This weekend at the ALA Conference in New Orleans, ForeWord Magazine announced the winners of the 2010 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards.

I’m extremely proud to have edited the following 2010 ForeWord winners. Check them out if you haven’t…

Gold Medal, Horror		Toothless by J. P. Moore (Dragon Moon Press)
Gold Medal, Fantasy		Scimitar Sun by Chris A. Jackson (Dragon Moon Press) — A winning streak! Scimitar Moon was the 2009 Gold Medal winner in Fantasy.
Silver Medal, Fantasy		Murder at Avedon Hill by P. G. Holyfield (Dragon Moon Press)
Bronze Medal, Science Fiction		Destiny’s Blood by Marie Bilodeau (Dragon Moon Press)

Congrats to all, and to all the other winners!

And big thanks to ForeWord for splitting Science Fiction and Fantasy into separate categories this year. It was really nice to have entries spread across three categories, so that our books weren’t all in direct competition with each other.

Nominations are now open for the 2011 Parsec Awards for Excellence in Speculative Fiction Podcasting.

Last year, my short story “Swimming Lessons” (from P.G. Holyfield’s “Tales of the Children” podcast anthology) was a finalist. This year, I have another eligible short story: “Closure” (from Philippa Ballantine’s “Chronicles of the Order” podcast anthology).

Nominations are open through June 1, 2011, and the award ceremony is held at Dragon*Con. Anyone may nominate. A panel of judges selects the finalists and winners from the eligible nominees.

Visit the official Parsec Awards site for more about the Parsec Awards and to learn how to nominate your favorite podcast.

Finalists have been announced for ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards, and I’m pleased to see that five of the books I’ve worked on this past year have made the list!

In the Science Fiction category:

* Angel of Chaos by Nina Munteanu
* Destiny’s Blood by Marie Bilodeau

In the Fantasy category:

* Murder at Avedon Hill by P.G. Holyfield
* Scimitar Sun by Chris A. Jackson

In the Horror category:

* Toothless by J.P. Moore

Congrats to the authors and to Dragon Moon Press for this achievement!

It’s not only the beginning of a new year, it’s the season in which publishing professionals must briefly shed all humility: the beginning of a new cycle of genre award nominations. If you’re an award-eligible author, artist or editor, it’s a good idea to put your eligible work out there where others can find it, so that they know you’re in the running.

If you attended WorldCon last year, or will be attending this year in Reno, you are able to nominate qualifying works and individuals for the Hugo Awards.

As a point of interest, I’m eligible this year for a nomination for the Hugo for Best Editor, Long Form. Several of the works I’ve edited are also worthy of note, including GEIST by Philippa Ballantine (Ace Books).

You can visit my SF Editor Wiki page to see the full bibliography of the published works I’ve edited this year. I’m proud of all of them, and they all deserve notice.

GEIST is also eligible for a Sir Julius Vogel Award — New Zealand’s award for excellence in genre fiction. Anyone may nominate qualifying works for the SJV.

If you are a member of Horror Writers of America, you are able to nominate qualifying works for the Bram Stoker Award.

As a point of interest, TOOTHLESS by J.P. Moore is eligible for a Bram Stoker Award. (And, I think, quite worthy.) SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Dan Keohane (edited by me) was a previous finalist for this award.

If you are a member of SFWA, you are able to nominate qualifying works for the Nebula Award.

The Prix Aurora Awards recognize excellence in Canadian science fiction and fantasy. Eligible works from 2010 that I edited include DESTINY’S BLOOD (Marie Bilodeau), COLD MAGICS (Erik Buchanan), ANGEL OF CHAOS (Nina Munteanu) and WICKED INITIATIONS (Jennifer Rahn).

Please consider giving showing your appreciation to the authors, editors and writers whose work you have enjoyed, by nominating them for recognition within the genre. It means a lot to them.

If you are a writer, artist or editor with award-eligible works, I strongly recommend announcing it, either on your blog or in some other appropriate forum, so that people know. One great resource is John Scalzi’s blog post in which he invites folks to promote their award-eligible work. Leave a comment, let the world know what you’ve got up for consideration. (The post in question is intended for the creators of the works only. Scalzi assures us that a recommendation post for suggesting others’ work will follow shortly.)

I’ve got a light schedule… which is good, because Dragon*Con is full of things to do and people to see! You can catch up with me at:

SAT Sept 4, HILTON 204, 10:00 AM
Podcasting Authors Roundtable.
Join a roundtable discussion of working writers who utilize podcasting to distribute and promote their work.
Panelists: Scott Sigler, Gail Z. Martin, Michael A. Stackpole, Christiana Ellis, P.G. Holyfield, Gabrielle Harbowy

SAT Sept 4, HYATT Regency V Ballroom, 4:00 PM
5th Annual Parsec Awards
The Parsec Awards recognize excellence in Speculative Fiction Podcasting

Or drop me a line on Twitter or via the contact tab above.

The 2010 Parsec Award Finalists have been announced, and I’m quite pleased to see my story “Swimming Lessons” from P.G. Holyfield’s Tales of the Children anthology listed in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) category!

I’m up against some serious competition. It’s an honor to even be nominated alongside writers like Peter Watts, Mike Resnick, Scott Sigler and Tim Pratt.

Congrats, also, to all the rest of this year’s nominees!

The Parsec Award ceremony will be held at DragonCon on Saturday, September 4 at 4 PM in the Hyatt’s Regency V Ballroom.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks!

• I went to Ad Astra and had a wonderful time! I staffed a Dragon Moon Press table with Erik Buchanan and Chris Jackson – a couple of really great people. I spoke on four panels, we had a very successful launch (click for pictures) for Erik’s new book Cold Magics, I met even more great people, snuck in some quality time, shook hands on a couple of exciting upcoming projects, and even remembered to sleep now and then.
• I’m now on the editorial staff of Lambda Literary, and proud to have my name in very distinguished company on their masthead.
• Ace Books has set a release date of October 26, 2010 for Geist by Philippa Ballantine.
• Parsec Award nominations are now open. The Parsecs recognize excellence in speculative fiction podcasting. Go and nominate your favorite podcasts.
• I got to spend time with the fantastic Phil Rossi and his family. We put in good work on a couple of strong projects, and had a great time at it. Phil has some sort of aura that increases the alcohol tolerance of the people around him. I’m not sure about this; I think I have to do more research. You should definitely give it a try for yourself if you get a chance.
• On a personal note, I got to attend my grandmother’s 100th birthday party yesterday. It was, without a doubt, the best 100th birthday party I’ve ever been to! My grandmother is an incredible lady, sharp and bright and funny, always happy and positive. She’s already reserved the date for the party for her 105th, and it’s on my calendar now, too.
• I’m anticipating the release of Dragon Moon’s podcast anthology (you can join the Facebook fan page in the meantime!) and putting the finishing touches on P.G. Holyfield’s Murder at Avedon Hill for its May release (click for a peek at yet another great cover by Alex White).
• J. Daniel Sawyer’s podcast Down From Ten wrapped up this week. You can catch my voice in the “story so far” segment for episode 24. Dan’s full-cast productions are first rate, and the voice actors are all extremely talented and perfectly cast. This is a gripping character-driven mystery that’s definitely worth a listen. It’s available on itunes, or at downfromten.jdsawyer.net.
• JM Frey has adapted Adrienne Kress’s book Alex and the Ironic Gentleman for the stage, and Adrienne blogs about her visit to Quaker Road School’s production.
• I’ll be appearing live on Blog Talk Radio on April 29th at 6pm Pacific time, talking to the podioracket folks about Dragon Moon Press, how to get published, and whatever else you ask me!

Busy times! It’s been a month of great developments, with lots more good things in the works.

Congratulations to the 2010 Hugo Award Nominees!

From the Aussiecon 4 News feed:

“Aussiecon 4 received a record number of nominations for the 2010 Hugo Awards: 864, up from 799 nomination ballots at Anticipation in 2009 and 483 at Denvention 3 in 2008. This year’s Hugo Award nominations will be announced 22:00 BST, Easter Sunday 4 April, at Odyssey 2010, this year’s Eastercon, and covered live on the Aussiecon 4 Twitter feed. Balloting for the Hugo Awards will commence thereafter and will conclude on 31 July at midnight, US PDT. The Hugo Awards Ceremony will be held at Aussiecon 4 in Melbourne on Sunday, 5 September 2010.”

I’m equally proud for all the nominees, so I’m not going to plug any particular names or suggest how you should vote, I’m only going to suggest that you do vote. A supporting Worldcon membership is not that expensive, and it gives you something priceless: the power to support your favorite genre authors, editors and artists in a quantifiable way, and the ability to be a part of the F/SF community.

So, while I’m not going to plug any particular nominees or mention my own 2011 eligibility (Editor, Long Form), I am going to plug Cheryl Morgan’s post on the Blog Feminist SF. It talks about gender issues regarding the Hugo ballots, and it also talks about why you should vote, how to become eligible to vote, and how to vote… and how it’s perfectly okay to vote even if you haven’t read or seen everything in every category.

Because it’s okay to vote for what you like without familiarizing yourself with the whole ballot first, recognized names do stand a better chance. Does that make the Hugos a popularity contest? Maybe, in part. But author and client Nina Munteanu and I were discussing that at Worldcon last year, and Nina gave that a little twist. She suggested that maybe the nomination is a celebration a particular work, while winning can be looked at as a broader celebration of the career.

Or, maybe the Hugo ballot can be a list of recommended reading to track down if you’re wondering what to tackle next. It may introduce you to something new to love.

SOLOMON’S GRAVE by Dan Keohane (Dragon Moon Press) is a finalist for the 2009 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. It was a pleasure to work with Dan on the book, and Dragon Moon and I wish him the best of luck.

Congrats, Dan!

A couple other notes:

Erik Buchanan shares his experience and insight with Michell Plested in a great interview on the latest “Get Published”, in advance of the release of COLD MAGICS, Erik’s second book with Dragon Moon Press.

Reminder: The Boom Effect auction for Tee Morris and his daughter is in just five days. Visit the site to see the lots up for auction and to get details about how to drop in and participate next Saturday!

Nominations are now open for the 2010 Hugo Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy.

Members of last year’s Worldcon in Montreal and members who register for this year’s Worldcon in Melbourne are eligible to nominate and vote. You can also make your recommendations to other voters (and get an idea of theirs) at the hugo_recommend livejournal community.

2010 is the first year that I am eligible for a nomination in the Best Editor, Long Form category. The simple fact of being eligible is a thrill.

Being eligible, though, isn’t the same as being worthy.

Lou Anders, Editorial Director at Pyr, said it best in the Editors’ Roundtable interview in which we both participated for Clarkesworld Magazine last summer. He said:

…discussing the “Best Editor—Long Form” Hugo[, one reader] stated, “Well, I don’t know how much the editing improved or hurt the original manuscript so I don’t know how to vote.” I don’t think that’s the part of an editor’s job that need concern the reader. Rather, it’s the mere fact that they are reading the book in question at all, versus any one of the hundreds of other manuscripts and pitches that crossed the editor’s desk in a specific year. I get pitched maybe two to three times a day now, and out of that, I select/publish under 30 books a year. So it isn’t so much about whether I caught a typo on page 256, or said, “Do you think you need to explain that obscure reference a little clearer?” —it’s the fact that you are reading the book at all that counts.

Winning a Hugo someday is a dream of mine, of course, but doing consistent Hugo-worthy work is my real goal. My work is not Hugo-worthy yet, but I’m on the right path, learning my way one step at a time.

In 2009, Dragon Moon Press published six books in which I was deeply involved. DMP published perhaps a similar number to which I contributed a single proofreading pass, but that I don’t consider “my” books in the same way, and that I don’t count as my credits on my own website or on sites like the SF Editorwatch wiki.

Of those six books, only one was chosen for publication by me. I keep saying that publishing is a slow business? Well, all those contracts were already signed and sealed before I took on my role as Editor-in-Charge.

The “best editor” Hugo isn’t about catching the most typos or bringing about the best transformation from manuscript to final draft. It’s about having the eye to pick out exceptional manuscripts and bring books and authors of consistent and reliable quality to print.

Before I set out as an editor, I worked as a pricing analyst for a large publishing house. It was my job to work on sales forecasts, using past history and like items to determine how many copies a book would sell, so that we would know how many copies to print. I was in the business because I love the books, first and foremost, so I read all the books I could get my hands on.

I read the books that sold well; I read the books that didn’t sell well. I read the books that were fads that quickly faded and the books that were consistent classics. And when I read the books with the sales numbers at my side and my “trend-spotting” reflexes sharply honed, I started to develop an eye for the qualities that make a book a classic — the characteristics that make it great, and enduring.

It was with that behind me that I went into professional editing, and it’s from that experience that I still draw. In 2009, I stepped out from behind the red pencil and into the slush pile. As a result, you’ll be seeing a lot more of “my” picks in 2010, and I’m excited about the books you’ll be seeing from us. We’ve got some excellent fantasy and science fiction lined up.

Starting in 2011, I’ll be able to say “I chose these books for you.” That’ll be another big step closer to that goal, and you can be sure that I’ll be working all year with determination, ambition and integrity to get there and keep going.

This year, it’s a big enough thrill just to be eligible, and to have the opportunity to discover great books and great authors. It’s been an honor and a joy to work with great writers, and to meet and learn from some of the most talented and insightful minds in the industry in 2009, and the future only looks brighter. “Begin as you mean to go on,” they say at each new year — here’s looking ahead to a brilliant 2010.