A blogger (author?, sorry, I’m not in the know here) begs the people who pick scifi’s Hugos (ie, the readers) to pull up their socks and do it right. An open letter like this in the mainstream lit world would be dismissed as having a return address from the Realm of Crankcrit (the fabled land where conspiratorial misanthropes roam free and live in glass houses), but in the scifi world, people sit up and take notice, and start discussing. How healthy and vital!

Dear Science Fiction Fandom

I wanted to have a word about the Hugos. Science Fiction Fandom, these are your awards: the shortlists chosen and voted for by you. And because I too am a fan (though without Hugo voting privileges) they are my awards. They reflect upon us all. They remain one of the most prestigious awards for SF in the world. These lists say something about SF to the world.

Science Fiction Fandom: your shortlists aren’t very good.

I’m not saying the works you have shortlisted are terrible. They’re not terrible, mostly, as it goes. But they aren’t exceptionally good either. They’re in the middle. There’s a word for that. The word is mediocre.