Harry Kitchener

3 stars for this story. "Turncoat" by Steve Rzasa, short story nominee. During war, machine intelligence ponders its humanity and the existence of souls. Too much military stuff for me, and I didn't find the soul stuff to be anything more than superficial, but the joke at the end had me laughing.

"The Hot Equations" by Ken Burnside, related work nominee. 2 stars. Super-boring essay about thermodynamics and how it might effect space warfare.

"Sucker Punch" by Eric S. Raymond; Raymond is nominated for the Campbell Award. I do not like military fiction--I find it boring and in this particular instance barely genre. No stars.

"Shakedown Cruis" by Rolf Nelson; Nelson is nominated for the Campbell Award. Not my thing at all. 1 star.… (mais)

Theodore Beale (Vox Day) is nominated for Best Editor, Long Form, and also Best Editor, Short Form.

This collection is included in the Hugo Voters packet in support of Theodore Beale's nomination for Best Editor, Short Form.

Unfortunately, it's a very uneven collection. It includes the very good The Hot Equations, by Ken Burnside, and the very disappointing Turncoat by Steve Rzasa. There is, early on, a casual endorsement of the probable "necessity" of genocide on the grounds that Those People aren't smart enough to modify their behavior. A point Beale's fans will have difficulty with is that such inflammatory language makes it less likely that readers will take in the point the author was attempting to make. A better editor would have caught it and told the author to dispense with pointless provocation and just make his point.

If this is the best evidence Beale has to offer, he has no place on the ballot.… (mais)