Ursula K. Le Guin and others were honored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) this weekend at the Nebula Awards. Le Guin won for her novel Powers, and Joss Whedon received the Ray Bradbury Award. Because Whedon wasn’t able to attend personally, he accepted with a brilliant video available here.
A full list of the winners can be found at the SFWA website.
Bounty hunting may be one of the most common jobs in science fiction. It doesn’t take much to get started (just a healthy dose of confidence), but if you want to rise to the top you’re going to have to be something special. Here’s eight hunters who make you feel bad for their prey.
8 – Edward Mars He hasn’t been mentioned on Lost for a long time, but I keep wanting to see more about this guy. He chased Kate for more than three years, and didn’t give up until he was dead. Even when he wasn’t about to catch her, Mars was able to get in her head and manipulate her to a scary degree.
7 – Vogons Technically they might not be not bounty hunters, but the Vogons from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are not beings you want chasing you. When they’re hired to destroy a planet and a couple of its inhabitants manage to sneak away, the Vogons don’t consider the job done until they’ve chased down and eliminated the escapees. If they’re one thing you don’t want, it’s the bureaucracy of an entire species trying to kill you.
6 – Leonard Smalls Smalls is a bounty hunter from the 1987 Cohen Brothers movie Raising Arizona. In H.I.’s dream about Smalls, he says,
“He was horrible. The lone biker of apocalypse. A man with all the powers of Hell at his command. He could turn turn the day into night and lay to waste everything in his path. He was especially hard on little things-the helpless and the gentle creatures. He left a scorched earth in his wake befouling even the sweet desert breeze that whipped across his brow. I didn’t know where he came from or why. I didn’t know if he was dream or vision. But I feared that I myself had unleashed him.”
5 – Rick Deckard There’s a lot of debate about Blade Runner’s Deckard. Is he or is he not a replicant? Is he or is he not competent at chasing down his targets? Look at it this way: Deckard is hired to hunt 4 replicants; all 4 wind up dead.
4 – Samus Aran Samus, star of the Metroid series of video games, isn’t the best bounty hunter in the universe, but that’s why she’s so scary. She doesn’t “seek out, capture, and return for reward” as much as “show up and kill everyone on the planet.” Maybe in some places that’s acceptable behavior, but that’s probably just because no one is left alive to object.
3 – Spike Spiegel Actually, we don’t want any of the Bebop’s crew on our tails. Spike in particular, though, has amazing combat abilities and an uncanny knack for survival. If he’s coming for you, it won’t matter what you throw at him. He’ll come right through it and hit you at full speed.
2 – Jubal Early Another bounty hunter with a scary ability to get in the head of his prey, Early is featured in one episode of the series Firefly. When he shows up, only a psychic genius who’s been programmed as a government supersoldier can defeat him. And once he starts talking you get the impression that he’s not entirely sane and at the same time sees the world with an odd clarity. When Early comes for you, you’ll probably be heading for jail and questioning your entire life at the same time.
1 – Boba Fett Honestly, who doesn’t love Boba Fett? Even though we don’t learn too much about him in the Star Wars movies, the Extended Universe of books, comics, and games have turned him into the galaxy’s biggest badass. The man survived the sarlacc pit, which alone makes him Star Wars’ most intimidating non-Force user. At different times he’s been both hero and villain, working for the highest bidder, but if he’s hired to track you down your best option will be to surrender.
Did we miss someone? If you’ve got a bounty hunter who should be on the list, let us know in the comments.