Vote vote vote--and rec rec rec rec

[ellen_datlow]

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!

Comments

[david-de-beer.livejournal.com]

I do understand a reluctance about bashing in public:) sides, not so important, really. Reccing does a fine enough job, and why you liked it, etc.

I don't know how to fully explain what I want - open dialogue about short fic, yes, not just the general "so and so is what you do and how you write", but far more specific, using examples of the moment.
You already indicated that you'd like to do this, with the magazines and stories you like, and that's fine, that'll probably lead to the kind of discussions I would like to have and am frustrated by at present.
There's no need to include bashing of any kind; althoug inevitably disagreements of opinion will occur. Hopefully, this will for the most part be amicable talk.
But is more than that, though, shorts dialogue should attempt to engage from the smaller elemets like a specific story as well as the gestalt. Maybe then we'll all get somewhere.


I'm just repeating myself, now.
Let me try one last time - what I want, is all that I have mentioned, and you too, but fluid, continuous, a definite dialogue. The problem with having a "set" post, like a debate, is that it pops and flares and everyone's passionate and has opinions, and then it sizzles and fades to nothing.
Course, you can't do that all the time, and shouldn't feel the pressure to do so. Thing is, you and possibly Jonathan Strahan or Gardner, are in unique positions where you can insitute such continuous dialogues; if the idea of "Ellen Datlow has a blog" is tied strongly to both Datlow as person (blogging is self-indulgence after all), but also Datlow's interests (short fiction), it could eventually perpetuate itself, and simply by you doing what it does seem like you want to do, which is talk about short fic, etc.
hmm, does any of that make sense of a sort?

Obviously, in the end, it is your blog:) your call as to content.

>How about if I start with a few of the novels I've enjoyed this year so far then move on to the magazines that I particularly like and why...et al?

sounds good to me, at least.
You have time to read novels?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I think we're on the same page here. I very much would like to keep the dialog about short fiction going--but in a positive way. One can't control how people who visit respond to one's post (except by deleting or approving each one), but I really don't want that kind of blog.


So yes, I have time to read a few novels a year--but rarely am I interested in reading those firmly IN the horror genre. I basically try to satisfy my own tastes in novel reading and hope that my recommendations, even if they're not strictly horror, will spur other horror readers to try something they might not otherwise think of picking up.