Leigh Brackett

I’ve decided I’m not going to do a post on Henry Kuttner’s “A God Named Kroo” for the Retro Hugos.  I reviewed it a few years ago here. I’ve got too much Real Life stuff going on, and the winners were announced yesterday. At least I saw a notice last night after posting about Brackett’s “The Jewel of Bas“.  That was the one I was hoping would win.  Brackett did win in the novel category (which I might review because Brackett) and Best Related Work.

I hadn’t paid much attention to the other categories. I’m not a member of Worldcon and am not likely to be anytime in the foreseeable future. So it was entertaining to see the reactions on Twitter today.

Seems the wrong people won some of the awards.

A typical Margaret Brundage cover.

Margaret Brundage won best artist.  I didn’t see anyone objecting to this. I just thought it was cool, especially since her work isn’t exactly politically correct. It’s the sort of thing that could get her canceled these days. Beautiful women in skimpy outfits in some type of danger, often with bondage elements. Not exactly in favor with those who feel they need to police the content of the field. Remember the Red Sonja cover on the SFWA bulletin t hat cause such a furor a few years ago?

And she was the only woman on a ballot of six.

Best Editor went to John W. Campbell, Jr. Why this is surprising, I don’t understand. A glance at the fiction nominees reveals he published half the novellas, all the novelettes, and two-thirds of the short stories on the ballot. Plus one of the novels, of which only two were published in the pulps. Who else are you going to choose?

John W. Campbell, Jr.

It’s become fashionable to hate on Campbell these days.  And not just the folks who hate him for his ideas and politics, either. A number of folks on the New Pulp side of things bash him regularly because he wanted science fiction to be a more serious literature. While I can see their point, I don’t tend to agree with them. I like Campbellian sf just as much as I like the pulpy stuff. And the pulpy stuff didn’t go away when Campbell became editor of Astounding.

But the result that seems to have everybody’s shorts in a knot is that The Cthulhu Mythos won best series. Given the competition, I’m not surprised. Pellucidar isn’t regarded as Burroughs’s best series, and Jules de Grandin was more a Weird Tales series, and Captain Future has always been regarded as rather juvenile. While The Shadow and Doc Savage have significant fandoms, I’m not sure how much those fandoms overlap with the Worldon membership, and keep in mind, it’s that membership that voted. This result shouldn’t have surprised anyone.

The Gentleman From Providence, H. P. Lovecraft

The usual suspects were wringing their hands on Twitter today, and at least one editor at a major publisher apparently made some type of remarks about damaging the Hugos or some such. I’m blocked by that person, so I am inferring from the replies.

The amount of misinformation was pretty impressive.  (Yes, there were characters of color in Astounding/Analog while Campbell was editor.) And Derleth was also credited on the series.

Frankly, I’m glad to see this result. The problem I have with the Retro Hugos is that the results probably won’t reflect the opinions of those who would have voted had the Hugos been award in whatever year they are honoring.  I’m getting tired of people trying to erase the history of the field in a snit of self-righteousness. I get that Campbell and Lovecraft weren’t sufficiently Woke. I also find some of their ideas offensive. But I can handle that without having a fit of the vapors. I’m an adult. The difference between me and those of small minds, or one of the differences, is that I recognize the field is large enough for all of us.

And if the winners are any indication, a number of Hugo voters do, too.