpub authors releasing tons of quality books through Amazon are doing more damage to the Big Five than the Puppies ever managed. Sure, taunting the defeated SF SJWs is fun. I’ve been known to indulge in a nice triggering from time to time. Still, indie authors are well advised to remember that poking the CHORF hive, while fun, ultimately accomplishes little. Sales are the only awards that matter. Winning the sales award means working the KDP algorithm. It means giving your audience the books they want to read–and fast.
Author Bradford Walker is running the race to win. Help his amazing Star Knight Saga complete its victory lap by backing Reavers of the Void today!
Yeah, it went the way we figured. So now you have a 3 time Hugo winner who can't really earn a living writing. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh.
Some of us with hearts of stone are laughing nonetheless.
At least the Academy Awards have repeatedly stopped short of given lesser actors record-breaking awards to cover up the sham. Worldcon just wasn't that clever. Oh well.
Pour one out for Worldcon. Or back projects like Star Knight Saga and Heroes Unleashed instead!
Shameless plug: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/silverempire/heroes-unleashed-phase-i-5-authors-5-superhero-nov/
The Oscars and the Nobel Prize: "At least we're not as much of a joke as the Hugos."
The comments on twitter really drove it home.
>This is the blackest, womenest Hugos yet!
>What were the winners?
>Didn't you here me? Black women won.
>I mean the books. What were the books that won?
>Books?
How can that be? We have it on Whomst'd Valente's authority that it's our side that doesn't read books.
Half Savages can read books? They definitely can’t write acceptance speeches.
I'll thank you to amend your ignorant comments. She identifies as a *full* savage.
Brian,
Hugo awards TL;DR but was the novel any good?
I read the spasm and kudos to Robert for calmly holding his ground. I particularly liked Catheyinne's
head melting moment over point 1.
Worldcon's irrelevant we'very moved on
xavier
Fiannawolf: I think my google thing finally linked. But yeah, the dragons are where its at for actual fun books.
Ill just keep throwing my money at the good stuff. RIP Hugos. At least Ill always have Dune by Frank Herbert.
One more to the pile, N.Ks 2018 award speech highlights all the reasons why I dont read anything trad pub, except for baen.
https://youtu.be/8lFybhRxoVM
"This is the year in which I get to smile at all of those naysayers — every single mediocre insecure wanna-be who fixes their mouth to suggest that I do not belong on this stage, that people like me cannot possibly have earned such an honor, and that when they win it's meritocracy but when we win it's identity politics. I get to smile at those people and lift a massive shining rocket-shaped finger in their direction." — N. K. Jemisin
Thanks lady, another reason for you not to get my money.
File that speech in the same category as Mundane Matt saying, "Why would I come here and let you guys grill me about the false flaggings if I were guilty? I'm no mastermind," on the Killstream.
Rob's twitter thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1031576930901024768.html
Rob's whole takedown of Valente in one convenient location. Thanks!