As a reader I was oblivious to the Hugo Awards, right up until I subscribed to The Interzone. Then the award became a ‘thing’ – something that SFF writers aimed for or respected. The more I lived in the writing world the more aware I became of the power and respect behind this award, an award that is virtually unknown to anyone outside that circle.
In case you have been living in a internet free black hole, there has been some (English understatement alert) ‘fuss’ over this award, and it’s been bubbling away on a low simmer for months. Sure, it’s not the only award for SFF work. It’s reach goes beyond ‘books’. Because of that, because of all that has come before, it is precious. Others in the genre have been arguing more eloquently, vociferously and also down right rudely over what a mess puppies can cause, whether it has tainted the award’s purpose or instead raised awareness.
Platforms, once they gain power, will be abused be it by the marketing department or the campaigners. It’s a fact of life, but just because a thing is inevitable doesn’t mean it has to be accepted. (The core of many a hero quest.)
Locally we are told houses built on green space is inevitable, in our day-to-day we are told we need to accept pay cuts so a thing can continue.
Inevitability shouldn’t be accepted.
We as a human race do not move on if we merely accept our fates, question our reasons, or challenge our limits. At the risk of sounding like Super Natural’s Winchester brothers, there is always a (nother) way.
George R. R. Martin covered plenty of the pros and woes around using the award in this way on his blog. However, for me, the always busy Juliet McKenna has summed it all up nicely here.
(Update to add: This from Fantasy Faction pages.)
((For everyone hoping there would be some cute ickle puppies featuring 70’s platform boots gifs -pg rating mind you- in this post. The internet failed me.))