jmward14: (DuzWriter)
We writers ask a lot of our readers. Not only do we ask you to read--and love!--our stuff, we want you to buy it, rate it, review it, and yes, nominate it for awards. Reading and loving feeds our twisted little writer souls. But sales, promotion and awards are what pay the rent and keep the cat in kibble. (Trust me, you do not want to attempt stringing words together around a hungry cat. It never ends well.)

With that in mind, I'd like to say thank you again for everything you read and reviewed over the past twelve months. If your 2016 keepers happened to include any of my stories, I'd be thrilled if you nominated them. But the important thing is to recognize the work you loved in 2016. Awards are one of those rising tides that lift all boats. The recognition gives us all a boost.
To get you started, here are some links to the awards now open for nominations:

- The Dragon Awards

- The Hugo Awards

- The Nebula Awards

- The WSFA Small Press Award

And just in case you were trying to remember the details of that story you loved, here is the relevant information for my 2016 releases, including excerpts:



Story: "The Clockwork Nightingale"
Length: 16,000 words (novelette)
Publisher: E-Spec Books
Release Date: May 29, 2016
Excerpt

Cover of WERE-, an anthology edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray

Story: "The Five Bean Solution"
Length: 9,200 words (novelette)
Publisher: Zombies Need Brains, LLC
Release Date: September 15, 2016
Excerpt

Tales from the Vatican Vaults (which includes "Cooking up a Storm", my secret history story about the Burning of Washington in 1814--with voodoo) was published in the United Kingdom in 2015, but wasn't released in the US until last month. I'm adding it to this list, because that 2016 US publication date means it wasn't eligible for a Nebula until this year.

Tales from the Vatican Vaults

Story: "Cooking up a Storm"
Length: 17,700 words (novella)
Publisher: Constable and Robinson
US Release Date: December 27, 2016
Excerpt

Hey, a girl can dream...
jmward14: (DuzWriter)
BuzzyMag2012.jpg
Whatever side you take on the current Hugo Awars kerfuffle, you gotta admit it highlights the importance of voting for what you want. Roughly two thousand ballots were submitted for this year's Hugos, which sounds like a lot until you realize that the pool of eligible voters encompasses the members of three different Worldcons, and the 2014 Worldcon alone numbered over ten thousand members.

Where were all the other voters? If as one of my old political science professors claimed, people are more likely to vote when they're unhappy, it seems like most of the voters must have been okay with recent trends, such as increasing diversity among writers and subject matter. It will be interesting to see the numbers next year. To say nothing of the numbers for the other science fiction, fantasy and horror awards, like the 2015 World Fantasy Awards.

Mwahahaha! You knew I was hiding a big sharp, pointy thing in here somewhere.

Seriously, if you're eligible to vote in this year's World Fantasy Awards, please, vote. Vote for the works that make your heart sing, even if they aren't something your high school literature teacher would dismiss as unworthy.

No. Especially if it's something he or she would dismiss as "unworthy". Great writing isn't always about making you feel awful. Death, despair and dystopias are part of the human condition and need to be addressed in ways that make us think. But great writing also about opening yourself to wonder, possibility, hope and joy. Frankly, a lot more people read Agatha Christie and Bram Stoker than will ever read Henry James. And don't get me started on how many people have dissed Jane Austen through the years, both for her subject matter and for her gender.

In addition, may I suggest looking at candidates other than the usual suspects in all the awards categories. For example, there are a lot of great books published by small presses. Naturally, I plan to nominate all the 2014 anthologies on my home page. It's a writer's version of showing the flag. But I'll also be nominating a middle grade book for Best Novel--and I almost never read middle grade novels, much less recommend them. That book I wanted to live.

Even more important is coloring outside the lines when it comes to the Special Awards, Nonprofessional and Professional. There are lot of folks in fandom who are critical to the tribal gatherings we call cons. But do you ever stop to think about how important the con chair or department chairs are to your experience as an author or a fan?

For example, writers and fans in the DC/Maryland/Virginia metro area are facing a giant hole in the center of our universe due to the passing of Peggy Rae Sapienza, co-chair of World Fantasy Con 2014. Peggy Rae was a major part of every Washington area convention for close to forty years. She had a knack for finding the right people to do the big jobs and persuading them to do them--including me. I spent much of last year working with her, Sam Lubell and Bill Campbell on the World Fantasy Con 40th anniversary anthology, Unconventional Fantasy, at her behest. The finished anthology comprised six volumes (including an exhibit catalog for the con's Virgil Finlay exhibit), 3200 pages, over three hundred art works and a hundred historic photos. And that was only part of what she did for that one con.

But there are folks like that associated with every convention. I think of the good folks who run the many tracks at the cons I attend. I may be buying World Fantasy Con supporting memberships for years just to nominate all of them.

Then there are the professionals we take for granted. Maybe it's the reviewer or interviewer for your favorite online magazine. How about the publishers of that same magazine?

I can tell you one vote I'll be making this year. I'm nominating Joy Poger and June Williams of Buzzy Mag. Buzzy's parent company started life creating wonderfully snarky t-shirts and audio versions of novels by Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs and more. But that wasn't enough. About four years ago they decided they wanted to create an online magazine that covered every aspect of science fiction, fantasy and horror. They post interviews of Hollywood types and writers (in the interests of honesty, some of them by me), as well as reviews of anything that takes their fancy in films, TV, gaming and fiction. But best of all, they are a major market for new SF/fantasy/horror fiction. And the stories... Well, you can read them for yourself. Just follow the link.

Vote your joy. I'm voting mine. ;-)

jmward14: (DuzWriter)
Yeah, I'm late to the awards nomination party. Surprise! But if you've still got space on your Hugo or Nebula ballots--or are looking forward to the 2015 World Fantasy Awards--have I got some suggestions for you.

First the writing. This year I had three eligible stories published. How you classify them depends on the award, so I'll give you all the relevant details. In ascending order of size, they are:

"The Wizard of Woodrow Park" published in The Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens (Zombies Need Brains, LLC)
Hunting for a rogue anthropologist, Aviann Special Agent Hreaak Meekram finds himself confronting a wizard.
(7,000 words)

"The Gap in the Fence" published in Athena's Daughters (Silence in the Library Publishing)
Ten-year-old Ana will do anything to save her best friend’s dog–even challenge the fairies who live beyond “The Gap in the Fence”.
(9,600 words)

"Glass Transit" in Hellfire Lounge 4: Reflections of Evil (Bold Venture Press)
Bumbling sorcerers Eddie Woodhouse and Ducky “Duke” Orr get more than they bargain for when they leap from a magical bottle into the skies over Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937.
(13,500 words)

And don't forget all those anthologies are eligible for Best Anthology or Best Related Work, depending on the award. But honestly, one 2014 anthology knocks them and every other potential contender out of the park: Unconventional Fantasy, a celebration of 40 years of World Fantasy Cons published by the Baltimore Washington Area Worldcon Association.

Go ahead, accuse me of favoritism. I'm one of the editors, along with Peggy Rae Sapienza, Sam Lubell and Bill Campbell. But look at the stats.

The six (yep, six!) volumes of Unconventional Fantasy comprise over 250 short stories, essays and poems by best-selling, award-winning authors and amazing new talent. We're talking writers like Neil Gaiman, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Guy Gavriel Kay, Patricia McKillip and Joyce Carol Oates. Then there's the art. In addition to the catalogue of the Virgil Finlay exhibit hosted by World Fantasy Con 2014 and the fifty-image gallery of WFC 2014 Artist Guest of Honor Les Edwards, the collection features over two hundred images of artists from around the world--artists like Alicia Austin, Kathleen Jennings, Dr. Moro and Mahendra Singh. To cap it off, there's a 100-image pictorial gallery of World Fantasy Cons past. Taken together it's over 3,200 pages of text.

The anthology was formatted in PDF, MOBI and EPUB on a souvenir thumb drive given away (yep, as free!) to all members of WFC2014. As publications go, it was a very limited edition, but thanks to the generosity of our contributors, we just might be able to offer an electronic version to 2015 Worldcon and World Fantasy Con members if the collection makes it to the final awards ballots.

And if that's not a reason to vote it on every major ballot, I don't know what is.

Happy voting!
jmward14: (Default)

Originally published at Jean Marie Ward. You can comment here or there.

Modern Fae Cover for "On the Shelves"

While I’ve been groveling–er, adjusting to The New Management, things have been popping on the news front. Hellebore and Rue has been named as a Goldie Award Finalist in Speculative Fiction, along with a collaboration between our editor Joselle Vanderhooft and Hellebore and Rue contributor and publisher Steve Berman. Which makes it a great time to plug Joselle’s freelance editorial services and fellow Hellebore editor Catherine Lundoff’s fiction and editorial projects. Speaking of Hellebore & Rue and Catherine, they’re both up for Lesbian Fiction Reader’s Choice Awards. Vote early and often.

Meanwhile, the world has been showing review love for The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity. The first is from Night Owl Sci-Fi, which mentions my story “Fixed” along side Elizabeth Bear’s, Anton Strout’s and April Steenburgh’s. (You should see my grin.) The second is from Janicu’s Book Blog on Live Journal, which gives you a little taste of every story in the collection. Obviously it’s time to update my review links. :-)

jmward14: (LovesRomCafeHM2006)
Isn't it pretty?  It's all pink and shiny and it's mine, Mine, MINE!
Well, actually, it's Teri's and mine--for this year, at any rate.  With Nine You Get Vanyr scored an Honorable Mention (#2) in the sf/fantasy book category of Love Romances Ebook Cafe's 2006 reader's poll.  I've been grinning ever since I heard.
Samhain did well too.  The Cafe's readers rated it as the year's best publisher, and Samhain author Bianca D'Arc scored two top prizes: Best ShapeShifter Book and Best Paranormal Author of 2006.  WTG, Bianca!
I will now return you to your regularly scheduled Saturday programming.  I need to go pet my precious.  While I'm at it, I should probably pet my Preditor and Editor button before it starts feeling neglected.  With Nine You Get Vanyr placed second in the sf/fantasy category there too.  I guess the novel has become the Avis of 2006.
Well, I do plan on trying harder.  ;-)

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Jean Marie Ward

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