On books, awards, and being an idiot on the Internet
I'm watching the fallout from Christopher Priest's comments on the Clarke Awards with a degree of enjoyment and fascination. His comments seem to boil down to "it's not my kind of sci-fi so it shouldn't be nominated", which is fair enough. Everyone has a right to their opinions. The list doesn't really do much for me this year, either.
His snotty delivery and dismissive, rude comments about the nominated works? Yeah, that's where it all went wrong for him, methinks. No awards shortlist can ever make everyone happy, but there are ways of expressing opinions and then there's Priest's rant.
One thing (of several, but I'm limiting myself to this one) that I need to take exception to is this idea that 2011 was a dismal year for SF. If you're talking about hard sci-fi, then maybe it wasn't a great year. It's not my thing so I don't seek it out and the books that people were talking about and pimping around definitely weren't hard sci-fi. If you're talking about superb, inventive, compelling speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, all the things in between) then I'd say that 2011 was a very good year.
I only have to look at all the books that have been discussed in relation to the Hugos to know that and my "must find it and read it!" list as a result of that is insane.
Priest's opinions might have been better received had he couched them in better language, not demanded the resignation of the entire judging panel, and been a bit less snotty about the state of current SF just because it's not *his* kind of SF.
Ah, awards season. So much excitement. So much potential for being an idiot on-line.
I am in the home stretch on Mockingjay and it's still thoroughly engrossing. Not Dickens-level of literary genius, definitely, but it's compelling enough to keep me awake and reading all evening despite my tendency to nod off in the evenings.
I need to go through my list and decide which book, out of the 100 that I want to read right now now now, will actually be my next book for the Kindle. Oh, the decisions are tough some days.
Today's discovery: nachos are rather tasty. Staff association at work did them as our spring treat, forgoing the usual healthy 'appreciation' breakfast (bacon makes me feel far more appreciated than granola, particularly when I make better granola than the bought stuff) and I enjoyed them a lot. We had to heat them in the micro to melt the (real!) cheese and I opted out of the jalapeno peppers. Suspect they're even better under a broiler with more of my own choice toppings. Think I'll be investing in some tortilla chips and some salsa to make my own at the weekend. Hey, I need a tasty snack supper on Sunday. Perfect!
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His snotty delivery and dismissive, rude comments about the nominated works? Yeah, that's where it all went wrong for him, methinks. No awards shortlist can ever make everyone happy, but there are ways of expressing opinions and then there's Priest's rant.
One thing (of several, but I'm limiting myself to this one) that I need to take exception to is this idea that 2011 was a dismal year for SF. If you're talking about hard sci-fi, then maybe it wasn't a great year. It's not my thing so I don't seek it out and the books that people were talking about and pimping around definitely weren't hard sci-fi. If you're talking about superb, inventive, compelling speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, all the things in between) then I'd say that 2011 was a very good year.
I only have to look at all the books that have been discussed in relation to the Hugos to know that and my "must find it and read it!" list as a result of that is insane.
Priest's opinions might have been better received had he couched them in better language, not demanded the resignation of the entire judging panel, and been a bit less snotty about the state of current SF just because it's not *his* kind of SF.
Ah, awards season. So much excitement. So much potential for being an idiot on-line.
I am in the home stretch on Mockingjay and it's still thoroughly engrossing. Not Dickens-level of literary genius, definitely, but it's compelling enough to keep me awake and reading all evening despite my tendency to nod off in the evenings.
I need to go through my list and decide which book, out of the 100 that I want to read right now now now, will actually be my next book for the Kindle. Oh, the decisions are tough some days.
Today's discovery: nachos are rather tasty. Staff association at work did them as our spring treat, forgoing the usual healthy 'appreciation' breakfast (bacon makes me feel far more appreciated than granola, particularly when I make better granola than the bought stuff) and I enjoyed them a lot. We had to heat them in the micro to melt the (real!) cheese and I opted out of the jalapeno peppers. Suspect they're even better under a broiler with more of my own choice toppings. Think I'll be investing in some tortilla chips and some salsa to make my own at the weekend. Hey, I need a tasty snack supper on Sunday. Perfect!
This entry was originally posted at http://selenay.dreamwidth.org/430759.html. There are currently
babbles on the entry on Dreamwidth