I Think They Forgot Something...

I've seen a few glimpses of the Hugo ballot for this year. Like last year, they appear to have spelled Electric Velocipede incorrectly and have it listed as Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, or perhaps The Drink Tank. OK, seriously, I can't honestly expect to make the ballot, so let's celebrate who's there.

Glad to see Tim Pratt, William Shunn, Paolo Bacigalupi to make the ballot. Really glad to see John Picacio's amazing book Cover Story make the ballot. Nice to see Scalzi on the Fan Writer tip; might unseat Langford.

I have to wonder what Gardner did to make the short form ballot. Was there an anthology I missed? I'm not trying to be a smart ass. If Gardner didn't edit any short fiction last year, the Nippon/Hugo Award people should have left him off the ballot. Since he's there...I'm curious what he did. And don't tell Year's Best SF because that's NOT editing. That's selecting stories. Different things.

Also--and someone else pointed this out first--sad, very very sad, to see only one female writer, Naomi Novik, in all of the fiction categories. (two in the Campbell, and one is Novik again) That's just pathetic.

Oh well. I guess the ballot looks as compelling as it always does.

The Conventions of Conventioneering

Weston Ochse over at Storytellers Unplugged put up a post on convention ettiquette. Weston is a horror writer by trade, so some of his suggestions are specific to the horror conventioni circuit, but there are many great things to pulled out of this post including (but not limited to):

Do introduce yourself to everyone.

Don't bring your self published book and glad hand it to every editor and writer at the convention.

Don't walk up to an editor who has a story of yours under consideration and and ask, "Why haven't you read it?" *

Don't walk up to an editor that rejected your story, and start berating them about it, if you have any hope at being published anywhere... ever. **

Do check out random fiction readings if you get a chance, because a lot of them are pretty awesome, and they're always kind of sparsely attended. ***

Do have a great time, because in the end, conventions are opportunities for everyone to come together on an even level and enjoy each other's company without the stresses of everyday life.

It should go without saying to have a great time, but I think that's the most important part of this post. Going to a convention allows me to take part in something that I'm not able to do very often. It would be silly to take these opportunities and make them something miserable.

* Look, I'll admit I'm WAY behind on my submission reading and I'm staring re-opening to submissions in the face, and while writers may not believe me, it really bothers me that I've gotten so far behind. Still...query me via e-mail or letter, that's fine. But please refrain from asking me face to face about my decision on your piece. You'll likely get a 'Thanks, but no' from me.

** And Weston means ever. Don't think for a second that editors aren't aware of each other. We are. If someone's been a problem for me to work with, I'll tell fellow editors. We talk to each other. Even though we are, in essence, competing with each other for stories/novels/etc., it is a community, and we DO talk.

*** Anyone who caught the double bill of Hal Duncan's poem for Orpheus and Jeff Ford's reading in Austin this last Fall can attest to this one.

Issue #12

Coming soon to a specialty store near you! I can't believe this is the first time I'm talking about this issue. I'm getting ready to send it off to proofreaders. Meanwhile, here's the table of contents:

Fiction

Novelettes
Brendan Connell - Dr. Black and the Village of Stones
John Mantooth - Crater Beach

Short Stories
Jay Caselberg - The Garden of Earthly Delights
Bruce Holland Rogers - Look, There He Is
Bruce Holland Rogers - Omens
Luke Jackson - Reduction Descending
Michael Jasper - A Miracle in Shreveport
Paul M. Jessup - The Alchemy of Way
Lavie Tidhar - The Prisoner in the Forest

Poetry
Bruce Boston - Make Your Books Well
Bruce Boston - The Money Splicer's Tale
Aurelio Rico Lopez III - haiku
Megan Messinger - Houseguest
Megan Messinger - The Deal

John Klima
Editor
Electric Velocipede

A Few Announcements

First, I just noticed my last entry was post #400 on this blog. Not bad for one guy, eh? Now, on to the news I've been posting everywhere today.

This summer will see the publication of William Shunn's chapbook "An Alternate History of the 21st Century." The table of contents are as follows:

"From Our Point of View We Had Moved to the Left"
"Kevin-17"
"Observations from the City of Angels"
"Strong Medicine"
"Objective Impermeability in a Closed System"
"Not of this Fold"

The first two stories originally appeared in F&SF, the middle two stories on Salon.com, and the last two stories are previously unpublished. The chapbook includes an introduction by Cory Doctorow. I'm working on the artwork, so I'll post an update to that when I know more.

I also have a basic website up for the Logorrhea anthology. A more professional site is being designed and will be up shortly.

ACQUIRING: Some Misc. Books and an Offer on a Waldrop Book That I Could Not Refuse

So, Mr. Jeremy informed me this morning that I could order the new Howard Waldrop book from Old Earth Books and receive free shipping on my order. I immediately rushed out through the interweb and ordered my copy. I suggest you do the same. Waldrop is a singular author (and one of my absolute favorite writers); I think more people need to discover him. I'd love to publish him, but he writes when he wants and typically for a market larger than me. If Things Will Never be the Same isn't enough Waldrop for you, consider going over to Small Beer Press and buying a copy of Howard Who?

In other news, here's a photo of a few books I've picked up lately:

The books are (from left to right, top to bottom):

REMAINS by Mark W. Tiedemann, THE FAERIE QUEENE BOOK ONE by Sir Edmund Spenser, OLDBOY vol. 3 & 4, THE KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE vol. 2, LUCKY AT CARDS by Lawrence Block, ROBBIE'S WIFE by Russel Hill, and TUMBLING AFTER by Paul Witcover

I'm so excited about the Witcover book that I think I need to make a separate COLLECTING post about the book. In short, the cover of the hardcover was so bad that I refused to buy the book despite enthusiastic reviews. Now I'm so glad to see it with a great cover. I'm really looking forward to digging into this book. The manga is adult-oriented stuff (not pr0n you gutter feeders!), but the type of stuff I couldn't buy for the teens at my last library. Great stuff. Obviously OLDBOY is the manga that the movie was based on, and the other is about a set of young people who help peoples' souls get to their proper destination (typically the souls of people who were murdered). I like Tiedemann's work and am always happy to get something new from him. The two mysteries are part of my HARD CASE CRIME book club membership; I get a great book or two from them every other month. No bad books to date. And don't ask about the Spenser. It was a bug that I had to scratch.

Birthdays are fun

It's hard to believe that it was a year ago that this little girl came along and changed our lives forever.



Happy Birthday sweetie!