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Apparently, certain "Tolerant" "liberal" elements with a record of winning the Hugo are claiming some conspiracy exists to stuff nominations, compare notes, secretly manipulate a ballot and feed the information to the Illuminati or Aliens or something.

Sounds like they think "we" did what they did.

From my POV, Brad asked if he could promote me, I said, "Sure," remembered I had another story, mentioned it here, forgot all about it because I had no expectation of making it. Then I got an email.

As far as Vox Day endorsing me, I know he copies some of my gun related essays. I find him to be a troll and scientifically illiterate, blogged about that a few years back, and ignore him. No point in arguing when we aren't ever going to agree.

I'm glad he liked Wisdom, and appreciate the boost, but the first I was aware of it was after I got notified and someone else mentioned he'd endorsed me.

But hell, you can find my stuff on sites across the spectrum, some loathing, some loving. 

I'm not narcissistic enough to cruise the web looking for mentions of my name. Nor would it matter if I did--what can I do to stop it? And why should I?

I swear, these people with 20, 30, 50 nominations seem to be getting awfully butthurt over some of us getting one.  I wonder what that says?

And I have no idea how 60 some people would keep something like this secret.  Could be why I wasn't invited.

Or, maybe it doesn't exist.

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There's been much debate about revising the rules for the Hugo Award, but there's one aspect that everyone has either missed or been afraid to touch.

Some history:

The then grandiosely named World Science Fiction Convention started in 1939, with about 200 people.  It wasn't held during WWII, and it stuck to larger, American cities--New York, Chicago, Philly.

The first one outside the US was Torcon in 1948.

The first one outside North America, was Loncon in 1957, thus finally making a valid claim of "World" after 18 years.

In 1970, Germany hosted, bringing Europe into the SF "World."

Australia came on board in 1975, actually bringing in another hemisphere.

It wasn't until 2007 that Asia merited note, with Yokohama.

Now, an astute observer will notice that all those countries are progressive, wealthy, nations of privilege, mostly Western, and certainly all in the upper echelons of economic success.

Supporting memberships at this point are $40 US.

There are people in the US for whom $40 is a stiff part of a budget.  Beyond that, I just heard from two of my fans in India and Bangladesh. My Bangledeshi friend works for their DoT as a senior engineer, and earns a princely $150 a week.  He's managed projects where the repair cost for the road was estimated at a half million, and been told, "You have $5000." (Adjusted to US currency.)

I send Najmul e-copies of my books for free, because not only can he not find them, he couldn't possibly afford them.  He's currently doing some training in Australia, and glad to be there, since he has much less worry about roving gangs, or if a neighboring country will build another dam and cut off his water supply.

He bought a supporting membership at $50 AUS, being most of a week's disposable income for him--and remember, he's one of the better paid people in that country--and since he's a fan of several others, we've all sent him a large package of SF to read, electronically.  I informed Brad Torgersen, and quite a few of the other writers he has promoted are doing likewise. I will also forward any ebooks from other known authors to him.

But, a "World" con should be more accessible to the world.  SF fans in developing or struggling nations should not have to balance a supporting membership, to an event they can never afford to attend in person, with daily necessities.

If you look at the membership lists for any Worldcon, you will find almost no participation from Africa, East or South Asia other than Japan and Korea, or much of South America.

I propose a supporting membership should be $5. It's arrogant and elitist to proclaim to be a world event, then to price three fourths of the world out of it.

This will need to be brought up at the WSFS business meeting and voted on.  On the one hand, it will mean less money per supporting member. On the other hand, it will mean more members, more inclusivity, and a better reach of SF to the world as a whole.

It's time to put the World into Worldcon.

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The problem with the the Hugo Awards isn't fandom, which is the set of all people who are fans of SF. The problem is the subset of people obsessed over the convention itself, in other words, condom.

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So, it appears I am a finalist for the Hugo Award for "Best Related Work."

First of all, I must apologize for inadvertently releasing the info early a couple of weeks back.  I only got part of the email notification, and as I have no experience receiving Hugos, only voting on them, I wasn't aware of the perfectly logical rule of there being one public announcement.  Once I realized so, I pulled the blog and forum post.

So I'm making them now.

Apparently, several Tweeters noticed, and rather than inform me of the faux pas, they preferred to just call me names behind my back. Thanks, Jackwagons.

I need to thank Brad Torgersen for asking if I'd accept publicity for a nomination, and of course I said yes. Any positive publicity is good for writers and I'll come back to that in a moment.

I had actually expected he'd reference my short story, "Soft Casualty," which I think has merit as both dark SF, military psychology, and possibly horror.  You can read it for free here: http://www.baen.com/SoftCasualty.asp

"Wisdom From My Internet" kept people entertained, but it's a collection of snark and one-liners, some of it SF, some of it nerd, some of it geek and some of it mundane. I get fan and hate mail across the spectrum for it. Apparently, I'm an unrepentant right-winger, gay apologist, anti-Christian, anti-Muslim, pro-Muslim, religious apologist and "typical liberal."  So much love, so much hate. Thank you all.

But real thanks to the people who nominated the work, and those who bought it. While not nearly as lucrative as my "pro" sales, it was timely for dealing with some personal matters at home.  I appreciate both the funding, and the recognition of my disturbed sense of humor.  I will arrange to thank you appropriately with a 2X12, a towel and a bucket of water.

Still, if that's what people deem worthy, I will most certainly accept your accolades and votes, and more importantly, your money, right here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QZV08SW?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwmichaelzwi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00QZV08SW

I have to confess, I'm surprised by how many people don't get satire.  "Patriarchy Press" is a joke, folks.  Actually, someone on Amazon didn't like the book because of some of my jokes about Christianity. They didn't have a problem with the jokes about Islam, Judaism, Buddhism or Shintoism.  Or straights, gays, bis, liberals, conservatives...it's not as if my snark isn't egalitarian.  Of course, that might be the problem for the narrow-minded.  Just because I thought a gay pirate was called a "Swishbucker," and an oil sheik was a brand of condom...

And, there will be both a trade paperback and a signed, limited edition available shortly.

I must admit, I was a bit hesitant to consider accepting an award that requires both a poll tax and a literacy test for the voters. It seems a little elitist, but that's something we can work on for later--making the Hugos votable by all fans inclusively.

Now, I'd also like to draw attention to the other nominees in this category.  You should make an attempt to examine all the works before voting on one.

Tedd Roberts is a neuroscientist and friend of mine. He's offered quite a bit of medical and bio science background for my stories.  His article, "Why Science Is Never Settled," is an excellent lay presentation on how the scientific process works.

http://www.baen.com/Why_Science_is_Never_Settled.asp

http://www.baen.com/Why_Science_is_Never_Settled-Part2.asp

If you think you’ve already figured out what it’s about from the title, the actual article might surprise you. 

Better still, if I wanted the Hugo from him, he'd never notice it missing amongst all his professional awards. Besides which, he couldn't catch me with that bad knee of his.

Ken Burnside is a physicist and the creator/producer/head Honcho of Ad Astra Games, which he does while being almost totally blind.  He too has provided me with number crunching once or twice.  His essay, "The Hot Equations," is here: http://adastragames.com/products/the-hot-equations

And really, he's almost blind, so I could swap out a 30mm shell for the Hugo and he'd never notice.

Lou Antonelli I have never met, and I have not read "Letters from Gardner," but have met Gardner Dozois, respect his editing, and the book looks to be very informative about the editing and submission process, from someone who's got professional chops of his own as editor of Asimov's.  http://www.amazon.com/Letters-From-Gardner-Writers-Odyssey/dp/0692299424

He's written about rocketships before. 

John C. Wright I know from a dozen emails. He's got a strong grasp of philosophy and character, and an amazing arsenal of rhetoric. His essays can be found here: http://www.scifiwright.com/transhuman-and-subhuman/

He's the real threat here, because he's a gentleman, and I'd feel terrible stealing his award.

So there's the Hugo ballot for Best Related Work. To vote, you must be a Supporting or Attending member of Sasquan, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention.  You can purchase memberships here: https://sasquan.swoc.us/sasquan/reg.php

Good thing it's in Spokane, not Chicago, or people would be voting early and often, even after dying.

There are some great authors and works in all the categories. Some of them surprise me entirely as either, "I had no idea this awesome writer didn't have a Hugo yet," or "Are they %@#$ing kidding?"  It's certainly a varied and vigorous ballot.  Good luck to all the nominees in their respective categories.

I regret that my schedule won't let me attend. That is my busiest time of year for events, and it's on the far side of the continent.

I find all the other nominees in Best Related Work to be very worthy, and I will feel no regret at losing to any of them.  However, I will certainly appreciate the votes I do get, and will thank those who do in an appropriately snarky fashion.

BTW, does anyone know the exact dimensions and diameter of this year's Hugo?  If I win, it's going to be the largest projectile I've ever had in my vault. 

That's not an euphemism for anything, okay?

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