20.5 - Bigger is Better - Jukka's Task: SF, F, and WTF

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

20.5 - Bigger is Better - Jukka's Task: SF, F, & WTF
This challenge's time period will see a culmination of a project I have been working on since 2013, the 75th World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki. I've flown tens thousands of kilometres for it, read thousands of pages for it, spent hundreds of hours talking to people about it, and all that work will pay off over five days in August. I've met many wonderful new friends along the way and seen places I otherwise never would have. Like Spokane. Lovely town, but not an intuitive vacation destination, you know?

Read ONE book from the following options. The genres "Sequential Art", "Comics", "Comic Book", and "Manga" are approved for this task. REQUIRED: State in your post the option you chose.

Option A: The Hugo Awards ceremony will be held at Worldcon on August 11th. The awards are the Worldcon community's way of showing their appreciation of the past year's finest work, and the list of past winners since 1953 are a showcase of the major trends in science fiction over the past half-century.

Read a book that has been a Hugo Award finalist, past or present. These Wikipedia pages may be of help: Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo Award for Best Novella, Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, and Hugo Award for Best Related Work.

Note that not all novellas are SRC-eligible due to length. In cases when the finalist is an entire series, any single book from that series suffices.

REQUIRED: If the Goodreads metadata doesn't indicate that the book was a Hugo finalist, indicate in your post the category and year that it was a Hugo finalist.

Option B: In addition to award-winning classics, I am an aficionado of that most formulaic and commercial of literatures, the media tie-in, to the point where I'm working on my master's thesis about some Forgotten Realms novels. Tie-in novels are works based on another media property, such as a movie, game, comic book, or TV series, and released under its brand.

Read a media tie-in novel or short story collection. The original work that inspired the tie-in must have been published after 1945.
These lists may give you some ideas, although they need not be used and not all books on the list will necessarily work.
Movie and TV Tie-In Books.
Beyond the Game

REQUIRED: State the other media property that the the book is a tie-in with.

Option C: My job at Worldcon is the gaming area head, which means I'm responsible for organizing not only the board and role-playing game tables, but also the gaming-related panels and talks, which we have quite a bit of.

Read a non-fiction book about games or gaming.
These lists may give you some ideas, although they need not be used and not all books on the list will necessarily work.
NonFiction Books About Video Games
NonFiction About Video Games and Virtual Reality
Best Books on Role Playing Games
REQUIRED: If the Goodreads description doesn't make the relevance of the book clear, explain your answer in your post.

[Jukka]

Approved for option A:


Approved for option B:

[Jukka]

Reserved.

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

This thread is now open.

[Dee]

For option b - would one of the books by Richard Castle work (who is a fictional character on the TV show castle) - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

[JennRenee, Moderator]

Rebel RisingDoes this work for b.

[Kim]

Would this work for option b?

William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back -- or any of the other Star Wars Shakespearean adaptations?

Thank you.

[Trish]

I was hoping to get to Worldcon this year, but in the end I'm just not going to manage it. Thanks for a nice Hugo-related task.

[Jukka]

Dee wrote: "For option b - would one of the books by Richard Castle work (who is a fictional character on the TV show castle) - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..."

Yes. That's a pretty spectacular example of the genre.

JennRenee wrote: "Rebel RisingDoes this work for b."

Yup.

Kim wrote: "William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back -- or any of the other Star Wars Shakespearean adaptations?"

Go for it.

[Amber]

When you say "finalist" for option 1, do you mean we can use any of the nominees? Or only the winners/joint winners?

I was looking for a place to slot in Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery, but it didn't win in 2015, it was only nominated.

That's so exciting, I hope Worldcon is awesome for you!

[Jukka]

A finalist is any of the titles that ended up on the shortlist. Because of how the nomination process works, basically anyone or anything can be a "nominee", and the term is meaningless. More on that here: http://www.thehugoawards.org/2017/02/...

So, your book works. Go for it!

And thanks!

[Diane]

I am still confused about finalists vs, nominees, even after reading the article. Will Out of the Silent Planet work?

[Jukka]

If it's on the lists and otherwise SRC-eligible, it's good.

Out of the Silent Planet works.

[Megs]

Option B-Media Tie In
I'm almost embarrassed to ask but can I use a reality show tie in or is this meant to be a fictional continuation of a fictional medium?

The book I'm specifically referring to is The Art of Southern Charm written by a recurring character in the show Southern Charm about the setting and lifestyle that is depicted in the show.

Thanks for your help and please no judgement on my sketchy tv viewing habits :)

[Jukka]

I'm afraid the task specifies "novel or short story collection", and as non-fiction, The Art of Southern Charm is neither. Sorry, but it's invalid for this.

[Megs]

Oh I totally missed that detail! Thanks so much for clarifying!

[Nicole]

just double checking (even though you said we could hahaha) that I can use Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned for Option A. Volume 19 was a 2009 finalist.

[Jukka]

No, any part of a series applies when the entire series was a finalist.

That's the case with Wheel of Time (Best Novel Finalist 2014) or the six series up for the new Best Series category this year (The Expanse, Temeraire, October Daye, Miles Vorkosigan, The Craft Cycle, Peter Grant).

So, unfortunately, good though it is, Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned does not work.

[Nicole]

Thanks! This is why I ask. I get excited and miss the nuance

[Rochella]

Just making sure this book is okay for Option B
The Secret Diary of Ashley Juergens
It's from the TV show The Secret Life of the American Teenager

[Jukka]

Rochella wrote: "Just making sure this book is okay for Option B
The Secret Diary of Ashley Juergens
It's from the TV show The Secret Life of the American Teenager"

Yeah, looks like it fits.

[Cat]

ooh! I hadn't realised that the Peter Grant series had been nominated.

Will the graphic novels (Rivers of London: Body Work) be OK? I guess, as they are tagged as "Peter Grant" series, that it will, but would be good to be sure :)

[Jukka]

Unfortunately no. It's specifically the novel series that's up for a Hugo.

[Nick]

Hi Jukka,

This is a great task, especially for a sci-fi fan such as me. I need to make sure I can do something here, though.

I wish to read Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. The title novella of the collection was nominated for a 1999 Hugo for best novella (Opt A) though it is not lengthy enough on its own to qualify.

In addition, the title novella of the collection was the basis of the movie "Arrival" -- which just won a technical Oscar in Feb as it was released last year -- and nominated for Best Picture! (thus it also fits Option B -- and it's a really great sci fi movie!)

If I read the entire collection, will it count for this task?

[Jukka]

Unfortunately, no. As you said yourself, "Story of Your Life" is not long enough to be SRC-eligible in its own right. Otherwise every anthology and collection with a Hugo-nominated short story would also fly and that'd get real difficult real fast.

Additionally, it wouldn't be eligible for Option B in any case, since the film is based on the novella, not the other way around.

[Anne (Booklady)]

I misunderstood Option B, so I ended up on the thread of shame :(

So, I think I understand the task now.

Would Burn Notice: The Fix published Aug 5, 2008 a year after the Pilot of the 7 year USA Network TV Series aired in June of 2007 be acceptable for Option B?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810788/e...

[Pam]

That is so awesome that you were so involved with WorldCon 75! I see that WorldCon 76 is in San Jose, CA. I've added it to my calendar! Being a sci-fi fan, I love this task, especially option A, but am still trying to finish my book to claim this task.