The annual Hugo Awards for excellence in science fiction writing were announced Sunday night, and the winner of the award for best novel was the prolific John Scalzi. Though best known for his “Old Man’s War†series, which began as an homage to Robert Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers,†Mr. Scalzi was honored for “Redshirts,†a comedic novel about a group of ensigns aboard a spaceship who discover they are actually part of a television show similar to “Star Trek.â€
Science fiction continues to flourish in short form offerings, and the winner of the award for best story was Ken Liu, born in China and now a patent lawyer living in Massachusetts, whose “Mono no Aware†appeared in the collection “The Future is Japanese.†The John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, named for the editor and writer considered the father of modern science fiction, went to Mur Lafferty, best known for her blogs “Geek Fu Action Grip†and “I Should Be Writing.â€
Hugo Awards are also given to science fiction presented in visual formats. The winner in the long form category was the film “The Avengers,†an adaptation of the Marvel Comics series about the superhero team of the same name, written and directed by Joss Whedon. The short form prize went to an episode of “Game of Thrones†call “Blackwater,†written by George R.R. Martin and directed by Neil Marshall.
For the second year in a row, however, science fiction fans who wanted to follow the ceremony live online had difficulties. In 2012, the problem, according to the Hugo Awards website, was automated bots; this year’s event was plagued by interruptions to the live broadcast that, the site said, were “caused by issues with the upload stream†from the awards ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, where the 71st World Science Fiction Convention was being held.
