Orson Scott Card doesn't represent the Hugos or Nebulas any more than the winners of Writers of the Future "represent" Scientology. George R.R. Martin, Ursula K. LeGuin, Joe Haldeman, John Varley, Connie Willis, all Hugo winners. Also, it helps to remember that Orson Scott Card wasn't a megaconservative, or at least…

Yes, Ancillary Justice deserved praise and is exactly the sort of thing that should win. (I say that as a big fan of Ian M. Banks and Alastair Reynolds, my two favorite space opera writers.)

I know the knee-jerk reaction to this is "white dudes got butthurt because they didn't win," but has anyone commenting here actually read the shit that's been winning Hugos and Nebulas the past few years? I don't care if the writer is a green trisexual who occasionally enjoys having sex with plants, as long as they…

No doubt. You can mine drama and conflict from almost anything. My point, though, is that without characters making mistakes and sometimes stupid decisions, the narrative is not as compelling.

Yes, let's look to a George Lucas movie as an example of strong dialogue and expertly-disguised exposition.

Let's be honest here: The characters MUST act stupidly, otherwise there's no TV show or no drama.