201. The Hugo Awards (A Discussion w/ Justin Landon and Natalie Luhrs)

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3. Since y’all skipped so dismissively past the 1939 Retro Hugos, I wanted to say a few things.
   I’ve actually read 4 of the 1939 Best Novel noms! Of those, The Sword in the Stone would have my vote; it can be a little slow, but I actually love the tangents, and Merlin traveling backward through time was a great idea.
   Of Best Novella, I’ve read Anthem and Who Goes There. The latter inspired the three movie versions of The Thing, so it definitely helped popularize science fiction.
   Best Dramatic Presentation includes the 1939 Orson Welles radio version of The War of the Worlds, which led to national hysteria as listeners believed the U.S. was being invaded by Mars! Or maybe just media hysteria (http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds_panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.single.html), but it certainly had an enduring legacy.
   As for best fan writer, yes, Ray Bradbury was a teenage fan before being published, and Forest J Ackerman helped him out. It’s a cool story; you may want to check it out.

   1. I actually nominated in that category. We did sort of dismiss it, though, and I let that go because I assumed I was the only one who had bothered to nominate in that particular field.

      Thanks for all the information, though! This is awesome 🙂

      1. My daddy says he actually heard the Orson Welles broadcast LIVE back in 1939, while riding in my grandfather’s Model A! Grandfather told then-teenage Daddy it was “all a big fake,” but he was still a little worried for a few days.

         BTW all the Retro dramatic presentation nominees except R.U.R. are available for free download at http://www.mercurytheatre.info/ — so no need to wait for the Hugo packet for those!

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