Reminder: Hugo Award voting is open now, but closing soon.

[seanan_mcguire]

To all those of us with memberships for the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention...have you remembered to cast your vote for this year's Hugo Awards? Because if you haven't, you're sort of running out of time; July 31st is your last day to vote. And hey, did you know that anyone can nominate, and vote, for the Hugo Awards? All you have to do is

Comments

[listicath]

Wait... where's the Ben & Jerry's sale?

[gorgeousgary]

Indeed. I have a decent smartphone. I can hold a cone of B&J in one hand while I page through Hugo nominees with the other... ;-)

[seanan_mcguire]

Thhhhhhpppppppppt.

[lauredhel]

I'm really enjoying my Hugo reading so far, especially the short fiction which I thought was really strong. I was, however, disappointed to find that the packet which called itself "DRM Free" wasn't. I'm really hoping they address that next year; it was a right wrestle to read some of the works, and that didn't put me in the best frame of mind to assess them favourably.

Onward and upward! I'm in "Related Works" now.

[seanan_mcguire]

Sadly, that's on a publisher by publisher basis, and no matter how much we the authors wail and beg, it all depends on who presses the compile button. :( I'm sorry for your trouble.

[lauredhel]

Ugh, it's so shitty when publishers decide that they know what's best, and screw around with their audience, their authors, and everyone. I'll be making a note of what publishers did this colossally stupid and insulting thing. Maybe next year's Hugo packet, if they can't convince the publishers to provide DRM-free works, could make it really, really clear in all the marketing:

"Works in the Hugo packet are DRM-free, EXCEPT THOSE FROM ORBIT WHO REFUSED. Those authors desperately wanted their books to be accessible to you, we wanted those books to be accessible to you, BUT ORBIT STILL REFUSED AND WOULD NOT LISTEN TO LOGIC. We are sorry."

[seanan_mcguire]

Issue: there is no requirement that a publisher allow their work to be given out for free in the Hugo packet, at all, and most authors, myself included, don't have the right to provide the work if their publisher doesn't. So shaming the publishers who cling to DRM? Would just result in all those works being yanked from the packet. As I selfishly really really really want a Hugo, I hope people don't start doing that.

[filceolaire]

and if you can't afford US$60 you could buy supporting membership of the 2014 worldcon which will be in London UK. Currently supporting membership for Loncon3 is £25 / US$40 / €35 at www.loncon3.org/ though it will probably go up later.

Buying your membership this far ahead of the 2014 convention means you can participate in selecting the nominees for the ballot as well as voting.

The nomination poll happens at the beginning of the year with the nominees usually announced at Easter.
The voters package for next year should go out in April or May next year with the voting happening this time next year.

[spectralbovine]

Currently supporting membership for Loncon3 is £25 / US$40 / €35 at www.loncon3.org/ though it will probably go up later.
Oh, wow, thanks for the tip! It goes up at the end of September.

[seanan_mcguire]

Oh that is a BRILLIANT point you are a GENIUS.

[thedragonweaver]

It also doesn't hurt that $60 is a really good deal for a bunch of e-fiction that not only includes five (?) novels, but roughly the same number of novellas, novelettes, short stories, Campbell nominee books, and the like. If you come into some spare cash too late to read everything but before the deadline, you should drop the blunt just to get the stories, which are difficult to track down after the fact.

[seanan_mcguire]

Very true.

[danaoshee]

Novelette is *HARD* this year. You! Cat! Choices! Gah!
Too many good stories, such a horrible problem....

[seanan_mcguire]

We should all be so troubled.