I haven't read enough of these to do a full ranking yet, but I did get and read Kallocain, by Karin Boye. I bet most people have never heard of this; I hadn't. It is worth a read. Go get a copy.

Here's how I plan to vote on novella.

( Possible spoilers, certain biasers )

Here's how I will rank the 1940 novelettes. This is a strong category!

( Possible spoilers, certain biasers )

I find the Retro Hugos to be more fun than the modern ones, puppies or no. The amount of material to read is actually manageable and often includes stories I've heard of but would never otherwise have gotten around to reading, or stories that I haven't heard of, but now I know are worth reading. (Also trash, but that goes with the territory.) ( Read more... )

A bunch of the material for the Retro Hugos is available as scans on the Internet Archive. However, whoever scanned the issues of Unknown applied some sort of edge correction and character repair algorithms, with unfortunate results. It mangles the artwork and has a propensity for interchanging the letters "b" and "h". I was particularly ( Read more... )

Kelly and I carefully reviewed what the WSFS constitution has to say about how no-award votes are counted for the Hugos. It reaffirmed my belief that the proper way to vote is ( Read more... )

I am thinking of switching away from pine after 13 years of use ( Read more... )

Hey, you! Yes, you at the intersection of University and 55th, trying to turn right or left onto 55th from University. Yes, I know that the guy in front of you at the stop sign has been there for a while, but for the love of god, laying on your horn is not going to change the fact that it's a nearly blind intersection with a busy street. If you' ( Read more... )

"Citing a more "hopeful state of world affairs" in relation to the twin threats posed by nuclear weapons and climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) is moving the minute hand of its famous Doomsday Clock one minute away from midnight. It is now 6 minutes to midnight. The decision by the BAS Science and Security Board was made in ( Read more... )

Tonight: Just staying home and chillin', I believe. (But call if you'd like to make my evening more interesting. Perfectly safe until 11pm. Gets slowly more risky after that ( Read more... )