To Fancast or Not!

I’m not going to comment on all of this year’s Hugo categories, I’ll leave that for greater minds of this genre industry to mull over. I’m just concerned with the one that effects StarShipSofa – the Fancast.

Well, truth is I like it – I like it a lot.

The Fancast feels like its the right place to put something like StarShipSofa, The Coode Street Podcast, Galactic Suburbia Podcast, SF Signal Podcast, SF Squeecast and all the other great genre podcasts out there. I didn’t think this at first but now I have had time to reflect. It feels right. We now have a place to call our own in this whirlwind that is the Hugo Awards.

In 2010 when StarShipSofa got herself nominated for a Hugo in the Best Fanzine category the amount of negative vibes and comments about how a podcast was not a fanzine was simply staggering. I was not prepared for it. Thankfully, I had a few shoulders to lean on, especially Cheryl Morgan, who in my eyes has done more for the bringing together digital and print factions than any other single person I know. Before any of this new breed of podcaster or blogger (I include StarShipSofa in this group), Cheryl and her Emerald City (1995 – 2006) blog were there banging the drum for us all to march to. We have a lot to thank Cheryl for – I especially. Thank you Cheryl.

So, are we agreed? Is the Fancast the best place for podcasts? I think so. Will we be happy? I hope, though I suspect some will still grumble, and saying all that, I will be one of the first to grumble the loudest if the Fancast is not voted back next year.