Kat Denning as Death just doesn't feel at all right for me
Ack. Even without the whole MCU Darcy association, she's def got a voice in a much higher octave for what I'd associate with Death, just cause...y'know, death? I know she's a chipper person and all, but like she's also Death.
it is very hard to transmit Desire without the visual component of their androgynously beautiful face
I always thought of Desire as having a sort of melodious voice? Or something that'd we'd associate typically with beauty, but I guess it'd be tricky to pull off in an actual audiobook without someone kinda singing along? Which I suppose would be more of Delirium, given her nature and all. But now that we're getting a TV show out of it and all, I'm interested to see what medium does the better job of adapting it.
I liked the Hob Gadling episode a lot, and the Midsummer Night's Dream one
Yeah, those bits in particular I always thought lent themselves well to a play type format? Partly cause Midsummer Night's Dream is well, Shakespeare and all, but even Hob's stuff had a certain lyrical sense to it?
How was Deadly Education? I've heard some positive chatter about it, and I liked Uprooted, but I wasn't sure if Deadly Education was too YA type?
proliferation of what cahn aptly called "short-form rage" on the Related Works ballot
Yeah, I can get the first time it got nominated cause sure, it makes a point as a statement about the state of the wider genre. But continuing it just seems like beating a dead horse at this point?
I always thought of Desire as having a sort of melodious voice? Or something that'd we'd associate typically with beauty
Yeah, melodious and/or sultry I think is what it would need to be to sound right to me. At least vocally, Netflix!Desire seems to be sounding better to me (in the out-of-character interview thing that's up on YouTube), but part of that could very well be that I'm just not an audio person really, so having JUST the audio input makes it harder for me to connect with a character in the first place.
Yeah, those bits in particular I always thought lent themselves well to a play type format?
Yep! And so they did :)
and I liked Uprooted, but I wasn't sure if Deadly Education was too YA type?
I liked it a reasonable amount, and other people who like Novik seem to have liked it more, but a) it is quite YA (teen cast, school setting, teen romance, and I think just very YA thematically in terms of finding your place in the world and so on), and b) it is not much like Uprooted. (If you're looking for something more like Uprooted and haven't read Novik's Spinning Silver yet, I definitely recommend that one! It makes some weird choices, but is doing a similar thing to Uprooted and doing it well.)
But continuing it just seems like beating a dead horse at this point?
Yeah, kind of. I hated that Jeannette Ng's "short form rage" Campbell acceptance speech was nominated for a Related Hugo, because I did not like her speech (and she was also my last-ranked Campbell finalist that year, so I was not thrilled about her win overall; it's not a question of merit, I hasten to add -- just the way she writes about things seems to be the opposite of what I want to read about those things -- but actually, by the time it won, I had kind of reconciled myself to it, and also, it HAD spurred on real change in the SF awards community, in that the award had been renamed (dropping Campbell's name from it), and I do think her speech (along with Alec Nevala-Lee's book being a nominated Related Work the prior year) hastened that along. I don't necessarily agree that the name change was necessary, but I do think her speech had a tangible impact. I don't know that any of the blog posts complaining about GRRM's Hugo hosting, let alone that specific one, did anything significant enough to merit a nomination. It really did seem like that particular blog post was rallied behind because the title contained "GRRM can fuck off", and the titles of Hugo nominees get repeated a whole bunch in the official proceedings, which just feels petty. But whatever.
a) it is quite YA (teen cast, school setting, teen romance, and I think just very YA thematically in terms of finding your place in the world and so on), and b) it is not much like Uprooted
Yeah, the description I hear thrown around a lot is Harry Potter for kids who read HP but are now YA so that seems to fit the bill? But I'll definitely check out Spinning Silver!
I had kind of reconciled myself to it, and also, it HAD spurred on real change in the SF awards community
Same here- I didn't personally think it would've been nomination worthy in itself, but I saw it like the only real nomination-able thing they could've picked to demonstrate the changes? Which in itself is important to recognize, but it feels like they could've used the slot for something actually showing the change in the wider genre or the expansion of SF awards if they wanted to keep the meta-award slot as opposed to yet another rant?
the description I hear thrown around a lot is Harry Potter for kids who read HP but are now YA
I can definitely see why people would say that, and that's kind of what I was expecting going in, but it's one of the reasons I found the first book weird reading -- because the thing in HP is, Harry loves Hogwarts, and so you the reader are invited to love it as well. On the other hand, the Scholomance books are not satisfying for someone who likes school, and so were not satisfying to me as a magic school narrative (though I liked other things about the two I've read so far).
but I saw it like the only real nomination-able thing they could've picked to demonstrate the changes?
Yeah, I think it was pretty much like that, and it's what reconciled me to it winning ultimately, I guess. Even though I still maintain it was not-great as far as acceptance speeches go.
(the Best Related Work category is such a weird thing in general... I'm really curious to see if it will end up changing or being split up in some way in the near future, because it's just become such a wild mix of things one really can't compare)
Ack. Even without the whole MCU Darcy association, she's def got a voice in a much higher octave for what I'd associate with Death, just cause...y'know, death? I know she's a chipper person and all, but like she's also Death.
it is very hard to transmit Desire without the visual component of their androgynously beautiful face
I always thought of Desire as having a sort of melodious voice? Or something that'd we'd associate typically with beauty, but I guess it'd be tricky to pull off in an actual audiobook without someone kinda singing along? Which I suppose would be more of Delirium, given her nature and all. But now that we're getting a TV show out of it and all, I'm interested to see what medium does the better job of adapting it.
I liked the Hob Gadling episode a lot, and the Midsummer Night's Dream one
Yeah, those bits in particular I always thought lent themselves well to a play type format? Partly cause Midsummer Night's Dream is well, Shakespeare and all, but even Hob's stuff had a certain lyrical sense to it?
How was Deadly Education? I've heard some positive chatter about it, and I liked Uprooted, but I wasn't sure if Deadly Education was too YA type?
proliferation of what cahn aptly called "short-form rage" on the Related Works ballot
Yeah, I can get the first time it got nominated cause sure, it makes a point as a statement about the state of the wider genre. But continuing it just seems like beating a dead horse at this point?
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Yeah, melodious and/or sultry I think is what it would need to be to sound right to me. At least vocally, Netflix!Desire seems to be sounding better to me (in the out-of-character interview thing that's up on YouTube), but part of that could very well be that I'm just not an audio person really, so having JUST the audio input makes it harder for me to connect with a character in the first place.
Yeah, those bits in particular I always thought lent themselves well to a play type format?
Yep! And so they did :)
and I liked Uprooted, but I wasn't sure if Deadly Education was too YA type?
I liked it a reasonable amount, and other people who like Novik seem to have liked it more, but a) it is quite YA (teen cast, school setting, teen romance, and I think just very YA thematically in terms of finding your place in the world and so on), and b) it is not much like Uprooted. (If you're looking for something more like Uprooted and haven't read Novik's Spinning Silver yet, I definitely recommend that one! It makes some weird choices, but is doing a similar thing to Uprooted and doing it well.)
But continuing it just seems like beating a dead horse at this point?
Yeah, kind of. I hated that Jeannette Ng's "short form rage" Campbell acceptance speech was nominated for a Related Hugo, because I did not like her speech (and she was also my last-ranked Campbell finalist that year, so I was not thrilled about her win overall; it's not a question of merit, I hasten to add -- just the way she writes about things seems to be the opposite of what I want to read about those things -- but actually, by the time it won, I had kind of reconciled myself to it, and also, it HAD spurred on real change in the SF awards community, in that the award had been renamed (dropping Campbell's name from it), and I do think her speech (along with Alec Nevala-Lee's book being a nominated Related Work the prior year) hastened that along. I don't necessarily agree that the name change was necessary, but I do think her speech had a tangible impact. I don't know that any of the blog posts complaining about GRRM's Hugo hosting, let alone that specific one, did anything significant enough to merit a nomination. It really did seem like that particular blog post was rallied behind because the title contained "GRRM can fuck off", and the titles of Hugo nominees get repeated a whole bunch in the official proceedings, which just feels petty. But whatever.
Reply
Yeah, the description I hear thrown around a lot is Harry Potter for kids who read HP but are now YA so that seems to fit the bill? But I'll definitely check out Spinning Silver!
I had kind of reconciled myself to it, and also, it HAD spurred on real change in the SF awards community
Same here- I didn't personally think it would've been nomination worthy in itself, but I saw it like the only real nomination-able thing they could've picked to demonstrate the changes? Which in itself is important to recognize, but it feels like they could've used the slot for something actually showing the change in the wider genre or the expansion of SF awards if they wanted to keep the meta-award slot as opposed to yet another rant?
Reply
I can definitely see why people would say that, and that's kind of what I was expecting going in, but it's one of the reasons I found the first book weird reading -- because the thing in HP is, Harry loves Hogwarts, and so you the reader are invited to love it as well. On the other hand, the Scholomance books are not satisfying for someone who likes school, and so were not satisfying to me as a magic school narrative (though I liked other things about the two I've read so far).
but I saw it like the only real nomination-able thing they could've picked to demonstrate the changes?
Yeah, I think it was pretty much like that, and it's what reconciled me to it winning ultimately, I guess. Even though I still maintain it was not-great as far as acceptance speeches go.
(the Best Related Work category is such a weird thing in general... I'm really curious to see if it will end up changing or being split up in some way in the near future, because it's just become such a wild mix of things one really can't compare)
Reply
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