Outside of a Dog: 2004 Hugo Award Nominees: Novella [Asaro, Catherine; Baker, Kage; Vinge, Vernor; Williams, Walter Jon; Willis, Connie]

gthistle

gthistle wrote on July 28, 2004 at 11:29 PM:

I wonder occasionally what I'm missing re: Catherine Asaro. The few novels I've opened at random have failed to interest me. Some people clearly find her work worthwhile; having won an award doesn't make something good, but it usually means it isn't terrible.

Is there something by her of any length that you (or anyone else reading this comment) would recommend, even half-heartedly?

Dan Goodman

Dan Goodman wrote on July 28, 2004 at 11:42 PM:

One thing I found offputting about the Connie Willis story: A character who's supposed to be knowledgeable about climate/weather says that it doesn't usually snow in Hawaii.
On the contrary; some parts of Hawaii get snow regularly, in some years as early as August. These areas are at a rather higher altitude than most of the state, of course.

If the speaker had been a layman, I wouldn't have been bothered. But an expert should not be so imprecise.

Kate

Kate wrote on July 29, 2004 at 11:00 PM:

gthistle: I read one Asaro novel, _Catch the Lightning_, which I thought was during the book log but apparently not. I didn't like it, either.

Oh, and I read that novella of hers in _Irresistible Forces_ (which I've completely forgotten to log!) which would have been much more interesting with the plot not taken.

So, no.

Dan Goodman: good to know, thanks.

Alexander Cohen

Alexander Cohen wrote on August 3, 2004 at 11:25 AM:

Kate, I largely agree with your rankings here, with the exception of "Green Leopard Plague," which I thought brilliant. It achieves the rare effect of presenting a convincing intellectual breakthrough (regarding post-scarcity economics) that is both a) original and provocative and b) necessary to the story. In this sense, I found it to be the kind of story that can only be told well in science fiction, so it's my top choice.

But this was a tough category for me: "Empress" and "Cookie Monster" are both a lot of fun. I was less impressed by Willis's story; it's written exceedingly well but it did not work as a story for me, just a set of anecdotes. (This is my problem with Haldeman's short as well; it wasn't a story.)

I think it would be sort of funny if "Emperor of Ice Cream" and "Cookie Monster" both won. It makes me want to go write a children's story about the Kingdom of Dessert. Uhh... gotta go.

Kate

Kate wrote on August 3, 2004 at 1:02 PM:

Hey Alexander--

Yeah, every time I hear the title of Vinge's story, I start humming songs from _Sesame Street_. It's a little disconcerting.

Re: "Green Leopard Plague"--fair enough. I try to admit my biases right up front, after all.

There's been some interesting discussion of the story, with the author himself making an appearance, over on rec.arts.sf.written.

For the Haldeman, because it was so short I was willing to take it as a series of riffs on an idea rather than a narrative; I wouldn't have given that latitude to a longer piece.