Trends in SF

Hi All,
At the end of last meeting we speculated what themes might be prevalent in this year’s Hugo/Nebula nominees given the political situation.

Our Predictions: (i) Cli-Fi, (ii) rogue AIs, (iii) Aliens as a commentary on current life,
(iv) Fantasy/Escapism, (v) Dystopian politics, (vi) LGBT, (vii) Space Opera

Dystopia and LGBT were very prominent in this year’s Nebula short stories.
I hope everyone also reads the Omelas story!

In contrast the themes for novels were not so different from previous years
(see attached; below).

See you Wednesday (and safe & fun travels)
Andrew

Summary of predicted themes from the 19 novels nominated for 2024-5 Hugo/Nebula awards:

• 4/19 Escapism: Humor/Comedy/Adventure/Pirates/High Fantasy – others? (19/19 Fantasy)
• 9/19 LGBT
• 3/19 Space Opera
• 1/19 Aliens
• 1/19 Robots (AI)
• 0/19 Cli-Fi