After spending 3 days and evenings at the convention hotel at Heathrow, Pat Cadigan and I were grateful to Colin Harris for recommending the Pheasant, a wonderful restaurant around the corner from the hotel. So for my last dinner at Eastercon, I had one of the best racks of lamb ever, at much less than I've had before--also fresh (not overcooked) veggies, roasted potatoes that tasted great (first time this weekend). I was in heaven. Thank you Colin.

Last night I attended the announcement of the Hugo nominations at Eastercon. it was a thrill to see each category announced while I was sitting there. And of course, it was an even bigger thrill to be there when I was receiving a nomination. Congratulations to all the nominees:

Best Novel

* Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor)

* The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)

* Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor)

* Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)

* Wake, Robert J. Sawyer (Ace; Penguin; Gollancz; Analog)

* The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)


Best Novella

* “Act One”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s 3/09)

* The God Engines, John Scalzi (Subterranean)

* “Palimpsest”, Charles Stross (Wireless)

* Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon)

* "Vishnu at the Cat Circus”, Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days)

* The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)


Best Novelette

* “Eros, Philia, Agape”, Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 3/09)

* “The Island”, Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2)

* “It Takes Two”, Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three)

* “One of Our Bastards is Missing”, Paul Cornell (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Three)

* “Overtime”, Charles Stross (Tor.com 12/09)

* “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast”, Eugie Foster (Interzone 2/09)


Best Short Story

* “The Bride of Frankenstein”, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s 12/09)

* “Bridesicle”, Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)

* “The Moment”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Footprints)

* “Non-Zero Probabilities”, N.K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld 9/09)

* “Spar”, Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)


Best Related Book

* Canary Fever: Reviews, John Clute (Beccon)

* Hope-In-The-Mist: The Extraordinary Career and Mysterious Life of Hope Mirrlees, Michael Swanwick (Temporary Culture)

* The Inter-Galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children’s and Teens’ Science Fiction, Farah Mendlesohn (McFarland)

* On Joanna Russ, Farah Mendlesohn (ed.) (Wesleyan)

* The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of SF Feminisms, Helen Merrick (Aqueduct)

* This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is “I”), Jack Vance (Subterranean)


Best Graphic Story

* Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, written by Neil Gaiman; penciled by Andy Kubert; inked by Scott Williams (DC Comics)

* Captain Britain And MI13. Volume 3: Vampire State, written by Paul Cornell; penciled by Leonard Kirk with Mike Collins, Adrian Alphona and Ardian Syaf (Marvel Comics)

* Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages, written by Bill Willingham; pencilled by Mark Buckingham; art by Peter Gross & Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, David Hahn; colour by Lee Loughridge & Laura Allred; letters by Todd Klein (Vertigo Comics)

* Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm, written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

* Schlock Mercenary: The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse, written and illustrated by Howard Tayler


Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

* Avatar, screenplay and directed by James Cameron (Twentieth Century Fox)

* District 9, screenplay by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell; directed by Neill Blomkamp (TriStar Pictures)

* Moon, screenplay by Nathan Parker; story by Duncan Jones; directed by Duncan Jones (Liberty Films)

* Star Trek, screenplay by Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman; directed by J.J. Abrams (Paramount)

* Up, screenplay by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter; story by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, & Thomas McCarthy; directed by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar)


Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

* Doctor Who: "The Next Doctor", written by Russell T Davies; directed by Andy Goddard (BBC Wales)

* Doctor Who: "Planet of the Dead", written by Russell T Davies & Gareth Roberts; directed by James Strong (BBC Wales)

* Doctor Who: "The Waters of Mars", written by Russell T Davies & Phil Ford; directed by Graeme Harper (BBC Wales)

* Dollhouse: "Epitaph 1", story by Joss Whedon; written by Maurissa Tancharoen & Jed Whedon; directed by David Solomon (Mutant Enemy)

* FlashForward: “No More Good Days”, written by Brannon Braga & David S. Goyer; directed by David S. Goyer; based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer (ABC)


Best Editor, Long Form

* Lou Anders

* Ginjer Buchanan

* Liz Gorinsky

* Patrick Nielsen Hayden

* Juliet Ulman


Best Editor, Short Form

* Ellen Datlow

* Stanley Schmidt

* Jonathan Strahan

* Gordon Van Gelder

* Sheila Williams


Best Professional Artist

* Bob Eggleton

* Stephan Martiniere

* John Picacio

* Daniel Dos Santos

* Shaun Tan


Best Semiprozine

* Ansible, edited by David Langford

* Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, & Cheryl Morgan

* Interzone, edited by Andy Cox

* Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, & Liza Groen Trombi

* Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal


Best Fan Writer

* Claire Brialey

* Christopher J Garcia

* James Nicoll

* Lloyd Penney

* Frederik Pohl


Best Fanzine

* Argentus, edited by Steven H Silver

* Banana Wings, edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer

* CHALLENGER, edited by Guy H. Lillian III

* Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J Garcia, with guest editor James Bacon

* File 770, edited by Mike Glyer

* StarShipSofa, edited by Tony C. Smith


Best Fan Artist

* Brad W. Foster

* Dave Howell

* Sue Mason

* Steve Stiles

* Taral Wayne


The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer [Not a Hugo]

* Saladin Ahmed

* Gail Carriger

* Felix Gilman *

* Seanan McGuire

* Lezli Robyn *


*(Second year of eligibility)
A total of 864 nomination ballots were cast.

After a relatively short flight (we arrived an hour early), being whisked through customs (being in a wheelchair is good for something) Ellie and Bob picked me up (they didn't expect me to be so early so we didn't connect immediately), I was home by 7:30 or so. I'm now unpacking, eating dinner, and will open some of my mail. But I'm pretty tired so don't feel like writing more right now. Doc appt at noon tomorrow and finally I'll take a real shower and wash my hair for the first time in a week. I figure if the leg gets wet, my doc will be taking off the bandages in an hour or so afterwards anyway.

Thank you everyone for your concern,your well-wishes and just for BEING HERE.

I couldn't decide whether to blog about this or not but since La Cadigan, who has took me to St Bart's twice has...I'll just cut and paste her report (she's very succinct):

"It was one of those stupid things. Three weeks ago, Ellen fell down some stairs. Not long afer she arrived here, a bruised area above her ankle, just below her shin, suddenly decided to swell up and turn pink. I insisted she go get it looked at, so it was off to the Minor Injuries Unit at St. Bart's. The nurses there decided she'd be OK with ice and elevation.

Ha.

Today we had to take her back and as it turns out, she has a rather inconvenient infection, must gobble two different antibiotics several times a day, can't drink, and must be carried everywhere on luxurious velvet pillows. Or by taxi.

Of course, she always had to be carried everywhere on luxurious velvet pillows but now it's mandatory as opposed to simply by her whim.:)"

So it's cut down on my running around--had to cancel a tour of Scotland Yard (although if the leg's better we may do it on Tuesday afternoon); had to toss out the idea of going to the theater tomorrow night, and forget Chinese New Year's Saturday--no parade for me.
In addition to the antibiotics I'm chomping down ibuprofin. I hope I hope that the antibiotics will start working and that there will be improvement tomorrow. Luckily, it's been localized--no temperature or (much) spreading. This sucks.

I leave first thing tomorrow for London (where I will stay first with the Clutes, then with Rob Holdstock and his partner) and hang out a lot with Pat Cadigan (and other Londoners and visitors such as Michael Swanwick and Marianne Porter, and Liz Hand, who will be overlapping with me)

So now I'm packing, cleaning up for my house-and-cat sitter, who stays here, trying to finish up as much work as possible. I'll be taking lots of reading with me for Best Horror of the Year and will be working on my Naked City intro.


Charles Tan raved about Poe on his blog Bibliophile Stalker .

I'm sure I'll probably post while away as I'll have my laptop and the Clutes and Rob H have wireless!

I usually travel to London annually in the winter when the fares are down, staying with my second family (the Clutes) in Camden Town and visiting with them, La Cadigan, Paul McAuley, Rob Holdstock Kim Newman, and hordes of other Londoners and those in other counties/countries passing through (like Lisa Tuttle from Scotland and/or Caroline Oakley from Wales and/or Maura McHugh from Ireland).

Well, after returning from Japan I was thinking that I just couldn't afford it this January/February...but then I got an email from American Airlines telling me to "use my miles'! And I discovered that I had plenty of miles to get me to London....so London here I come! I'll be going February 4-16th. I'll even make a tiny bit of moolah by talking to some students--an in informal, interview-type situation.

I've come to realize that I could probably make some decent money if I wasn't terrified of public speaking (you didn't know that about me, did you?). Sure, I can participate in panel discussions and writing workshops and I have no problem at all being interviewed. But to stand up in front of an audience/class and give a talk or a speech...um--no way no how. (I still have nightmares about forgetting lines. ) Oh well. I may just rationalizing my fear, but I think it's a good thing to accept what you do well and what you don't.

Nearer future, I'm going to be at Capclave in October (already mentioned), Saratoga Springs for WFC in early November, Florida for a few days mid-November, for my parents' 60 anniversary party, Maine for a week in December visiting Liz Hand. So traveling a lot, which I do enjoy.