Escape Artists

Escape Pod => Science Fiction Discussion => Topic started by: Ocicat on September 05, 2010, 04:28:09 PM

Title: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: Ocicat on September 05, 2010, 04:28:09 PM
http://www.thehugoawards.org/2010/09/2010-hugo-award-winners/

Congrats to Will McIntosh and Bridesicle!

Also to The City & The City and The Windup Girl, tied for best novel.

And StarShipSofa, for breaking the Podcast barrier.

And Palimpsest, Girl Genius, Moon, and of course Dr. Who!
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: DKT on September 05, 2010, 10:16:01 PM
Wow! A tie for novel - how cool!

Congrats to all the winners as well as the nominees.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: KillerWhalen on September 06, 2010, 12:47:24 AM
Moon really deserved to win, easily one of this decade's best science fiction films.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: kibitzer on September 06, 2010, 08:33:16 AM
Some minor personal insights on attending the Hugo ceremony over on the "Kibitzer Goes To World Con (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=4364.msg78135#msg78135)" thread.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: mkp on October 14, 2010, 05:57:55 AM
Best novel a tie? I am not so sure about it. Did the wind up girl deserve to be the best novel? It is too complicated with all these mutation and global warming. It failed to hold the readers attention. Not my idea of how 23rd century would be! The city and the city is just awesome, it is a weird fiction all right! Strong story line and I fell in love with the main characters. And a well deserved win for bridesicle.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: tpi on October 17, 2010, 06:27:50 PM
Best novel a tie? I am not so sure about it. Did the wind up girl deserve to be the best novel? It is too complicated with all these mutation and global warming. It failed to hold the readers attention. Not my idea of how 23rd century would be! The city and the city is just awesome, it is a weird fiction all right! Strong story line and I fell in love with the main characters. And a well deserved win for bridesicle.

The City and the City was really good, the best Hugo winner in years. Windup Girl would have been fairly good if the author would have had even a little science education. Practically everything in the book which had anything to do with science was really, really, really bad. The writing and the plot were pretty good, but that just made all the stupidities shine more brightly.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: Talia on October 17, 2010, 07:26:08 PM
You two seem to be in the minority on that point. You're the first people I've heard criticize it (though obviously there are others), most people I know who've read 'Windup Girl' adored it.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: tpi on October 18, 2010, 09:19:02 AM
You two seem to be in the minority on that point. You're the first people I've heard criticize it (though obviously there are others), most people I know who've read 'Windup Girl' adored it.

Well, I put that down as a corruptive influence of reading too much fantasy (which is more popular than science fiction nowadays, but which doesn't have to take principles of science to any consideration), to the poor science education in schools.  :-)
As I said I liked the writing and characterization. But the science sucked BIG TIME.

I could write a long essay of the stupidities in this book. Starting from the fact that in energy poor situation the only alternative energy used is methane produced by compost (sic!) piles, and that is used apparently mainly for lighting. I wonder how much of the energy produced by burning methane is released as light? 1%? 2%? Springs which are wound by "mastodonts", apparently gene modified elephants, are used as another energy source. I find it hard to believe that it would efficient to feed giant animals to produce mechanical labour and save it in that form loaded in springs, instead of using the food as a direct source of bio energy. The thermodynamics of the windup girl are really stupid, as she heats up from too much exercise (sometimes from from fairly little amount of exercise, sometimes from a lot lot of it),and then she cools down by drinking a class of icewater. One glass of 0 centigrades water cools down on 60-70 kg body which has temperature, lets say 39-40 centigrades, by something like 0.1 centigrades. And so on, and so on.
Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: Gamercow on October 18, 2010, 03:29:32 PM
As I said I liked the writing and characterization. But the science sucked BIG TIME.
Starting from the fact that in energy poor situation the only alternative energy used is methane produced by compost (sic!) piles, and that is used apparently mainly for lighting. I wonder how much of the energy produced by burning methane is released as light? 1%? 2%?

This kind of lighting is already in use.  http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/business/863251-192/cambridge-dog-park-light-is-fueled-by.html

Title: Re: 2010 Hugo Award Winners!
Post by: tpi on October 18, 2010, 04:52:48 PM
As I said I liked the writing and characterization. But the science sucked BIG TIME.
Starting from the fact that in energy poor situation the only alternative energy used is methane produced by compost (sic!) piles, and that is used apparently mainly for lighting. I wonder how much of the energy produced by burning methane is released as light? 1%? 2%?

This kind of lighting is already in use.  http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/business/863251-192/cambridge-dog-park-light-is-fueled-by.html



As an art project. In energy starved world that isn't energy efficient, it is horribly UNefficient. Methane should be converted to electricity with a fuel cell or similar technology, and LEDs or something like that should be used for light. Probably even standard light pulps would give more light.