If you liked “From the Clay of His Heart” you can nominate for Hugo

ByJohn Brown

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 Stross

Best 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 Shepard

Best 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 Abraham

Best 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 MacLeod

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    Sector 5 is a new radio program on K-TALK radio, AM 630. It’s hosted by Dickie Shannon, a long-time DJ, and is all about science fiction, fantasy, aliens, paranormal–the weird, fantastic, and inexplicable. Dickie says it’s Garrison Keillor meets Art Bell. We’re going to talk about my book, writing, and weird crap. He takes callers. So be ready to share your stories and enjoy the fun!

    • Saturday, April 17th, 9 – 10 PM Mountain
    • Sector 5 program
    • K-TALK radio
    • AM 630
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  • ALA conference–wonderful!

    ByJohn Brown

    Holy cow, ALA was simply wonderful. The summary is below. You can find my speech here: http://johndbrown.com/2009/07/gateway-drugs-and-fiction/

    Got to go to dinner, ride in cabs, and chat at length with:

    1. A bunch of librarians who were complete characters. One guy named Milton Wolf who has written a lot on SFF and has been known to ski cross-country naked. Another gal named Diana Herald who had over 40 foster kids (official and non), and lives in a tire house. Then another named Edith Helbert, with whom I literally shared my meal (she had a fab pork burger, I had bbq beef brisket: I got half of her burger, she got half of my bbq). She is also in the Society of Creative Anacronism and was telling me about some war between two kingdoms she attended where the archers shot tennis ball/tube arrows at each other. Finally, Christy Donaldson introduced me in the meeting. Later she and I talked and I found out that not only is she a librarian in Happy Valley, but she loves the Sundance film festival. I’ve never gone, thinking it was probably going to be too artsy-fartsy for me, Mr. beef and bologna man. But she said I had to go and offered to go with me. So Nellie and I will probably be watching a Sundance documentary in the near future.
    2. Kathleen Doherty (One of Tom’s daughters) who runs the children’s division. Very smart. But the thing that stood out most was how warm and personable she was. She showed great affection for her librarian friends. Respects her dad immensley. Forgives new authors their fau paux. And is, among other things, a true blue capitalist. She made an argument for capitalism I hadn’t heard before, but rang true the moment she said it–there will always be corruption, but capitalism is the only structure that allows you to mitigate it because it spreads the power around. There was more, but I found it compelling.
    3. Jim Frenkel, editor who did Goodkind etc. He’s a total crack up. And seems to always get caught speeding by the cops. He threatened to tweet on me when I ordered a Shirley Temple to drink.
    4. David and Joelle Lubar, very nice folks. David tried to lead us on a goose chase, but was ultimately prevented.
    5. Ken Scholes. We love Ken.
    6. Robert Charles Wilson. Very, very nice guy. Humble. And so freaking accomplished. He’s won just about every award out there. I loved his Darwinia. Need to read his latest.
    7. Margaret Weis. Here’s someone who has written so much. It was interesting hearing about how she and Tracy go about their projects.
    8. A cabbie from Haiti who told me all sorts of nifty things about how it used to be down there. Like how cell phones are like chocolate because land lines were so bad and rare that you’d often have to call a phone station (where the phones were), have someone run down to your house and tell your family you’d call back. Then they’d have to come back on time and hopefully be there for your appointed call. Then sit in a phone box with no AC and sweat, sweat, sweat.

    Saw Alethea Kontis briefly, which is always a lovely thing.

    Then I got to be one of five speakers to a huge crowd. There were 300 seats, people were sitting and standing in the back. There was a lot of energy in that group and I just ate it up.

    Tor made up 200 bags with a book from each author and handed them out. Of course, we ran out. And, no, I had no book, but Tor printed up ARCs. And so SERVANT OF A DARK GOD was in there with all the grown up books.

    Then I got to sign. Now, I’m just a new guy. A few people had read my stuff, but most hadn’t. Nevertheless, it was simply wonderful to be inbetween Ken and Margaret putting the old John Handcock on books for a line that queued up from the table at the front of the large room to the doors in the back.

    This was my first signing. How sweet was that? Being the clueless man that I am, I didn’t bring a pen. I thought they would be provided. So one of the organizers found one. It was pink. It’s going in my book of remembrance.

    I should have brought all the nifty bookmarks I have printed up and am sending to various cons. Next time.

    What a great experience.

    Oh, and we were in this Omni hotel (on Michigan ave). I totally lucked out and got a sweet room in the 17 floor in a corner. So my bedroom had two windows out of which I could gaze at the lake, two blocks away, and all the fabulous architecture. I’ve never really spent any time in downtown Chicago. What a fantastic place.

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    Like I said–fabulous.

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  • Passed the 75% mark on the final draft of BAD PENNY

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    Working on the copy edits of BAD PENNY today and passed the 75% mark to general rejoicing.

    You normal folks may now go back to work. For you passionate grammarians, my fab copy editor marked a hundred uses of “then” in my manuscript.

    No, I wasn’t having issues with the then/than confusion.  

    I was having issues when using “then” when tying two clauses together. The question: did I always have to use “and” with “then”?

    EXAMPLE 1: “Frank backed out of the parking stall then rumbled out onto Dewar Drive.”

    Was “then” naked without an accompanying “and”? Should I make it read as “Frank backed out of the parking stall and then rumbled onto Dewar Drive”?

    And if it doesn’t need the full “and,” does it need at least a comma for a miniskirt so it reads “parking stall, then rumbled out onto . . .”?

    EXAMPLE 2: “The tension ratcheted up, then Senor Zombie’s eyes slid to the side.”

    Can you use “then” as a coordinating conjunction? Or must it always be used with “and,” as in “the tension ratcheted up, and then Senor Zombie’s slid to the side.”

    I looked in the Chicago Manual of Style. I looked in Garner’s Modern American Usage. I could not find the answer. So I emailed Annette Lyon, author of There, Their, and They’re: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar From The Word Nerd.

    Saint Annette’s response:

    Your first example is correct as is, with no AND: “Frank backed out of the parking stall then rumbled out onto Dewar Drive.”

    The only time you grammatically need AND before THEN is if we’re connecting two independent clauses, because THEN isn’t one of the conjunctions that can do that. You’ll find those in a text box in the book, and they include AND, OR, FOR, NOR, YET, BUT, SO.

    The only issue in the above sentence is whether to use a comma before THEN. The current stylistic trend is to leave out the comma, so you can leave it just like you have it above. Some people balk at that and want the comma for the pause it provides. Depending on the house style guide, that may be something you can argue, or maybe it won’t be. Neither is really grammatically more correct; the comma before THEN is more of a style issue. 

    In the next example, we do need AND or some other conjunction from the list, because both sides of the sentence are independent clauses. So this would be wrong: “The tension ratcheted up, then Senor Zombie’s eyes slid to the side.”

    But this would work: “The tension ratcheted up, and then Senor Zombie’s eyes slid to the side.”

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    -Senor Zombie’s eyes slid to the side; the tension ratcheted up. (Semicolons replace conjunction + comma)

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    -If you’ve got 2 independent clauses, don’t use THEN as the conjunction. Add AND or another one.

    -It the sentence has just 1 independent clause, THEN is enough by itself.

    Thank you, Annette.

    And wouldn’t you know, I opened A Wanted Man by Lee Child, and what did I see? A bunch of then’s illustrating exactly what Ms. Lyon suggested.

    “Reacher heard the roar of the shot, quieter than some, but still deafening in a closed room, and simultaneously he heard the wallboard explode above and behind his head, and then he hit the floor, knees first, then his hip, then his side, sprawling, down low behind the counter, out of sight.” (159)

    I think all I’m going to see while reading for the next while are the then’s.

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