“The Eighteenth Floor”, Honorable Mention, Best Horror of the Year Volume 1 (2008)

August 5, 2011 in General Topics

Holy crap. How did I miss this? Apparently last year none other than Ellen Datlow included my tale “The Eighteenth Floor” (Something Wicked SF & Horror Magazine #8) in the Honorable Mention list for the anthology “Best Horror of the Year, Volume 1”, for stories published in 2008.

Thank you, Mrs. Datlow. I doubt you’ll ever read this, but I deeply appreciate such an honor.

Thanks to all who nominated…

September 9, 2009 in General Topics

…”Best in Class” for the Parsec Award in the nod for short fiction. And thanks for the judges and especially the listeners, too. I didn’t win the award, which is honestly okay. I would have felt guilty if Michael Natale’s excellent “Under the Bed” hadn’t gotten the award. Honestly, the story is really that good, and perfectly narrated by Michael Stackpole.

This makes the fourth straight year Variant Frequencies has snagged at least one Parsec. Warm congratulations, guys.

Dragon*Con was fun, and it was especially nice to see all the folks I don’t often get to, like the Drabblecast gang, Rick Stringer and everyone else. Rick’s son, Neil, is going to be a writer. He just doesn’t know it yet.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the great fun I’m having with a collaborative project with Gareth Jones. We’re enjoying crafting a hybrid fantasy/sci-fi piece together, and as always I’m impressed by Gareth’s talent.

Stay tuned.

“Best in Class”, finalist for 2009 Parsec Award!

July 27, 2009 in General Topics

So here’s some welcome good news: “Best in Class“, that little tale I churned out last year, has been made a finalist, in the running for “Best Speculative Fiction Story, (Short Form)”.

I don’t think “honored” is a strong enough word. And no matter what happens, I want to go ahead and thank Murky Depths, (ed. Terry Martin), who originally ran the tale in their magazine, and Variant Frequencies, especially narrator Chuck Tomasi and Rick Stringer, Anne Stringer, and Matt Wallace.

And I doubly want to thank those that nominated me and punted my humble work to this finalist slot.

Some other folks I really admire also got their work noted, including D.K. Thompson’s excellent piece “St. Darwin’s Spirituals”, “Under the Bed” by Frank Natale, Pseudopod for best Speculative Fiction Podcast (along with the afore-mentioned Variant Frequencies), Matt Wallace (who had two different works nominated).

I want to also express my sadness that the excellent Drabblecast didn’t make it to the finals, particularly the unbelievably awesome “Gifting Bliss: Fifteen Years Later, Jason Avery’s Magic is Still Saving the World” by Josh Rountree, which I nominated personally. Your time will come, fellas. I know it.

Thanks again, everyone. Good luck to everyone nominated.

Highly Flattered

February 1, 2009 in General Topics

Someone has nominated me for a BSFA award. I don’t know who did it, but let me just say: thank you. It means more to me than you know that one of our out there thought enough of my fiction to give it this kind of nod.

Whether I win or not is almost irrelevant. What matters most is this deep compliment someone has made on my material. Thanks so much!

Stay tuned, and God Bless.