Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Hugo News: Edmund R. Schubert Edition

Having had a full week without proper news regarding the Hugo Awards, we have news. Edmund R. Shubert, editor of Intergalactic Medicine Show and Hugo Nominee for Editor (Short Form), has withdrawn his nomination.

His initial announcement was posted on the blog of Alethea Kontis as Mr. Schubert does not have a personal blog of his own.  Mr. Schubert writes that he was told by the Hugo administrators that the ballot was frozen (which we were aware of after Black Gate's withdrawal last year),

Unfortunately this may reduce my actions to a symbolic gesture, but I can’t let that prevent me from following my conscience.

So it seems that the best I can do at this stage is ask everyone with a Hugo ballot to pretend I’m not there. Ignore my name, because if they call my name at the award ceremony, I won’t accept the chrome rocketship. My name may be on that ballot, but it’s not there the way I’d have preferred.

As I intend to do with Black Gate's nomination, I will leave Mr. Schubert off of my ballot completely as per his wishes.  Though the ballot is considered frozen by the Hugo administrators (as is their right), I will follow the lead of those wishing to withdraw and vote as if that nominee was no longer on the ballot. It may not be how I would want to vote, but I can only respect the wishes of those who asked off of the ballot.

Mr. Schubert has more to say in an editorial at Intergalactic Medicine Show where he posts a Not-A-Hugo-Sampler sampler issue, writing,

However, I do think it's appropriate to take this opportunity to declare that more reading is always a good thing, and that people should open their minds to new work without pre-judging it. Thus this collection was born.

So, if you're unfamiliar with the work published over at IGMS, here's an opportunity to read some of what Mr. Schubert has published.

I have also updated my list of the Hugo nominees to reflect the withdrawal of Mr. Schubert.

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