Every Hugo Ever

In 1955, the first ever Hugo for a Short Story was awarded to Eric Frank Russell. Now at the end of Season 2, Jack and Sam read this inaugural winner. A military spaceship's crew is preparing for a routine inspection, when one item on the list is unknown to everyone. Captain McNaught is not losing his chance of getting a promotion over this and devises a plan. A fun story on how it feels both of its time. but pokes fun at some bureaucratic nonsense you can find in any large organization.

Recommendations:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
M*A*S*H

Support Us on Ko-fi
Follow us on Bluesky!

This podcast is not affiliated with the Hugo Awards or Worldcon. Music provided by HookSounds.com, Pixabay.com, and Joel Steudler
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2023, Worldcon took place in the Chinese city of Chengdu, the first time the event had been hosted in the country. The announcement was already met
with criticism from writers and sci-fi fans, but the event seemed to go smoothly and the Hugos were awarded as they had been for decades. Then a few months later it was discovered that the Chengdu committee has disqualified and flagged works they preemptively deemed anti-People's Republic of China, leading to botched nominees and winners. The author of Short Story Award publicly rejected her status as a winner, and so Jack and Sam discuss what happened, how easily one can be mislead into authoritarianism, and how many people had to keep making the wrong choices for this to happen at all.

Mentioned in this episode:
"Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills
A Breakdown of the Chengdu Scandal
Emails Related to 2023 Hugo Awards Censorship
“Rabbit Test” unwins the Hugo

Next Episode: 1955's "Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell

Support Us on Ko-fi
Follow us on Bluesky!

This podcast is not affiliated with the Hugo Awards or Worldcon. Music provided by HookSounds.com, Pixabay.com, and Joel Steudler
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Swanwick successfully used his strategy of taking over the nominee slates to win the 1999 Hugo Short Story Award (where Michael Jordan was the Toastmaster?). After discussions on puppets and the necessary need to fund the arts and, you know, the government, Sam and Jack read into the story of a pair of astronauts, one very dead and the other close to being so. Stranded on the sulfuric moon of Io around Jupiter, Martha walks, hikes, and crawls to her space shuttle and safety as her air supply drains. Luckily, she has some company when her dead partner's corpse starts speaking through the radio.

Not mentioned but this story was adapted into a episode of Netflix's animated anthology, Death, Sex, and Robots

Recommendations:

Gravity directed by Alfonso Cuaron
Death Stranding developed by Kojima Productions
The Martian by Andy Weir
World War Z- Christina Eliopolis chapter by Max Brooks
Staying Alive

Next Episode: 2023's Rabbit Test by Samantha Mills

Support Us on Ko-fi
Follow us on Bluesky!

This podcast is not affiliated with the Hugo Awards or Worldcon. Music provided by HookSounds.com, Pixabay.com, and Joel Steudler
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discussions of abuse and assault allegations against Neil Gaiman from 8:00-15:45

Our first repeat author episode is Mike Resnick, who wrote a story that feels right at home next to "Kirinyaga". But first, Jack and Sam have a lot to get to,
from dealing with the latest revelations from a once admired writer to the works of John Steinbeck. After that, it's time for a tour of Antares III, a planet full
of incredible architecture and a fascinating history. It's a shame that the human tourists care so little for it.

Mentioned in the episode:

Lila Shapiro's article on Neil Gaiman
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Recommendations:

Listen back to our episode on "Kirinyaga"
Dahomey directed by Mati Diop
1491 by Charles C. Mann
"Ozymadias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
William Dalrymple's The Anarchy and Return of a King

Next Episode: 1999's "The Very Pulse of the Machine" by Michael Swanwick

Support Us on Ko-fi
Follow us on Bluesky!

This podcast is not affiliated with the Hugo Awards or Worldcon. Music provided by HookSounds.com, Pixabay.com, and Joel Steudler
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the end of this episode, Sam says "Thank you for watching" despite a podcast being something you listen to, not view. A tragic mistake if there ever was one.

The legendary Connie Willis presents what is easily the most unique format for a story we've read so far. A fictional literary dissertation on two newly discovered Emily Dickinson poems, and the writer's hypothesis on the strange world and methods needed for this poems to be authentic when they were apparently written 11 years after Dickinson's death! Her arguments have some holes. Fans of lengthy footnote section will certainly enjoy the read, although Sam and Jack had some issues with the first comedic story on the show

Recommendations:
The War of the Worlds (2005) directed by Steven Spielberg
World War Z by Max Brooks
Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle

Next Episode: 1998's "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" by Mike Resnick

Support Us on Ko-fi
Follow us on Bluesky!

This podcast is not affiliated with the Hugo Awards or Worldcon. Music provided by HookSounds.com, Pixabay.com, and Joel Steudler
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.