Busy day, short post

The continuing sucky bandwidth is the reason for short post.  Today included meals with friends, time in the dealers' room, and the Hugo awards.  I always find the Hugo awards emotional, both because I've cared about them since I was quite small (I would look for the "Hugo winner!" designation on books) and because I've long dreamed of being nominated for and winning one (quite unlikely).  This year's ceremony was a smooth, professional affair that started almost exactly on time and ended in two hours, maybe a hair less--a good job by all involved.

My congratulations to all of the nominees and to the winners!

Hugo nominations are drawing to a close

The nomination period for the Hugo awards ends this Thursday night, March 31.  You can see the details and nominate works here.

A lot of controversy has surrounded the Hugo awards in the last few years, so it might be tempting to walk away from it all, but I won't.  I think that the more fans who nominate and then vote for the Hugo awards, the better.

So, if you're eligible to nominate works, please do.  If you don't, then don't complain about the works on the ballot or the fact that your favorite writers' works never win awards.




P.S. Somewhat to my surprise, each year quite a few fans ask why none of my works has won a Hugo.  The answer is simple:  none of has inspired enough people to get them to nominate one of our works on an award ballot.  When you consider that a hundred or two nominations will land most works on most ballots, that statement sounds particularly sad, but it's the truth.  It is also equally true of many, many writers with far larger sales than mine.  We all should write because we must, not to win awards.

Hugo nominations and my 2015 work

Hugo nominations are now open.  Go here to read about them and nominate.  If you're a member of this year's worldcon or last year's, you can nominate.

Nominating is a good thing, because the more people who show what they like by nominating works for the award, the more likely the final award is to be representative of what the majority of fans like.

I have one work eligible this year:  the novelette (just barely, at not quite 7,800 words), "All That's Left," which appeared in Onward, Drake!  While I would obviously love to make the Hugo ballot (and never have), I also wouldn't want anyone to nominate the story unless she/he really liked it.

I should note that if you're one of those people who believe voting turn-outs are always so big that your vote doesn't matter, in most years a hundred nominations would put a novelette on the ballot, and 300 would almost always make that story be the most nominated piece.

So, regardless of my works, if you're an SF fan, please consider nominating works you like for the Hugo.

On the road again: London, day 9WorldCon, day 4

The high point of today was the Hugo Awards ceremony, the SF/F community's annual gathering in celebration of the best of its works of the years.  I've dreamed of winning a Hugo since I was quite young, so I've gone to the Hugos at every WorldCon I've attended.  I find them bittersweet affairs, having never been nominated, much less won, but I wouldn't miss them.

Publisher Toni could not attend, so I was her designated acceptor, should she have won in the Best Editor Long Form category in which she was nominated.  (As deserving as she is of the award, and she very much is, she did not win it; the estimable Ginjer Buchanan won it in the year in which she retired.  Well done, Ginjer!)  Because I was to accept for Toni, I got to attend the pre-awards reception and then sit down front with the nominees.  It was quite a lovely experience; I hope one day to repeat it on my own behalf.

On the walk to the reception, I saw these buildings, which I absolutely adore.

Click an image to see a larger version.

If you zoom in on them, you'll see how burned out they are, skeletons just waiting to play roles in some post-apocalypse or alien-invasion story.  I'm sure I'll use them in something.

At the reception, two celebrities unexpectedly appeared:  Peter Davidson and David Tennant.  As things turned out, both must have come should their shows have won awards (neither did), so no one in the main audience saw them.  All the people at the reception with whom I spoke were, however, a-twitter at their presence.  All the women with whom I spoke agreed that Tennant was far hotter in person than on screen.  I have to agree that he is entirely more beautiful in person than on screen.

If you enlarge this, you can just see him. 

The photo does him no justice; trust me.

After the ceremony ended, I had the opportunity, courtesy of being Toni's designated acceptor, to attend the Hugo Losers party.  Though I have long wanted to go, I declined; it was not my party.  Should I one day be nominated, however, you can bet your ass I'll go.

I spent the rest of the evening socializing with friends and then working.

Tomorrow, the con ends, I return to my favorite hotel, and I see another play.

On the road again: Chicon, day 6

Last night, after visiting multiple parties and working, I slept for the better part of eight hours.  It was glorious.  I awoke feeling merely tired, as opposed to sick and exhausted, so I was pleased with my body's progress. 

After some work, late brunch was at a well-reviewed vegetarian place, Green Zebra.  The food was decent but no more, a far cry from what the reviews described.  Not a bad meal, but not really worth the cab ride to the restaurant.

More work, then time hanging with friends, checking out the dealers' room, and so on.  I didn't want to miss the Hugo Awards ceremony, so dinner ended up being a quick burger, chips, and soda at the once-famous (courtesy of Saturday Night Live back in the Ackroyd and Belushi period) Billy Goat Tavern. 

From there, we headed to the main ballroom for the awards ceremony, stood in long lines for a long time, and ultimately found seats two-thirds of the way back in the large room.

The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony went well, and Toastmaster/MC John Scalzi did his usual fine job of running the show and being entertaining.  I cheered for the winners and felt bad for the losers.  I'm particularly happy to be able to report that my pal and cover artist for No Going Back, John Picacio, finally won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist.  I say "finally" because this was his eighth nomination.  In an earlier post, I urged folks to vote for him, and though all the nominees were excellent artists worthy of the award, I'm glad John won.

Watching the Hugo Awards ceremony is always bittersweet for me--and, I suspect, for most writers and artists.  Realistically, I am likely never to be nominated, much less win, and that is a hard bit of realism to swallow.  Still, as I have to remind myself regularly, in the end there is only the work.  It is all I can control and all I can do, and when I hope for awards or bigger sales or greater recognition or whatever, that is my ego screaming, and I need to learn to ignore it.  That is a lesson I seem to be taking a very long time to learn. 

My 2011 awards self-pimpage post

Like many writers in the science fiction and fantasy area, I'm aware that the awards nominating season is upon us. In particular, the Hugo awards, the fan-voted accolades that are a centerpiece of each year's World SF convention, are now open for nomination. (For more information on this year's Hugos, see this page. To learn more about Renovation, the 2011 WorldCon, go here.) To help those interested in supporting my work, and of course to beg as gracefully as I can manage, here are the works for which I'm eligible this year:

Short story: "Lobo, Actually."

This piece appeared in my Jump Gate Twist omnibus. I like it quite a bit; after all, how can you not like a Christmas story that stars a heavily armed, hyper-intelligent killing machine? The fact that it's only in that volume, however, does mean not that many folks saw it.

Novel: Children No More

If you've read this blog for any period of time, or if you've seen this book, then you know how much it and the topic it addresses--child soldiers--means to me. I think it's a good book, my best yet, and of course I'd love for it to win a Hugo, but what writer wouldn't love that for any of her/his books?

Now, a more important plea: Whether you nominate my work or someone else's, please nominate.

If you're an attending member of the con, you already have the right to nominate for free. If you're not, you can buy a supporting membership for $50, support the con, get its publications, and have the right to nominate. Yes, you can help decide which books have Hugo Winner! on their covers.

Here's the amazing thing about the Hugos: in any recent year, a fiction work of any length will make the final ballot with 60 or more nominations. Yes, just sixty. So, if you love a book or story or movie or many of those--mine or anyone else's--please consider nominating it.

As my final bit of self-pimpage, I will note this: If I make the ballot, I'll show up for the ceremony in my tuxedo, and I'll post pictures here. So, those who want to see me in a monkey suit in public, here's your chance.

Pimping my work, 2010-style

For the third year in a row, and stealing a notion from the redoubtable John Scalzi, I'm doing a little self-pimping. Specifically, it's Hugo award nomination time once again, so I thought I'd tell you what I published in 2009 that's eligible and how to nominate it or anything else you like.

The list is short:

Best Novel: Overthrowing Heaven

The instructions are a bit longer. To nominate a work for the Hugos, you have to be a member--attending or supporting, either will do--of the WorldCon (or of the last Worldcon) by January 31 and submit your nomination so the Worldcon folks receive it before the end of the day on February 28. You can also nominate online; it's quick and easy. You can read the con's instructions here.

Put differently, if you want to vote, it costs only $50 to buy a supporting membership.

Like any SF writer, I'd love to win a Hugo; heck, I'd be thrilled out of my gourd just to be nominated. I don't think it's likely, especially when the Worldcon is not in the U.S., but it sure would be cool.

That's the end, though, of my campaigning (and more than I'm comfortable doing).

What's more important to me, though, is that people who care about SF get out and nominate, then vote. When I was growing up, seeing "Hugo Award winner" on a book or next to an author's name made me stop and consider the book. Despite that fact, a surprisingly small number of people can make a big difference in the award. For example, it takes only around 50 nominations for a novel to make the ballot.

Many times that many people read this blog every month. The multiplier for Scalzi's blog is enormous.

If you love a book or a short story or a novel or an editor, an artist or a graphic novel, a movie or a TV show, enough that you'd like to see it as a Hugo winner, then spend the fifty bucks and nominate it.

Oh, yeah, one more bit of campaigning: If enough folks nominate Overthrowing Heaven that it makes the Hugo ballot, I promise not only to go the con (and, yes, on my own dime; no way Publisher Toni would pay for that, nor would I expect her to do so), but also to wear my tuxedo to the Hugo ceremonies and to post pictures of it afterward.

Hey, that's gotta be worth fifty bucks.

On the road again: Worldcon, Montreal, day 5

Last night, I went to bed late, but I got to sleep late--over eight hours! I awoke ready to sleep another sixteen, but I have to say that I felt better than I have in a while.

First stop of the con day was the art show, where we were pleased to see that Jain had sold some more pieces. Her balls of odd objects are amazing. I hope to post here some pictures of them sometime soon.

After a small and quick lunch, I headed to the first of my two, back-to-back, ninety-minute panels. This one was on the burning question of whether climate change is "storyable." After a quick and resounding "yes!" we ended up in a climate-change-science discussion dominated by two panel members; I was not one of them. I was glad to be able to escape a tad early.

My role in the next program item, the Baen Books slide show, was fortunately rather small. I spoke a few times about my current and upcoming work, helped editor Jim Minz a bit, and enjoyed the show.

We wedged a nice dinner between that item and the Hugos, then watched as many talented and good folks received their awards. I was sad that my pal, John Picacio, did not win the artist nod, but losing to Donato Giancola is nothing to be ashamed of.

This is my 800th blog post, and by coincidence it comes on a very bittersweet day. I've attended all but about half a dozen of the Worldcons since my first in Phoenix in 1978. I've gone to the Hugos at all of those cons. I've watched and wondered what it would be like to be a nominee, even a winner, and for a time early in my career I thought I might make it to that ceremony one day. I no longer think so, and I am saddened by that belief.

What's most important, though, and what I must constantly remind myself, is that none of this has any effect on what I do. Win or lose, nominated or not, I will get up and work and write the next day. The people that matter to me will still need me and care about me, and that is a great treasure indeed.

So, as I send my congratulations to all the Hugo winners and nominees, and as I confess publicly my deep and long-held desire to be among them, I also know that I will write today and tomorrow and every day, and I will do the best work I can, and the rest will happen as it will.

The 2009 Award Self-Pimpage Post

I did this last year after reading a similar post by John Scalzi on his blog. It's Hugo award nomination time once again, so I've decided to do this post once more.

Here's what I've published in the last year that's eligible for a Hugo:

Best Novel: Slanted Jack
Best Short Story: "Reunion" in Transhuman, which Toni Weisskopf and I edited.

To nominate for the Hugos, you have to be a member--attending or supporting, either will do--of the WorldCon (or of the last Worldcon) by January 31 and submit your nomination so the Worldcon folks receive it before the end of the day on February 28.

Put differently, if you want to vote, it costs only $50 to buy a supporting membership.

If you're interested, you can learn more and download the nomination form from the Worldcon site's pages on the topic.

Like any SF writer, I'd love to win a Hugo, but that's really all the campaigning I'm comfortable doing.

If you care about the Hugos, nominate, then vote. A surprisingly small number of people can make a big difference in the award; for example, it takes only around 50 nominations for a novel to make the ballot. If you don't vote, don't complain when works you loved don't appear on the Hugo ballot.

Congratulations to Barry Malzberg

The Hugo nominations are out, and without trying to offend any of the other worthy nominees in any of the categories, I would like to congratulate Barry N. Malzberg on his nomination for his wonderful non-fiction book, Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium. If you haven't read this collection of essays and you are at all interested in the SF field, you should buy a copy immediately--and then vote for it for the Hugo award, as I will.

Well done, Barry!