And before I close out the Hugo discussion (at least from my end), I would be remiss if I did not mention that I am eligible myself in a couple of categories this year.

Both of new Wild Cards books were published last year, INSIDE STRAIGHT in January and BUSTED FLUSH in December. They’re mosaic novels, but of course that’s not a Hugo category. And there is no “anthology” category. But, as editor, I would be eligible in

Best Editor: Short Form

The editorial Hugo was split in two a couple of years ago, and Short Form has become the magazine category, where all of the magazine editors contend, with sometimes an anthology editor sneaking in to round out the shortlist.

I also published a story in INSIDE STRAIGHT — my Lohengrin story, “Crusader.” If you liked it, that one would be eligible in

Best Novelette

And that’s all I have to say about this year’s Hugos.

For now.

But whether or not you choose to nominate me, or any of my recommendations below, please do remember to nominate. The Hugo is your award, the reader’s award, but it’s meaningless without your participation.

Remember, you only have until February 28.

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A fanzine is an amateur magazine devoted the science fiction or fantasy or the fannish subculture. SF fandom was born in fanzines, way back in the 20s and 30s. In the old days most of them were mimeographed, and some — the comic fanzines that I cut my teeth on back in high school — were produced by even more arcane and primitive methods of duplication called “ditto” and “hekto” and “spirit duplication,” which wasn’t nearly as cool as it sounds.

Mimeographed fanzines are fewer these days, and ditto is gone entirely (thank ghu). And now we have a new sort of fanzine rising up… the webzine.

It’s past time the Hugo Awards gave some recognition to this new breed. The age of the stencil is gone, the age of the blog has arrived, and the liveliest discourse about SF and fantasy is now taking place on the internet. So when I fill out my Best Fanzine ballot, I will be nominating

PAT’S FANTASY HOTLIST

There are lots of great webzines and book blogs out there, but none as lively, informative, and regular as Pat’s, with its mix of reviews, interviews, commentary, and contests. If you haven’t seen it, check it out at http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/ and see for yourself.

Proprietor Patrick St. Denis is a Dallas Cowboys fan, it’s true, but try not to hold that against him. Rooting for the Cowboys is enough punishment in itself. Pat’s also from Montreal, so what could be more appopriate than giving him a nod at Anticipation, the first Montreal worldcon?

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I love SF and fantasy art. I have a lot of it hanging on my walls. There’s nothing as nice as a well illustrated book, which is why I’ve had so many of my own works done as limited editions by publishers like Subterranean, Nemo, and Dark Harvest. I take a great interest in the cover art on my books.

Which is why the Hugo for Best Artist always drives me buggy. Not that the past nominees and winners aren’t worthy. They are. Some fabulous artists have won that Hugo. And won it, and won it, and won it. And same guys get nominated year after year, regardless of what they have actually done during the year in question. They’re very talented guys, those nominees, no doubt of it. But other artists, equally talented, have NEVER been nominated. And that’s a disgrace. I mean, Alan Lee has never been nominated for the Best Artist Hugo. That’s absurd. John Howe has never been nominated for the Best Artist Hugo. That’s ridiculous. Ted Nasmith has never been nominated… well, hell, you get the idea.

So, my two cents, let’s look beyond the usual suspects this year. Lee and Howe and Nasmith are all worthy of consideration, yes. And here’s the guy I’m nominating first and foremost this year:

MICHAEL KOMARCK

He’s a newer artist. An up and comer. I first became aware of him when he did the cover for the Meisha Merlin TUF VOYAGING a few years ago. Komarck did a great job with that, and he’s only gotten better since. A lot better.

He does the covers for the new Wild Cards books from Tor. Take a look:

He also did the artwork for the Ice & Fire calendar from the Dabel Brothers. Delivery problems aside, that’s a gorgeous piece of work. Here, take a look:

And less you think that Komarck only illustrates my own books, here’s a cover he did for the Subterranean Press edition of Steven Erikson’s GARDENS OF THE MOON:

So, if a picture’s worth a thousand words, there’s five thousand reasons right there to nominate Michael Komarck for Best Artist.

There’s tons more, which you can explore to your heart’s content on Komarck’s own website at http://www.komarckart.com/

I think this guy is fabulous, and it’s long past time he got some recognition. So please keep Michael Komarck in mind when filling out your Hugo nominations.

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It’s that time again, boys and girls.

Less than two weeks remain until the close of nominations for this year’s Hugo Awards.

Every year I try to encourage more people to nominate and vote for the Hugos. This is the most important award in science fiction and fantasy, and it’s YOUR award. A jury selects the winners of the World Fantasy Award. The Nebula Award and the Bram Stoker Award are voted by the writers, members respectively of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Horror Writers of America. But you, the readers, nominate and vote for the Hugos. Yes, you have to be a member of the World Science Fiction Convention, whose award this is, but anyone can join the worldcon. This isn’t the Academy, or even SFWA.

This year’s Hugos will be given at Anticipation in Montreal, and the winners will be voted by the membership of that con… but NOMINATIONS are open to those who were members of last year’s worldcon in Denver as well. So even if you can’t be at Montreal and don’t care to buy a supporting membership (another way to vote), if you attended or supported Denvention III, you are still eligible to nominate.

And I hope you will. I have said it before, and I will say it again — getting nominated is in many ways more important than whether you win or lose, especially for a new writer. That first nomination can be all important in a writer’s career.

And so few people bother to nominate. It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that thousands of people attend worldcon, hundreds vote for the Hugo Awards, and dozens nominate for those same awards. Yes, some of the “bigger” categories like Best Novel and Best Dramatic Presentation may get hundreds of nominations… but in other, less popular categories, twenty or thirty nominations will sometimes be enough to earn a spot on the ballot. And once that happens, well… It’s a lot like the NFL playoffs. Once you get into the tournament, anything can happen. Just look at this year. The Arizona Cardinals were in the Super Bowl.

So, please, help make our field’s oldest and most important awards more meaningful. The nominating ballot is here:

http://www.anticipationsf.ca/pub/hugos/nominations.php

Every vote counts. You have until February 28.

(I will suggest a few worthy nominees above, in separate posts. Those are just MY choices, however. You may well have your own. It doesn’t matter what you nominate, just NOMINATE).

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