The Hugo Awards are one of the major awards presented within the sf/fantasy field, and the only one to have a wide, general readership as voters. The World Fantasy Awards shortlists are mainly chosen by a judging panel, with the winners picked by the same panel, and the Nebula Awards have their shortlists and winners chosen by members of the Science Fiction Writers of America.
It has recently become the custom each year for the organising committee of the World Science Fiction Convention, at which the Hugo Awards are presented, to make available an electronic collection of material covering the shortlisted works in all categories. This has again been done this year by the organising committee of Aussiecon 4, to be held in Melbourne in early September, and you can find full details of the electronic package on their website.
The interesting thing about this is that you can read full electronic copies of all nominated works of fiction, including all shortlisted works within the novel, novella, novelette and short story categories. There are also full-length copies and excerpts from the other relevant categories such as Related Work, Graphic Story, Semi-Prozine, Fanwriter and Fanzine, as well as Art Samples by nominees in the Professional and Fan Artist categories. All in all its a great way to sample the current sf and fantasy fields.
Of course there's a catch. This packet has been designed, with the help of the respective publishers and authors, to help readers decide on their voting choices for the awards, so the packet is only available to members of Aussiecon 4. But that is easy enough to rectify by either purchasing an attending or supporting membership of the convention, both of which will provide access to the packet and the opportunity to vote in the award process.
If you've been reading this weblog for a while you'll be aware that I do have a vested interest in this, in that I'm on the organising committee of Aussiecon 4. Doesn't matter. With six full novels and many works of lesser length for $A70, I think the packet is pretty good value.
