Reductio Ad Absurdum

Damien G Walter has a piece at the Guardian Book Blog asking why editors don’t get awards. Now, obviously editors make an extremely important contribution to literature. However, I’ve never been convinced of the need for a fan award for editors and, in particular, I think the Hugo catergories for best editor are pretty meaningless. In the comments to this I’m somehow tricked into progressively coming out against more and more other Hugo categories until I finally get to the stage where I can now present the shortlist for the 2009 Hugo Award:

• Anathem, Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK)
• “The Tear”, Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires)
• “True Names”, Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow (Fast Forward 2)
• “The Gambler”, Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2)
• “Exhalation”, Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)

Speaking of which Niall is discussing ‘The Gambler’ over at Torque Control, along with all the other novelletes (including the dreadful ‘Alastair Baffle’s Emporium of Wonders’ by Mike Resnick).