The Hugo ballot is out, and A FEAST FOR CROWS is one of the finalists in the “Best Novel” category. Thanks, to everyone who nominated me… and to those who didn’t as well, so long as you nominated someone. We need more people to take part the nominating process. Win or lose, it IS an honor just to be on the ballot.

I was also thrilled to see that Howard Waldrop is up in Novelette. Howard has few peers as a short fiction writer, and is long overdue for a Hugo. Maybe this year…

Elsewise, though, the ballot does not thrill me. I was disappointed that the SOUTH PARK’s “Trapped in the Closet” did not make the list in Short Form/ Drama, particularly in light of current efforts to make certain the episode is never shown again. And how Alan Lee and John Howe can continue to be overlooked in the Best Artist category, year after year after year after year, never ceases to astonish me.

Here’s the full list of nominees, courtesy of the good folks at LACon IV:

Best Novel
(430 ballots cast)
Learning the World, Ken MacLeod (Orbit; Tor)
A Feast for Crows, George R.R. Martin (Voyager; Bantam Spectra)
Old Man’s War, John Scalzi (Tor)
Accelerando, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit)
Spin, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)

Best Novella
(243 ballots cast)
Burn, James Patrick Kelly (Tachyon)
“Magic for Beginners”, Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners, Small Beer
Press; F&SF September 2005)
“The Little Goddess”, Ian McDonald (Asimov’s June 2005)
“Identity Theft”, Robert J. Sawyer (Down These Dark Spaceways, SFBC)
“Inside Job”, Connie Willis (Asimov’s January 2005)

Best Novelette
(207 ballots cast)
“The Calorie Man”, Paolo Bacigalupi (F&SF October/November 2005)
“Two Hearts”, Peter S. Beagle (F&SF October/November 2005)
“TelePresence”, Michael A. Burstein (Analog July/August 2005)
“I, Robot!, Cory Doctorow (The Infinite Matrix February 15, 2005)
“The King of Where-I-Go”, Howard Waldrop (SCI FICTION December 7,
2005)

Best Short Story
(278 ballots cast)
“Seventy-Five Years”, Michael A. Burstein (Analog January/February
2005)
“The Clockwork Atom Bomb”, Dominic Green (Interzone May/June 2005)
“Singing My Sister Down”, Margo Lanagan (Black Juice, Allen & Unwin;
Eos)
“Tk’tk’tk”, David D. Levine (Asimov’s March 2005)
“Down Memory Lane”, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s April/May 2005)

Best RelatedBook
(197 ballots cast)
Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950
to 1970, Mike Ashley (Liverpool)
The SEX Column and Other Misprints, David Langford(Cosmos)
Science Fiction Quotations edited, Gary Westfahl(Yale)
Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion
Writers’ Workshop, Kate Wilhelm (Small Beer Press)
Soundings: Reviews 1992_1996, Gary K. Wolfe (Beccon)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
(364 ballots cast)
Batman Begins Story, David S. Goyer. Screenplay, Christopher Nolan
and David S. Goyer. Based on the character created, Bob Kane.
Directed, Christopher Nolan. (Warner Bros.)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Screenplay, Ann Peacock and Andrew Adamson and Christopher Markus &
Stephen McFeely. Based on the novel, C.S. Lewis. Directed, Andrew
Adamson. (Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Screenplay, Steven Kloves. Based
on the novel, J.K. Rowling. Directed, Mike Newell. (Warner Bros.)
Serenity Written & Directed, Joss Whedon. (Universal Pictures/Mutant
Enemy, Inc.)
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were_Rabbit Screenplay, Steve Box
& Nick Park and Bob Baker and Mark Burton. Directed, Nick Park &
Steve Box. (Dreamworks Animation/Aardman Animation).

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
(261 ballots cast)
Battlestar Galactica !œPegasus! Written, Anne Cofell Saunders.
Directed, Michael Rymer. (NBC Universal/British Sky Broadcasting)
Doctor Who !œDalek! Written, Robert Shearman. Directed, Joe Ahearne.
(BBC Wales/BBC1)
Doctor Who !œThe Empty Child! & !œThe Doctor Dances! Written, Steven
Moffat. Directed, James Hawes. (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Doctor Who !œFather’s Day! Written, Paul Cornell. Directed, Joe
Ahearne. (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Jack-Jack Attack Written & Directed, Brad Bird. (Walt Disney
Pictures/Pixar Animation)
Lucas Back in Anger Written, Phil Raines and Ian Sorensen. Directed,
Phil Raines. (Reductio Ad Absurdum Productions)
Prix Victor Hugo Awards Ceremony (Opening Speech and Framing
Sequences). Written and performed, Paul McAuley and Kim Newman.
Directed, Mike & Debby Moir. (Interaction Events)
(There are seven nominees due to a tie for fifth place)

Best Professional Editor
(293 ballots cast)
Ellen Datlow (SCI FICTION and anthologies)
David G. Hartwell (Tor Books; Year’s Best SF)
Stanley Schmidt (Analog)
Gordon Van Gelder (F&SF)
Sheila Williams (Asimov’s)

Best Professional Artist
(230 ballots cast)
Jim Burns
Bob Eggleton
Donato Giancola
Stephan Martiniere
John Picacio
Michael Whelan
(There are six nominees due to a tie for fifth place)

Best Semiprozine
(219 ballots cast)
Ansible edited, Dave Langford
Emerald City edited, Cheryl Morgan
Interzone edited, Andy Cox
Locus edited, Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong_Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited, Kathryn Cramer, David
G. Hartwell & Kevin J. Maroney

Best Fanzine
(176 ballots cast)
Banana Wings edited, Claire Brialey & Mark Plummer
Challenger edited, Guy H. Lillian III
Chunga edited, Andy Hooper, Randy Byers & carl juarez
File 770 edited, Mike Glyer
Plokta edited, Alison Scott, Steve Davies & Mike Scott

Best Fan Writer
(202 ballots cast)
Claire Brialey
John Hertz
Dave Langford
Cheryl Morgan
Steven H Silver

Best Fan Artist
(154 ballots cast)
Brad Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 2004 or 2005
[Not a Hugo Sponsored, Dell Magazines]
(186 ballots cast)
K.J. Bishop (2nd year of eligibility)
Sarah Monette (2nd year of eligibility)
Chris Roberson (2nd year of eligibility)
Brandon Sanderson (1st year of eligibility)
John Scalzi (1st year of eligibility)
Steph Swainston (2nd year of eligibility)
(There are six nominees due to a tie for fifth place)

There were 533 valid nominating ballots received from L.A.con IV and
Interaction members (434 electronically; 99 by mail and fax).

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Just popping up with a quick reminder that Hugo nominations close on Friday.

Many people vote for the Hugo Awards. Relatively few nominate. If you would like your voice to be heard, this is your chance. You do have to be a member of either the last worldcon (Glasgow) or the next one (LA). You can even nominate online, at http://laconiv.org/2006/hugos/hugoform.htm.

I made some suggestions as to worthy nominees a couple of posts down. Your own favorites may be very different. No matter. Nominate. The Hugo Award is only as meaningful as we make it.

I’ve been intending to post a report on my recent trip to Boskone and New York, but as usual I have been swamped since I got back. Maybe in the next day or so. It was a great trip, though. Boskone was fun, as ever, and the week in NYC was as exciting as it was exhausting. All sorts of interesting new books and projects are in the wind, and I expect I’ll be telling you about some of them when and if they become real.

(And no, I am NOT going to forget about A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. That’s still my number one priority, and will remain so until it’s done).

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It frightens me a little to realize that there have now been forty Super Bowls. I remember watching the first one in the dorm lounge of the North Shore Hotel in Evanston, Illinois, back when I was in college. I watched the second, third, and fourth in that same room. Damn, but the years do fly by…

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans. It was not the best of Super Bowls, but it was by no means the worst either. A halfway decent game, which can’t be said of all of them. And it was nice to see Jerome Bettis go out as a champion. Though he never played for either of my teams, I have always liked the Bus. He seems a class guy, a real team guy, and you like to see someone like that go out on top. I hope the same sort of ending awaits my own favorite guys, Curtis Martin (Jets) and Tiki Barber (Giants), somewhere down the line.

So another NFL season is now done, which means that Sunday becomes a work day for me once again. That should please everyone waiting for A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.

I am already looking forward to the NFL draft in April, however. The Jets have the fourth overall pick, in a draft where all the experts claim there are three great players. Sigh. Myself, I’d be happy if the Jets emerged with the big offensive lineman, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, someone to open holes for Curtis and protect Chad… always assuming that Curtis and Chad are still going to be with the team next season, which is by no means certain. The Jets have a new coach, after all, and new coaches traditionally like to clean house. If Reggie Bush falls to the four slot, that would be cool as well… but he won’t, and I don’t want the Jets to trade up to get him. I am still rooting for Chad Pennington to make a full recovery from his shoulder surgery and return to the form he flashed in 2002, so I don’t especially want the Jets to take either of the high-rated QBs, Leinart or Young. Based on their record, however, whatever selection the Jets make will turn out to be have been the wrong one… I swear, they have been under a cloud ever since Joe Willie sold their souls for that victory in Super Bowl III. Now that was a SUPER Bowl…

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LACon has sent out its Hugo nominating ballots. If you’re a member of the con, please nominate. If you’re not, but you intend on going to LA this August, this would be a good time to join. Then you could nominate as well. The Hugos are the most important and prestigious awards in the world of SF and fantasy, and this is your chance to participate in them. You do NOT have to have read every book or short story published during the past year to be able to nominate. Even if you have only read one or two things, but you think they were Hugo worthy, please do nominate them. You do NOT have to nominate in all the categories either.

I have always felt that the nominations are the most important part of the process. It IS an honor just to be nominated, after all, and if you are not nominated, you can’t win. Also, compared to the final ballot, relatively few people choose to take part in the nominating process, so one or two ballots can make the difference between being a Hugo nominee, or not. This is especially important for new writers and first time nominees. Once you get that first nomination the others come easier, since the voters tend to look back at previous years when trying to decide what names to write in. But that first nomination is hard…

Who you choose to nominate, of course, is entirely up to you. It is a secret ballot, after all.

However, I do have a few suggestions…

In the Best Artist category, I think it is a crime and a shame that I never seem to see the names of JOHN HOWE or ALAN LEE on the final ballot. There are no better fantasy artists anywhere in the world. The same five or six artists tend to be nominated in this category every year, and they are all very talented, to be sure… but it is past time that Howe and Lee were on the ballot as well. I’m nominating both of them.

The Best Editor category also tends to be dominated by the same group of “Usual Suspects.” All great editors, and well deserving of their nominations… but there are others working in our field, equally good, who have never gotten the recognition they deserve. One of them is my own editor, Bantam’s ANNE LESLEY GROELL. I urge you to consider her name when you are filling out your ballot.

No doubt the Best Dramatic Presentation/ Short Form category will be dominated by episodes of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, STARGATE, and the other ongoing SF dramas. That’s cool, but sometimes SF shows up in places where you don’t expect it. On SOUTH PARK, for example. I am going to nominate the hilarious episode called TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET, all about the evil alien overlord Xamu and L. Ron Hubbard. Join me. If we get SOUTH PARK on the ballot, maybe Matt and Trey will show up at the con…

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My Canadian book tour went very well, I thought. The bookshops did a great job, and we had good turnouts at all the events, especially those in Toronto and Vancouver. I had the chance to meet a thousand or so of my readers, and also managed to fit in a few late dinners with some old friends. Stayed at some great hotels as well. The Royal York in Toronto is full of fond memories for me, and the Empress in Victoria has to be one of the grandest places that’s ever let me through the doors.

All the same, I am glad to be home. I’ve spent most of the summer and fall touring and travelling, and it seems as though half my life has been lived in hotels and airports (I hate airports and airport security, as I am reminded every time I travel). I’ve signed in London, King’s Lynn, Norwich, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Colchester, Woking, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Glasgow, Nashville, Lexington, Cincinnati, Dayton, Ann Arbor, Indianapolis, Madison, New York City, Petaluma, San Francisco, Berkeley, Half Moon Bay, Huntington Beach, San Diego, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, and Vancouver. I have also done the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. and the Lucca Games & Comics Show in Tuscany. All swell places, to be sure, and I had a wonderful time meeting my fans and signing their books, cards, and games… but it’s past time that I returned to Westeros. I am looking forward to signing less and writing more during the rest of 2006.

I am still getting emails from readers who could not make it to any of my myriad appearances, but would like an autographed copy of A FEAST FOR CROWS. No, I’m afraid I do not have any copies of the book for sale myself, and I don’t expect that I will for several years. However, the good folks at the Signed Page tell me that they still have twenty-five signed copies of FEAST remaining, available through their website at http://www.signedpage.com/ . Some of the bookstores that hosted my events may also have autographed copies for sale. Try Joseph Beth in Lexington, Kentucky, the Tattered Cover in Denver, the University Book Store in Seattle (ask for Duane), or Page One Books in Albuquerque; I signed large amounts of stock at all of them.

On other fronts, my beloved New York Giants exited the NFL playoffs ignominiously, courtesy of the Carolina Panthers (probably just as well that I was flying to Toronto during that game, it would only have broken my heart), my beloved New York Jets lost their coach courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs and hired a Kid Coach in his stead, and George W. Bush contines to subvert my beloved Constitution, spying on American citizens and supporting torture in Guantanamo. Sigh. And just for a little extra stress, Parris and I are about to begin some major and much needed renovations to our house in Santa Fe, so our lives are going to be torn up and stored in boxes for most of the next four months. Renovations are hell, everyone assures me… but I have an escape. While our roof is being torn off in Santa Fe, I plan to be off walking the Wall with Jon Snow, or visiting Dany and her dragons in Meereen. Or so I hope….

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Well, another year is done and gone. Have to say, 2005 was a terrific year… for me personally, at least (not for some of my friends, alas, and certainly not for America and our poor abused constitution, but that’s a different discussion). I finally finished and delivered A FEAST FOR CROWS (at long last, I know), saw it published, and watched in astonishment and delight as it climbed up to #1 on all the bestseller lists. I had some great tours as well, and met thousands of my readers.

Seems as though I just returned from my US tour, but already the road is calling again. On Sunday I leave for Toronto, for the first leg of my Canadian signing tour (details and dates on my Appearances page). And yes, my flights conflict with the playoff game between my Giants and the Carolina Panthers, damn it. No help for that. I will just need to grit my teeth and visualize Tiki running. Parris will TIVO the game for me, though I don’t know that I will able to stop myself from hearing the results. That worked on my English tour, since the Brits don’t give a damn about American football, but Canada is different… and these are the playoffs.

I would love to see a Manning v. Manning SuperBowl, but I don’t believe it can happen. Not this year.

All the travelling and promotion plus the usual demands of the holidays have not left me with much time and energy for writing of late, but I hope to rectify that soon. I have a big chunk of a new Dunk & Egg novella that I should be able to finish with a good solid week of work… and then I’ve got some dragons waiting for a dance. We’ll see how all that goes.

Meanwhile, I will be seeing some of you in the Great White North, I hope. ’till then…

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I love Tiki Barber.

I have been watching football for going on fifty years now, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better performance by a running back than the one that Tiki put on against the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday. It was just extraordinary. I’ve watched his long forty-one yard touchdown run a dozen times (I love Tivo too), often in slow motion, and I still can’t believe it.

What makes it even better is that Tiki seems to be such a great team guy. Sort of the anti Terrell Owens. Unselfish, courageous, intelligent, self-effacing. One could even say gallant.

The Giants have had some great running backs over the years. Rodney Hampton, O.J. Anderson, Dave Meggett, Little Joe Morris, and others who came before my time. But Tiki is the greatest of them all, I think.

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Finally got caught up on all the football games that Parris TIVO’d for me during my book tour. Yesterday I got to watch the Jets and Giants play live for the first time in six weeks.

Argh. You’d think with two teams, I’d at least have one kicker who could make a goddamned field goal. The Giants gave me three heart attacks, and the Jets added a fourth…

I take some solace from telling myself that, aside from the three missed field goals and all those false starts, the Giants played damn well against a tough Seahawks squad and are still in the thick of things.

As for my poor Jets, well, they should get a high draft choice, at least.

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Whew.

Well, I’m back home again in Santa Fe, after… how long have I been on the road, exactly? It feels like six months at least. England, Scotland, Italy, and then my US book tour… one city blurs into another… it was great, all of it, but damn, it was exhausting too. I can see I need to get in much better shape before I attempt anything like that again. I don’t know that I’ve ever been so tired.

There are a hundred stories I could tell about the tours, and maybe I will tell a few in posts to come, but right now I’m too weary. I do, however, want to thank all of you who came out to see me. The crowds were astonishing. On the US tour, the smallest turnouts were still in excess of 250 people, and some of the events were much bigger than that. Tattered Cover in Denver and Joseth Beth in Lexington both topped 400, the University Book Store in Seattle hit 500 or thereabouts, and the New York and Ann Arbor signings each drew more than 600 people. Hot damn.

It was great to see so many people, and to hear so much enthusiasm… and if at times I seemed somewhat overwhelmed by it all, please chalk that up to travel fatigue and sleep deprivation. I love meeting my readers, and I only wish I could have had more than half a minute to spend with each of you (FWIW, cons are really much better than signings for talking and hanging out). There were moments, especially in Ann Arbor and New York City, where it felt as though the signing lines would never end, and I would still be scrawling in books as the sun came up… but at least I had a comfortable seat. All of you who stood in those lines for hours at a time deserve an award for valor. Thanks for your patience… and for your kind words when at last you finally made it to the front.

I was in the Bay Area when I received the news that A FEAST FOR CROWS was going to debut at #1 on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list (CROWS also hit #1 on the WALL STREET JOURNAL and PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY lists, and #2 on the USA TODAY list, which combines fiction and nonfiction). A few days before, TIME magazine had hit the stands, with as good a review as any writer could ever hope for. Being able to share those tiding with my readers at some of the signings made them even more memorable. This will be a month that I will remember for a long, long time to come…

Just now, though, all I want to do is sleep, read my mail, and get caught up on my football games and the last six episodes of ROME.

Later.

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Has it really been three months since my first post?

Since opening “Not A Blog” back in July, I have been spending half my time on the road. We took off in late July for Ireland, followed by the worldcon in Glasgow, then several additional weeks of travel through the UK. I saw my British editors in Glasgow and again in London, had meetings with several artists that I’m working with or hope to work with, and stood in front of castles to get a more up-to-date jacket photograph. And somewhere in there I had a wonderful lunch with some of my fellow toy soldier collectors, enjoyed the marvelous hospitality of Peter and Gilly Greenhill and saw the Courtenay Molds (sacred to every knights guy), and partied with the wild men and hot babes of the Brotherhood Without Banners, Europe. So it wasn’t all business.

By the time I got home, the usual mountain of mail and email awaited me, and no sooner had I dug my way out than it was time to take off again, this time for the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. I got a great crowd at my speech, and it was a real kick (albeit somewhat intimidating)to follow John Irving, Neil Gaiman, and Tom Wolfe (all writers whose work I’ve admired)on the stage. Thanks to all those who turned up. Those who couldn’t make it can find a webcast of my speech at the festival by following the link on my News page.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing since my last entry… some of the time, at least. (I have also been doing lots of tedious post production work on FEAST and several other projects, checking cover copy and correcting the maps and signing signature pages and going over the galleys and all sorts of other boring stuff). And on Friday I’m off again, headed back to England for my British book tour, and then the Lucca Game and Comics Show in Italy. After that my US book tour will be looming. So I probably won’t be posting here again until after Thanksgiving. (If then).

I warned you that I was no good at this blogging stuff.

Anyway, I do hope I’ll be seeing many of you in England or Italy or wherever. If I have a slightly glazed look on my face and don’t seem to know what country I’m in, forgive me. It has been a long year, and I’m tired.

Oh, one thing before I run… I have gotten a lot of emails asking about my “policies” at signings. Truth is, I have only one policy. I will sign old books as well as the new one, and I will sign as many books as you bring… but only three at a time. If you bring more, I will still sign them all, but after the first three you need to go back to the end of the line to give others a chance.

That’s not to say there won’t be other limitations. The bookshops where I am appearing may have policies of their own. Some require tickets, some will only allow me to sign books purchased at the store, some permit photographs and some do not. Their call, not mine. So if you are thinking of going to one of the events and would like to know what rules and restrictions will be in effect, you want to call the bookstore and ask.

See you there.

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