Release the Chickens! Part 2 of 4

In the second part of this episode, Bruce and Sharon talk about book awards and their relevancy. They talk about how different awards are decided, based on their structure. They also talk about the blurring lines of category and genre. 

Things that get mentioned: https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecott https://www.thehugoawards.org https://www.otherscribbles.com https://andyweirauthor.com https://natalielloyd.com

This episode was recorded August 25, 2022.

Join authors Sharon Skinner and Bruce Davis as they record the next episode of their Brick Cave Podcast. Covering a wide gamut of literary topics, you are sure to find the listen an engaging and entertaining event.

 

About Sharon Skinner

Sharon Skinner is the author of numerous books and a number of short stories, including the Tavara Tinker Series. Her most recent title, The Exile's Gift, is available now from Brick Cave Media. She is online at https://sharonskinner.com or https://bookcoachingbysharon.com

 

About Bruce Davis

Bruce Davis is the author of many books and several short pieces of fiction. He writes science fiction, fantasy and non fiction. His most recent title, Silver Magic, is currently available from Brick Cave Media. He is online at https://brucecdavis.com

 

About Brick Cave Media®

The Brick Cave Podcast is ©2024 Brick Cave Media LLC., all rights reserved. for more information on Brick Cave Media, visit the organization's website at https://brickcave.media. The Brick Cave Membership Community is called the BC Book Club, and you can join at http://bcbookclub.com.

 

Wanna Hear Their Thoughts on YOUR first Page?

First Words is the segment of the show where Bruce and Sharon each select the first page of someone’s work, read it on air, and discuss it with feedback.

You can submit your first manuscript page to have them read it during the show, learn more here:

https://brickcave.media/index.php/brick-cave-podcast/about-the-podcast

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So award season is coming up.
Shaicon is in September. It's where the Hugo Awards will
be presented. What do you think about the whole
award scene? You know,
awards are an interesting animal. I think that, because, you know, in the kid
lit industry, there's a ton of awards, but there are some really

(00:22):
big ones. The prince and the Caldecott and that sort of
thing. And I think that,
you know, in some cases, I I
get a little bit, confused sometimes
about why a book wins over another book. But I'm not
on those panels. I don't know what the judges are looking for. I don't know

(00:44):
what they're talking about. I don't know how they're scoring things.
So sometimes it's like I I'm rooting for a book and then it doesn't win
and I and the book that won is fine, but I get a little
bit, you know, flummoxed about, well, why didn't this other
book win? But, again, it goes I think it goes back to the
flavors that we prefer and and who nominates. Right?

(01:06):
Who's actually nominating these books or getting them onto the reading
lists for the judges? How do they, you know It's
interesting when you have a panel of judges. So for instance, the
Caldecott, I believe, is a panel of judges. Hugo's are a little
bit different in that the the voting is open to
anybody who is a member of the World Science Fiction

(01:28):
Convention. Basically, you get a membership by signing up and saying, hey, I'll pay my
money and come to the convention. And then you get a ballot.
So on the one hand, it is
in a way very fan responsive because who goes to Worldcon?
But fans. On the other hand, it
tends to be a little bit selective in that the

(01:51):
people who have the wherewithal to go to the
con, to sign up for a membership,
tend to self select a great deal.
You're either a hardcore fan and you save all year to do this.
Or you have a certain level of income or level of interest
oftentimes, because you're an author or a publisher that gets you

(02:15):
there. I've been to a couple,
More by knowing someone who got me in the door
as a panelist or as a presenter and then
paying my money and going to the con.
I've always wondered who actually makes the nominations
because that's a little different. That's a committee that does that

(02:38):
within the convention structure.
And while I didn't support the whole sad
puppies thing a number of years ago, I understood their point of
view. I have read
most of the books on today's this this year's list.
And while some of them I greatly liked,

(03:01):
are they award winning books? I don't know.
Because I don't know what the standards are here. It's kinda like the Oscars, You
know? It's like, who's popular? And and I was just gonna say
that we see some awards out there even in the kidlet, industry
that are clearly popularity popularity
contests. Yeah. And especially when it's the, membership

(03:23):
or the fans voting, it's, you know, how many people know
you or know of you or, you know, that sort of thing. So,
you know but but I will say that there are some really good books
out there that do get nominated and that win these awards.
Sometimes, though, I'm a little confused about, you know, how they categorize
books because I've seen some prints awards that clearly I didn't see as You

(03:45):
books, and the prints is specifically for You. So,
I don't know how they determine some of that. But Now you're getting
into how do you define genre and Mhmm. Well, category for
for kidlet. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just genre. Genre. But, I mean, I mean, category.
Those lines have gotten so blurred that I'm not really sure I would
put much weight on that. Science fiction and fantasy,

(04:09):
again, there there's a lot of blurring there. I mean, are you a
hard science fiction fan? Or are you a, you know
Space opera. Space opera or classic fantasy, you know.
Yeah. I think some of these books get
nominated just because they're either their world
building or their premise is

(04:32):
weird and barely comprehensible, and therefore, they must be works of genius.
You know, it's like, I've read some of these. Like,
I'm already following this book. Why is this an award number? Pull the list
and read some of those that, because I I haven't really been following. I don't
follow awards that closely, ahead of time.

(04:52):
I usually what I do is I wait to see who wins, and then I,
select out a few to see what I think of the winners. And
that's how I usually treat awards. I do that a little
more this year and last year because I anticipated
maybe going to the convention and voting on
these things. Made a point of reading a significant number of these

(05:15):
things. In the end, I decided, there are a lot of
reasons I don't really wanna be still involved in that
particular scene. But, you know, the the books that were nominated
range from what I consider just absolutely brilliant.
Okay. Yes. You you really deserve that nomination.
To why? Well and

(05:38):
and also, you know, the other piece to that too is there are so many
books. It's so hard to read all the books. And in the kid led
industry, I don't always know what's nominated till it's nominated. I don't know
what's gonna be nominated. I'm just reading. I'm just grabbing and
reading, and that's how I do. And then I'll root for books if
I if a book I loved gets nominated. But That's kinda

(06:00):
the other side of this because I didn't really understand why the some of the
nominations were what they were. I've read
other books in the course of the year that I thought were
more deserving that didn't get a nomination.
Right. Either because the author I is a little bit obscure or it's
a first time author or dare I say it,

(06:23):
an author that has political views that are not particularly
acceptable. But I found their book
immensely enjoyable and satisfying. Yeah. I'm not gonna name names.
Sometimes it's sometimes it's hard to separate. Of those where
there was a unique premise, a unique
voice, great world building. But

(06:46):
the point of view was not
what we would consider necessarily our mainstream
Appropriate? Appropriate viewpoint. And I don't mean that they
were, you know, far left and more far right than anything Or
what people would call the right, what I would call libertarian.

(07:07):
But, you know, they're just kind of dropped like a stone because this isn't
what the nominating committee wants to read. Mhmm. I'm not Okay.
Plain sour grapes. These were excellent books in their
own right, and I'm not sure why they didn't get a nomination.
Right. Meanwhile, you know, and to name a name, Andy Weir
gets a nomination for the Hail Mary Project, which

(07:29):
was a good book, but nowhere near
The Martian. And I think he got nominated just on the
strength of his popularity with The Martian and then the
movie and then everything else. The Hail Mary Project is a fine
book, but it's not of that
quality. Gotcha. Gotcha. Meanwhile, you know, say Becky

(07:51):
Chambers I love Becky Chambers. Her her
latest Wayfarer book, which was nominated,
is fun to read. I don't think it's particularly brilliant
in terms of breaking new ground in terms of new ideas. And there
are people who don't get it, you know, I would say. But her
kind of gentle, optimistic sci fi

(08:14):
to me is is appealing. It's it is. It's enjoyable. It's enjoyable to
read. Yeah. And I get the appeal. Not
particularly radical or groundbreaking, but certainly, you know,
a a different take on the usual space
opera or or, you know, conflict based sci fi.
Yeah. Yeah.

(08:36):
Although, that book, Space Opera, was hysterical. Have you
read that book? I I don't remember who wrote it, but that is a hysterical
book. That's so much fun. With all of the, you know
The tropes. That tropes and the It was funny. It was
fun. It was so it's such a pleasure to to read.
Well, speaking of what reading, what have we been

(08:58):
reading this summer? Oh, dear. Summer reads. Let's
see. I have actually gotten away from sci fi and fantasy
and have been reading a lot of, detective
stories. Now I'm currently writing
a essentially spy novel set in a different

(09:18):
time. So it makes sense.
I have like I did like I say, I did read
Andy Weir's book. I read,
Becky Chambers. Most of her Wayfarer series starting with
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Right it
through, what's it? The universe, galaxy of the universe and everything

(09:41):
or something like that. Something like that. Yeah. And and
it was interesting the way she segued from one group of characters
in one book to a minor character, but then major character
in the next book, but in the same universe. I really kind of
how she liked how she pivoted that. Well, it's And it was And it's such
a large universe to play in. Yeah. So she and she she really

(10:05):
took advantage of that and took us on multiple
journeys across that expanse, which was really enjoyable.
Another fun read, was Silver Swift.
It's by, Holly Palance.
No. It's by Natalie Lloyd, narrated by Holly Palance. It's a take

(10:25):
on the old selkie legend. Oh, nice.
And a woman who is the
granddaughter of a selkie who chose to be human.
And her trying to rediscover her roots.
It's a fun read. It's it's set on an island
off the coast of Carolina which appealed to me greatly because that's one of

(10:49):
my favorite playgrounds. But she gets the
kind of island attitude right.
Mhmm. And, you know, it treats it well. Not just as
these are a bunch of rednecks who, you know, happen to live on
these islands. But