Todd Mason passed on the Hugo and Stoker nominations:
> Nominations for the Best Novel Category
> (621 people submitted nominations for 219 novels)
That's awfully sparse. I've never looked before: is this number
always this low? The average number of votes per entry is less than
three votes. What's the median? I bet it's one vote. Is there any
information available for how many votes the five top vote getters
received (maybe after the Hugos were awarded, or with identifying
information removed)?
> Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick (Eos)
> Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (Analog 1-4/02; Tor)
> Kiln People by David Brin (Tor)
> The Scar by China Mieville (Macmillan; Del Rey)
> The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (Bantam)
I've read _The Scar_ and _Kiln People_. Both were amazing stories.
Mind stretching, inventive, well told - the sort of thing you
imagine might get talked about decades from now. Mieville's story
stands out a bit more, since it is one of the rare fantasy stories
that isn't yet another swords and sorcery tale. (The only other
examples I can think of right now are Williams's "Metropolitan"
and "City on Fire.") It'd be hard for me to decide. What do the
rest of you feel about the other three stories?
Of the remaining nominees I only remember reading "Bronte's Egg."
I'm amazed to see that Swanwick has three nominations. I've read
maybe one or two shorter pieces by him, no novels, and none ever
stuck in my mind. Is this a sort of watershed year for Swanwick?
I notice with *considerable* satisfaction that Lucas's cinematic
abortion didn't make it to the list of movies. Gads, but that guy
is annoying me. Intergalactic bag of wind, indeed. I expect that
"Two Towers" will win the award. I've seen "Spirited Away," and
thought it was marvellous, but it can't really compete with "Two
Towers."
I notice that Stephen King got a Stoker nomination for a
collection of stories. He must be sweeping out his dust bin, and
people still like to read him. Oh well, no accounting for taste.
--
Helge Moulding
mailto:[log in to unmask] Just another guy
http://hmoulding.cjb.net/ with a weird name
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