News and Ruminations
April 19
5:30 p.m.
So much good news, a boy scarce knows where to begin.
Heather sold a poem to Strange Horizons! Whoo! We're going to celebrate in some as-yet-undetermined fashion.
Strange Horizons has been nominated for a Hugo in the best website category! Which is wonderful. And I hear their hit count is surging as a result, which is nice, since one of my poems is online there right this very moment. Hee hee hee. Of course, nobody's bothering to say anything about my poem on the feedback page, though I have gotten a few e-mails about "Bahamut" (generally to the effect that I should find someone to illustrate my Bestiary poems), so I'm contented, more or less.
And now my own good news: I am the overturner of rejections! Erin Donahoe rejected one of my poems last week; this week, she had a change of heart, and asked if she could have it after all. So now "Neither Eat Nor Drink There" is going to be in her anthology, too. Whee!
I feel like I've been beat with a shovel, y'all. Running flat-out at work today (the issue goes to press Monday). Now I'm supposed to go to Berkeley to work out, but I'm so exhausted! I just want to flop. Sigh. I have to go. I'm meeting Heather. Double sigh.
Bye until later.
Later
Working out wasn't too bad. And afterward, we went to Long Life Noodle, then came home and watched Oz and Twin Peaks, then Heather went to bed, and I'm not far behind.
But first, let's talk about the Hugos; I'll tell you what I'd like to see win. (Not what I expect to win, which is rather different). First, for your reference, the whole ballot is here. Now, my picks:
Novel: Perdido Street Station. It was my second-favorite book that I read last year, after Folk of the Air, which was published ages ago. Runner-up would be American Gods. (The Hugo works by Australian balloting, so I could put my five choices in order, but that's just too much trouble; I'll just haphazardly gesture at my second-favorites)
Novella: "May Be Some Time". Lovely story about arctic exploration, time travel, and cantankerousness. "The Chief Designer" as my second pick.
Novelette: "Lobsters". The first of Charles Stross's manic Manfred Mancx stories. Give Ted Chiang second place; though "Hell is the Absence of God" is perhaps my least favorite of his stories, it's still quite good by any other standard.
Short Story: I'm disappointed by what wound up in this category; the Resnick and Burstein stories especially seemed like nothing special to me, okay stories, while vastly more impressive works were overlooked. But then, the Hugo isn't a "Best Of" award, it's a "People's Choice" award, and writers with big followings tend to get on the ballot even for inferior work, so; one adjusts. I'd choose Swanwick's "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" for first place by seven leagues, with Baxter's "The Ghost Pit" taking second, if only for that crazy cool image of a brick conduit bridging moons.
Related Book: Meditations on Middle Earth, edited by Karen Haber (and not just because Karen's a sweetheart). I'm no great fan of Tolkien, but it's inarguable that he inspired generations of fantasy writers, and that's what this book is about; fantasy writers talking about how they were influenced. Interesting stuff. I have no opinion on second place.
Dramatic Presentation: "Once More, With Feeling" from Buffy. Not because of rabid fandom, either; because all the other nominees were notably flawed to one degree or another, while "Once More" achieved exactly the effect to which it aspired; and that was an ambitious effect. Monsters, Inc. is the clear runner-up; I liked it a lot, too. (Shrek was drek, Harry was mediocre in every respect, Fellowship was damned pretty but also damned uneven).
Pro Editor: Ellen Datlow most consistently chooses fiction I like. So her. Followed by P.N.H.
Pro Artist: Eggleton, I reckon; none of these guys is among my favorites.
Semi-Prozine: Locus. There's a reason it wins every year; it rules. Followed by Interzone and Speculations ( a tie, in my mind; they do such totally different things, I have trouble picking one over the other). NYRSF is cool, too; Ab Mag isn't my kind of fiction at all. (Hmm, here I go listing all the nominees in order... sigh)
Fanzine: Ansible, but it's the only one I read, so.
Fan Writer: No opinion.
Fan Artist: Let me hear you say "Wu"!
Web Site: Strange Horizons, no question, no hesitation. Their rise is astonishing, their quality is remarkable, and they're my friends. Followed by Scifi.com, because that encompasses Sci Fiction, then Locus Online, then Tangent, and finally SF Site. (Sad that the Rumormill didn't get on the ballot)
Campbell Award: Just a note, I know two of these guys, which is cool. Toby is one of the most dedicated writers I know; he takes his work seriously as an art, a craft, and a calling. Ken Wharton's first novel is very good (and received a special citation from the Philip K. Dick Award committee), and his short fiction doesn't disappoint. Both of these guys tend to write stuff that's not up my alley, though; truth be told, I don't know who I'd choose. I might have to flip a coin...
And that's it. Bye.
Words written since February 1, 2002: 53,750
Words written since last entry: 400
Send me English/Arabic flash cards. Being as most Arabic-speaking peoples are Islamic, and Islam frowns on the realistic depiction of just about anything in art. So the pictures on the flash cards would be all funny and geometrical and... never mind.
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