Voting for the 2015 Hugo Awards, to be presented at this year's Worldcon, Sasquan, has started.
Now, this year's Hugos have caused a bit of a stir, albeit one long in the making. There is much to be read about it on the Interwebs, but, in a nutshell - a group group of SF fans (shall we call them that) felt that 'their' kind of SF was being ignored, underrepresented at the Hugos, for which I have some sympathy (hey, the shortlists would look different if _I_ got to pick them, too).
They called themselves Sad Puppies, and organised a voting slate of works they would have preferred to see on the shortlists. Now, this might be within the letter of the law (or the Hugo rules), but violates the spirit of the award and it's administration.
But it got worse - a second, affiliated group, calling themselves Rabid Puppies, also issued a slate, which came to dominate the nominations and thus shortlists. Given that their political/ideological orientation is, in my opinion, beyond the pale (this is the "No women, no blacks, no gays" brigade) we all of a sudden have a misogynist, reactionary, racist dominated Hugo shortlist.
And this I object to, and will thus vote tactically/politically.
Should you have avoided any exposure to the above mess, and planned to vote by the strength of the works on offer only, then be aware - this is also a political vote, and potentially not for something you meant to vote for.
