Sunday, June 14, 2015

This Hugo Thing is SO not settled!

Internet friends, I want you to know that I am writing this blog post with a disabled keyboard, supplemented by the 'on-screen keyboard' app-thing for when some of the letters go away. It's become that important to me. I AM going to check this for errors, but if you see that a letter is missing, that's the reason. Note: t, p, and 1 are the most likely to go. In fact, I'm amazed that sentence just worked...
Here's the precipitating issue: I started to write Hugo run-up reviews several weeks ago, right after the nominations were announced, in fact. MOST, not all, of my reviews were Hugo related, although not necessarily of current 2015 nominated works. In some cases, and in one particular case (Tour of Duty, by Michael Z. Williamson) there were other factors involved in making my selections. I was cranking right along when I started having computer malfs. First one laptop died, then another, and I simply CANNOT articulate well using the painfully slow keyboard on my book reader. As a result, I have a HORRID backlog of unwritten reviews, including at least one Hugo-nominated work, Tom Kratman's "Big Boys Don't Cry."
For me, the big issue was NOT going to be the Novel category. Bizarrely, all of my interest is centered in who is going to bring home the Hugo in the Best Fan Writer category. REASON: Dave Freer, Amanda Green, and Cedar Sanderson are all on my list of People I Love To Have In The World With Me, and although all of them are published authors, their fan writing definitely qualifies them for this award. I've been a Dave Freer fan for years, and when I started to follow the Mad Genius Club, I quickly added Cedar and Amanda to my list of 'must reads.' In fact. the FIRST review I ever wrote was for a short story Cedar gave away as a freebie one week last year.
So, when the nominations were announced, I was pretty sure where my vote was going. It wasn't a function of Sad Puppies, it was just based on my personal reading experience.

AND AT THIS POINT, AN INTERLUDE HAPPENS for about two weeks.

During that interlude, I've gotten a new wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse, and that's the best news. The only downside is that I remember why I don't like wireless mice; they scurry away when you drop them. I also procured two other things: a back spasm that had me flat on my back for a few days, and then: PNEUMONIA!!!
Yahoo! I am writing this in the brief interlude that comes once in a while, when I am somewhat alert and can somewhat focus. It's a small window, so I'm going to be terribly brief.
Here's the deal, I went after the Best Fan Writer category first because I knew three of the five contenders, and their stuff is BRILLIANT.
Then I read The Mixon Report, and it was BRILLIANT!
And then it came down the the last entry, Jeffro Johnson. I did not know him, and had to ask my buddies where to look for him. This is NOT my review of Jeffro; I am no where NEAR able to give him the review that is in my head to give, because the cat is sitting on me and my nose is running, and my gift-from-God, happily-ever-after trophy wife Vanessa, the elegant foxy praying black grandmother of Woodstock, GA is humming "Great is Thy Faithfulness," and I am just out of energy.
But let me say this:
Jeffro is BRILLIANT!
This Hugo Thing is SO not settled!

2 comments:

  1. Best of fortune with the Pneumonia. I know that is no fun.

    Bob the Fool

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  2. Whot Bob says. Take it easy, pneumonia will knock you six ways to Sunday if you ignore it. Not that I'm writing from personal stupid, of course.

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