A possible end to Sad Puppies

Larry Correia and others have, in the past, made allegations of bias in Hugo nominations.  The award, in the end, is a popularity contest, but popularity among a generally small and self-selected group:  people who buy Worldcon memberships (and not even all of them).

This year, Larry Correia ran his "sad puppies" campaign. To wit:

And a heads up, it is time for Sad Puppies 2: Rainbow Puppy Lighthouse, The Huggening to begin. For those of you who weren’t readers last year, Sad Puppies 1 was my attempt to poke the humorless literati in the eye by getting MHN a Hugo nomination. When all was said and done, my entire slate for every other category got nominated except for me, and I missed the final 5 best novel noms by a handful of votes, with a final tally that would have put me in the top 3 any previous year. Which is quite the achievement, considering my regular reading audience isn’t exactly the WorldCon type.

Note that this wasn't just Larry asking his fans to vote for his work (as other authors have done in the past without any fuss) but other books they like too.

Along the way, Larry posted the titles he was voting for, his "slate":

Best Novel
Warbound, the Grimnoir Chronicles – Larry Correia – Baen
A Few Good Men – Sarah Hoyt – Baen
Novella
The Butcher of Khardov – Dan Wells – Skull Island Expeditions
The Chaplain’s Legacy – Brad Torgersen – Analog
Novellete
The Exchange Officers – Brad Torgersen – Analog
Opera Vita Aeterna – Vox Day – The Last Witchking
Best Fanzine
Elitist Book Reviews – Steve Diamond
Graphic Story
Schlock Mercenary – Howard Tayler
Best Editor Long Form
Toni Weisskopf
Best Editor Short Form
Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Campbell Award
Marko Kloos
Frank Chadwick

Of those, I, personally, have read the novels, the graphic story and am familiar with Ms. Weisskopf's work.  And all of them I consider very much award worthy.  Given that he's batting 1000 in the ones for which I am familiar, I have no reason to think the rest are any less worthy.

That makes the "slate" nothing more than a list of good works and editors for people to consider and maybe get behind.

As it happens, the campaign was a success. Schlock Mercenary, it turned out, wasn't eligible and neither was Marko Kloos.

The final list of nominees:

BEST NOVEL (1595 ballots)

• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
• Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross (Ace / Orbit UK)
• Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
• Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia (Baen Books)
• The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books)

BEST NOVELLA (847 ballots)

• The Butcher of Khardov by Dan Wells (Privateer Press)
• "The Chaplain's Legacy" by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jul-Aug 2013)
• "Equoid" by Charles Stross (Tor.com, 09-2013)
• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Press)
• "Wakulla Springs" by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages (Tor.com, 10-2013)

BEST NOVELETTE (728 ballots)

• "The Exchange Officers" by Brad Torgersen (Analog, Jan-Feb 2013)
• "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" by Mary Robinette Kowal (maryrobinettekowal.com/Tor.com, 09-2013)
• "Opera Vita Aeterna" by Vox Day (The Last Witchking, Marcher Lord Hinterlands)
• "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" by Ted Chiang (Subterranean, Fall 2013)
• "The Waiting Stars" by Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky, Candlemark & Gleam)

BEST SHORT STORY (865 ballots)

• "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky (Apex Magazine, Mar-2013)
• "The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com, 04-2013)
• "Selkie Stories Are for Losers" by Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons, Jan-2013)
• "The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere" by John Chu (Tor.com, 02-2013)

Note: category has 4 nominees due to a 5% requirement under Section 3.8.5 of the WSFS constitution.

BEST RELATED WORK (752 ballots)

• Queers Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the LGBTQ Fans Who Love It Edited by Sigrid Ellis & Michael Damian Thomas (Mad Norwegian Press)
• Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary by Justin Landon & Jared Shurin (Jurassic London)
• "We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative" by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)
• Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer, with Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image)
• Writing Excuses Season 8 by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Jordan Sanderson

BEST GRAPHIC STORY (552 ballots)

• Girl Genius, Volume 13: Agatha Heterodyne & The Sleeping City written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
• "The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who" written by Paul Cornell, illustrated by Jimmy Broxton (Doctor Who Special 2013, IDW)
• The Meathouse Man adapted from the story by George R.R. Martin and illustrated by Raya Golden (Jet City Comics)
• Saga, Volume 2 written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)
• "Time" by Randall Munroe (XKCD)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG FORM) (995 ballots)

• Frozen screenplay by Jennifer Lee, directed by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee (Walt Disney Studios)
• Gravity written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Esperanto Filmoj; Heyday Films; Warner Bros.)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire screenplay by Simon Beaufoy & Michael Arndt, directed by Francis Lawrence (Color Force; Lionsgate)
• Iron Man 3 screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black, directed by Shane Black (Marvel Studios; DMG Entertainment; Paramount Pictures)
• Pacific Rim screenplay by Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, directed by Guillermo del Toro (Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros., Disney Double Dare You)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM) (760 ballots)

• An Adventure in Space and Time written by Mark Gatiss, directed by Terry McDonough (BBC Television)
• Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor" written by Steven Moffat, directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Television)
• Doctor Who: "The Name of the Doctor" written by Steven Moffat, directed by Saul Metzstein (BBC Television)
• The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot written and directed by Peter Davison (BBC Television)
• Game of Thrones: "The Rains of Castamere" written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)
• Orphan Black: "Variations under Domestication" written by Will Pascoe, directed by John Fawcett (Temple Street Productions; Space/BBC America)

Note: category has 6 nominees due to a tie for 5th place.

BEST EDITOR - SHORT FORM (656 ballots)

• John Joseph Adams
• Neil Clarke
• Ellen Datlow
• Jonathan Strahan
• Sheila Williams

BEST EDITOR - LONG FORM (632 ballots)

• Ginjer Buchanan
• Sheila Gilbert
• Liz Gorinsky
• Lee Harris
• Toni Weisskopf

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST (624 ballots)

• Galen Dara
• Julie Dillon
• Daniel Dos Santos
• John Harris
• John Picacio
• Fiona Staples

Note: category has 6 nominees due to a tie for 5th place.

BEST SEMIPROZINE (411 ballots)

• Apex Magazine edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Jason Sizemore, and Michael Damian Thomas
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies edited by Scott H. Andrews
• Interzone edited by Andy Cox
• Lightspeed Magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton, and Stefan Rudnicki
• Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison, Brit Mandelo, An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Sonya Taaffe, Abigail Nussbaum, Rebecca Cross, Anaea Lay, and Shane Gavin

BEST FANZINE (478 ballots)

• The Book Smugglers edited by Ana Grilo and Thea James
• A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher
• Elitist Book Reviews edited by Steven Diamond
• Journey Planet edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Lynda E. Rucker, Pete Young, Colin Harris, and Helen J. Montgomery
• Pornokitsch edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin

BEST FANCAST (396 ballots)

• The Coode Street Podcast Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe
• Galactic Suburbia Podcast Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
• SF Signal Podcast Patrick Hester
• The Skiffy and Fanty Show Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Julia Rios, Paul Weimer, David Annandale, Mike Underwood, and Stina Leicht
• Tea and Jeopardy Emma Newman
• Verity! Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Lynne M. Thomas, and Tansy Rayner Roberts
• The Writer and the Critic Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond

Note: category has 7 nominees due to a tie for 5th place.

BEST FAN WRITER (521 ballots)

• Liz Bourke
• Kameron Hurley
• Foz Meadows
• Abigail Nussbaum
• Mark Oshiro

BEST FAN ARTIST (316 ballots)

• Brad W. Foster
• Mandie Manzano
• Spring Schoenhuth
• Steve Stiles
• Sarah Webb

JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (767 ballots)

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2012 or 2013, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award).

• Wesley Chu
• Max Gladstone *
• Ramez Naam *
• Sofia Samatar *
• Benjanun Sriduangkaew 

I've marked the ones from Sad Puppies in Red. (And, Sorry Larry, but I would have given the nod preferentially to Sarah Hoyt's A Few Good Men over Warbound if I had to choose.)

Of course, as soon as the results come out, so do the accusations of "cheating" and objections that these books made the ballot.

And on what are those objections based?  Are they based on the quality, or presumed lack thereof, of the books and stories?  Of course not.  The people making the objections by and large haven't even read the works in question.  Nope.  They are based on the politics (or presumed politics since they often get that wrong as well) of the nominees and nominators, or that people not part of the "in crowd" are actually using the rules, as written, to support art that they value rather than that of the "in crowd."

And thus do the objectors prove, by their very objections, that Larry Correia was right all along.