67 Comments on “Redshirts Nominated for the Best Novel Hugo Award + Hugo Nomination Slate”

1. WTG, Scalzi!

   Congratulations!

2. How exciting John! Congratulations!

3. Great news, and what an honor. Good luck!

4. Way to go, John!

5. Way to go, John!

6. Congratulations, John! And Congratulations to all of the Nominees

7. Way to go, Mr. Scalzi!

8. Congratulations and good luck.

9. Congrats! Looks like a good crop of nominees this year…..but you’d think people would nominate something other than Dr. Who for Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form. It’s an excellent show, but there are other really good ones out there.

   Going to be a tough choice for me on the Campbell, too – Mur Lafferty and Zen Cho are both favorites of mine. Congrats to Mark Oshiro, too! I love his reviews. Looking forward to voting – this year’s going to be good!

10. Thanks for the list and congratulations.

11. Congratulations! Well deserved. I had a great time reading it.

    Meanwhile, I am a bit puzzled about not getting a Best Related Work nod for my musical setting of Steven Brust’s John Scalzi’s Blog song. They must have decided, instead, to have me perform the song live at the ceremony. I will sit here and keep refreshing my email until I receive their invitation…

12. Congratulations, Scalzi!

13. Congrats , really enjoyed the book !

14. I hope Stanley Schmidt finally gets the award for best editor. I think he’s on record for the most nominations without winning anything. This is his last chance, if he doesn’t win, I’ll have lost a little respect for the Hugos.

15. It’s nice to see that “Fringe” is finally getting some Hugo love now that it’s concluded.

16. Congratulations!

17. Congrats!
    And, dang, that’s a lot of award categories.
    Slightly annoyed that the new season of Doctor Who is good enough to merit three nominations while I’m still waiting for thier addition to Netflix so I can watch them. Dangle the cheese a little lower, whydontcha?!

18. Let’s hope Redshirts wins! It certainly qualifies as the best novel I read last year. (The Fault in Our Stars was close, but it isn’t nominated.)

19. I love me some “Doctor Who”, but that episode of “Fringe” was the bestest teevee SF I’ve seen in years. It’s what I’m voting for.

20. And you’re in the pages of Journey Planet, which is up for Best Fanzine!

    I also hope Stan Schmidt gets it this year!
    Chris

21. If you win, will you give a shout out to Ruth Berman for her short story “Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited”?

22. Congratulations!!!

23. Congratulations, John! Hope you win!

24. Congrats!

25. Congratulations!

    Wow, I’ve actually read two of the nominated novels. That hasn’t happened in…a couple of years.

    Can I vote to SUBTRACT one from The Hobbit?

26. I’ve read three of the best novel nominees, prior to nomination. Which I’m quite certain has never happened before. In fact, they’re really slipping, only one nominee I’m not at least passingly familiar with.

27. Congratulations, John. The book was great!

28. So, is a trip to LoneStarCon in the cards?

29. I can’t help but notice that out of the five “Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)” nominees, three are Doctor Who episodes.

    Is this a subtle hint that other producers need to get their act together and hire some decent writers?

30. Congratulations! Excellent news.

31. Oh, jolly good! Well done, and thanks also for posting the list.

32. @Rens

    I think the preponderance of Doctor Who nominations says at least as much about the conservatism of Hugo voters’ TV viewing habits as it does about the excellence of Doctor Who. I really would’ve liked to see a bit more diversity in this category.

    Personally, I think that the Person of Interest episode “The Contingency” (2×01) is brilliant–one of the finest TV episodes of any genre that I’ve seen, and a particularly exciting example of SF TV–and I’m disappointed that it didn’t garner a nomination.

33. Congratulations, all, and *wow* did Seanan McGuire get noticed! (She writes also as Mira Grant.) 4 award categories, and five total nominations.

34. Congratulations!

    Perhaps some day you will write a novel about the awful fate of persons abducted by someone claiming to have earned a PHD…

35. Well deserved, of course, John – it was a great read. I’ll confess I’m slightly surprised only because of the comedic tone, which tends to mean it won’t get taken seriously by awards folks. So glad they did. Congrats!

36. Good news — though not exactly surprising news. The Best Novel balloting is going to be a brawl between your book and Bujold’s.

37. This may be an inopportune place to say so, but I hope it’s neither Redshirts nor Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance. I do not mind having bought either in hardcover, and both reduced me to tears and moved me at times, but ended up leaving me somewhat disappointed on various levels. They were certainly good – but not I think great, either in historical context of other prior Hugo winners, nor the authors’ bodies of work.

    Redshirts’ going as meta as it did was bold and well written but in the end did not click for me as a fully flowing plot evolution. I wanted it to work. I understand it worked for a lot of you, and I’m happy that it did, but it didn’t quite work for me.

    I need to go read the other three.

38. George William Herbert:

    It really does take a special sort of complete cluelessness to come to someone’s Web site to tell them you hope they don’t win a major award in their field, yes. I am genuinely curious why you thought doing that would be at all appropriate, and why it wouldn’t occur to you that doing so is a bit of an asshole move.

39. [Deleted because Scorpius knows he’s trolling. However, his preference for 2313 in the Best Novel Hugo category is noted. And it is indeed a fine novel. – JS]

40. John –

    I value your work enough to not be a syncophantic fanboy about it. I would hope you’d like fans who are willing to respond honestly.

41. George William Herbert:

    So, not only do you not think it’s rude and disrespectful to go to someone’s Web site and say “I hope you don’t win one of the most important awards in your line of work,” you’re also of the opinion that this person should be grateful that you are being rude and disrespectful enough to come to their Web site and say “I hope you don’t win one of the most important awards in your line of work.”

    To be clear: I think you have to be incredibly fucking stupid not to understand that going to someone’s site and saying to them “I hope you don’t win one of the most important awards in your line of work” is not going to be received in any manner other than “Wow, you are being a complete and total douchebag right about now.” Because, as a point of fact, going to someone’s site and telling them you hope they don’t win one of the most important awards in their line of work is a complete and total douchebag maneuver. Why? Because it’s rude and disrespectful.

    Also to be clear: This is not about whether one thinks another book is more worthy of the award. Having such an opinion is perfectly fine, and this is a year with a number of excellent ballot choices, which is how it should be. But if you can’t parse the difference between thinking a different novel than mine should win the award, and going out of your way to come to my site to tell me my novel should lose, allow me to suggest you’re not thinking hard enough.

    Finally, to avoid any further confusion on the matter: In the future, should you have the urge to come to my site and tell me you think I should lose an award, won’t you consider not doing it? Because it is rude and disrespectful and you come across like an asshole when you do that. Sing the praises of the other nominees if you like; hell, even note that you prefer one of the other nominees. But telling me that you think I should lose is just a dick move.

    Now, George William Herbert, you may remove yourself from further participation from this thread to ponder what I have said to you.

42. [Deleted because I’ve invited GWH off this thread. George, I’m going to assume you cross-posted. Also, feel free to comment elsewhere on the site, on other subjects. It’s just this thread you’re off – JS]

43. Ugh, so many titles I haven’t read. I’m such a slacker.

    Congrats and good luck.

44. John, I am shocked. Poor George obviously struggles with aspergers or maybe even full blown autism and to reject his posting is cruel and insensitive.

45. GF Dad:

    Let’s go ahead and not make autism/asperger’s jokes, please.

46. REDSHIRTS nominated for German Kurd Laßwitz Preis, too. Congrats!
    http://www.kurd-lasswitz-preis.de/2013/KLP_2013_Bestes_auslaendisches_Werk.htm

47. John – Congratulations on your nomination, and on sharing the limelight with a great slate of nominees!

    I have recommended Redshirts to all my friends. I tell them “The book is about what you might think it is about, but so much more. There is funny, and there is thoughtful, too.” Everyone who has read the book has thanked me for the recommendation, as well.

48. Congrats John! It’s awesome to see the novel listed up there. I was really glad to see Saladin Ahmed on the list as well. Throne of The Crescent Moon and Redshirts were two of my favorite books of 2012. Now I just need to read the other three books so I can have an informed opinion about who I want to win.

49. Congratulations, John!

50. I voted for you and Saladin in the nomination round, John. Now I will be forced to choose between you. (This is where bribes might be a possibility… ;P)

51. John, it wasn’t a joke. Obviously the poor fellow has some problem with social cues regarding what’s appropriate or not. I have a dear friend with a child who is dealing with aspergers and we feel that we must deal with their way of looking at things as we address what may or may not be appropriate behavior. You can disagree with my opinion, but again, I was not joking.

52. [Embarrassing — JS]

53. GF Dad:

    Then, may I suggest not remote diagnosing someone as asperger/autism here, please. It’s not appropriate.

54. Is there going to be a compendium or some such of the short stories and novellas for non-Hugo voters to purchase? I thought I saw something like that last year but wasn’t able to purchase in time and don’t want to make the same mistake twice if there is one.

55. @lukepadgett:
    The last few years there have been digital packets of nominated works for the Hugo voters, meaning the membership of the current worldcon, but they are not available to non-voters. But if you purchase a supporting membership ($60) to this year’s worldcon you will then be a Hugo voter and eligible to receive this year’s packet. And you can vote!

    See: http://www.lonestarcon3.org/memberships/index.shtml

56. Redshirts was my first Scalzi novel, because it was the first one my local library picked up. After that I was sold, and grabbed the OMW series. And everything else you’ve written that I could get my hands on.

    In short, congratulations, and I’m hoping for a win here.

57. Done! Thanks Susan!

58. Congratulations on your nomination! What an honor!

59. Honestly, a supporting membership to Worldcon more than pays for itself nowadays. You get the whole Hugo package — 5 “still in hardcover novels” and 15-20 shorter fictions, plus several graphic novels, and a big chunk of non-fiction/related work. Then there’s samples of the writing from the people nominated for the CampbellNotAHugo, which include short stories or maybe even a whole novel!

    $60 is a really good price for that many words of fine SF/F. Plus you get to VOTE, and you get nifty progress reports and a collectible program book. And if you happen to find yourself in the city at the right time, you can use that towards an upgrade to attending and have more fun than should be allowed.

60. Let’s just say that I was liking Redshirts as I was reading…but it was the three codas that made me love it. And that’s made it worthy of Hugo consideration.

    Bravo.

61. I read 3 of the novels on the slate, and they were all very good. Redshirts was one of them. You are in good company, and they are in good company being with you. Congratulations on the nomination. Based on what I’ve read so far of The Human Division I think you can expect one next year as well.

62. Congrats! There is some very, very strong competition this year. 2312 wasn’t my favorite KSR novel, but it was up there. Vorpatril’s Alliance was pretty awesome too. I haven’t read the other two, but I’ve heard good things.

    I feel like in other years, most of the nominations would be favorites to win, but with this slate, it’s really anyone’s guess. You authors have done an excellent job providing me with entertainment. Have a raise.

63. Congratulations, John. It’s pretty interesting that you are nominated this year for essentially a series of linked stories and then have another strong series of linked stories going on right now (The Human Division) – both being published as novels. I enjoyed Redshirts quite a bit and am really enjoying the serial format of The Human Division and looking forward to the new audiobook release each week.

64. Congratulations! I m reading the audio book right now:-)

65. As someone who by dint of recent circumstance hasn’t read a single nominated work this year, my first reaction upon seeing this slate of nominees was: Only three short-story nominees (per the new threshold), and none of them published by one of the traditional magazines?

66. @gottacook:
    The 5% threshold is not new; it was put in place in 1980. It just doesn’t get triggered very often.

67. Thanks for the clarification – but the question remains, is this the first year that none of the longstanding traditional magazines was represented in the short-story category (and, as I should have noticed, novelette as well)?