ellen_datlow | Vote vote vote--and rec rec rec rec

Vote vote vote--and rec rec rec rec

Ok. Here's my impassioned plea/push/nag for anyone who reads this blog and is eligible to recommend stories and or novels for the various peer group science fiction, fantasy, and horror awards.
I know that some people feel that awards themselves are a bad thing and that they should all be abolished. I'm not talking to you. I don't believe that and I know I'm not going to change your minds.

Awards are NOT going to go away but they could become less visible (which I think is a bad thing). As an editor I really appreciate it when the stories/books I edit make final award ballots and win awards. And I think most writers are even more appreciative of this. It gives a sense of validation for what you're doing by your peers (for the Nebula and Stoker).

Right now is "award rec season" and there are discussions on both the SFWA Bulletin Board and the HWA Bulletin Board about how their respective awards are dying --not enough members are recommending works to even make a preliminary ballot.

Now some people think that this might be because no one likes the work being published.
Others that no one is reading enough short fiction to be interested in recommending works in those categories.
I have a really difficult time believing the first reason. I've been reading sf/f/h short fiction for twenty five years and have found no drop off in quality in any of those fields.

I can't answer for the second but I hope it's not true because if so my profession will die and I love editing short fiction.

If you care at ALL for the genre short story then I urge you to recommend the stories that you think are worth bringing to the attention of your peers.

This is totally off the cuff and I know if I thought about it more I'd have more to write--but I'd also probably just delete the whole post...

Comments welcome!

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Thanks :) But I was referring to Cheryl's page, which I thought was open to anyone.

I'm hoping she doesn't mean it's the only reason she'd join...

Jasmine--if you attend any Worldcon you can nominate and vote for the Hugos. See Cheryl's post upstream (or maybe downstream)....

The Stoker is easy too--it's online and you fill in the blanks of the form.

Jen, recommending your own work is a sure fire way of ensuring that no one votes for you and you get laughed at lots. Fans tend to take a very dim view of such things. Best not to do it.

But Jasmine can recommend you. SFAW is open to anyone.

I'm a pusher, too. I've done three Book Fairs for a local High School and I must admit that my ulterior motive was my love of fiction, and to recommend them to friends. And young people do read, some of them.

David,
There's a discussion about just that in the SFWA sff.net group--that's what prompted me to post about the problem here.
Btw, I gather you're in the UK? Aren't magazines like Postscripts and Interzone and Albedo One (Irish) easily accessible? I don't know how foreign distribution works for F&SF and Asimov's and Analog. Perhaps if Gordon pops by he can tell us.

I guess what I'm partly trying to do with this blog is create a dialog about short fiction. I've never blogged before (I started the first week in September) so am playing it by ear here. I mention what I'm working on (which is usually short fiction)...how can I get potential readers more interested?
Would it be a good idea for me to mention which stories I'm taking for YBFH as I decide and try to explain why?
Mention the novels I read as I read them and the better collections, etc?
I'm definitely open to suggestions as to what anyone would be interested in seeing in my blog...(if it interests me I'll blog about it ;-))

That's a great thing!

What happens at a HS book fair these days? Can you/would it help to get writers/editors to the fair--can we send you free copies of our books to give away??? How can all of us fiction lovers help?

The last I chaired was three years ago, and we sold lots of books. If I remember correctly it was over 20K. It's a week-long affair set up next to the lunch room. Both middle school and HS band perform, so parents come, and we try to arrange for other entertainments: face painting, refreshments, prizes, drama readings, etc. One year I've made up quizzes for the middle schoolers, which involved reading books. We did have a couple of fiction writers do book signing each year, but none of the big names ever came. The Book Fair chairs are always looking for editors and writers to attend, and yes, it would help to sell books and kids think it's cool to meet authors and editors. I'm not doing Book Fairs now, and last I heard the school changed it to a one day affair at the local (Boca Raton, FL) Barnes & Nobles because it involves a lot less work. It's a shame though, because that week of being surrounded by books and chatting about and selling and mingling with people who like to read was what made the Book Fair so much fun. It's their loss, and mostly the young people's, because they had really gotten into the spirit of reading. Me? I own thousands of books, so I'm not deprived. :)

Ah, I see now. Will do.

You've just encouraged and discouraged me at the same time! It sounds as if the events you chaired were the perfect way to get kids to read and appreciate who creates the books they read. Too bad it's not happening any more --at least on the scale of what you organized. I don't think there are too many fantasy/sf writers in that area. Tim Sullivan lives in Miami and Vicki Hendricks (hard boiled mystery writer) used to live around Boca but not sure she still does.

Do you live in Boca Raton? My parents are snowbirds who winter in Boynton Beach--I used to talk to the local sf club when I was visiting my parents in March (before the Conference of the Fantastic) but since Joe Sicliri moved to upstate NY I'm not sure it's even active any more.

You're correct--I didn't mean that was the ONLY reason I would join! Just that it would be a consideration in getting me to actually do so.
Though I think David's point was also that there ARE people out there who only keep their membership to SFWA for voting rights...and that's a whole other conversation thread...
And if I can make it to the next WorldCon, I will surely vote!

Yeah, it discouraged me, too, at the time. That decision, to do it at B&N, was the reason I refused to chair any more Book Fairs. I've sent an email to Piers Anthony, one of my favorites, whom my daughter absolutely adores, but he never replied. She and her friends were so excited to meet him. I understand that writers can't always go everywhere and they have other obligations. And a HS Book Fair, even if it's Saint Andrew's School, is not a priority. Or my email could have ended up in his junk mail. I was not aware of other writers in the area at the time. And, shamefully, three years ago, I had no livejournal and no website and I wasn't using the internet as I do now.

Yes, I live in Boca, but I'm itching to move further up north to Stuart. Boca is getting too crowded for my taste.

Boynton is next door; I have a friend who lives there. Hm, a local sf club; maybe I'll look into that if it's still around. It would be nice.

Don't have the power to vote or recommend either but maybe we can be infectious about it. Started a meme:
Vote and Recommend New Short Stories Meme

Yayyy! That's the ticket. Very cool. It's certainly a start.

I wasn't sure if you were just collecting lists of eligible works (like the Tiptree and Brandon awards), or if you were collecting recs. If it were the former, I would have tossed my own hat in the ring. Thanks for clarifying that your site is actually the latter.

"Would it be a good idea for me to mention which stories I'm taking for YBFH as I decide and try to explain why?
Mention the novels I read as I read them and the better collections, etc?"

Yes and yes.

Thanks for encouraging folk to vote!

I don't know Piers at all but I try not to assume everyone receives my emails.

I just googled and look what I found for you:
South Florida Science Fiction Society (http://www.sfsfs.org/)

Thanks! You're the best. Am looking at it now. Going to join. :-)

Thanks, Ellen! Yep, we need to get more people rec'cing.

I will say I truthfully haven't read as much stuff I've loved this year...but I'm about to jump into three different anthologies, so I expect to start rec'cing my little heart out soon.

And here's a confession: One reason I'm against the idea of making the Stoker recs anonymous is that I often use your recs as a reading guide. I just ordered GENERATION LOSS because I saw that you (and Nick) had recommended it. At this point I think vote-trading is less of a problem than any voting at all...

Hey Lisa! (Lisa's a fellow HWA member). Did you get the email I just sent you as to when the Stoker deadline is this year (for recs)?

I do think I'm going to occasionally cut and paste my ongoing mini-reviews of books from whatever YBFH I'm working on. I wonder if I should post my Stoker recs for short and long stories, too. What do you think about that?

GENERATION LOST is excellent! I could go either way with the anonymous rec issue but you make a good point. I too, sometimes use the recs to check out something I might not ordinarily and who recs it does make a difference.

I try to spread the word to my non-writer ( and writer )friends as relatives as best I can. Usually this means buying them copies of my favorite reads as gifts, holiday and otherwise. Kind of like voting with your dollars a bit.

General Slocum's Gold, a novella by Nick Kaufmann, is high a top my recommended reading for this year.

That's the way to do it.

This is related to your lament re. King's essay. As members of literary communities that are often marginalized, it's very important that we promote our best. Whether the awards are meaningful or not entirely depends on the quality of the work they reward, and so nominations are extremely important. As a non-member, I can only recommend by publishing excellent fiction, and by word of mouth. Jaime Corbacho's "Honeymoon" is the best horror story I've read in some time. Paul Walther's "Splitfoot"--so I was informed--was recommended for a Stoker, and deservedly so. I'd like to recommend, for the journal category (is there such a category?), Supernatural Tales, which is one of the few horror journals I regularly enjoy--ST rarely publishes the middling horror I see so much of. For science fiction, Jan Wildt is one of the best authors working in the genre now, sadly underappreciated. He has some stories upcoming in Flytrap, I believe, and published a wonderful essay this year called "Assimilate This."

The suggestion made by some that good work isn't being published is extraordinary. You're either not reading very much or you aren't looking past the usual suspects. The latter is a rut I've seen people get into, and the only way out is for someone to make recommendations...

I agree that Walther's story is terrific..I'm the one who recommended it for the Stoker and it's on my short list for YBFH #21. There is not journal/magazine category in the Stokers--anthologies and collections though.
And I second the recommendation of Supernatural Tales as a good bet for horror. That and All Hallows are very good places for a regular hit of supernatural fiction.

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