Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Sad Puppies 5 suggestions

EDIT: FOR THE READING BEREFT -- APPARENTLY, THE USUAL CROWD AT FILE 770 CAN'T READ -- I MUST PUT IN AN EVEN BIGGER NOTE HERE. I'M NOT IN CHARGE OF SP5. THE FOLLOWING IS, IN PART, A GUIDE FOR MY RECOLLECTION, SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE VOTING,  AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO GUIDE MY VOTING. APPARENTLY, SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID TO HAVE FIGURED THIS OUT FROM THE BELOW. THAT IS ALL.

Happy new  year. Time to start considering what should be done for Sad Puppies 5.

Yup,  you didn't forget, did you? We only have a few scant months to start getting together nominations for The Dragon Awards.

If you care about The Hugos, yeah,  that too. Though I suspect that's more Rabid Puppies than come to my blog.

I'm not sure about the Hugos, but I think I'll take a Dragon Award, thanks.

First things first. I'm going to put this initial list in a format similar to the Hugos  ..... for now. This is for two reasons: one,  I don't know how SP5 will be laid out, so the Hugo format is easiest.

Second reason?  If there are Rabids who stop here, they still care about the Hugos. So this will serve the dual purpose of catering to them. I'll do a separate list for a Dragon Award version. But the SP5 list is up first, mostly because the potential nominees are locked, as they go by calender year. Now that the scurge of 2016 has passed, let the games begin

To start with, remember that the rules of this game say that you can nominate 5 items per category. Though to be honest, I prefer the Dragon Award version, that nominates by genre. SP5 Might as well, we'll have to see.

THIS LIST WILL BE UP FOR REVIEW LATER ON. Why? Because I still have books left over from last year that aren't read yet (there are books from THREE years ago that aren't read yet) and there are some where I didn't remember the original publication date. I'm compiling this in December, while I'm sick, so we'll see how this goes.

If you are one of the authors mentioned here and you actually DO give a flying f*** about the Hugos, comment, I'll edit and note it

Best novel

Again, I'm going to have to treat this with the same restrictions as the Hugos.

1. John C. Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory. Please read the review, then buy the novel. IN THIS CASE, then vote in the Hugos. Why this case?  1) This blew away everything else I read last year, really. And (2) it does mean something to John, so if it were in my power, I wouldn't deny him that joy for all the world. Iron Chamber should win a Hugo, if there's any justice left. But there is no justice left in the Hugos,  so I'll keep going with SP5 nominees.

2. Marina Fontaine, Chasing Freedom. Why? Because it was one of the best scifi works I'd read last year. And Marina made a dystopia I could read, enjoy, finish, and not want to slit my wrists over. That's a major accomplishment. Words can't even express how good you have to be to pull that off. Please read the review, then buy the novel.

3. Robert Kroese, The Big Sheep. I really did enjoy this book. It's another one that made a dystopia readable. The mystery, he characters, the world building, all of them were stellar. And yes, for those who really care, I know, it's published by MacMillan, which also owns Tor books. If I were you, I wouldn't hold that against Robert.  Please read the review, then buy the novel.

4. Declan Finn -- Yes, I published three eligible novels this year. Funny enough, they're within the time frame for the Dragon Award as well .... which, come to think of it, I have Vox Day to thank for that. But, yes, I have Codename: UnSub and Murphy's Law of Vampires that can be nominated for a SP5 best novel. Huh. Throwing my hat into the ring is just padding the list.

5. No Award. Yes. Really. I got nothing. I can't recall anything that I'd really submit (more on that below). I haven't read a Terry Goodkind in years (I'm saving them for when they stop ending with "To be Continued"). There are no Jim Butcher books out this year.

Notable books for consideration:
Karina Fabian's Discovery.  I read an earlier draft of this book many, many years ago (five years ago, to be precise), and I have yet to read the latest edition. But if the editing cleaned up the problems I remember, this is easily in slot #4 .... yes, slot #4, bumping me down a slot.

Brian Niemeier -- because he was up against The Martian last year, and that's hardly fair. Brian came out with two books last year, Souldancer and The Secret Kings. Read them, enjoy, and flip a coin as to which one you vote for. If Brian has a preference, I'll edit it and add his pick. It's "Notable" ONLY because I haven't read them yet. And I'd want to read Nethereal first .... which means by the time I get to them, the whole series will be out.

NOTE: Yes, I had considered John Ringo's books from last year, but I think Ringo would rather burn his books than let them be nominated for a Hugo -- though I'll have to see if he cares about Sad Puppies, he may not mind that. So ... perhaps Black Tide Rising, or Grunge, or Sinners? Larry may care about SP5 if they preclude a Hugo nomination, so expect to see Son of the Black Sword, which also came out last year, but I would rather nominate another Monster Hunter book.


Best related

Set to Kill -- I've made no secret about my ambition to make people pissed off about this one. If I were to have a serious horse in the Hugos, it would be here. I would want this just to see people's heads explode. If we're talking Hugos, yeah, shoot for best related in Rabid Puppies (Attn: Vox Day).

However, we're talking SAD Puppies, and Sarah mentioned adding genre categories, specifically mentioning mysteries.

Insert big freaking grin here. If that happens, count me in on this one.

If it doesn't happen ... well, throw this into the ring with Rabid Puppies, see who gets pissed off.

Best Novella

Marina Fontaine, The Product -- Yeah. Sorry. That's about all I can think of off hand that would really fit. I'm sure more will come to me when my brain reboots.


Best Short Story

Pick something from Black Tide Rising .... though I would recommend Kacy Ezell's story.

Now, I'm certain that there is a slew of short stories from Lou Antonelli, and Brad Torgersen, and even John C. Wright. Just don't ask me to remember them.

EDIT: Lou has been kind enough to comment what came out last year.

1. “Captain of the Clouds” – Aurora Wolf, January 2016

2“Higher Powers” – Sci-Phi Journal, February 2016


3. “The Milky Way Dance Hall” – Decision Points anthology. May 2016

4. “Lone Star, Lost Star” – Fiction on the Web, July 31, 2016

5. “The Yellow Flag” – Sci-Phi Journal, August 2016

6. “And He Threw His Hands Up in the Air” – Siren’s Call, No. 28 August 2016

7. “Time Like a Rope” – Silver Blade magazine, October 2016

8. "Three Twilight Zone Variations on a High School Reunion" - 3rd Spectral Book of Horror Stories, Oct. 31, 2016

9. “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love” – Gallery of Curiosities podcast, Dec. 26, 2016
My preference would be to include this,  This is golden from the get-go ... though it might be considered a short form Drama presentation. I'm not certain.


Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form


Captain America: Civil War.

Doctor Strange:

Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent.  Oh yeah. This is going to be hilarious. This is only an audio book, so I think it works for a dramatic presentation. Now, in suggesting this, I know, obviously, that Larry wouldn't stand for this as a nomination for the Hugos, I'm certain about this, so if you're interested in the Hugos, DO NOT NOMINATE LARRY ... but I'm also a trouble maker, and this work was funny as hell. I would put this up for an SP 5 nomination ... and a Hugo, but not for Larry. Why? Because if Larry Correia doesn't want the Hugo for it, can we give it to Adam Baldwin? I'd consider flying over to Helsinki to see him give THAT acceptance speech.


Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form

Daredevil, Season 2 -- One Batch, Two batch.

No, seriously, did you people see this episode? This was powerful and heartbreaking, and the best treatment of Frank Castle, The Punisher, that I have ever seen. I don't care if you never watch another episode of Daredevil, watch this episode. Jon Bernthal carries this entire episode, and even most of the series.

After that ... Sorry, I binged on iZombie, and couldn't tell you what came out when without a cheat sheet. Something for Luke Cage? I haven't finished that one, so I couldn't tell you what episode would be best offhand.

Best Editor – Long Form (Rabid Puppies)

..... Huh. Yeah. Never mind. This is here just for the Rabids. Because if SP5 turns out to be all about the books, SP5 will probably not even have this section. If that's the case, assume this will be the Rabid lineup

Toni Weisskopf – Baen
Jim Mintz – Baen
Tony Daniel – Baen
Vox Day, Castalia House, if only because he did Iron Chamber of Memory


Best Fancast

Geek Gab
The Catholic Geek
Superversive Roundtable

Yes, three ... all that I've been on ... don't judge me. I'm happy when I manage to make my own podcast, don't start asking me to start hunting down other people's podcasts. I don't have the time lately.

But yeah, this is as best as I can figure until Sarah has up the rest of the rules and regulations.


Do you have suggestions? Please, but all means, leave them here. Like with SP4, leave a title, an author, and a reason why it should be in SP5. If you think it's worth a Hugo, or a Dragon ... I'll suggest that this is a different conversation. 



 

15 comments:

  1. I think it's less that John would rather burn his books than get a Hugo, and more John will find out who is responsible for his nomination and red shirt them in real life.

    I, for one, have been over the Hugos for a couple years now. Between the Ass-terisks and having GRRM tell me that I am not worthy to be a fan because I haven't dedicated my life to Cons, that's an entire corner of fandom that I will happily live without.

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  2. Nobody at File 770 has said one thing about your post up til this moment. And if you hadn't stepped on your dick by making this post, Amanda Green at Mad Genius Club wouldn't have had to publicly correct you. Which is where all the conversation really happened, as you know, Pinocchio.

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    Replies
    1. I'd had personal contact from 770 morons. Thanks.

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    2. 770 COMMENTERS, if you want to be picky.

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    3. Thanks though. I didn't even know MGC happened until you pointed it out. I'll get around to reading it... eventually.

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  3. Thanks for the nod, Declan :)

    SD would be my pick, but I'll let the fans decide.

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  4. Slightly less graphically than "Migly" put it, I'm absolutely sure no-one at F770 mentioned this publicly until about ten minutes ago, when someone asked if anyone knew what you were referring to. If you say it was private contact then fair enough, but that's not "the usual crowd" that's an individual.
    Anyway, I wish you luck with your endeavours. I'm pretty unconcerned by whatever SP5 turns out to be, and I actually hope it will be a useful resource for the Dragon Award and their mid-year eligibility period.

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  5. Nice suggestions. I suspect I'll be voting for some of those, they really were that good.

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  6. I had nine publications in 2016, Declan:

    “Captain of the Clouds” – Aurora Wolf, January 2016
    http://aurorawolf.com/2016/01/the-captain-of-the-clouds/

    2“Higher Powers” – Sci-Phi Journal, February 2016
    http://www.sciphijournal.com/higher-powers-by-lou-antonelli/

    “The Milky Way Dance Hall” – Decision Points anthology. May 2016

    “Lone Star, Lost Star” – Fiction on the Web, July 31, 2016
    http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2016/07/lone-star-lost-star-by-lou-antonelli.html

    “The Yellow Flag” – Sci-Phi Journal, August 2016
    http://www.sciphijournal.com/the-yellow-flag-by-lou-antonelli/

    6. “And He Threw His Hands Up in the Air” – Siren’s Call, No. 28 August 2016
    http://www.sirenscallpublications.com/pdfs/SirensCallEZine_August2016.pdf

    7. “Time Like a Rope” – Silver Blade magazine, October 2016
    http://www2.silverblade.net/2016/10/time-like-a-rope/

    8. "Three Twilight Zone Variations on a High School Reunion" - 3rd Spectral Book of Horror Stories, Oct. 31, 2016

    9. “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love” – Gallery of Curiosities podcast, Dec. 26, 2016
    https://gallerycurious.com/2016/12/26/ep-34-an-evening-at-the-club-told-by-dr-horatio-boyle-by-kate-philbrick-if-you-were-a-dinah-shore-my-love-by-lou-antonelli/

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  7. We have several eligible shorter works. I won't recommend any in particular, but our first two issues are now free on our website.
    https://cirsova.wordpress.com/cirsova-magazine/issue-1/
    https://cirsova.wordpress.com/cirsova-magazine/issue-2/

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    Replies
    1. Neat.
      .... This keeps up, I'm going to have to take days off just to read all this.

      .... Which is probably the best idea I've had all day.

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  8. I should point out that the Rabid Puppies' involvement in the Hugo Awards from this point is only meant to encourage the denizens of WorldCon to continue shrieking and insulting themselves into irrelevancy.

    The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan came out last year.
    Jack Campbell needs an award for this series.

    If A Sea of Skulls is as good as the first in the series, it's award worthy- I'm assured it's even better than A Throne of Bones. However, I am waiting for the final edition, so I haven't read it.

    I can think of some really good books that I wouldn't necessarily nominate for an award. There's An Equation of infinite Complexity, which being a sort of literary satire (with sci fi and fantasy elements) published by Castalia and probably not widely read, has no chance and doesn't appeal to the fans of various cons. There are also three other John C Wright books published last year, which, while very good and worthy of an award purely on a craftsmanship level, I wouldn't give a popular award.

    Ctrl Alt Revolt! actually won an award last year, but is still eligible for a Hugo.

    Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland would win an award if there were a Harry Potter knockoff category, but thankfully there's not. (Right??) I question whether the juvenile audience actually appreciate these books since the underlying politics behind the subtle psychodrama, and some of the hidden plot clues, will go over their heads.

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    1. 1) Good to know about RP. The last I saw of it was "wait and see. I've got a plan."

      2) The next time I do a Dragon Award post -- there'll be at least one more -- these suggestions will go in. Thank you, I appreciate it.

      3) I'd say that last bit was unfair ... but no. I've said multiple times that Narnia was too good for children, so yeah, pretty much in agreement there.

      Be well, Kestrel.

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  9. Leviathan by Chuck Regan is a terrific novella with walking tanks. Beat To A Pulp put out several SF novellas last year.

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