Out of Sorts

For the John W. Campbell Award:

For those of you who attended Anticipation WorldCon in Montreal last year, you’ll know that the Campbell Award for best new writer was awarded to David Anthony Durham. You may also know you have the ability to nominate for the award which will be given at AussieCon. If you’re looking for some ideas on who may be eligible,  Writertopia has compiled a list if you’re filling out a nomination ballot. To vote in the awards, you’ll need to buy a supporting membership for $50.00 USD or an attending membership if you’re making the trip to Australia.

For the Hugo Awards:

The same process applies here as do the Campbell Awards. If you attended Anticipation, you have the right and honor to nominate your favorite works, authors, artists, editors, and publications for one of the highest awards in the SF/F field. Aside from the list I compiled at the bottom of the page, I was at Boskone this weekend and attended the Hugo panel. Some materials were given out and I found these lists to be most helpful as well.

• The 2009 Locus Recommended Reading List – Keep in mind though, if you are voting for say, best novel, Locus splits their favorites up into sub categories. If you are looking for things to read to ultimately consider nominating for that award, compress the four categories (Novels – Science Fiction, Novels – Fantasy, Young Adult Books, First Novels) into one big list.
• NESFA 2009 Hugo Recommended Reading List

Other Resources for Consideration:

• Amy H. Sturgis on StarShipSofa and the Fanzine Category
• Cheryl Morgan – Hugo Voting on the Cheap (This has some great info on award-eligible women in the SF/F field)
• Rachel Swirsky – Nebula Nominations (I think most of these suggestions can be used in Hugo eligibility as well.)
• Mary Robinette Kowal – Hugo Eligibility Post
• John Scalzi – Hugo Eligibility Post
• Cheryl Morgan – Hugo Post
• Cheryl Morgan – Australian Artists
• Neil Clarke – On the Importance of Showing Why Semi-Prozines Should be Supported and Valued (Links to sites eligible for the Semi-prozine Hugo Award)
• John Klima – On Why the Hugos are important for both the writers and fans of SF/F
• The Hugo Recommend Live Journal Community
• Paul Cornell’s Comic Recommendations
• Best Fan Writer Recommendations
• Charlie Stross – Hugo Eligibility
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies Hugo Recommendations
• John Joseph Adams – Hugo Eligibility

I can’t stress enough how important it is to nominate. People see the voting as perhaps the easy and fun part of awards aside from handing out a plaque and rocket, but participation in the nomination process not only takes a bigger sample of worthy items but also sends the message that you care about being a part of the whole process.

Nominations for both the Hugos and Campbell Award close on March 13th, so get to reading and more importantly, get to nominating!

I eagerly opened the Hugo nomination packet that came in the mail a few weeks ago. As I flipped through the pages, my confidence began to fade. Thoughts like: “How can I possibly give each field a fair evaluation when I haven’t read nearly the amount to make a qualified decision?” or “What works even qualify as a novelette or novella?” or “Where can I find a comprehensive list of everything that’s available?”

As I found myself putting the nomination form aside, those same thoughts evolved into: “I will just have to catch up on everything that was published in 2009, to make the best decision possible.” and “I have to culminate a list of everything that people are putting up for consideration and read it.” and “I shall take note of editors and word counts and artists and…”

The nomination form quickly got buried with the burden of my now self-employed, full time, non-paying job of “Nominatrix Extraordinaire”. For the last twelve days, I couldn’t even tell you where the form went. Sure, I read some books, but they were books I had already decided I wanted to read. I was not as successful coming up with anything else of note.

Then a few days ago, a writer who I was lucky enough to share critiques with at Worldcon sent out a note. Addressed to ‘Devotees of Science Fiction and Fantasy’, it warned of the same mental stagnation that I was experiencing.The email also pointed to an article written by my fellow colleague at Clarkesworld Magazine, Cheryl Morgan. While Cheryl’s point is directly aimed at getting more women on the ballot, I think she nails it on the head that women tend to sabotage themselves when it comes to making decisions of this nature. Granted, this isn’t all women, but it looks like a good portion of the female population tend to crawl inside their own heads. This is not a reaction to fear, but I am clearly one of those women who like to make informed and qualified decisions. The nomination portion of the Hugo Awards does not fit into my orderly world of control.

…reading “everything” is impossible. You just have to look at what you have read and seen, and judge whether you think any of it is good enough to be nominated.

“Really? It’s that easy?” Yep. It is.

Don’t worry if you don’t have views in every category either. If you haven’t read any novellas in the past year, leave that section blank.

But…but!!!

I know, this goes against everything single deep-seated desire to fill in every line in every category. I’ve had to train myself that it is necessary and indeed, appropriate in some cases to skip things with which I’m not famliar.

So my lovely ladies of the universe, go vote. Read Cheryl’s post as to why it is imperative that you do.  Time is running out on the new supporting memberships, so if you can’t get to it, consider becoming a supporting member in order to vote on the forthcoming short lists.

If you are still gung-ho about being “informed” here are a pile of links to peruse with some ideas for the up and coming awards season.

• Cheryl Morgan – Hugo Voting on the Cheap (This has some great info on award-eligible women in the SF/F field)
• Rachel Swirsky – Nebula Nominations (I think most of these suggestions can be used in Hugo eligibility as well.)
• Mary Robinette Kowal – Hugo Eligibility Post
• John Scalzi – Hugo Eligibility Post
• Cheryl Morgan – Hugo Post
• Cheryl Morgan – Australian Artists
• Neil Clarke – On the Importance of Showing Why Semi-Prozines Should be Supported and Valued (Links to sites eligible for the Semi-prozine Hugo Award)
• John Klima – On Why the Hugos are important for both the writers and fans of SF/F
• The Hugo Recommend Live Journal Community
• Paul Cornell’s Comic Recommendations
• Best Fan Writer Recommendations
• Charlie Stross – Hugo Eligibility
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies Hugo Recommendations
• John Joseph Adams – Hugo Eligibility

If there are more links which point to either eligibility or recommendations, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I will add them to the post.

Also – I didn’t want to leave this post without a gratuitous pimp for Clarkesworld Magazine which is eligible for the Semi-Prozine category. I love working for this magazine as the Podcast Director and would love to see it recognized.

I am extremely pleased to say that my narration of Genevieve Valentine’s story, “Carthago Delenda Est” went up yesterday. You can get it here! For all you Itunes listeners, the link is here.

I must say, Genevieve’s story was absolutely incredible. It’s definitely a thinking piece.When I finished editing the voice work and was able to really listen to the story, I was left with many different intriguing questions.  Genevieve is definitely someone to watch right now. She’s also got a story over at Clarkesworld Magazine this month as well.

Thanks to Jeremy Tolbert for letting be a part of a great online audio magazine!

For those looking for more podcasts/narrations — I have updated the list. Go listen to free fiction!

Not only is there the update to Escape Pod, but I’ve put up a link to my poetry narration at Mythic Delirium, and the worldcon reporting via The Sofanauts!

Not my words, those came from the brilliant Peter Watts.

I woke up early on Saturday morning feeling absolutely fantastic. The birds were singing. The sky was blue. People waved hello as I crossed the busy streets of Montreal on what could most certainly have been a perfect day.

Fuck that. Who needs flawless and harmonious peace and love when you can have Peter Watts, John Scalzi and Jon Courtenay Grimwood? Mind raping, raucous, existential fun that reading was, oh yes. Deadly whips and chains and insolent Gods. Beheaded introspection (is that possible?) never sounded so, dark and scintillating.

So long perfect day. Now where did I put those razor blades? ;)

My body is still recovering from four lovely days in Montreal at this year’s Worldcon. My mind will need years of repair.

If you are interested, Tony C. Smith has let me take the reigns of The Sofanauts for two days while he is away on vacation.  You can find my first worldcon report here, and the Hugo round-up, here. While you’re on the site, you can also listen to Gord Sellar, the lovely Amy H. Sturgis, and John Joseph Adams.

All in all, it’s a weekend I will never forget.

Some more thoughts:

1. Rockband is a lot more fun when you have groupies and an audience and alcohol.
2. While I appreciate and love the plethora of programming available, my feet are filing a restraining order. I wish I had brought my pedometer with me to this con, I am convinced I walked over 10 miles.
3. I am pretty sure that while in training – the convention center “guards” are taught to use the “evil eye”.
4. Rooms dedicated for use to the Guest of Honor are always too small, no matter how large the room.
5. There is an under-appreciated art of badge glancing. Style points for making it look like you are doing something other than desperately looking for a name hanging from someones neck. Negative points for those who walk up, tilt their head, stare at your chest and then walk off.
6. Contrary to popular belief at cons, eye contact is not a deadly disease.
7. Not sure if it’s the case, but it seems as if the better the hotel, the worse the internet connection. Although, I was hearing that even the cheaper hotels were having connectivity problems. Maybe bandwidth stealing moose are involved.*
8. Most audience members are fantastic. There is always that one, though, or in some cases, two who believe they should have been on the panel.
9. There will always be someone who starts eating an apple or fiddling with a candy in a noisy wrapper right as author starts to read from his/her highly anticipated and upcoming novel.
10. Escalators are not dress friendly.
11. Klingon costumes still make me smile.
12. Most people will go out of their way to offer a grin, a wave or a nod of the head in your direction. Some will not. Some give dirty looks!
13. By my estimation, it probably took Neil Gaiman thrice as long to make it from one panel to the next based on the mob mentality vs. the five foot rule. **
14. I was briefly a part of the mob mentality vs. the five foot rule. *fangirlfail*
15. Neil Clarke is and will continue to be made from the purest awesomesauce even though he made sure to taunt me about *fangirlfail*.
16. Mary Robinette Kowal does not only look totally gorgeous in dressy Hugo attire, but she’s a kick ass presenter, panelist and friend.
17. Aside from being beautiful, the hugo is really heavy.***
18. John and Krissy Scalzi are the nicest (and funniest) people on Earth.
19. Jay Lake is warm, fuzzy and a really great writing coach.
20. Jeremy Lassen of Nightshade Books knows how to wear a suit.
21. Cory Doctorow knows how to wear a tuxedo.
22. Ellen Kushner is one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.
23. Peter Watts is totally cool, sexy and engaging in a dark, intelligent, existential sort of way. I mean that in the nicest way possible.
24. Patrick Rothfuss epitomizes the words, ‘gentleman and scholar’.
25. Stu Segal was welcoming and reassuring to a girl who felt distinctly out of place.
26. Cheryl Morgan was beautiful and gracious in a red dress during the best fan writer acceptance speech.
27. Irishmen (especially those who run semi-prozines), are a riot. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in a conversation, ever.
28. Hallways of party floors are super sadistic fun to navigate.
29. Lines for crowded elevators are super sadistic fun to wait in.
30. Proper attention to special con rules involving mobbed guests of honor regarding tickets for signings are always good to find out — you know, before they sell out and you’re left with a book you dragged all the way from home in the hopes you could get it signed, only to lament and watch the line go by in the dealer’s room that was full of lucky bastards who were prepared.
31. Even if you happen to leave your dress shoes in NJ, your tennis shoes will be the envy of all, not only for their comfort but for completing an eclectic stylish ensemble.****
32. Despite initial mental imagery, the Campbell tiara does look fabulous on men.
33. Flying the  Hugo Award around like rocket ship toy complete with sound effects during an acceptance speech was totally funny and endearing.*****
34. I’m wondering why the powers that be decided ‘cloud nine’ was the highest concentrated water vapor level allowed. There really should be ‘cloud 54′ complete with disco music.

Thank you to everyone who made this worldcon something special and ultimately something I will never, ever forget.

*as suggested by Shawn Powers.

**A celebrity with as much rock star status as Neil Gaiman could not move more than five feet in any given situation without a constant crush of people being replaced by a…constant crush of people.

***I got to hold John Scalzi’s hugo. This is a first hand account!

****See Neil Clarkes’ (@clarkesworld) twitter before the Hugo ceremonies.

*****See Frank Wu’s speech.

I was a little apprehensive as I got in the car for the five hour drive to Montreal. Two of the people I was supposed to be hanging with, ended up cancelling. I was on my own. I thought about not coming myself, but then I thought — “Go. You will thank yourself later.”

(The view from my hotel room.)

(I have a motherfucking panelist name card.)

As I was going up the elevator to my room last night around 2 a.m — I was thanking myself. Not only did I get up in front of total strangers and sing and play guitar at the Tor.com party, but I had people coming up to me all night telling me how awesome I did. I don’t do these things often, but it felt really good. I ended up singing “Still Alive” by Jonathan Coulton. Big hit at a geek party. So much so, when I started, there were an influx of people curious as to what was going on in the suite. I got a rousing round of applause when I was finished. If I was ever looking for a self confidence boost, that was certainly it.

Pablo Defendini knows how to throw a party. While I left around 2 a.m — his tweet this morning stated the party actually ended around 4:40. I wonder if he will actually be walking today or crawling. John Joseph Adams and John Scalzi were also there as were many cool people. I was dubbed groupie and was happily fetching the Scalzinator water, so I didn’t get a picture or video of him singing a Journey song in his best falsetto. :)

(Pablo Defendini totally rocking out.)

(John Joseph Adams doing his best Kurt Cobain impression — and he was awesome.)

As the night continued, I meandered about to different parties around the Delta Centre-Ville. The English know how to throw a party. Great atmosphere and interesting food. At the Japanese hosted party, I got to try a Japanese pizza, which was delicious. I then met up with the most awesome Neil Clarke talked for a bit until we ambushed Patrick Rothfuss. I can’t stress that even with all the pressure to get out book 2 in The Name of Wind series, he is still a warm and wonderful person with whom to talk.

I will be writing more on the notes I took during the Campbell Award panel. John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, Wen Spencer and Cory Doctorow were very interesting and funny.

Today — I am off to a reading, then my writing workshop. I am being critiqued by Jay Lake and Mary Robinette Kowal. Not a bad lot to draw, IMO. :) Two Campbell Award winners helping me with my shitty writing, yeah, I think I hit the jackpot there.

Then, I hoof it from the Delta Centre-Ville back to the convention center where I moderate the podcasting panel at 3:30 EST. I’ve got all my notes, just need all my nerves.

So far, the con is well worth it and I’m having so much fun.

Congrats to Clarkesworld Magazine for winning a Chesley Award as well. Still keeping my fingers crossed for the Hugo tomorrow.

Green is so rich. It’s a color in the Clarkesworld Magazine logo. John Scalzi claims it as a favorite. Jay Lake has written a novel with the name. It’s a hue synonymous with life, of money and lady luck.

This is the dress I picked out for the Hugo Awards coming up this Sunday.

Hopefully, it’ll lend some weal to a few of the nominees that I’m pulling to win.

Floor length, it moves when I do and if you’re attending #Worldcon — you’ll get to see it too.

Now, I just need a date. :)

Did I just type that title?

Yep. I did. I am filled with mixed emotions. Part of me is squeeing in the highest tone ever recorded in human history. Did glass just shatter behind you? Did the earth just shake? That was me.

The other part of me is hiding in deep neurosis. Those of you who know me, will understand why. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Yep. I will. Mmhmm. Yep. Yep. Yep.

If you’re attending WorldCon, I am officially on one panel regarding podcasting! Notice that I’m moderating. This should be very very interesting. ;)

When: Sat 15:30
Location:  P-512BF
Title:  Podcasting: Flash in the Pan or Wave of the Future?
Session ID:  887
All Participants:  Brenda Cooper, Ellen Kushner, James Patrick Kelly,
Kate Baker, Lucas Moreno
Moderator:  Yourself
Description:  Once upon a time, radio was made up of many little
independents and (in some countries) a few pirates among the
monoliths. Today it is almost entirely corporate, regional or
religious. Do podcasts offer a means to loosen up the market? Can they
change the demographics of listeners? Grow and mobilize specialized
interest groups? What is that they offer that makes podcasting
distinctive.
Duration:  1:30 hrs:min
Language:  English
Track: Human Culture
AV/Internet request:  None
Notes:  Feel free to bring along thumb drives or MP3 players so that
you can play clips of podcasts you think interesting.

I am also participating in the WorldCon writing workshop and will be running from my critique to this panel, but I do get to sit in the company of Mary Robinette Kowal and Jay Lake. <More inhuman squeeing inserted here.>