So I'm kinda, sorta (not really) nominated for a Hugo Award

70th World Science Fiction Convention (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For those of you who don't know, a Hugo Award is arguably the ultimate accolade in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. It's the Oscar of the nerd media set. And, in a very indirect way, I've been nominated for one.

More directly, the blog SF Signal (for which I once contributed before reclaiming my Geekend gig) and the SF Signal Podcast (on which I continue to appear three to four times per year) have been nominated as Best Fanzine and Best Fancast, respectively. The complete 2012 Hugo nominations list is available here. If any of you are heading to Worldcon 2012 (AKA Chicon 7) this year, and you're so motivated to vote, the SF Signal Irregulars would be grateful for a ballot checkmark or two in our favor.

Now, I cannot stress enough how little I had to do with either of these nominations. I haven't thrown in a SF Signal post in well over a year, as my precious and rare writing bandwidth now goes almost exclusively to paying gigs, the Louisville Digital Association (who suffers with me as its President) and ConGlomeration (which suffers with me as its webmaster). Despite persistent and generous invitations to the SF Signal Podcast, I only show up every month or so due to similar time constraints (though I'll be recording with them tomorrow night, I believe). Heck, despite a 2011 Tangent List entry, I haven't written any fiction in over a year, which the 2005 version of myself would find unforgivable and mind-boggling.

The Hugo credit belongs to everyone who contributes (more regularly than me) to both SF Signal properties, but most especially to John DeNardo, the head man at the SF Signal Blog, and Patrick Hester, the audio mogul who produces and hosts the SF Signal Podcast. Frankly, I'm far more pleased and excited about these nominations than I ever was of the Tangent mention because, first, it's a Hugo, and second because it shines a much overdue spotlight on good people doing good work for no reason other than a love of seeing it done.

That I am connected by the slimmest and most undeserved thread to these glories is irrelevant. John D., Patrick and every other SF Signal Irregular have earned this moment of praise. If you haven't heard of them, seek out their work. If you know them, thank them for their contributions to the sci-fi and fantasy community. We're all the better for it.

Now, let's bring home that rocket.

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Nerd Word of the Week: Mundanes

Image via Wikipedia

Mundane (n.) - A slang term from science fiction fandom which describes all non-fans. In many instances the term is used as a perjorative. Mundanes is also a term adopted for similar usage by other related subcultures, including goths, who use it to describe non-goths, and the Society for Creative Anachronists, who use it describe anyone who isn't a participating member of the SCA.

The term mundane, sometimes shortened as mun or mundie, is also used within works of science fiction and fantasy. For example, telepaths in the Babylon 5 universe refer to all non-telepaths as mundanes and in the Fables graphic novel series, all characters that do not orginate from fairy tales or folklore are referred to as mundies.

Moreover, there is a subgenre of science fiction known as mundane sci-fi, which adheres to highly realistic and plausible settings and plot devices within its stories, eschewing the more fantastical and extraordinary tropes more often associated with mainstream science fiction, particularly space opera.

Thus, usage of mundane within fandom is somewhat recursive, referring at various times to characters, stories, non-fans, or as a derogatory term for fans that are perceived as inferior or lacking sufficient devotion to fandom in general or an individual franchise in particular. Mundane as a fandom descriptor has fallen somewhat out of usage in recent years in favor of the Harry Potter-inspired (and thus currently more widely recognized) term muggle.

I bring it up because: Today is the first day of the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention, whence come the Hugo Awards, and if any place is likely to illustrate the varied usage of the word mundanes (to say nothing of the obvious dichotomy between fandom and the mundanes) it's WorldCon. Moreover, today is the 75th birthday of author Piers Anthony, whose obscenely long Xanth series of fantasy novels includes one of the most popular invocations of the term mundane, which in his context describes any normal human not born of the fictional world of Xanth. We commend either occasion as an excuse to reach out to any of the Mundanes in your life and share a little bit of the joy of fandom with them. Or just point and call them a mundie. Whatever leads to joy, really.

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