Imminent Nebulation

April 17

This is the last entry until next week, as early (whimper! early!) tomorrow Heather and I leave for Philadelphia, for the Nebulas. We'll take our digital camera, but neither of us is especially good at remembering to take pictures, so don't get your hopes up.

Just because -- why not? -- here's my annotated list of the nominees and the people I'd like to see win (though not necessarily who I think will win) (and no, I don't know the results ahead of time, despite working for A Certain Magazine):

Novel

Solitaire, Kelley Eskridge [I haven't read it, so I have no opinion]

American Gods, Neil Gaiman [I love this book, and I wouldn't be sad to see it win]

The Other Wind, Ursula K. Le Guin [I've never been as big a Le Guin fan as, say, Heather is, and while I like some of her Earthsea stuff, this book didn't do much for me when I tried to read it...]

Picoverse, Robert Metzger [Skiffy. But there was definitely fun stuff there, even if the plot was predictable at times. Basically, not my kind of book, though it's one of the few true SF novels I've read all the way through at all lately, which says something.]

Perdido Street Station, China Miéville [I'd like to see China get the award, especially since Gaiman already got the Hugo for American Gods. Give China his due! Though I suppose he did win that Clarke Award, so never mind...]

Bones of the Earth, Michael Swanwick [Fun book. Not one of the best of the year, either. Not even Swanwick's best work. I think he's better at shorter lengths, anyway]

Novella

[Actually, I'll skip the detailed annotation of this category -- two of the stories I haven't read, and two of the others are competent but unremarkable, so I'd like "The Chief Designer" by Duncan to win]

Novelette

"The Pagodas of Ciboure", M. Shayne Bell [Good story, but it's not even the best one from that anthology (which is a really good anthology, by the way, The Green Man), so I can't give it a nod...]

"The Ferryman's Wife", Richard Bowes [Didn't read it]

"Hell is the Absence of God", Ted Chiang [Everyone else seems to like this one better than I do! I liked "72 Letters" better. I think it's one of Ted's less impressive efforts, though that still makes it better than 95% of other genre fiction published.]

"Madonna of the Maquiladora", Gregory Frost [I admire Frost's writing very much, but there are better stories on the ballot, I think]

"The Days Between", Allen Steele [Didn't read it. Steele doesn't generally write the kind of stuff I like to read, which is why I didn't.]

"Lobsters", Charles Stross [I'd like this one to win, though I think "Troubador" from later in the series is a better story, and "Tourist" is at least as good. "Lobsters" is a tour-de-force, though, and it's real no-holds-barred gonzo nerdcore post-cyperpunk science fiction. It'd be good for the genre if this one won]

Short Story

"Creature", Carol Emshwiller [I am a devoted Carol Emshwiller fan, and have been since I first read her story "Adapted" in some old anthology I found in a used bookstore when I was a teenager. "Creature" isn't as good as her best work, though, and there's better stuff on the ballot. It'd still be cool if she won, though, if only because she deserves a big award, especially since she's undergoing a renaissance lately]

"Creation", Jeffrey Ford [Ford is a god at short fiction, and this is one of his best. I'd love to see it win.]

"Cut", Megan Lindholm [You know, I read this one a while back, when it first came out, and it didn't make much of an impression. Maybe I should re-read it.]

"Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City", Jack McDevitt [Not my kind of story.]

"Little Gods", Tim Pratt [No comment, for obvious reasons.]

"The Dog Said Bow-Wow", Michael Swanwick [I think the characters are great fun, and the story's nicely weird and quite well-written, but I'd rather see Emshwiller or Ford win.]

Script

[In brief, Shrek was drek, The Dead Zone I haven't seen and haven't wanted to, Lord of the Rings is beautiful but this is an award for best script, and "Once More With Feeling" is one of my favorite hours of television ever -- because of it's amazing script. I want it to win, of course.]

Who do I expect to win? In category order: American Gods, "The Chief Designer", "Hell is the Absence of God", "The Dog Said Bow-Wow", Lord of the Rings.

And on Saturday night I find out if I'm right or not. Wish me luck, or at least pleasant travels. I'll give you the lowdown on the weekend when I get back (though the lowdown might consist of "Drank a lot. Failed to talk to famous writer I admire. Nobody came to get anything signed by me at the mass signing." And etc.]

Words written since February 1, 2003: 31,600

Words written since last entry:
Um. 200.

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