A self-interested post about my Hugo eligible works AND some work that I really, really, really liked.

Hello! It’s that time of year again, where the Hugo nominations are about to close and all of your author friends are saying “Look! I wrote stuff!” I am right there with them, because it’s hard to remember what comes out in a given year. So… if you are nominating for the Hugos and have an empty slot on your ballot, here are some things I hope you might consider nominating.

Novel

• Valour and Vanity – Written by me! Jane Austen writes Ocean Eleven, with magic.
• Lock In – John Scalzi. I loved this and thought that it did really interesting things with disability, gender, all in the guise of a good tech thriller.
• The Goblin Emperor – Katherine Addison – Wow. This blew me away. It’s a political intrigue novel mashed up with a coming-of-age novel, but set in a fully realized secondary world that’s intricate and lovely/horrible. It deals with class expectations, prejudice, bigotry, and grief. It’s just lovely.

Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form

• “A Matter of Endurance” — Defense Grid 2 (audio play) – Written by me! Did I mention Alan Tudyk is one of the actors? (I have copies of this that I can offer to nominating members, just ask for it.)
• Space Janitors Season 3 – This is a webcast that I love. A lot. Go watch it and nominate it.

Novelette

• “Fire in the Heavens” — Shadows Beneath written by me!
• Sleepwalking Now and Then — by Richard Bowes – I’m a sucker for all things theatrical and this is a fascinating look at theater in the future. And like all theater, you’re just waiting for something to go horribly, horribly wrong.

Best Related Work

• Shadows Beneath, The Writing Excuses Anthology – by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells – We are really, really proud of this. It’s an anthology of short stories in which we also show our work, so you can see how a story develops. As a writing textbook, we think it’s doing something new. If you are eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards, we will happily send you a copy for review. Please send Brandon an email through his website, and we will get one to you ASAP.

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