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Chicon 7 Hugo Nomination Deadline

No Comments » Written on March 6th, 2012 by
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For any of you who:

* have an attending or supporting Chicon 7 membership, and/or
* had an attending or supporting Renovation membership, and/or
* have an attending or supporting LoneStar 3 membership:

This is to remind you that the deadline for submitting your Nomination Ballot for the Hugos is fast approaching.

Specifically, it’s next Sunday, March 11, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. PDT

To vote online, go to https://chicon.org/hugo/nominate.php. You’ll need your seven digit PIN.

And now that we’ve got that covered, let’s shift from Public Service Announcement to Self-Serving Reminder. I am eligible in the following Hugo Award categories:

BEST NOVEL
Buffalito Contingency by Lawrence M. Schoen

BEST SHORT STORY
“Yesterday’s Taste” by Lawrence M. Schoen

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM)
“Soft Kitty in Klingon” by Lawrence M. Schoen

BEST FANCAST
DaHjaj Hol: A Daily Klingon Language Podcast by Lawrence M. Schoen

 

The novel and short story are two of the most popular categories. Both my eligible works involve my continuing character the Amazing Conroy. My odds are slim at best, no matter how good the fiction is (and I’m very proud of both works).

The other categories, right or wrong, are likely to receive far few votes. Best Fancast in particular will probably be light, as it’s brand new this year, and is in fact a one-shot. Many people will simply fail to nominate in these categories, or leave one or more of their five nomination slots blank. The two items I have up in these categories are both related to Klingon, and I encourage you to fill in those empty slots with a vote to promote more use of constructed languages spoken by imaginary aliens in a distance part of the galaxy several centuries from now.

If I am fortunate enough to land a nomination, I promise to prepare an acceptance speech in Klingon.

If by some greater blow of serendipity I win, I can think of nothing grander than to stand upon the stage in Chicago, the city of my birth, and utter Klingon expletives of joy while waving a shiny rocketship like it were a bat’leth.

Could you ask for better motivation?

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Book Review: God’s War

No Comments » Written on March 1st, 2012 by
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God's War

I started reading Kameron Hurley’s God’s War out of a sense of obligation to read the titles on this year’s Nebula Award ballot, even though I’m hard pressed to even imagine a better offering than China Mieville’s Embassytown.

And I’m glad I did. Hurley’s novel is a great ride of compelling characters, entertaining worldbuilding, intriguing sociology, and pace-pounding plot threads. Religious elements familiar but different, believable extrapolations/evolutions of today drive much of the book, but the book is not about religion. Nor is it about war, though war pervades every page, every character, every motivation, every outcome. Ultimately, this book is about what every book is about, people. What makes people tick. What drives us to acts of sacrifice and honor, cowardice and despair, love and fear, vengeance and transformation.

And if that’s too heady for you, no need to worry, there’s plenty else in here to keep you delighted, whether it be the all-to-casual beheadings as a way of bounty-hunting, or magicians who have the power to manipulate bugs for defense and healing and long distance communications, or boxing like you’ve never seen it before.

Buy this book. Read this book. Give your copy away to someone else, and go out and buy another.

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Happy 11th, Howard!

No Comments » Written on February 29th, 2012 by
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Today is Howard Tayler’s eleventh birthday.

To the casual eye, Howard looks forty-something, but unless your calendrically-challenged, you’ll have recalled that today is February 29th, aka Leap Day, and so while Howard may actually be forty-four years old, it’s still only his eleventh birthday.

I share this with you because

a) the alternative was to go all Gilbert & Sullivan on your ass.
b) Howard’s a cool guy, and you should get to know him and his work.

What work is that you ask? Why Schlock Mercenary, of course. The daily, space opera comic that’s been running for years now, is always being nominated for the Hugo Award, and is consistently charming and entertaining.

So, if you don’t already know about this comic, Howard’s birthday is the perfect excuse to wander over to the site and immerse yourself.

And while you’re there, wish him a happy birthday. Eleven is such an awkward age.

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Saturday Brain Flash!

No Comments » Written on February 25th, 2012 by
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On the drive home from my weekly observance of Chinese food, I suddenly knew how the entire Amazing Conroy saga (the start of which is only hinted at at the very end of the last novel) gets resolved.

Or, to put it another way, I know what happens to tie off all of the pieces in an incredibly satisfying way a bit over half a million words from now.

Of course, that’s five or six Conroyverse books away (five in the series, and a related side book, or maybe two), so, you probably won’t get to see the result until around the year 2020.

Which, now that I think about it, makes Buffalito Hindsight a decent working title for the final book.

What I can tell you right here and now though is that everything that’s ever happened to Conroy feeds into that final book. All the supporting characters come back, all the old plot points factor in, and of course, Conroy saves the galaxy!

Hooray!

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Conroyverse Update #4

No Comments » Written on February 24th, 2012 by
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Thanks to the tireless efforts of Michael Oetting, there’s a new update over on the Conroyverse portion of this website.

Additions include bits from “Yesterday’s Taste” (published in Transtories by Aeon Press, in October of last year) and “A Buffalito of Mars” (published in Visual Journeys by Hadley Rille Books, from way back in 2007).

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2011 Nebula Award nominees

No Comments » Written on February 22nd, 2012 by
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While I was away in California doing familial things, the nominees for the 2011 Nebula Awards (which will be presented in May of 2012) were announced. You’ve probably seen them elsewhere, but I’m happy to post them here all the same:

Novel
Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
Embassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey; Subterranean Press)
Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace Books)
God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Novella
“Kiss Me Twice,” Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2011)
“Silently and Very Fast,” Catherynne M. Valente (WFSA Press; Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2011)
“The Ice Owl,” Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2011)
“The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)
“The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary,” Ken Liu (Panverse Three, Panverse Publishing)
“With Unclean Hands,” Adam-Troy Castro (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2011)

Novelette
“Fields of Gold,” Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4, Night Shade Books)
“Ray of Light,” Brad R. Torgersen (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2011)
“Sauerkraut Station,” Ferrett Steinmetz (Giganotosaurus, November 2011)
“Six Months, Three Days,” Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com, June 2011)
“The Migratory Pattern of Dancers,” Katherine Sparrow (Giganotosaurus, July 2011)
“The Old Equations,” Jake Kerr (Lightspeed Magazine, July 2011)
“What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

Short Story
“Her Husband’s Hands,” Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, October 2011)
“Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son,” Tom Crosshill (Lightspeed Magazine, April 2011)
“Movement,” Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2011)
“Shipbirth,” Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2011)
“The Axiom of Choice,” David W. Goldman (New Haven Review, Winter 2011)
“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees,” E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2011)
“The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Attack the Block, Joe Cornish (writer/director) (Optimum Releasing; Screen Gems)
Captain America: The First Avenger, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (writers), Joe Johnston (director) (Paramount)
Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)
Hugo, John Logan (writer), Martin Scorsese (director) (Paramount)
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen (writer/director) (Sony)
Source Code, Ben Ripley (writer), Duncan Jones (director) (Summit)
The Adjustment Bureau, George Nolfi (writer/director) (Universal)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book
Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor (Viking Juvenile)
Chime, Franny Billingsley (Dial Books; Bloomsbury)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Hodder & Stoughton)
Everybody Sees the Ants, A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
The Boy at the End of the World, Greg van Eekhout (Bloomsbury Children’s Books)
The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)
The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson (Greenwillow Books)
Ultraviolet, R.J. Anderson (Orchard Books; Carolrhoda Books)

I still have some reading ahead of me, but I’ve already consumed most of the titles listed here. It strikes me as a very strong list, and that’s always great to see.

Congratulations to all the nominees! I look forward to seeing you all at SFWA’s 47th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in May!

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Awards Eligibility – # buffalito #tlh #klingon

2 comments Written on January 27th, 2012 by
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The nominations deadline for the Nebula Awards is February 15th, 2012, at 11:59pm PST.

The nominations deadline for the Hugo Awards is Sunday, March 11, 2012, 11:59 p.m. PDT.

And this is my official statement of what I have that I hope you’ll consider nominating so that I might land on a ballot this year.

I seem to be building up some credibility as a champion of small press, both as a publisher and because almost everything I’ve written lately has come out through small and micro-presses. Such stories have to work harder to get on ballots, but as the Hugo ballot a couple years ago revealed, it can be done. Ready? Here we go then.

SHORT STORY (Nebula and Hugo eligible):
“Yesterday’s Taste.” I wrote this short story at the request of Colin Harvey. He bought it for the anthology TRANSTORIES which was published posthumously two months ago by Aeon Press in Ireland. It’s another in the series of Amazing Conroy stories, so it’s intended to be somewhat light and humorous, but to me it will always be somewhat bittersweet because it’s the last thing Colin and I ever talked about. Coincidentally (no, really), I posted this to the Freebies section of my website just yesterday. Follow that link and you can download or read a PDF of the story.

NOVEL (Nebula and Hugo eligible):
Buffalito Contingency, my second published novel, came out last March. I believe it is the best thing I’ve written to date, but because it came out from a small press (Hadley Rille Books) not very many people have heard of it, let alone read it.But publishing is changing — for the better, I think — and having small press novels making some of the awards ballots seems like a good thing too. Assuming of course that you like it enough to nominate it.

FANCAST (Hugo eligible):
And finally, I only recently realized that DaHjaj Hol, the daily Klingon Language podcast that I did in 2011 (yes, every single #$%^& day) is eligible for the Hugo in the “Best Fancast” category (this link that will take you to the vast selection of podcasts). Mind you, I think you should also be nominating the brilliant podcast “Writing Excuses,” and I hope they win this year, but I certainly wouldn’t turn down a shiny rocket ship pin if my podcast makes the short list So, if you think it’s past time that Klingon is properly represented on the Hugo ballot, feel free to nominate DaHjaj Hol. Warriors everywhere will praise your name!

Thank you for your willingness to read my words. May they bring a smile to you.

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How I’m spending the first snow of 2012

No Comments » Written on January 21st, 2012 by
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Actually, the snow isn’t a big deal. I’ve already shoveled and salted the walkway. The stuff in the driveway is only about three inches deep (and I just got new tires two weeks ago!). The roads are fine. So, it should be Saturday as usual, except…

Today’s installment of Saturday Chinese Buffet has been postponed. No, it’s not due to the snow. It’s because I’m on my way to a hypnosis seminar in Philadelphia. I promise to resume eating Chinese food tomorrow.

Now… sleep!

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