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If you liked “From the Clay of His Heart” you can nominate for Hugo
You may nominate works for the 2009 Hugo award if you either:- were an attending or supporting member of Denvention 3 (the 2008 World Science Fiction Convention); OR
- are an attending or supporting member of Anticipation (the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention) before January 31, 2009
If you liked “From the Clay of His Heart” and want to nominate it in the novelette category, all you need to do is go here and fill out this form before Saturday, February 28, 2009. You can nominate up to 5 stories in each category.
If you want to read it, you can do so online if you have an IGMS vol 8 subscription ($2.50). If you don’t plan on subscribing to that issue, post a comment, and I’ll make sure you get a copy.
Here are nomination numbers for last year’s awards. What this shows is that 40 nominations puts a novel on the final ballot. 17 nominations put a short story there.
Best Novel (382 nominating ballots cast):
65 – Brasyl by Ian McDonald
58 – The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
58 – Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
41 – The Last Colony by John Scalzi
40 – Halting State by Charles StrossBest Novella (220 nominating ballots cast):
52 – “Memorare” by Gene Wolfe
50 – “Recovering Apollo 8” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
49 – “All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis
39 – “The Fountain of Age” by Nancy Kress
34 – “Stars Seen Through Stone” by Lucius ShepardBest Novelette (243 nominating ballots cast):
69 – “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang
45 – “Dark Integers” by Greg Egan
24 – “Finisterra” by David Moles
22 – “The Cambist and Lord Iron” Daniel AbrahamBest Short Story (270 nominating ballots cast):
46 – “Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear
29 – “Last Contact” by Stephen Baster
28 – “Distant Replay” by Mike Resnick
25 – “A Small Room in Koboldtown” by Michael Swanwick
17 – “Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?” by Ken MacLeodYour local zombie author appears on Writing Excuses, Plus the Writing Debrief explained
After a cancerous death, I appeared on Writing Excuses this week to groan and hold forth with the guys on writing second novels and second books in a series.During the podcast I talked about my practice of debriefing after every writing project. A reader just asked what that was, and so I thought I’d explain it here.
The debrief is a simple thing. I learned it back when I worked as a business consultant. It always provides great insights. Sometimes it provides massive insights. The principle is to pull back and look at the big picture every once in a while. So here’s what I do. When I finish a project, I sit down and simply list out what I struggled with, what went well, and anything I learned. I list out things I’d do again that worked particularly well and things I’d do differently. This might be about craft or process. Sometimes I might take some time to reflect on the nature of story and read a favorite book about the craft or perform a story analysis on another movie or book. Then I write up my insights in a form that I can read later and know what the heck I’m talking about. This can take a few hours or a few days. This last debrief after draft 3 of CURSE coincided with my preparation for a day-long workshop I had agreed to give on story, and so the insights came thick and fast. I recommend the practice highly.
More info on the American Fork Arts Council Gig
Fat head alert.
Not to be missed – the most useful speech on writing you will ever hear! Keynote speaker John D. Brown will present ‘Three things you MUST know to write killer stories.’ John Brown is a prize-winning short story writer and novelist. His epic fantasy novel, “Servant of a Dark God” will be released in North America in September 2009.
“Most useful” is nice. Let’s hope I can live up to that one. 🙂 I’m looking forward to this event. A lot of other great authors will be there as well as editors from Deseret Book, Covenant, and Cedar Fort. If you’re a regional writer, you won’t want to miss this. Full information here on the American Fork Arts Council council for writers.
Drovers Update: second draft finished up to climax!
I have been making progress on my next novel. Today, I revised the second draft up to the climax. Tomorrow, I get into it. It’s going to be an awesome battle with lots of heroics. Can’t wait. You’ll notice the progress meter. I thought the book would be 35k. A quickie. But it’s probably going to end up at 60k. Almost twice as long, but still the shortest novel I’ve ever written.
You can see some of the images I’ve been gathering for this on Pinterest.
The thing that’s eluding me at this point is the name of the series itself.
Awful Intent Update: Climax Finished
The first draft of the novel is essentially finished. I have two chapters left–one that confirms the resolution of the A story, and one that wraps things up in the B story. I am so excited to let this sit for a week or two, then come back to it with fresh eyes and get the second draft written. That draft will go out to my beta readers. And while they’re reading, I will be developing the idea of the next novel.
These last two weeks, I have been applying the techniques used by sports psychologists to enhance professional- and olympic-level sports performance to my writing sessions. I’ve noticed the difference. And it’s been very good. I’ll be describing what that is in a future post.
Final parts of Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem interview
Carrie Hinkel-Gill at Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem has been interviewing me. It’s been thought-provoking and fun. Here are the last two installments. Check it out:
http://mlmfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/02/featured-author-john-d-brown-part-3.html
http://mlmfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/02/featured-author-john-d-brown-part-4.html
