About ready to crash. Dazed, exhausted, and ecstatic. Longer post later, but omigod, I won the Nebula!
It’s been an amazing, surreal, terrifying, fabulous night.
Got a note from the foreigner rights editor of the Czech ‘zine Pevnost asking to reprint “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest.” ‘Course I said “yes.” It’s slated to appear in the Oct. or Nov. issue.
This’ll make the fifth language my fiction has been translated into—French, Hungarian, Polish, and Greek being the other four. Coolness.
Saw that “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest” came in second in the TTA Press Interzone Readers Poll after Jason Sanford’s fabulous novella, “Sublimation Angels.” Congrats to Jason for taking top honors for the second year in a row as well as claiming two of the top ten spots this year (with “Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows” at #6)!
Managed around 1K-ish new words on “Rampion” yesterday. The “-ish” ’cause the new words happened as part of an editing/rewrite pass and there’s been cutting as well as adding, making an exact count somewhat wibbly. At over 11K words, the first half or so I wrote several months ago, I’m having to go back and re-read—which means edit—the beginning and revise it to include some foreshadowing, without which the second half loses some cohesion. Also dwelling on a new title. Dwelling.
Still haven’t hit zero draft, but getting there.
Weekend was chok-full. fosteronfilm is working as a census taker—band-aid on our hemorrhaging finances and all—and he is neck-high in door-to-door interviews, so wasn’t able to accompany me for most of OutlantaCon. Fooie. But the folks at OutlantaCon took fabulous care of me; Edward deGruy, the Director of Guest Relations, is an absolute sweetheart and filled my ear with the most outrageous ego-booya throughout the weekend.
Panels were a mixed bag. I felt totally intimidated at my “Social Activism” panel. On top of being on the panel with Jessica Bair (co-chair of the Los Angeles Steering Community for the Human Rights Campaign) and Lee Martindale (amazing writer and editor and a leader in the Size Rights Movement), I ended up sitting next to Dr. Darieck Scott, who is not only a brilliant, celebrated author and literary professor at Berkeley, but is gorgeous to boot. I was treading water like a duck on speed to keep from going all “tee-hee-hee *blush* you’re cute tee-hee” whenever I was within ten feet of him.
And while I enjoyed my “Getting the Word OUT” panel, as it gave me a chance to get to know and catch up with my fellow panelists, Greg Herren, Edward deGruy, and ceciliatan, respectively, I shall best appreciate it for its cosmic irony, as we panelists outnumbered our audience.
But I did enjoy my “Beware of Homophobes, Homophobes Beware” panel. Thought it produced some interesting discussion and addressed subject matter I haven’t encountered at a panel before. Snaps go to neo_prodigy for his thoughtful questions and to Joseph McDermott for giving us a launch point with his opening question.
Was thrilled to see that David Steffen included “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” on his “Best of Escape Pod” top-ten list over at Diabolical Plots—at the #1 spot no less!
ellen-datlow has posted her honorable mention picks for Best Horror of the Year: Volume 2, and she gave nods to both “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” and “Within Your Soul I Sightless See.”
Shiny.
I find it interesting that “Sinner” has been described or categorized as both fantasy and horror as well as science fiction. Personally, I consider it to be science fiction, although it’s not like I take issue with it being classified as science-fantasy or horror SF. I’ve never been one to play the “what genre is it?” game or its first-cousin, the “that’s not such-and-such genre!” blood sport.
Genre labels are wibbly. That’s my line, and I’m sticking to it.
And I can finally announce it. My novelette “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” is a Hugo finalist! *squee!*
Scott D. Danielson reviewed the Escape Pod podcast of “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest” at SFFAudio.com, giving snaps to both myself and the fabulous Larry Santoro, who narrated it:
“…each section of the story is a heightened emotional experience. The intensity of this story was spectacularly captured by Lawrence Santoro, who narrated in a dramatic manner that reminds me of Harlan Ellison. Bravo to author and narrator – a perfect match. A great story, truly worthy of a Nebula.”
And in a clumsy segue, this month has passed in something of a blur, and I just realized that the deadline for Hugo nominations is this Saturday, the 13th. For folks attending Aussiecon 4 or have supporting memberships who haven’t completed their nominations, I invite you to consider my novelette “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast.”
Originally published in issue #220 of Interzone and podcast by Escape Pod, it can also be read online for free at Apex Magazine.
This weekend was a hard one for Matthew and me, punctuated by attempts to distract ourselves from the sense of too-quiet at home and a celebration of the memory of Hobkin’s life. We were hit-and-miss with the former but I think we did okay with the latter. We made stew (the kind we always threatened to put Hobkin in when he’d been particularly naughty) and beer bread (which Hobkin was quite fond of), shared memories of Hobkin that made us laugh and smile, took down the rover gates in his area, and put up a couple fairy doors.
Big thank yous and hugs to kittymel for the thoughtful sympathy card and to Ico and her dad, Barnaby, for the beautiful flowers:
• “Snow-women and Samurais” by Nin Harris (merlusyne):
“The writing is filled with both the graceful simplicity I have come to associate with Far Eastern literature and poetry as well as the modern edginess which comes with the meeting between two cultures…Returning My Sister’s Face remains one of the brighter sparks in the output of published writing for the year.”
• Returning My Sister’s Face reviewed by Ken Schneyer (ken-schneyer):
“[Eugie] tells her tales with such energy, grace and heart that one feels instantly transported and moved.”
• “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” made Tangent’s 2009 3-Star Recommended Reading List.
• “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” was recommended by Aaron Hughes as his Story of the Week pick for Feb. 25, 2010, at Fantastic Reviews Blog:
“Foster manages to keep the tale moving forward, using elegant but not flashy prose…a fascinating, absorbing story”
Now that it has been officially announced, I can elucidate upon the reason behind Wednesday’s squeeage (yeah, yeah, I know most of you figured it out already 
I am beyond overjoyed, beyond ecstatic; I’m just beyond. *SQUEE!!*
Herein all the nominees:
Short Story
* “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed (Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Press, Jul09)
* “I Remember the Future,” Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future, Apex Press, Nov08)
* “Non-Zero Probabilities,” N. K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld, Nov09)
* “Spar,” Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, Oct09)
* “Going Deep,” James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Jun09)
* “Bridesicle,” Will McIntosh (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Jan09)
Novelette
* “The Gambler,” Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2, Pyr Books, Oct08)
* “Vinegar Peace, or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage,” Michael Bishop (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Jul08)
* “I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said,” Richard Bowes (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dec09)
* “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast,” Eugie Foster (Interzone, Feb09)
* “Divining Light,” Ted Kosmatka (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Aug08)
* “A Memory of Wind,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com, Nov09)
Novella
* The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press, Jun09)
* “Arkfall,” Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sep09)
* “Act One,” Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Mar09)
* Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon, Feb09)
* “Sublimation Angels,” Jason Sanford (Interzone, Oct09)
* The God Engines, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press, Dec09)
Novel
* The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Nightshade, Sep09)
* The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak (Bantam, Nov08)
* Flesh and Fire, Laura Anne Gilman (Pocket, Oct09)
* The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey, May09)
* Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor, Sep09)
* Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland Press, Oct09)
Bradbury Award
* Star Trek, JJ Abrams (Paramount, May09)
* District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (Tri-Star, Aug09)
* Avatar, James Cameron (Fox, Dec 09)
* Moon, Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker (Sony, Jun09)
* Up, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar, May09)
* Coraline, Henry Selick (Laika/Focus Feb09)
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
* Hotel Under the Sand, Kage Baker (Tachyon, Jul09)
* Ice, Sarah Beth Durst (Simon and Schuster, Oct09)
* Ash, Malinda Lo (Little, Brown and Company, Sep09)
* Eyes Like Stars, Lisa Mantchev (Feiwel and Friends, Jul09)
* Zoe’s Tale, John Scalzi (Tor Aug08)
* When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, 2009)
* The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Catherynne M. Valente, Jun09)
* Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Simon, Oct09)
Congratulations all around!
Stayed up until the Nebula nomination period ended (!#$& PST timezone!) in a fit of nervous suspense, hitting refresh compulsively on the nomination tally poll. A couple eleventh-hour (literally) recs kept “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest” in the running (thank you, whoever you were!). Now waiting for the Nebula committee to tally the paper nomination ballots to see if “Sinner” made the final ballot.
I am so totally thrashed this AM. Not gonna be at my best at work today…and probably all this week. Final ballot comes out on the 20th.
Waiting is.
