Hugo Nom review: "Article of Faith", by Mike Resnick

[trinsf]

Alright, here's the deal. kevin_standlee is always talking about fans getting more involved in Hugo nomination and voting. This year, I've been trying to do some of that. I occasionally listen to the Escape Pod podcast; starting this week, they're reading this year's Hugo nominated short stories. On my way to cmdrsuzdal's meetup thing yesterday, I listened to the first

Comments

[tsgeisel]

I haven't read it, but I'm not voting. However, Resnick is one of those writers I like a lot, so if, like many other contests, the voting comes down to picking someone who's writing I've enjoyed versus some people I've never heard of, I'm more likely to go that way.

If that were how I voted, that is. I'm much more likely not to vote - even if I have the chance to do so.

[johnnyeponymous]

I didn't hate it, though it was certainly not what I would have nominated. It's on because it's Resnick, plain and simple. He's popular, he appears in high-profile areas and he's got a name.

Of course, there are worse stories on the ballot
Chris

[trinsf]

I'm curious to know what you think is worse. Last night I read some of the other short story entries (monkey-based ones), and found them mostly okay. Of course, they were written by women, so that makes perfect sense. :-)

[cmdrsuzdal]

'Evil Robot Monkey' by maryrobinette? I actually really enjoyed that one, although I got to see her read it at Borderlands, which is part of it. But it stood up to rereading as well.

In the short story category I am very curious about Kij Johnson because she's an author I have never heard of, and optimistic about the Swanwick and Chiang stories because both have produced very good work in the past (see, name recognition again) so I don't know that one possible dud (I haven't read it) is enough for me to worry about the nominations yet.

And for once there is nothing in the novel category that I'm reluctant to read.