Two more days to the Nebula rec deadline

[ellen_datlow]

It has been pointed out to me by a friend that I may not be permitted to post the below info--so I've modified it...sorry if I screwed up:

The preliminary ballot is finally shaping up. However...the fact that there are still categories that barely have enough recs to make the preliminary ballot is a travesty. I don't read all the many strictly sf stories any more as most of my anthos (and the YBFH) concentrate on fantasy and horror but I KNOW there are more sf/f stories out there worthy of your recommendations. So read and DO IT--now!!!!


Plus THE TERROR by Simmons has almost enough recs to make the preliminary ballot and its eligibility ends the 31st...I'm more than half way through it now and still loving it. Someone out there must love it as much as I and others who have blogged about it do.

Go go go go....

Comments

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

If it is any consolation, we see this sort of thing in the Hugos as well. The short story category tends to be the one with the broadest field, and the one most likely to have a tie for 5th place on the final ballot. It seems to be something to do with the nature of very short fiction that people find it hard to reach a consensus on what is "good".

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Well 7500 words and under isn't "very short" --I can see that sort of problem for flash fiction but not short stories...I constantly read short stories and can judge within minutes if they're good enough to at least rec for an award. (as I do during the year for the Stokers).

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I recommended 33 short stories (which are up to 10,000 words for the Stokers) so far with more (I'm sure) coming--I have two more weeks to read for the Stokers as the recommending lasts till January 15 (or 14th) --I forget.

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, but as "short story" is the shortest of three different groups of short fiction it is comparatively very short.

I make no claim as to the reasonableness of the problem. Perhaps people ought to be able to judge short story quality better (although I note that you are something of an expert in this field - if you weren't so good at picking winners you wouldn't keep winning awards for your anthologies). But it does happen in the Hugos and it appears to be happening in the Nebulas too.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

The borderline between short story and novelette is very thin. There are a lot of short novelettes out there. In general, certainly when at SCIFI.COM I found myself publishing more novelettes than short stories.

If anything (and this seems to be borne out) --it's usually harder to get enough novellas on a ballot than short stories and novelettes. Because they're too long to read in one sitting and not long enough to totally immerse oneself in? (I don't have answers, just questions)

[vylar-kaftan.livejournal.com]

That's what happened to me. I was only able to make time for the ones close to qualifying. In the new year I'll try to read some more.

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

With novellas I had always assumed that it was because so few of them got written/published, but I have no hard data to back that up.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that's part of it but I think it's a combination of those two factors.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I also wonder if it might have something to do with the explosion of online short fiction markets. There are far more places to send a 5,000 word story than there are to send a 10,000 word story nowadays, so there are a lot more short stories out there to read and rec.

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

Could be. Again we have no data. It is also very hard to know whether people read all of these magazines and rec what they like, or whether they only read a fraction and rec stories from them that people like Ellen might not consider award-worthy.

However, you have reminded me of another award-related issue. Most of these online fiction magazines are eligible for the Best Semiprozine category in the Hugos. Sure they are unlikely to beat Locus, but Interzone has won, Lady Churchill got a nomination last year, and Electric Velocipede was in the runners up. From discussions with the SMOF community it seems likely that a motion to abolish the Semiprozine category will be put to WSFS this year, and judging by the reaction we got when we discussed the issue on SF Awards Watch, such a motion is very likely to be passed. But that decision is going to be taken by people who, for the most part, don't read the online fiction magazines, and in many cases don't even know that they exist. The category could be a lot more interesting if the online (and smaller offline) fiction magazines and their contributors and readers took more interest in it, but you probably only have two years in which to rescue it (changes to the Hugo rules have to be voted through at two successive Worldcons).