Ann Leckie

James A. Harre, my father in law, passed away early this Sunday morning. He had prostate cancer (those of you with prostates, please do not wait until you’re having severe problems to get checked) and was in hospice care, at home with his family.

He was a great guy, cheerful and friendly. He loved to fish, and days before he died he told us he was looking forward to the opening of trout season. We all of us knew he wouldn’t be doing any more fishing, but that’s the kind of cheerful guy he was.

He was also a voracious reader, particularly of science fiction. When he first came home from the hospital, he asked me if I could get my hands on a copy of the sequel to Rachel Bach’s Fortune’s Pawn, which he had read and enjoyed very much. I have to thank Rachel, and Ellen Wright at Orbit, for helping me get a copy of that, and the third in the trilogy, to give him before he died. He was very, very pleased to have them. The idea that he might actually be able to read them was, let us say, optimistic. But that wasn’t the point.

His obituary is here, and is as inadequate as all such things are.

Still on break, but I’ve been slowly accumulating Things that Should Be Blogged. So, to begin:

1) C.S.E. Cooney’s fabulous “Martyr’s Gem” (which I know is fabulous because I published it at GigaNotoSaurus) will be appearing in Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2014. When this story turned up in the slush I thought “Oh, no, she’s sent me fantasy and I’ve got way too much fantasy, I won’t be able to buy it.” By the time I was finished reading I was like, “Yeah, I’m gonna buy it anyway.”

2)I am only slowly making my way through We See a Different Frontier, and definitely enjoying it. But, you guys! Silvia Moreno-Garcia‘s “Them Ships”!

If you’re a SFWA member, “Them Ships” is available for you to read. If you’re a member, you probably already know where to look for it. If you’re not (or even if you are), well, check out We See a Different Frontier, it’s got lots of good stuff in it!

3)I was podcasted! More specifically, I was a guest on the Functional Nerds podcast. It was fun, and you can listen to it if you like.

4)The io9 Book Club read Ancillary Justice, and met last week to discuss the book. Then I did a Q&A session, which was quite a good time.

Still otherwise on Social Media break. Stay well!

Breaking my break again, since a few people have asked, and I know people are thinking about their ballots. But, as the subject line says.

My first short fiction sale started the clock ticking, back in 2006–my first sale was “Hesperia and Glory” to the John Scalzi-edited issue of Subterranean, and it appeared thereafter in Rich Horton’s years best antho. A great way to start off, right? I think so!

But not only does short fiction have a smaller audience than novels, I was also never terribly visible on the short fiction scene. This is not a complaint, it is a statement of fact. And partly because of that, a lot of people who are reading Ancillary Justice aren’t aware of my short fiction publications and some of those people have, very flatteringly, wondered if I might be eligible for the Campbell.

I’m honored and flattered that people would consider nominating me. But I’m not actually all that new a writer, and am not eligible.

(Here is where I whisper “Benjanun Sriduankaew” again. And “Sofia Samatar.”)

So, I’m a pretty serious introvert. Generally, online is fabulous because I get to interact with people–because I do like being with people!–without being drained by it. Concentrated real-world interactions are wonderful, but exhausting. When I come home from a con, for instance, I generally want to crawl under my bed and just stay there and not talk to anyone for a couple of days. And I’ll have had a wonderful time and really enjoyed being with everyone. It’s just tiring. Unlike online.

Or so I thought. I’ve been a lot more engaged online lately than I used to, and I think my assumption that I could socialize that way without setting off my introvert reaction was a faulty one. I’ve been letting emails pile up in my box, and I’ve been a bit…frayed, I guess. Some of it is likely that I just spent two weeks with everyone home all the time and none of my usual house-to-myself time. And some of it is probably just the year I’ve had, which has been an amazing and wonderful year, but perhaps, rather like a convention that I’ve enjoyed tremendously, I need to recover from, just a bit.

So I think I’m going to try to take the next couple weeks off from social media. If I owe you an email, I will do my best to get back to you soon. But I’m going to try staying away from Twitter and blogs for a while.

Before I go. Everyone is all about the “what I’ve published this year that’s eligible for awards” thing, which actually I think is good because as I said last post, I’m lucky to remember what I read this week, let alone when anything was published or what category it ought to go into. So I’m glad to be reminded. I don’t see any point in doing that for myself, because I really only had one thing published this year and anyone reading this already knows about it.

So instead I’m going to mention a few things that I do remember reading, mostly because it was very, very recent or else consistent over the last year or so.

I would like to bring your attention to Sofia Samatar’s novel A Stranger in Olondria, which I just read last week and which is fabulous.

I rarely say what I’m nominating, for any of the awards I’m eligible to nominate and vote for. But I’m going to say up front that this year I intend to nominate Zen Cho and Benjanun Sriduangkaew for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer (NOT A HUGO AWARD). I was extremely pleased to see Zen on the ballot last year. I cannot claim impartiality–both of them have been published at GigaNotoSaurus.

But then, I published those stories because I loved them, and I think both writers do wonderful work. So check them out, if you haven’t already. In particular, check out Benjanun’s “Silent Bridge, Pale Cascade” which ran at Clarkesworld recently.

I saw mention somewhere that perhaps Sofia Samatar was also eligible for the Campbell, and you know, like I said, A Stranger in Olondria was pretty freaking fabulous.

Strange Horizons also had a nice roundup of things their contributors liked this year. Not all of which came out last year, but hey.
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EDITED TO ADD: I should have checked the list–it looks like last year was Zen’s second year of eligibility, and so there’s no point my nominating her this year. Well, read her stuff anyway.

So, all the cool kids are posting wrap-ups and summaries and what they’ll be doing next year and all that kind of thing.

My 2013 in writing was pretty much writing Ancillary Sword and the rest of it was Ancillary Justice coming out. Which was pretty freaking amazing.*

The upcoming year will be much the same, though it’s Ancillary Mercy I’m writing this time. I plan to be at Wiscon. Other travel will depend very much on factors that aren’t resolvable just now.

Have a wonderful, amazing 2014 everybody!

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*I’m sure other things happened, but I don’t often keep track of things–I’m filled with admiration for the folks who know what they’ve read or seen or done in the past twelve months. I’m lucky to remember what I read last week.

It may seem premature. Presumptuous, perhaps. But I have reason to consider now an appropriate time to post my official feelings about fanfic of my writing.

I’ve given this a lot of consideration. I know it’s a topic that can sometimes be a bit contentious, and so I spent some time writing and editing my statement very carefully so that it fully conveyed my thoughts on the matter. Here it is. Please read it over carefully:

Ann’s Fanfic Policy:

You kids have fun!

No, seriously. I won’t read it, not because I’m afraid anyone will accuse me of stealing, but because I think it’s healthier for me if I don’t, for various reasons. And I won’t appreciate people trying to sell their fanfic, but I’m under the impression that’s already part of the fanfic community’s normative values, so honestly it’s not something I’m worried about.

I’m not a fanficcer (though I have committed a few small pieces, mostly pastiche or small amusements for friends, and one of which–the Wilson/Valasi slash–maybe three people have seen, and will certainly not be seen by many more), but I completely understand the impulse, and it looks like good fun, and how amazing to have people engage so intensely with your work? I mean, seriously.

So. Like I said. Have fun!