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The deadline to nominate for the Hugos draws nigh, so vote for what you love

Kary English

Dear All,

It’s Hugo nomination season. In fact, the deadline to submit your Hugo nominations is Thursday, March 31st.

If you love something, nominate it. It’s really that easy.

  • Your ballot is anonymous.
  • You don’t have to fill out all five slots.
  • You don’t have to fill in all of the categories.
  • You can nominate even if you only read or watched one thing last year.
  • You can start your ballot now and change it or add to it right up until the deadline.

Poseidon's Eyes, by Kary EnglishIf you’d like to consider something of mine, please read Poseidon’s Eyes, a short story published in Volume 31 of Writers of the Future. If you don’t want to buy the whole book, you can read the story for free on Wattpad (you might have to register).

As you read it, I’d like to make a special request. Please don’t nominate the story because you like me or something else I’ve written, because I’m female, to piss someone off or because of what happened last year.

To my mind, there is only one valid reason to nominate something for a Hugo – because you love it.

Saturday 3/26 only – Kindle deals on Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan and John Scalzi

Kary English

NeverwhereETA: As of Sunday morning, Neverwhere and Old Man’s War are still on sale.  Also, Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates!

Amazon is trying to bankrupt me. It’s the only explanation. But hey, if I go, you go, too.  😉

Deal #1 – Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, all 400 pages of the author’s preferred text, is just $1.99.

 

 

The Last OlympianDeal #2 – Rick Riordan’s The Last Olympian, book five in the Percy Jackson series, is also $1.99.

 

 

 

Old Man's WarDeal #3 – John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War is $2.99.

 

 

 

Flowers for AlgernonDeal #4 – Flowers for Algernon, the classic by Daniel Keyes, is $1.99.

Get four Writers of the Future anthologies for 99 cents each

Kary English

Here’s the Writers of the Future sale I promised.  Galaxy Press is offering a killer deal on Volumes 26, 27, 28 and 29 of the popular Writers of the Future series.

If you like short fiction and discovering new writers, these are perfect for you. If you’re a writer or illustrator who’s thinking about entering, one of the best ways to learn what the contest likes is to read the anthos.

Here are your links.

Writers of the Future, Vol. 26
Writers of the Future, Vol. 26

 

Writers of the Future, Vol. 27
Writers of the Future, Vol. 27

 

Writers of the Future, Vol. 28
Writers of the Future, Vol. 28

 

Writers of the Future, Vol. 29
Writers of the Future, Vol. 29

 

P.S. I love the cover for V29 because it looks like Mr. Jetpack is standing on a pile of pancakes, one foot firmly planted on either side of the butter.  😀

 

 

 

“Flight of the Kikayon” is live on StarShipSofa!

Kary English

FotKatStarShipSofaI love all of my stories, but Flight of the Kikayon is one of my favorites. It just went live as a podcast at StarShipSofa!

Kikayon is a sequel to Totaled, set some 200 years after Totaled ends. If you’ve read Totaled, you’ll notice similarities in the character choices, structure and motifs.  (And if you haven’t read Totaled, they’re far enough apart that each one stands alone.)

Whip up your snack or beverage of choice and settle in for a good listen.

This one’s a novelette, so you’ll need about 40 minutes.

P.S. They’re also doing a Patreon thing, and I think they do great work. If you can spare a buck a month, please support them.

Clarkesworld’s Year 3 anthology is just $0.99 on Kindle today

Kary English
Clarkesworld Year 3
Clarkesworld Year 3

No, I’m not planning to turn my blog into a mini BookBub, but I’ve seen a couple of deals lately that are too good not to share.

If you like Clarkesworld, here’s a whole year’s worth of their stories for just 99 cents. It’s Clarkesworld: Year 3, which translates to 2012 – I think.

I have no clue how long this deal will last, so get it while the getting’s good. Oh, and stay tuned for my next post with four Writers of the Future anthos for 99 cents each.  😉

Please go read “Today I Am Paul,” by Martin L. Shoemaker

Kary English
CWPaul
“Today I Am Paul,” by Martin L. Shoemaker. Clarkesworld #107, August, 2015.

I am just back from my annual pilgrimage to Superstars Writing Seminar, and I have returned with enough material for several blog posts rattling around in my head. But before I go there, in fact, while I am going there, please go read a wonderful short story by Martin L. Shoemaker called “Today I Am Paul.”

“Today I Am Paul” has been picked up by pretty much every Year’s Best or Best Of anthology, and it’s sold to several foreign markets.

This means you need to read it. NOW!  🙂

Thanks and kudos to Clarkesworld for publishing it.

 

My Jovian Award: A Nifty Tilting Planet

Kary English

Jovian AwardI live in one of those places where the mail doesn’t come to the house. We all have PO boxes, so getting the mail requires a trip to the local post office. And that’s what I was doing a few days before Christmas when an unexpected package arrived. Believe me, no child on Christmas morning could have been more delighted than I was when I saw what was inside.

Yes, Virgina, it was my Jovian Award, and it’s breathtakingly beautiful. The photo doesn’t do it justice. The swirls are a deep, rich purple, and those sparkles near the bottom are coppery. The award is weighty, and it arrived in a velvet-lined presentation box.

The award came with a certificate that praised both the story and the way I conducted myself throughout Hugo season.

I’ll be frank, here – after everything that went on, this brought tears to my eyes. So thank you, Jovians, whoever you are.

Jovian Certificate

Rockets in my pocket

Kary English

Goodness gracious! Has it really been that long since I’ve posted? Apparently it has, so onward and upward.

DuckieRocket

Sasquan was my first WorldCon, but it won’t be my last. It was a great convention with a few not-so-great moments (such as food poisoning, followed by a raging case of bronchitis thanks to the smoke).

I met so many wonderful people at Sasquan that there’s no way I’ll be able to name and thank them all. I’d like to call out two in particular, though.

One is Shahid Mahmud, my wonderful publisher at Galaxy’s Edge, who made sure I didn’t go home rocketless no matter what happened at the awards ceremony. The lovely red rocket he gave me now has a place of honor on my brag shelf. 🙂

 

CrashLander The second is my fellow nominee, Ken Burnside, who graciously sent out 3D-printed Crashlander Awards. THREE-DEE PRINTED! How cool is that? It, too, has a place of honor on my brag shelf.

I offer my heartfelt thanks to both of them for their kindness and generosity.

An open letter to Puppies and everyone

Kary English

So, about those Hugos…

A couple of days ago, I said the following in the comments on File 770.

I don’t consider myself a spokesperson for the SP, or even an SP notable, but I’ll say it. I never got involved in this with any idea that I’d even make the ballot, much less that VD would run his own campaign or that there would be a ballot sweep. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have participated. To the extent that I’ve been part of that, even unknowingly, I apologize.

Let me elaborate a little.

If you read Totaled and loved it enough to nominate it, thank you. That’s exactly how the Hugos are supposed to work, and it shouldn’t matter to me or anyone whether you identify as a Puppy or not. So if you’re one of those readers, then rock on. I am humbled and grateful for your support.

But as we know, Bob, there was a push this year to nominate things sometimes without having read them, and for reasons that had little to do with fannish enthusiasm. I never asked to be part of that, and had I been given the choice, I would not have wanted my work used that way.

I’m also not comfortable with the ballot sweep. My sense from the Sad Puppies is that locking up the ballot was never one of the goals of the movement, and that it was accidental, unintentional and unforeseen. If I’m wrong, and nominating five works in some of the categories was a deliberate attempt to sweep the ballot, then I wouldn’t have wanted to be part of that, either.

The Hugos should represent all voices, so if Sad Puppies is about drawing attention to works that might otherwise be overlooked, I can support that and I’m happy to stand for it. But if it’s about shutting out other voices and other work, if it’s about politics or pissing off certain segments of fandom, that’s not something I can get behind.

The whole point of fandom is that our love for the genre unites us. It’s about having a place where genre is paramount, where literature comes first. So if that’s who you are, and that’s what you want, then I’m with you. That’s why I invited everyone to talk about books here on my blog.

But if you’re in this with some other agenda, take it elsewhere. I don’t want to be part of it.

 

Dear Puppies: Please talk about what you love

Kary English

Hey, Puppies,

Can we talk?

I’ve been watching this Hugo thing unfold with an ever-growing sense of disquiet. A lot of people are angry right now, and the anger isn’t helping anyone. In fact, it’s hurting people all over fandom, no matter where they stand on the Hugos.

Sometimes anger is productive, but I haven’t seen anything remotely productive out of this yet, so maybe it’s time to start talking about books.

“Oh, so we’re supposed to make nice and sweep it all under the rug?”

No. Talking about books doesn’t sweep anything under the rug. What it does is build common ground, and common ground is that place where productive conversations can eventually happen. Anger and more anger just makes everyone defensive. Doors slam, walls go up and people become more insular, not less.

“Why us, Kary? Why do we have to go first?”  Because there’s a lot of our stuff on the ballot.

If you love it so much that you nominated it, it’s time to tell the world about it. Which is your favorite, Dark Between the Stars or Skin Game, or was it something else entirely? Write a post on why your pick is so awesome. Put it on your blog, your Tumblr, your Facebook, etc. Heck, put it here as a comment.

Then do the same for your second favorite or something in one of the other categories. If we all do that, the internet will be brimming with book recommendations instead of outrage, which, frankly, would make it a much nicer place to be than it is now.

“But they started it!” At some point, it doesn’t matter who started it.

You know what started it? Books started it. Stories we love, by authors we love. Middle Earth. Ringworld. Westeros. Gotham City. That’s what started it. Mary Shelley. H.G. Wells. Jules Verne. They started it, too.

So let’s take a page from the Dread Pirate Roberts. Let’s put down our swords and rocks and talk about books like the genre intended.