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The Hugo Awards and Collection Development

I am a reader and a librarian, and I read all kinds of things, including a lot of science fiction and fantasy. I am not a fannish type, I just really love to read.  I am not a professional genre writer, so I watch genre writers’ organizations like SFWA and HWA from the sidelines, and I haven’t been to a convention in years. The politics of how awards like the Hugo and the Stoker are chosen haven’t been something I have been very focused on. For two years here we reviewed as many of the Stokers as we could, focusing on the quality of the writing. I have to trust that the writers with the opportunity to nominate and vote do that, too.

I haven’t seen much said about the current controversy over the Hugos in the library community, with the exception of a short article in Library Journal, with commentary from their regular columnist describing it (I’m paraphrasing) as a backlash against diversity in winning works. I would say that in the fan and author community a great many people view it this way– as a step back from representing the variety there really can be in genre fiction. If I’m wrong and there’s lots of fabulous writing out there on the effects this has on librarians and readers, tell me, please.

I can’t see how an award like the Hugo could be completely nonpolitical. Most people would like an award, and it’s reasonable for people to promote their own work or books they really like (George R.R. Martin promoted Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, for instance) However, nominating people to make a point, whatever that point is, does a disservice to librarians and readers, because most librarians choose books for their collections choose popular works already, but they also spend their limited dollars on books that have won prominent literary awards, believing that the awards are legitimate representations of the best of the best in their particular genre. See, here’s the collection development website EarlyWord. Scroll down and look along the right side column. There, under Best Books and Best Sellers is a list of awards. Oh, my goodness, there are so many. Do you think a busy collection development librarian is going to follow the politics of every single award? I think it’s reasonable to say that librarians and readers who DON’T attend WorldCon and DON’T follow the shenanigans of every writerly organization should be able to look at these titles and authors, knowing that they have been awarded because they are legitimately the best representations of the genre, given the criteria for receiving the award. That’s what people think they’re getting, and if they’re going to spend their money and time on a book, then they deserve respect, even if they didn’t shell out $40 to vote.

It makes me happy to learn about an author who has risen to the top because of the excellence of his or her work. But it frustrates me to no end to find that the choices were the result of an ideological battle. A controversy like this destroys a tool that all SF/F writers have available to them to promote their genre and their work.

Posted on April 10, 2015 by , Reply

Book List: 5 Novels of Terror in the Sea

It is all too easy to imagine what terrors there are for us in the deep of the ocean, or adrift on a boat at sea. Some of the creatures that really do exist are scary enough, but horror writers don’t stop with what’s real, because that would be nonfiction. No, instead they magnify our fears by confronting us with giant monsters from the deep, supernatural predators who have us trapped in a boat, and even the things we do to each other in our most desperate moments.

The Monster Librarian used to tell a story about watching Jaws on a field trip for a college class in marine biology, just before a day of scuba diving.  I’m going to suggest that you save these books for rainy days when you’re far away from dangerous waters, but given the sensibilities of the average horror reader, perhaps they’ll turn out to be perfect beach reads.

 

  Jaws by Peter Benchley

The classic novel of deep sea monster terror: killer shark vs. man. Steven Spielberg made it into a blockbuster movie that changed popular culture and brought sharks into the spotlight. I’m not sure that this was the best method to bring about support for shark conservation, but Benchley continues to advocate for the protection of sharks through educating fans of the book.

   Dead Sea by Tim Curran

A cargo ship drifts into the Bermuda Triangle into another dimension, where the travelers must contend with alien and undead creatures.  I hear great things about this book: it was released originally as a limited edition but is now available as an ebook. For just the rest of today it is .99.

   Sadie Walker is Stranded by Madeline Roux

In this post-apocalyptic tale, Sadie, her nephew, and her best friend, escape Seattle with a motley crew of others via boat just as the undead breach the walls. Unfortunately, the zombies can swim. Eventually, stranded on a desert island, they find that not only do they have to contend with zombies, but there is a human monster in their midst. This is a sequel to Allison Hewitt is Trapped, which is a stronger book, I think, and I recommend reading it first, since, while she doesn’t appear in the book, she does have an important role in the development of the plot.

  The Map of The Sky by Felix J. Palma

The Map of the Sky is a sequel to The Map of Time, and is more on the science-fictiony end of things. The Map of Time took place in the Victorian era, around the events of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, while The Map of The Sky takes place after the publication of The War of the Worlds. The beginning, which takes place in Antarctica, borrows from the John Campbell novella “Who Goes There?”. An explorer determined to discover the entrance to Symmes’ Hollow Earth leads his ship’s crew into danger after they discover an alien creature that can change its appearance. H.G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe both make appearances, as do characters from the previous book. There is humor, the supernatural, a surprising love story, and alien horror. While it has been criticized as being less strong than The Map of Time, it is a fascinating and suspenseful read. I have read this one, and I do think it can stand alone, but readers may want to start with The Map of Time. This is also a great way to connect readers to early science fiction such as Wells and Campbell, and to introduce John Carpenter’s The Thing.

     Night of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith

Guy N. Smith’s Crabs novels move at a brisk pace. They sacrifice character development, dialogue, and general common sense in favor of campiness and killer animal mayhem. Night of the Crabs is the first of a series. It starts with mysterious drownings along the coast of Wales… and then, the crabs come out from the depths. Readers who like Smith’s Crabs books will probably also like Clickers by J.F. Gonzalez and Mark Williams, and Crustaceans by William Meikle. Note: It’s best to buy this on Kindle, because physical copies look to be selling for around $250 on Amazon right now.

 

Posted on April 1, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Gideon by Alex Gordon

Gideon by Alex Gordon
Harper Voyager, 2015
Available: Trade paperback, Kindle edition
ISBN-13: 978-0061687372

 

Gideon is a supernatural thriller that roots itself in the Midwest. When Lauren Reardon’s father dies, she discovers that something dark is hidden in his past: and his past connects her to the small town of Gideon, Illinois. Gideon is a secretive, isolated town, with a history that involves terrible secrets, witchcraft, and murder.

Gordon is a talented writer and did a nice job of creating a creepy atmosphere.  The problem with the novel is its structure. The book gets off to a slow start, with the first seven chapters devoted to creating a historical backdrop (part one is set in 1836, and part two is set in 1841) for the events of the novel. That is a lot of story before we even meet Lauren. Gordon clearly did a lot of research in the process of writing the book, as the period feels accurate in its details, but I felt that connecting to Lauren as a character was more difficult, since she wasn’t introduced earlier in the text.

Once Lauren’s part of the story gets moving, the novel gets more interesting, but due to the slow pacing, her best writing happened too far into the text to really hook me.  Gordon shows obvious passion on each page of her book, though, and the concept she uses is original enough that I think this book will hook other readers, and should get a chance in libraries.

Reviewed by David Agranoff

Posted on March 25, 2015 by , Reply
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