Sean’s Comments (group member since Aug 23, 2015)

Sean’s comments from the CHORF Central Command group.

Hmm, the group's discussions are visible only to members. I'm tempted to join, but I don't know whether to just try and screencap the discussions, or to actively participate and see how long I last before getting kicked out.

Nominated for the Seiun Award (the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo) and Nihon SF Taisho for 2013. First English edition 2015.

This is a hard SF novel about a genetic programmer who gets called in to investigate when a rice plant he designed shows signs of a bizarre mutation. His search for answers takes him from Japan to Ho Chi Minh City and the jungles of Cambodia.

The book feels like an '80s era cyberpunk novel -- specifically something by Bruce Sterling -- with the focus on genetic engineering instead of computer hacking. The only downside is that the characters are flat.

Morgan wrote: "There's no place here for short fiction yet, but I thought folks might like to look at this io9 article where peoole are recommending short stories from this year. "

Actually there is a section for short fiction, it's just that nobody's posted in it yet. Create a new thread and select "Hugo Short Prose Suggestions" as the folder. (I haven't bothered to create separate folders for all the short fiction categories because I'm not sure how much discussion they'll generate.)

I'm still thinking about how to organize the folders -- I don't want it to become overwhelming with too many choices, but I'm not sure whether graphic novels should be grouped with dramatic presentations or what.

And welcome everyone to the group.

I've only just started this, but the reviews make it sound like a solid contender for next year.

This is a tough call for me -- if this were a novella I'd say it's a sure pick, but by my estimate it's around 45,000 words, which makes it a novel by Hugo standards and I don't know that it'll stand up to the competition. Plus, as enjoyable as it is, it feels like there's too much packed into such a short space.