Hey, this is cool. On Flickr, I can even blog *other people’s* photos. Here’s one James Patrick Kelly took of me, with a beer can courtesy of Craig Engler. Although it appears as though he was planning to use my head as a coaster, that never actually happened.
Here’s the rest of JPK’s photoset.
Speaking of the Hugos, I was informed of a wonderful game you can play called Hugo Golf. The idea is to take your program booklet and rank each category in the order you think the nominees will fall. So, for novel, say, you might (as I did) rank your ballot like this:
Learning the World by Ken MacLeod – 5
A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin – 3
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi – 4
Accelerando by Charles Stross – 2
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson – 1
(Note: this was not necessarily my preference for the books; that’s just how I thought the voting would turn out.)
At the end of the award ceremony, you tally up your score, based on how many you got right. So if you ranked Spin 1, then that’s good, and you only add one point to your score (a lower score is better, this being golf). If, however, the Ken MacLeod had one, I would have done very badly in this category, because I would have had to add 5 to my score. You grok?
I didn’t do terribly well. I got a 33, which is far too high for my taste. I did well in some categories, but got hosed in others. For instance, I really got nailed on pro artist, which I was sure was going to John Picacio, and had to take a 5 for Giancola’s win. Likewise on Best Pro Editor — I had to take a 5 for Hartwell; I figured that the book editor wouldn’t win, and it was just a matter of guessing the right short fiction editor (I thought Ellen would win, as a sort of SCI FICTION thank-you).
Of all categories though, I have to say my biggest surprise was that “Magic for Beginners” didn’t win. I was sure it was going to, and thought it had momentarily, because Robert Silverberg, who was presenting, said “Oh, she isn’t here,” and since Kelly was the only one not there (Gordon would have accepted for her), I thought it was going to her. But Silverberg was just continuing the schtick that he and Connie Willis had been doing throughout the ceremony. I should have known though — Connie Willis is a Hugo magnet. I don’t think it was the best novella of the year, but I read the story and liked it quite a bit.
I’ve reorganized my Worldcon photos to segregate the Hugo Awards ceremony into a set by itself. So if you wanted to just look at those photos, you can browse through them, starting with the one pictured here. If either view the set as a slideshow, or just keep clicking the “more” button, you can view the ceremony in order. I’ve also now titled all the photos, so you should be able to figure out what’s going on in all of them.
SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about Dinotopia author James Gurney’s new art portfolio, Home Planet, which debuted at Worldcon.
I’ll try to get around to posting a Worldcon report eventually. Until then, go gaze at my wonderful, wonderful pictures! Check out the whole set.
Okay, here’s a real story. SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about Peter Beagle’s “Two Hearts,” which just won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette (and was just nominated for a World Fantasy Award).
Yeah, so in case you missed it, Worldcon is happening this weekend. I’m here in Anaheim, at the Anaheim Marriott, which is 400 feet or so from the convention center. Just taking a break to file a story for SCI FI Wire, and to email some of the interviews I did to myself, for backup reasons. So far, I interviewed Artist Guest of Honor James Gurney (about his new art portfolio, Home Planet), and Mike Resnick (about his new anthology, Space Cadets, which is a Worldcon publication). Details? You’ll have to wait for the SCI FI Wire stories, I’m afraid.
As for the con itself, it’s going quite well. Having a lot of fun chatting with all kinds of talented and important people. But enough blogging for now. Hey, I’m at Worldcon, I’m going to go do con stuff!
