Ravings of a Textual Deviant

At the 2003 Hugo Awards, Toastmaster Spider Robinson gave the sort of performance you’d expect–and fear. I categorically refuse to repeat any of his puns, partly because you simply had to be there, but mostly because I can’t match his delivery. The winners of all the awards, in more or less order of presentation, are:

First Fandom Hall of Fame Award:
Phillip Francis Nolan (Posthumous)
Phillip Jose Farmer

Moskowitz Archive Award: Rusty Hevlin

E. Everett Evans Big Heart Award: John Hertz
(Very well-deserved; I met him briefly and my impression is that’s he’s is kind, mannerly, and never hesitates to say something nice about anyone he knows.)

Seiun Awards for Literature in Translation (Japan’s equivalent of the Hugo…although “Seiun” actually means Nebula)
Best Short Story: Greg Evans, “Luminous”
Best Novel: Robert J. Sawyer, Illegal Alien

John W. Campbell Award (Best New Writer): Wen Spencer

Best Fan Artist: Sue Mason

Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford

Best Fanzine: Mimosa, edited by Rich and Nicki Lynch

Best Semi-Prozine: Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown, Jennifer A. Hall, Kirsten Gong-Wong

Best Short Form Dramatic Presentation: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Conversations with Dead People”

Best Professional Artist: Bob Eggleton

Best Professional Editor: Gardner Dozois

Best Related Book: Better To Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merrill, Judith Merrill & Emily Pohl-Weary

Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation: The Two Towers

Best Short Story: “Falling Onto Mars” by Geoffrey A. Landis

Best Novelette: “Slow Life” by Michael Swanwick

Best Novella: “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman

Best Novel: Hominds by Robert J. Sawyer

I was especially pleased to see Robert J. Sawyer win “the big one”–as were the cousins I was staying with–because he did the final reading for a competition that Ilana won a year or so ago. I even had the opportunity to congratulate him on her behalf, and I think it’s just fabulous that he actually remembered her.

Now, I absolutely adored Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt, and David Brin’s Kiln People is great. I haven’t read China Mieville’s The Scar, because I had trouble getting past the first couple of chapters of Perdido Street Station; I think you either love his work or it leaves you cold. Having seen him live and in person, though, I’ll probably give it another try. Maybe it’s just me. Nor have I read Michael Swanwick’s Bones of the Earth. Hominids is a good, solid novel, and I really like the way Sawyer has constructed the parallel timelines. I can see Justin’s point, but the Hugos are a popularity contest, and when you factor in the con’s location, the fact that Sawyer is Canadian, and that he’d never won Best Novel despite being a five-time finalist, I think it was inevitable. The Nebula Awards are a juried prize (SFWA votes on these), which is a little different. (However, I will point out that Sawyer has won a Nebula as well.)

The fact that Buffy and Mimosa both end this year probably had something to do with their wins. Not that Buffy isn’t deserving of some recognition; the short form category was Joss Whedon (who had one episode each from Buffy, Angel, and Firefly nominated) vs. Enterprise (two different episodes). I’m glad to see short and long form split out; I hope that the new short form category will open up the field for deserving independent work and high-quality anime.

Neil Gaiman, Bob Eggleton, Charles Brown, and Gardner Dozois are no surprise to me; oddly enough, all but Gaiman won the same awards the last time I was at a Worldcon. (Chicago, 2000). Neil Gaiman did not repeat last year’s speech (”Fuck, I got a Hugo.”), probably because he wasn’t sick and full to the gills of cough syrup…although I’m sure he thought about it.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2003 at 8:21 pm and is filed under Been There, Done That, Off the Shelf. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.