Category: Books

Includes all types of publications: books (hardcovers, trade paperback, mass market paperbacks, ebooks, magazines, graphic novels)

Watching (but not Hearing) the Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony

Technical difficulties again plagued the Ustream live video of a Hugo Awards ceremony.  Beautiful video, but no audio. Those of us in the audience were left with Tweet breadcrumbs from @LonCon3 on the hashtag #RetroHugos:

46 minutes into the ‘broadcast’ and still no sound . . .

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Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Remainder of Retro Hugos

Tomorrow the winners will be announced for the 1939 Retro Hugo Awards.

The 1939 Retro Hugo Awards can be watched online via ustream. The stream will be located at http://www.ustream.tv/hugo-awards. The Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony starts at 8PM BST (or 2PM Central) on Thursday 14 August.

Retro Hugo Awards Ceremony, LonCon3

I’ve covered the main ‘big’ categories in previous posts.  Today, I’ll summarize the remaining ones that are less, ‘sexy’, for lack of a better term. Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Remainder of Retro Hugos”

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) aka Movies

After books, movies are my next ‘go to’ source for hours of uninterrupted entertainment.  If I’m not happy with the book I’m currently reading, I will take an afternoon or evening off from reading to enjoy a good movie.  New or old … it doesn’t matter.  If the story is good, and the acting convincing, and the directing sublime … all else is irrelevant.  Special effects may be indistinguishable from reality today, but if you don’t have a great story, you’re just a flash in a pan that fizzled, smoked and went boom.
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Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novelette 2014 and 1939

I’d dropped the blog ball over the weekend. I’ve got less than a week before the Hugo Awards Ceremony announces the winners and about three days before the 1939 Retro Hugo Award winners are revealed.  No use crying over spilled milk, though, so on to the novelette category: Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novelette 2014 and 1939”

Article: Google Just Added Maps For Mars And The Moon, And The Level Of Detail Is Stunning

Google Just Added Maps For Mars And The Moon, And The Level Of Detail Is Stunning

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-just-added-maps-for-mars-and-the-moon-and-the-level-of-detail-is-stunning-2014-8

I wonder how long before Mercury will be added to the list?  Or perhaps the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novellas 2014 and 1939

Last week I posted about my adventures in reading the books nominated for the Best Novel award (2014 and 1939).  I had hoped to write my second and subsequent posts on the other categories on a daily or every other day pattern so that I could wrap up before the Hugo Award ceremonies on the 14th and 17th of this month.  A distraction arrived over the weekend and then work returned on Monday and Tuesday.  Here I am halfway to the next weekend and just now getting around to this post. Continue reading “Hugo Awards Voting Adventure: Best Novellas 2014 and 1939”

My First Hugo Awards Voting Adventure – Best Novels 2014 and 1939

I took the plunge this year and decided to buy a supporting membership to WorldCon so I could vote in the Hugo Awards. What pushed me over the edge?  The Best Novel (or Series) nomination for Ancillary Justice and the entire Wheel of Time series.  I could not let this opportunity pass me by without making my meager voice heard.

I spent (or wasted, depending on your point of view) over two decades reading (and re-reading) and waiting to read the Wheel of Time series.  At one point, upon Robert Jordan’s death, I gave up hope of ever being able to complete the series.  I made my peace with that, prayed for his family, and went on with my reading life. 
Continue reading “My First Hugo Awards Voting Adventure – Best Novels 2014 and 1939”