Hugo question

[james_davis_nicoll]

Are novellas and novelettes distinct enough that there has to be two categories?

[added later]

If you are here because of "James Nicoll questions whether there should be four written-fiction Hugos. Comments over there, please." note that is inaccurate. In theory we could another written category to make up for the loss of one. Best YA novel, for example.

Comments

[mme-hardy.livejournal.com]

But how do you distinguish "this is the second book in a series that looks absolutely cracking, but we don't know if the author can get past the second-book slump" from "this is the fifth book in a universally beloved series, and frankly this one isn't up to par" from "this is the climax of a series that has been beloved for a decade, who cares how good it is?" I am betting that either of the latter will wildly outvote anything else in the category *coughBujoldcough*.

It's pretty much impossible to disentangle the dancer from the dance, as far as series go. I would be hard put to defend the structure of THE TWO TOWERS (in fact, it's one of my least favorite structures), but the overall LORD OF THE RINGS is great. There are books that are part N of a series that are fantastic, but it's hard to get people to read them (or to begin the series at all) because book 1 was so bad. Everybody knew that book 2 in a trilogy (Remember trilogies? They were great!) almost always sagged.

I don't see how you make a meaningful Best Series vote between (say) A DANCE WITH DRAGONS (long-awaited, needed another edit); LORD IVAN'S LADY (wildly loved series, low emotional stakes); and Book 1 of [your favorite new writer goes here]. Are you voting for the book? The series as a whole? The book as it contributes to the series? How long people waited to get this volume? Other?

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I liked Jay Lake's list, myself; I can even imagine there someday being awards for both Short Novel and Horse-Choking Doorstop Novel.

But we've got some good points here. I don't think the Hugo system, as it is today or is likely to mutate into in the near future, is really set up to fairly examine a series. Other considerations aside, the Hugo ballot lists things that have come out in a specific year - and a series of novels can easily span a decade in publication dates. There may be no good answer.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

A Series Hugo could be nominated and awarded on the Delphic principle, that is if enough nominators and voters believe the series has ended publication that would make it eligible for the year the "last" volume was published. If the author(s) object to being nominated as they expect to write more in a given series they could refuse the nomination if it reached the ballot stage. The question is would there be enough series regarded as being completed in a given year for there to be a real contest?

The Seiun Awards in Japan have categories like best Graphic Story which usually goes to a manga series which qualifies in a given year after finishing publication. For example the 2007 Seiun winner was Ashinano Hitoshi's excellent "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou" which finished magazine publication in 2006.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

As someone who prefers series, let me look at the list of 2012 novels I've read to see how many ended their series.

Carol Berg, The Daemon Prism, conclusion of Collegia Magica trilogy
Amanda Downum, The Kingdoms of Dust, may be more books, but not with this protagonist
N.K. Jemisin, The Shadowed Sun, conclusion of the Dreamblood duology
Patricia C. Wrede, The Far West, conclusion of the Frontier Magic trilogy
Martha Wells, The Siren Depths, conclusion of the Raksuran trilogy
Robert V.S. Redick, The Night of the Swarm, conclusion of the Chathrand Voyages quartet

Plus, two webcomics ended last year: Wooden Rose and Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant.

And I don't read as much or as widely as other people; in fact, I haven't read a single thing that was nominated.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Well, I think you lay out with considerable insight exactly what's wrong with the current system.

But I do see problems, probably fatal problems, with the idea myself, I'll admit. Patrick O'Brian would never have been able to get his Hugo, since he died with the series in motion (if it'd been in-genre, or course). Asimov actually got his series Hugo -- and then more books appeared in the series (from all I hear, much worse books; but I don't see how we could actually forbid authors from writing more books after we'd awarded a series award).

The serial publication of novels worked because it was very often clearly marked (and at that we get confusion over things like Dune and Dragonflight from which pieces appeared in the magazines, but not marked as a serial). As people frequently complain, series books often aren't marked as such early. And ending a series is nearly never made official.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Asimov actually got his series Hugo -- and then more books appeared in the series (from all I hear, much worse books; but I don't see how we could actually forbid authors from writing more books after we'd awarded a series award).

The only real option: Termination With Extreme Prejudice.

Another possibility (has anyone written this yet?): Literary Time Patrol.

Heinlein dies in 1988 because he would otherwise have written even worse novels.

Why do awful Heinlein novels now exist? Because altering our timeline to prevent their existence would unavoidably have wiped out good novels of the 1970s and 1980s by other authors. The Literary Time Patrol compromises, in order to optimize the overall production of excellent works.

James may possibly be an agent of the LTP, feeding hundreds of novel reports downtime to Patrol HQ. They would need someone like him.

[bedii.livejournal.com]

If the LTP can arrange for a new edition of "The Butterfly Kid" I will grant them amnesty for "Karres Venture" and the book that John Meyers Meyers wrote after "Silverlock" was published which was lost in the mail.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

The Literary Time Patrol (not to be confused with the Temporal Literature Patrol) can simply extract reports out of old internet archives; surely someone is burning LiveJournal to stable storage. Their communications back to him are presumably delivered by cats.