How I Would Vote Now: 2002 Hugo Awards (Best Novel)

The Nominees

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Passage by Connie Willis

The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

The Actual Results

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
2. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
3. Passage by Connie Willis
4. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
5. The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson
6. Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod

How I Would Have Voted

1. The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

Explanation

I read American Gods and enjoyed it at the time, but that was before Gaiman’s numerous sex scandals came to light. The man is a creep, and probably a rapist—and knowing that now, so many of the darker, creepier things in American Gods make more sense. Like the scene where a god disguised as a prostitute consumes a John completely through her vagina. Or where an Arab cab driver and his (Arab?) passenger go from driving in the cab in one scene, and then mutually fellating each other in the next. Weird sex stuff that seems to come out of nowhere.

So that’s why I can’t affirmatively vote for this book—and honestly, it’s borderline under No Award as well, just for the extreme content. But I did enjoy it at the time I read it, when I was less sensitive to this sort of thing. So I’ll let it pass above No Award.

I’ve talked about Bujold’s Chalion series elsewhere. In a lot of ways, it’s a really excellent fantasy series—the sort of thing that would normally be right up my wheelhouse. But midway through the first book, the main character casually drops that when he was coming of age, he was in a man-boy sexual relationship with a pedarast, and that in this world, that sort of thing is normal.

Yes, I know that this is historically accurate to things like ancient Greek and Macedonian culture, but still, it was enough to throw me out and make me DNF the book. After all, even if I have a plate of the world’s most delicious brownies right in front of me, I’m not going to partake if there’s also some dog shit mingled with the pile.

More weird sex stuff in Perdido Street Station was what made me DNF that one. The first scene is basically an explicit sex scene which, though fairly tame and vanilla as far as sex scenes go, was still way too early and way too explicit for me. Also, midway through, we learned that the girl was actually an animal of some kind, if I remember correctly. Or maybe a shapeshifter? It’s been so long that I can’t remember.

I started Cosmonaut Keep, but DNFed it because the first chapter didn’t really hook me or hold my interest, and I could tell early on that it was going to turn into political message fiction. Skip.

Passage also failed to hold my interest, though it did tip me off to Connie Willis’s formula. First, she chooses an area of history to study, preferably with a little bit (but not too much) of controversy. Then, she studies the heck out of it, until she comes to her own conclusions as to which side (or which historian) is right, and which is wrong. Then, she slaps a plot and some characters together, where the good guys represent the views she agrees with, and the bad guys represent the views she disagrees with. She writes it very beautifully, but also does her best to throw in every. Single. Thing. she researched over the course of the project, which is why her books are so massively huge. After all, it’s hardly ever the story. And the reason she wins so many awards (besides how genuinely charming and affable she is in person) is because her views align almost perfectly with the post-WWII neoliberal consensus. And since the people who vote for the Hugos are all so thoroughly blue-pilled, she’s practically one of their prophets.

Which brings me to The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson. I am 99% sure that I would disagree with almost all of his politics, but I frankly don’t care, because he knows how to write a damn good story without any of the crappy message fiction we get so often from leftist writers. I am slowly reading through all of Wilson’s books, and so far, I think The Chronoliths is his best. The premise hooked me from the first page, and kept me on the edge of my seat right up to the very end. It also kept me guessing until the end, when it all came together in an enormously satisfying way. An amazing book, and probably in my top 5 of all Hugo nominated books—right up there with Dune, Ender’s Game, and Hyperion.