The nomination period for the Nebula Awards opens today. Under the terms of the new rules things are considerably different. If I understand them correctly (and that's by no means a good assumption) the following are true:

1) There is no longer a long list and a short list. A short list will be generated based on whatever is received during the nomination period, which runs from November 15 to February 15.

2) Lifetime, Full, and now Associate Members can nominate.

3) The NAR is gone.

4) SFWA Members may nominate no more than 5 works in each category.

Personally, I think there's both good and bad here. I'm curious to see what effect the limited nomination period will have, but I'll refrain from speculating.

Of minor concern is item #3 because there is now a "running tally" of nominations in the SFWA discussion boards, and that serves a similar purpose.

A more major concern, limiting members to only five nominations, has been somewhat addressed by a policy that allows members to change one or more of their nominations, right up to the February 15th. I think this was a clever decision, and one which ironically works because there is no longer a NAR and a long list.

The main concern I still have though is one of exposure. A weakness in the system has always been gaining access -- or even just awareness -- of deserving works. I fear that, without a longer nomination period, without a long list, and without a NAR, that the only works making the ballots will be novels coming from BIG PUBLISHERS and short fiction coming from "THE BIG THREE" magazines.

Let me point to my own bias and self-interest from the start. I'm a small press publisher. My sole published novel to date came from a small press publisher. Of my 50+ short fiction sales, only one appeared in either Analog, Asimov's, or F&SF. I have a personal vested interest in the small press.

And, in my opinion, so does the field as a whole.

Still, I am not without hope that the Nebula Awards can resist the trend to focus only on major publishers and three magazines, and that hope lies in modern technology, or more specifically our social networks. Online communities and networks such as FaceBook, LiveJournal, and Twitter have greatly increased our ability to alert one another of brilliant works of fiction that might otherwise fall beneath the radar.

SFWA is helping with this by allowing the posting of authors' works in a secure area where, once you've been alerted "hey go read Shimmelfarf's novelette" the work is there for you.

I'm encouraging SFWA members to do just that. If you've read something that would earn one of your five nominations, particularly if it's a work from a smaller market/press, post the details to your blog. Tweet about it. Let your relevant social networks know. If your own work falls into that category, by all means toot your own horn (for the record, I don't consider this ego -- if you don't believe in your work, how can you expect anyone else to?). If it's up on the SFWA site, say so (I'm not clear on whether posting a link is appropriate, but I'm hoping someone who knows will weigh in on that).

Let your voice be heard!

Yesterday was a good day. calendula_witch and I got in a terrific walk up some mondo hills, spent some good quality couple time together, both got writing and reading done, then eventually went out. Our itinerary included Good Vibrations, Borderlands Books, Tacqueria Cancun (one of my favorite Mexican restaurants on the West Coast), and of course, The Make-Out Room for Writers With Drinks. Borderlands Books produced some unexpected bonus in running into Greg and Astrid Bear. I also got a phone call on the store phone, from sdn, which was surprising but fun.

We ran into Kat Richardson on the sidewalk, who was killing time before reading at Writers With Drinks, so we pulled her along. Once there we met up with maryrobinette (another reader) and Mr. maryrobinette, along with two friends of calendula_witch's. Afterwards, out with the WWD crew for crepes and fries at Frjtz. Whoever thought of putting truffle oil on french fries ought to be sanctified.

After WWD, we wound up talking to blakecharlton and therinth quite a bit. Blake's a medical student with both a personal and professional interest in cancer, Erin is a nurse. They had a lot to say, especially Blake, which was very helpful to me in my ongoing process of sorting my perspectives on my cancer, its recurrence, and my fears both rational and irrational. One thing Blake talked about was the survivorship community. The point he made, in reference to a close family member who'd survived a very bad experience with cancer (much worse than mine looks to be, frankly), was that there were conversations that Blake could not have with his loved one. There's a shared experience and an emotional vernacular which cancer survivors only find in other cancer survivors.

This of course made all kinds of sense. You see the same phenomenon in veterans, law enforcement, survivors of a disaster, or people who've shared any complex, high stress experience.

Which made me realize that one reason I'd written "The Specific Gravity of Grief" was to try to frame that cancer experience, that cancer mindset, for people who haven't taken that particular journey. To some degree, it's why I blog so extensively and thoroughly about my cancer journey, but the story (just finished, now in revision, due out from Fairwood Press next year) is a way of communicating the essentially incommunicable. Or so I hope.

A lot of streams crossed last night, and it wasn't dangerous so much as enlightening. It reminded me that while I stumble a lot, I also continue to progress. Sometimes I remember to be proud of myself, and the people around me.

Do you knit? Do you know someone who knits? Are you planning to knit something for a loved one this holiday season? Then go, right now, to IAFAuctions and bid on this yarn. It is knittable and it is fancy and awesome. It must needs be knitted into something cool and I demand that people fight over it in the few hours it has left before bidding ends. This yarn is one of the most interstitial pieces of art I’ve ever, ever seen and it must go on to the next state of its evolution! Bid. Now. Shoo!

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Your Sunday moment of zen.



Flower along Williams Lake trail, about 11,000 feet, Taos Ski Valley, NM. © 2006, 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr.



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

jaborwhalky with Jay Lake Dorito noodle doom mac and cheese — A recipe in honor of my cancers.

Charles A. Tan with a takedown of International Science Fiction Reshelving day — What he said. (Via Andrew Wheeler.)

Superconductors to Wire a Smarter Grid — More than you probably wanted to know about the US power infrastructure. Still, cool stuff.

Bad Science on the Iraqi bomb detection wands — This is as insane, and in its way deadly, as Thabo Mbeki's AIDS denialism. US conservatism have their global warming denial and evolution psychoses, liberals have their antivaxers, but it's nice to know that antiscience lunacy is not just for Americans.

China's fear of a black president

?otD: Which way to Pismo Beach?

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11/15/2009
Body movement: Not yet, but upcoming 60 minute urban walk (San Francisco hills!)
Hours slept: 5.75
This morning's weigh-in: 236.5 (!?)
Currently reading: Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

http://www.briankeene.com/?p=2921

This is an updated version of something that appeared a long time ago on my old Hail Saten blog. I felt it was probably time to update it and re-post it.

So, I’m finally going to be signing at a bookstore near you. You’re very excited by this. I am, too. I enjoy meeting and talking with the people who read my books. Before you come to the signing, however, there are some things you should know in advance. This will make it easier on both of us.

1. When I am at a book signing, I am at work. In this case, the bookstore is my employer. The bookstore paid my travel expenses in the hopes that my presence will make them money. That means they are the boss. You should respect the bookseller at all times, and adhere to any requests they might make. If they ask you to form a line, you form a line. If they ask you to avoid flash photography, you avoid it. If they request that you not curse at the top of your lungs, you apologize and curtail it. If I walked into your place of work and was obnoxious, disruptive, annoying, argumentative or just a plain fucking asshole to your boss, that wouldn’t be cool. It’s not cool when you do it to my boss.

2. I do not charge for signatures, nor do I charge for photographs. If you’d like to get your picture taken, don’t be afraid to ask. I’m happy to do so as long as the venue allows it.

3. You are always welcome to bring your own books to have signed, and I am always happy to sign them. However, if the signing is taking place at a bookstore, it is considered polite and courteous to purchase a book from the store, as well. Again, keep in mind that the bookstore has invited me there in the hopes that they’ll make money. So please make a purchase. (Note: This rule does not apply to convention signings).

4. Wait your turn. If there is someone ahead of you in line, and I am signing their books, don’t be rude . Be patient. Elbowing people out of the way is not cool.

5. Give others a turn. I’m happy to talk to you all day. However, if there are people waiting in line behind you, please move to the side after you’ve had your turn. If you want to hang out and chat some more, I’m happy to do so after everyone in line has had their turn.

6. Don’t cluster. This is important. Some bookstore signings (especially those in shopping malls) don’t have lines. If you’ve had your books signed, and you’re done talking to me, please don’t cluster together with your friends in front of the table and engage in a discussion of which George Romero movie is best or where you want to go eat afterward. When you do that, you prevent other people from approaching the table. You also create a safety hazard. If the bookseller asks you to move or I ask you to move or mall security asks you to move, do it. If I have to ask you four times or the bookseller has to raise his or her voice just to get your attention, then we have a problem.

7. Although not mandatory, it’s helpful if you tell me how you’d like the book signed. I’m happy to personalize it or simply sign it — whichever you prefer. Also, even if I’ve met you before, it’s helpful if you tell me your name and how to spell it. Understand that I meet a LOT of people, and while I never forget a face, I might not remember your name. Worse, I might forget how to spell it. And then you end up with a book inscribed to ‘Laura’ when you spell it ‘Lora’.

By following these seven simple rules, you will ensure that both you and I have a great time. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Bob longed for death, and freedom from wine and bread.
He slurped down few more gulps before falling back onto the couch. The half-empty wine bottle rolled out of his hand and fell to the floor where it lay chugging its contents out in a growing...

See more of Wine and Bread by Jeff R Hall »

Ok, if you don't then move along, nothing to see here.

Yes; I'm still in Florida with my folks. Not doing much but hanging out, going out to meals and reading for Best Horror #2. Helped my mom get onto facebook, which means I need to be discreet (hi mom!) in case she actually reads it.

The dial up is better than previously. I hope that by the time I'm here next they'll have wireless throughout the community. Right now, it's only in the clubhouse.

The weather is gorgeous. Sunny, hot, cool in the shade. Eat your hearts out northerners :-).

( Have fun storming the castle! )
And I lived happily ever after...at least until tomorrow. ^_^

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I love Rosanne Cash. This song of hers is one of my absolute favorites:




It fits the story I'm working on so perfectly well, that I have it on near constant replay right now.

I look upon tags and labels as prejudices.
-Chekhov

Smart brain. Of course Danilaw likes 20th century rock music. First of all, it's a worldbuilding point (which I will not spoiler.) But if he speaks archaic English, however haltingly, it also lets him talk to the people on the generation ship, now doesn't it?

1629 words on Grail today--just over quota, but as soon as batwrangler gets here, I have to go to New Jersey. This is my last commitment for a good long time, though, and I'm looking forward to crawling into my hole and pulling it closed after me until I get a couple of these damned books written and revised.

The more accomplished I become as a writer, and the more confident I am in my skills, the worse my drafts get. In a lot of ways, this thing I am writing looks very much like a really elaborate outline. It's full of bracket notes that say things like [show don't tell] and [make these characters' voices sound different]. I'm choosing to believe that this is because my subconscious has accepted that there will have to be heavy revisions once I figure out what the book is about, and the only way I have ever been able to figure out what the book is about is to work through it.

Sometimes I outline. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I go back and outline stuff I've already written to see where it's going and get some distance on it. Sometimes I write out of order and sometimes I'm linear. Sometimes I scribble bits of scenes on scrap paper. There are no rules, only tactics that work or do not work.

Lately, my process seems to involve writing all sorts of sketchy things, bits and fragments and scribbles--and then later constructing a narrative out of them. This would terrify me, except I already did this on Chill and Bone & Jewel Creatures, and the final drafts of both books strike me as rather decent work.

Mean things: fears of the Other, barbarians, fretting by the phone.

16640 / 100000 words. 17% done!

This is your final reminder that subscriptions on the website are scheduled to go up, as of tomorrow. If you'd like to buy a subscription to Realms of Fantasy or extend your subscription at the old rate, make a point to do it today. Again, subscriptions can be purchased online here.

Before rolling out of bed this morning, I contemplated my day. In that quiet, before-the-chaos moment I realized that I have three big projects on my plate. Each is important and none of them can be completed in a single day. I need to go through the Schlock Mercenary archives drawing frame boxes so that we can launch the iPhone app. We want to release the app as soon as we can. I need to assemble pictures and layout for the 2008 and 2009 family photo books. I want them done in time to order books as Christmas gifts. I need to collect and revise essays into a book. I’d like to get it ready for submitting within the next month or two.

My preferred mode of operation is to tackle a big project and complete it before taking on another large project. So I lay in bed trying to decide which thing to tackle first. But every time I was leaning toward one of the projects, I could feel the other two pulling at me. If I decided that business came first and I should just get the frames done, then my head would be filled with thoughts about how family things should have priority over business. If I decided to let the frames lay idle in favor of the photo book, then I would remember the feeling I’ve been getting over the last month that the essay book is important and I need to get back to it. (No idea why it is so important, just that I need to finish it.) But if I decided to dive in to the writing, I would remember how the other two projects will both take less time and so I should probably complete them first and clear my head of the conflict. Around and around I went with significant mixing and matching of arguments and counter-arguments.

It was paralyzing. And over the jabber I could hear clearly the voice that claimed I should just scrap it all and go play a computer game instead, because at least a computer game would be relaxing. Then there was also the voice which reminded me that big projects are well and good, but that there’s a pile of house cleaning to be done as well.

This is when I remembered my good friend the timer. I have 16 waking hours in my Saturday. That is enough hours that I can spend time on each of the big projects and still get the housework done. So I got out of bed and made breakfast. Then I set a timer and worked on frames for an hour. Then I took a break to change laundry loads and tend to kids. Then the timer and I worked on the photo book for an hour. Then came a break to make a fresh batch of play dough to occupy bored children. Now I am having an hour of writing. I’ve done all of that, and it is barely lunch time.

I feel so much better about all of the projects. I feel much calmer when I can see that by choosing one project I am not sacrificing the others. They each get their turn in rotation. After lunch I may rotate through the turns again. Or perhaps I’ll give that computer game a turn for awhile.

Mirrored from onecobble.com.

  

Just yesterday finished reading an ARC of the new Daniel Fox book Jade Man's Skin, Del Rey, February, 2010. This is the book two of a trilogy begun with Fox's 2009 Dragon in Chains.

This is a fantasy based in a secondary world analog of Medieval China. Many readers may be familiar with Barry Hughart's brilliant Bridge of Birds as an example of Sinocentric fantasy, but where Hughart was telling a very Westernized, tongue-in-cheek story, Fox has chosen to follow a much more traditional Chinese path with the story and his characters. These books cover the range from Imperial intrigue to ocean-spanning magic to the smallest lives. Brutal, brilliant, complex and startlingly clear all at once, this series does a magnificent job of taking the reader into a culture, a time and a place that most of us have never considered.

I'm eager for the third volume, and these first two come highly recommended.

Your Saturday moment of zen.



My high school dorm room, Hill House, Choate Rosemary Hall, ca. fall, 1979. © 1979, 2009 Joseph E. Lake, Jr.



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I am interviewed by Michael Ventrella

calendula_witch on why we blog

scarlettina documents, among other things, my remarkable forebearance at Imaginary WFC 2009

Greenland's ice sheet lost 1500 gigatons of mass from 2000 to 2008 — Another liberal traitor in the global warming conspiracy.

NASA finds reservoir of water ice on the Moon! — In case you missed this. Big news!

Sunrise over DIA — A nice image from APOD.

?otD: How much up would an woodchuck upchuck if a woodchuck could chuck upchuck up?

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11/14/2009
Body movement: 60 minute urban walk (San Francisco hills!)
Hours slept: 7.5
This morning's weigh-in: n/a (forgot)
Currently reading: Finch by Jeff VanderMeer