Hugo Winners 2006

[admin]

Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners

NOVEL: Spin, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)
NOVELLA: "Inside Job", Connie Willis (Asimov's Jan 2005)
NOVELETTE: "Two Hearts", Peter S. Beagle (F&SF Oct/Nov 2005)
SHORT STORY: "Tk'tk'tk", David D. Levine (Asimov's Mar 2005)
RELATED BOOK: Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop, Kate Wilhelm (Small Beer Press)
DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: LONG FORM: Serenity; Written & Directed by Joss Whedon
DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: SHORT FORM: Doctor Who: "The Empty Child" & "The Doctor Dances"; by Steven Moffat)
PROFESSIONAL EDITOR: David G. Hartwell
PROFESSIONAL ARTIST: Donato Giancola
SEMIPROZINE: Locus
FANZINE: Plokta, Alison Scott, Steve Davies & Mike Scott, eds.
FAN WRITER: Dave Langford
FAN ARTIST: Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer [not a Hugo]: John Scalzi

[admin]

I'm particularly happy to see Peter Beagle win. I haven't read the other fiction winners -- but I will. And Wilson's win will probably nudge me to read Darwinia.

I was also glad to see Serenity get a Hugo, and I guess it is about time for Dr. Who to win a Hugo.

[k1w1taxi]

How many does that make for Connie Willis now? Surely one of the most successful authors in the field.

Cheers
Lee

[hegemon]

I've read a lot of Connie Willis, and it is always very readable, but the science fiction content is often near zero. She writes stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives, in the present or in the past, with a tiny dollop of whipped sf on top. I cannot think of anything she has written that has come even close to having a new science fiction idea anywhere in it. I wonder if she would have won as many awards if she did not have such an appealing personality and were not as active at conventions.

[JP]

I liked the Connie Willis story 'Inside Job'. And in this case the minimal SF content helps the story - by keeping the focus on the characters and their flaws. I thought it was very funny.

And I had always wondered where the phrase ‘Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy?’ came from. I'm happy I know now.

[temp]

I read Connie Willis "to say nothing of the dog"..to be honest, it took me forever to get through that one...I think mainly because of the reason mentioned above...I was looking for some good scifi, when really that one was a sort of comedy with very little scifi in there.
...as a result, I haven't picked up another Willis novel...am I missing out?

[JP]

The only other story I read from Connie Willis is "Fire Watch" which can be found at InfinityPlus. Its about an historian travelling back in time to London during the blitz. I liked the story. It has a very good sense of time and place.

Having said that... just because I liked 2 of her short stories / novelettes does not mean that I'm going to rush out and buy her books. I have a list of books I'm looking for and she is not on it. Not yet anyway.

JP

[spacecat]

I haven't read To Say Nothing of the Dog. Got it but I'm held back by the setting, I guess.

I read Doomsday first and found that to be profoundly affecting. I've always been interested in epidemics and plagues...A close up look was fascinating.

I also really enjoyed her Bellwether book. Hilarious look at the bureacracy in scientific research!

Lincoln's Dreams was so good that I ended up practically rereading it before sending it out on a trade request.

I think one of the things I like about her books is that I always learn things from reading them. She seems to be a very thorough researcher.

[hegemon]

Before reading "To Say Nothing of the Dog" you should read "Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)" by Jerome K. Jerome. It isn't really necessary to read it to enjoy the Connie Willis novel, but it's a better book. Heinlein quotes it in several of his books -- I think Farmer in the Sky is one.