Who won anyway?

Saturday is the traditional evening for the Hugo award ceremony. As part of the reg crew with set up at 0800 in the morning I am sort of feeling a bit ragged about 2000 when the ceremony is supposed to start. This was compounded by a brilliant person thinking that there would be attendees showing up late just to go to the Hugo’s. At $70? I don’t think so. More like someone was either immersed in fantasy land or just avoiding dealing with hall passes.

Those of you from the US – I am sure that you remember Hall Passes from school. They came from your teacher if you were running an errand or needed to be somewhere other than your class room during the hour. Or from the office if you were there for any reason; giving you permission to be somewhere other than normally appointed location by your regular schedule. Some schools even used them to allow quick restroom tricks.

The catch, of course, is that someone has to screen the person/request, decided if it is valid, and then issue the pass. Might take a few minutes, right?

So there we were, stuck and bored till 2100. I had made a couple of trips up to the Con Suite on the main exhibition floor for beverages and munchies as well as pitching in on table clearing. Am I going to hang around with everyone eating, drinking, partying and watching the big screen? Nah -I am going back downstairs to my quiet group of fellow sufferers before heading back to the hotel.

It wasn’t raining! What more could I ask?

Oh – the Hugos?

Best Novel: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Best Novella: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
Best Novelette: “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, translated Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)
Best Short Story: “Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)

The John W. Campbell Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2014 or 2015, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award): Andy Weir

All the votes didn’t match mine, but I wasn’t displeased.

About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
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