Hugo nominees 2009

I'm trying to read all the nominees and think about them. It will probably be some time before the retroblogging project achieves the goal of posting thoughts on all these.

Best novel:

• Anathem by Neal Stephenson
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
• Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross
• Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi

Best novella:

• “The Erdmann Nexus” by Nancy Kress
• “The Political Prisoner” by Charles Coleman Finlay
• “The Tear” by Ian McDonald
• “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
• “Truth” by Robert Reed

Best novelette:

• “Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders” by Mike Resnick
• “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
• “Pride and Prometheus” by John Kessel
• “The Ray-Gun: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner
• “Shoggoths in Bloom” by Elizabeth Bear

Best short story:

• “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” by Kij Johnson
• “Article of Faith” by Mike Resnick
• “Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal
• “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang
• “From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled” by Michael Swanwick

A nice collection. I've read Anathem and Zoe's Tale before, as I am a longtime fan of the authors, and the timing of publication and my own free money/leisure time synchronized. I look forward to the others.

This post's theme word is effulgent, "radiant" or "brightly shining." May all the nominees prove to be effulgent reads!

"You are nominated for a Ph. D."

That's the promising title of an email I found in my inbox this morning. Unfortunately, it was spam:

WHAT A GREAT IDEA! We provide a concept that will allow anyone with sufficient work experience to obtain a fully verifiable University Degree. Bachelors, Masters or even a Doctorate.

Maybe I'm going about this all wrong -- years of work, supervision, and learning. All wrong! I could be earning money at "work experience" and also inching closer to a doctorate!

Today I signed more paperwork and received an assignment from one of the department secretaries: assemble my Ph. D. committee. I have to have an oral exam soon. Yikes.


This post's theme word: maugre/mauger, "in spite of." It's a preposition, as in, "Mauger all the solicitous emails, I have decided to get a[nother] degree the hard way."