The Hugo Awards: George RR Martin, Vox Day and Alastair Reynolds on the prize's future | Books | The Guardian

Are people buying memberships to a convention they have no intention of attending, purely to vote on the Puppies's slates? "I believe so," says Beale. "The unprecedented numbers make it clear that people on both sides were buying supporting memberships in order to vote for and against the Puppy recommendations." Doesn't that make a mockery of the whole Hugo system and ethos, though? "No more than it has always been," Beale says. "I think they [the Puppies campaigns] have successfully exposed the extent of the ideological bias in science fiction and fantasy publishing, and in the media. The media coverage last year was so insane and so over the top that it significantly boosted support for the Rabid Puppies."