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seanan_mcguireVoting for the 2012 Hugo Awards is now open for all Attending and Supporting members of the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention, ChiCon 7. ChiCon will be held this August in Chicago, Illinois, where attendees will be able to see such wonders as me tending bar for Barfleet, Amy fiddling for everyone in the known universe, and Cat and I in full-on flustered fairy tale princess mode. Super-fun!
Now, if you're not going to WorldCon, you may wonder why this is relevant to your interests. I have two words for you: voter packet.
All Supporting Members receive, in addition to Hugo voting rights, a copy of the Hugo voter packet. This includes all the nominated works for the year. Novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, graphic stories, and yes, related works (so this year, they had to figure out how to include MP3s of an entire filk album—I am a living complication). Strictly speaking, this is well over a $50 value. I mean, the Related Works category alone would probably cost you around $80 if you bought all the physical media, and that doesn't go into the fiction categories at all. So you save a lot, while getting a neat little packet containing electronic copies of what the community thought was best about the previous year. And oh, I forgot to mention there's also samples of the Fan Writer nominees, and art, and and and and...
And here's the thing. I can't pretend that I don't have a vested interest in this year's Hugos: I said last year that no one accepts a nomination when they don't want to win, and I meant that sincerely and without embarassment. It's even worse this year, when I'm on the ballot four times and terrified of losing four times. I want to win. But even more, if I'm going to lose, I want to lose fairly. I want to lose because the community spoke, and what they said was "this one over here should be the victor." That means people need to vote.
Every year, when the Hugo ballot is announced, some people say "these things, these things are wrong." Then, after the votes are counted, some people say "these wins, these losses, they are also wrong." But the only way to change the wrongness is to participate. That means nominating, and that means casting your vote. It's never been easier, and it's never been more...balanced, for lack of a better word. $50 isn't peanuts. There have been years where I wouldn't have been able to afford that. On the other hand, you get a lot of bang for your bucks, and you get to be a part of shaping our community's history. And if you register now, you may even have time to read everything before the deadline!
If you can afford a Supporting Membership, I highly recommend it. It's a fair value, and it lets you participate. Everybody loves participation, right?
This ends today's public service announcement.
Now, if you're not going to WorldCon, you may wonder why this is relevant to your interests. I have two words for you: voter packet.
All Supporting Members receive, in addition to Hugo voting rights, a copy of the Hugo voter packet. This includes all the nominated works for the year. Novels, novellas, novelettes, short stories, graphic stories, and yes, related works (so this year, they had to figure out how to include MP3s of an entire filk album—I am a living complication). Strictly speaking, this is well over a $50 value. I mean, the Related Works category alone would probably cost you around $80 if you bought all the physical media, and that doesn't go into the fiction categories at all. So you save a lot, while getting a neat little packet containing electronic copies of what the community thought was best about the previous year. And oh, I forgot to mention there's also samples of the Fan Writer nominees, and art, and and and and...
And here's the thing. I can't pretend that I don't have a vested interest in this year's Hugos: I said last year that no one accepts a nomination when they don't want to win, and I meant that sincerely and without embarassment. It's even worse this year, when I'm on the ballot four times and terrified of losing four times. I want to win. But even more, if I'm going to lose, I want to lose fairly. I want to lose because the community spoke, and what they said was "this one over here should be the victor." That means people need to vote.
Every year, when the Hugo ballot is announced, some people say "these things, these things are wrong." Then, after the votes are counted, some people say "these wins, these losses, they are also wrong." But the only way to change the wrongness is to participate. That means nominating, and that means casting your vote. It's never been easier, and it's never been more...balanced, for lack of a better word. $50 isn't peanuts. There have been years where I wouldn't have been able to afford that. On the other hand, you get a lot of bang for your bucks, and you get to be a part of shaping our community's history. And if you register now, you may even have time to read everything before the deadline!
If you can afford a Supporting Membership, I highly recommend it. It's a fair value, and it lets you participate. Everybody loves participation, right?
This ends today's public service announcement.
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Date: 2012-04-30 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-30 10:12 pm (UTC)This! Totally this! I see comments pooh poohing the awards, and I ask myself if the people making them bothered to do any research or actually participated in the process by nominating or voting for the nominated works. For what you get $80 is rather on the conservative side, especially down here in Australia where books are regarded as a luxury item and priced accordingly.
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Date: 2012-05-01 02:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-04-30 11:16 pm (UTC)And you are on the cover! Go you! *Big Hugs*
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Date: 2012-05-01 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-30 11:31 pm (UTC)From the one person I talked to (at the airport on the way home) who did this, I extrapolate that some people decided that FEED was horror, they didn't like horror, so they didn't read it or vote for it. I didn't feel I could have voted unless I had read *all* the entries, which I was glad to have the chance to do. Then, in my estimation, Feed was the clear winner.
We are attending members, though there is a risk that my health will not have improved enough by the con to attend (and a chance it will (http://alitalf.livejournal.com/131094.html)), but we can both vote even so.
Roll on the voter packet.
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Date: 2012-05-01 04:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-04-30 11:40 pm (UTC)(As a member of the Chicon 7 proofreading team, thought I'd point out that neither Worldcon nor Chicon capitalize the "con" in the middle :-> )
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Date: 2012-05-01 01:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-05-01 12:34 am (UTC)So this is just me being curious - the mp3 copy of the entire filk cd is Wicked Girls? Just trying to make sure I'm awake here.
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Date: 2012-05-01 02:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-05-01 01:00 am (UTC)In the interests of vague disclaimers being nobody's friend, you may wish to disclose that frequently books in the related works category are only available in excerpts? I was...taken aback, my first year. :P
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Date: 2012-05-01 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 01:25 am (UTC)Just wondering. If you don't know, that's cool, or if someone else wants to point me in the right direction, just give me the link. Thanks!
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Date: 2012-05-01 01:44 am (UTC)The Hugo Awards voting process has two stages: a nomination period and a final voting period. During the nomination period ballots may be cast by current Worldcon members (who join by January 31) and members from the previous year’s Worldcon.
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Date: 2012-05-01 03:18 pm (UTC)(Also, seriously - congrats on being nominated 4 times! You really are that awesome, and that feat really is all that. The quiet majority is quietly impressed.)
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Date: 2012-05-02 04:18 am (UTC)<3
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Date: 2012-05-02 08:57 am (UTC)I did have a neat method for getting through the material in time to vote, which was to read at least one chapter (or chapter length section) of each novel and novella, rather than attempting to read them all. I figured if a book didn't grab me enough to want to finish it in that first chapter, then it was unlikely to get my vote.
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Date: 2012-05-02 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-05-05 12:54 am (UTC)Thank you for posting about this, and good luck!
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