Last 5 winners of the Hugo Best Novel: Ancillary Justice, Redshirts, Among Others, Blackout/All Clear, The Windup Girl/The City & the City.

So which ones are "message" novels?

Red Shirts sure as hell isn't. Ancillary Justice is interesting, but I certainly would consider it a hell of a lot less "mandatory message" driven than this year's The Dark Between the Stars.

THREE of the best five novellas are John C. Wright? I mean he is not a terrible writer, but seriously? That's what their team considers the best science fiction novellas published this year?

I agree they did nothing illegal. But their nominations are pretty shit compared to what was published this year. I think they managed not to include a single one of my top picks for novels, novellas, or novelettes.

Also, that nomination for Wisdom from My Internet is just embarrassing. At least as embarrassing as that dinosaur love story.

Are you actually asserting that Kevin J. Anderson's book is better than the latest William Gibson?

Are you seriously going to tell me that John C. Wright wrote THREE of the best five novellas of the year?

Either you have terrible taste in science fiction or you haven't actually bothered looking at the nominees yet.

Actually, they don't flock to it because they would prefer not to have to put up with the sexism so prevalent in much of computer science/IT these days. Having been the only woman in a CS class, I can assure you that it's not fun. It gets even less fun when the teacher firmly believes that you cannot be a good programmer because of your gender. It doesn't help that many women do not feel safe in the computer lab at night.

If you think that tech is a meritocracy, you're not paying attention. If you think everyone has the same opportunities, and the same encouragement you do, you're not paying attention. If you think that there isn't discrimination against women, you're not paying attention.

But here is the interesting thing. In places where there are enough women, as a percentage, these things are not as problematic. And that is why encouraging women to enter the profession is a very good idea, and a self-reinforcing.

Rules to workplace flirting:

1) don't, unless the other party expresses interest.
2) stop immediately if the other party expresses any discomfort.

Rules to behaving like a human:

1) treat everyone with respect.
2) do not treat people disrespectfully.

Easy, isn't it.

No, girls like flirting (just like guys do) on their OWN terms. It has no place in a professional context. At a conference, or at work, I want to be treated like a professional. If you are busy thinking about whether I'm attractive or not, you're not thinking about what I'm saying.