Hugo Roundup: Best Related Work

This is never my favorite category. Last year was a classic example of having to compare not just apples and oranges, but mango and papaya as well.

This year wasn't as bad with four of the offerings being books. The other two were a short documentary and...an acceptance speech.

Worlds of Ursula K. LeGuin - a cute, well made documentary that offered no new information, really. However, the animation was really nice and the production values good.

Joanna Russ - from the Masters of Science Fiction Series. Only an excerpt was provided and I felt I couldn't fairly judge because the formatting was a bit off, but it appeared solid.

The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein - Okay, I'm a Heinlein fan. And an exploration of the themes of gender and sexuality in his work is right up my alley. Unfortunately, this book started off as a PhD dissertation...and it showed. I needed a drink afterwards. With all apologies to the author.

Jeannette Ng's acceptance speech - I'm pretty much never going to vote for an acceptance speech, and I question their eligibility. If you want me to, provide a recording of the speech, not a transcript. Please.

Becoming Superman - oh wow. J. Michael Straczynski's autobiography is snarky, witty, if dark. He did not have a fun childhood at all. I may also be biased because I owe him for Ivanova.

My pick: Becoming Superman

My prediction: I hate predicting this category, so I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and say Becoming Superman.