I was out of town last weekend, will be at Convergence in Minneapolis this weekend, and will be having the fake family reunion the weekend after that. Then Bryon and I go on the no work, writing, internet romantic trip of love. 🙂
What am I saying? Spotty coverage at best? Yes. SO today you get two entries. First, let’s do the entry on Digger by Ursula Vernon.
I expected good from the Hugo voter pack. I expected quality. One thing I did not expect from my Hugo reading was something so unexpected delightful metaphysical that I would be riveted from beginning to end. That thing would be Digger, the six volume adventure epic of a wombat named Digger on an unexpected quest. Throw in demons, Ganesh, a tribe of hyenas, an exile named Ed, and a dead god, plus some musings on just about every aspect of life, and you have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Digger reminds me of what it would be like to be an Iowan on a quest. Our heroine has a focus of practicality and good will, a conviction to do the right thing combined with a low tolerance for stupidity. Vernon, the artist/author surrounds her with characters that echo and restate these themes. The result is a loamy complicated story full of twists and turns and turns and surprises. And Vernon is not afraid to make hard but satisfying story decisions as well.
So, can you get hold of it? Well, you may need to order it directly from Vernon’s site, because it’s hard to get out there in the real world. Believe me, I spent a great deal of last weekend trying. Obviously, you may well have guessed which graphic novel will be getting my top Hugo honors. I really, really recommend this.
Catherine