BSFA

So, the shortlist for the BSFA Awards was announced on Friday. Turns out, Ancillary Sword is on it! Also a lot of fine work that you would be well-advised to check out. It’s an honor to find my book in such company.

Personally, I plan to get a lot of vicarious enjoyment out of this year’s awards season. It’s amazing and wonderful to have your work nominated for an award, even more so to actually win, and so I see a lot of delighted moments ahead of a lot of folks this year, and a lot of my knowing how that feels and being happy for them. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy the heck out of the BSFA nomination (excuse me while I do a little happy bounce), but there’s no way in seventeen hells this year is going to be anything like last year for me. And honestly, that’s a good thing.

In other award related news, the Kitschies shortlist was also announced on Friday. I have a particular fondness for the Kitschies, since that was my first award nomination ever, and I have a particularly happy set of thoughts for the folks whose first award nomination this might be. Most of this year’s Golden Tentacle titles are unfamiliar to me (though one I had just the day before gotten a copy of, it having been recommended to me as something particularly up my alley), and I suspect you wouldn’t go far wrong if you picked one or two of these to read.

Lastly! And also awards-related! I chanced across a conversation in which folks were thinking about award-eligible short fiction they might want to nominate, or at least consider nominating, and the possibility of my story “The Nalendar” being eligible in the novelette category was brought up. Someone else correctly pointed out that in fact, the issue of Uncanny Magazine in which it appeared came out this year, in 2015.

That is definitely the case–but as it happens, the story is a reprint. “The Nalendar” originally appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #36, in 2008. So it won’t be eligible even next year. I’m quite flattered that anyone finds the story worthy of award consideration, though. Thanks for that!