If you have a dark and morbid sense of humor, as I do, then you will surely be amused by the fact that it isn’t “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” or”Alien Stripper Boned by the T-Rex” or NK Jemisin winning the most Best Novel awards in science fiction history that has turned out to be the low point for the annual charade that is the Hugo Awards.
The Hugo Awards have been a debacle of epic proportions for nearly a decade. Once revered as an award that heralded classic works in the science fiction genre, it’s been mired in politics since extreme leftists in publishing decided to put political agenda ahead of stories. 2023’s Hugo Awards came under fire when serial cuckold Neil Gaiman complained about his Sandman series on Netflix being disqualified under nebulous circumstances. Now, that political agenda is coming back to bite them as newly leaked emails from Chengdu Worldcon’s committee reveal the Hugo Awards team conspiring to spy on award nominees on behalf of the Chinese government to rig the awards…
The emails objectively prove that the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon Hugo Awards were rigged, that votes were discounted and didn’t matter, and that it was entirely because of politics. While the people in charge are pointing to China as the problem, the Americans involved wilfully dug up dirt on several different authors on behalf of the Chinese to discredit their peers in the field.
It begs the question, if these science fiction clout chasers did this just to appease China, what happened in years past when their political opponents were getting nominations, and how much did they rig those Hugo Awards? Regardless, with a scandal of this level, an honest can’t look to the Hugo Awards as anything other than political-driven pointlessness. These aren’t the best science fiction works in craft. They’re just political propaganda pieces.
We are amused. We are very, very amused. And, to be honest, despite my very low expectations of them, I never imagined the freaks from File 770 and Worldcon would turn out to be spies for a foreign power.
Okay, on further review, Jemisin as three-time Best Novelist is still the low point. But that’s just sad. This, on the other hand, is hilarious.