So I wrote a quick overview of the Hugo Awards controversy this year for The Province. It’s really the sort of crazy situation that would need a novel to adequately cover, but who has time for novels these days?

The catalyst for the conflict was the announcement of the Hugo shortlists, which included a couple of expected nominees — Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice and Charles Stross’s Neptune’s Brood for best novel — but also a number of highly controversial and perhaps unexpected selections (or perhaps not, depending on who you talk to). Larry Correia made the best novel list for his book Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles, as did Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson for the entire Wheel of Time fantasy series. That’s right, an entire series stretching back many years is nominated for best novel of the year. It’s one of those technicality things. To top things off, controversial writer Vox Day was nominated in the best novelette category, enraging many in the sci-fi community who have battled with him online.