EasterCon and the Hugo Awards

With much trepidation, Cathy and I attended our first genre convention over the Easter weekend.

It was an interesting experience, and I suffered from a serious case of being star struck. I admire authors greatly, and to be in the same room as many who's books I've read and enjoyed was an amazing experience. Perhaps next time I could actually pluck up the courage to speak to some of them!!

Perhaps the best bit though is meeting other people interested in the same things you are. We met some great people, and one of my regrets was that we couldn't spend more time drinking and just chatting to people. Something to improve on for the next one.

I'm sure Cathy will do a much more detailed look back at the entire Con on her blog (6 Impossible Things), so if you are interested wonder over and take a read.

Something that has come out of the experience is that I have realised I am no where near as well read as I thought I was. Obviously outside of SF/Fantasy I'm very poorly read, but I thought I had a better handle within the genre. Over the last 4 days I have been proven very wrong. So, I intend to make an effort to put that right, and a start is the Hugo nominations for this year.

The Hugo awards are almost the Oscars of the SF/Fantasy world. They are awarded each year at WorldCon, and have been going since 1955. At EasterCon, the list of the nominees was announced at the ball on the Sunday. For a full list of the nominations they are available on Renovation's website, Renovation being this years WorldCon being held in Reno, Nevada. (Link Here)

The reason why I realised I was so poorly read was that I didn't recognise any of the nominations for best novel. These are supposed to be the best books in the genre, and I've failed to even notice them. So, I'm on a mission to read them all, and post up some reviews for anyone else who might be interested in them.

For reference, the nominations for best novel are:

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis  
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
Feed by Mira Grant
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

I've ordered each from across the Birmingham Library system (which surprised me as well, I wasn't expecting us to have them all!) and I hope to get started soon. Watch out for some interesting reviews coming soon.