Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Many things going on in my life outside of writing and sci-fi. Perhaps I’ll talk about them at some point, but not for the moment. I will note that I am writing, working on both a film script, about halfway done with Lancers Into The Light, and submitting a pair of short stories around.

Also, the Hugo Awards happened. I’m unsurprised but somewhat disappointed with the results, as well as some of the glee that the puppy-kicker side seems to be evincing. My take is that there was bad behavior on both sides, but it never should have gotten as nasty as it did, and that it was just as unfair to blindly vote No Award as it was to have overly concentrated a relatively small group’s nominations in the first place. Hopefully, the proposed voting rule changes will take out any future slate/bloc votes, will tamp down the rancor, and actually allow people to read, consider, and vote without all the vitriol, libel, and hardened stances of this year. I hope Sad Puppies 4 is a recommendation list with much more than 5 works in each category, so it can in no way be labeled a slate, because I really do LIKE the sad puppies style of works. It’s what I read, it’s what I write, and it’s what I’d like to see win (maybe even one of my own works, someday, if I ever have one good enough).

A very even-handed article that almost exactly mirrors my position is here at the blog Difficult Run: Lots of Hugo Losers.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time following the Hugos this year, including over a dozen interviews with writers and editors in the sci-fi community1, and so I was up until 3am on Sunday morning looking through the results. I’ve read a lot of reactions since then–from both pro-Puppy and anti-Puppy sources–and my main take away is that there are an awful lot of losers this year and very few winners.

More later. Hopefully I can feel like getting back on track today.