On the road again: Balticon, day 5

Too much good food and too much residual energy from all the performing resulted in a very restless night, but I still managed to spend more of it in bed than I do on most nights.

First up in the morning was a panel on violence in SF and fantasy. I wasn't satisfied with how it went, but the audience seemed engaged, so perhaps I should be happy.

After saying goodbye to friends, a three-hour drive deposited me at the doorstep of the wonderful Inn at Little Washington, Chef and Owner Patrick O'Connell's amazing creation. The Inn leaches away tension and replaces it with relaxation, so I was very happy to arrive. Dinner was, as always, amazing.

In a brief late-evening check of personal email before I turned to work, I learned that Children No More had won the Fourth-Day Universe Best Military SF award. What Distant Deeps, the most recent RCN series novel of my friend, David Drake, won the Best Space Opera award. I was happy to learn of both. My congratulations to all the winners and nominees in all the categories. I do have to also thank my friend, Lynn, who took it upon herself to draw my book to the attention of a lot of students; I sincerely doubt CNM would have done as well without all her efforts.

Even on a day that contains several hours of break time, work awaits, so I now return to it.

Want to vote in a book poll? Children No More is nominated

The good folks at Fourth Day Universe contacted me the other day to let me know that they were hosting a poll-driven awards process for a bunch of different genre titles and that they had nominated Children No More for the Best Military SF of 2010. You can see the poll and the many different award categories, which run the gamut from YA to graphic novel to fantasy to SF, by going here.

I mention this for several reasons. First, it's great to see folks who care enough about books that they are reading and reviewing a great many of them and even starting awards for them. It's also neat, of course, to be nominated--as is, by the way, my friend David Drake's What Distant Deeps for the Best Space Opera. Finally, if you were in the mood to vote--for my book or any other title there--I wanted to be sure to let you know about this opportunity.