[Julie Steiner]

I used to be a big scifi and fantasy fan, and would pay close attention to the Hugo Award nominees and winners. I haven't been as active a reader of those genres in the past decade or so. Last year I became aware that something sad was going on with the Hugo Awards, and this year it got even worse:

Short version: http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...ng-controversy

Long version: http://www.wired.com/2015/08/won-sci...wards-matters/

I guess this is what happens when two of social media's stereotypical mobs clash on a literary battlefield: the literature loses.

(Although I think that this particular outcome--some nominees declining their nominations, and thousands of votes cast for "No Award" to reject a panel of options nominated for the authors' politics, rather than for literary merit--was probably the most positive outcome that could have been hoped for in such an ugly situation.)