Hugo Novelettes Visited

Today featured the second part of the Turku Mafia Hugo Debate 2005. This time, the subjects were the novelettes. There was a lively discussion with, as usual, many people rooting for the wrong candidates. That’s what makes these things so fun: you can listen to people telling what they found to like in the stories you don’t care for, and also have to defend your own opinions to persons that think your favorites are worthless. After a while, we took a vote (and then continued to debate the merits of the outcome). Here are the results according to the Turku fandom:

• 1st place (8 votes): The One With Racial Stereotypes, or The Clapping Hands of God by Michael F. Flynn
• 2nd place (4 votes, 2 first placings): The One With Zeppelins, or Biographical Notes to ‘A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes’ by Benjamin Rosenbaum by Benjamin Rosenbaum
• 3rd place (tie, 4 votes): The One With Only Basic Story But Excellent Language, or The Faery Handbag by Kelly Link, and The One With the McGuffin Happy Meal, or The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi
• 5th place (1 vote): The One With the Sentient Car, or The Voluntary State by Christopher Rowe

There was a record turnout, 20 persons in total tonight. Some new faces also; hope to see all of you again! There were pictures from Swecon, and a con report in the mafia zine; if you missed that and want to know what I thought about the con, see my shorter notes earlier on this blog.