Well, this was an unexpected surprise this morning. Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky, as published in PodCastle episode #667 last year, is on the BSFA longlist for Best Short Fiction. This is my first time on the BSFA longlist, and it means a lot that a story so deliberately soaked in Britishness has found itself on a British longlist.

BSFA members can vote on the list from now until February 21st.

This is an awards post. This is not an awards post.

I've been putting this off for ages (I'm what, two months past everyone else?) because I don't know how to write it. But maybe I just need to write it and accept that it will be as messy and tangled as my thoughts on the subject.

Here is the lede unburied: I am not putting myself forward for awards consideration any more.

Though I'm not going to decline nominations, or be displeased in the slightest, or stop rounding up what I achieved in a year.

Messy and tangled.

(Updated 3rd January 2019, because one last story snuck into the year right at the death.)

Good grief, how is it that time again already?

In brief--and I really can keep it brief this year--my best story this year (IMHO) is The Bone Poet & God, which is still only available in the Sword & Sonnet anthology, so you can only read it if you buy that. Which you should! But let's be honest: a story still exclusive to an anthology is not a story with much chance in a world filled with more free online stuff than any one person can read. So it goes.

For clarity, I'm also no longer eligible for the Campbell. Many excellent people are, but I, alas, am now too grizzled and embittered a veteran to be considered a newcomer.

But there's always some introspection to be done too, isn't there? Circumstance means this post will form something of a counterpart to last year's post, moreso than you'd expect from simply being a post of a similar nature. We'll do stories first, waffling after.

As with last year, Jake Kerr of Shirtsleeve Press has very kindly compiled the free anthology of stories from the Campbell eligible authors. The John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer is awarded alongside the Hugos, for the best new writer (defined as having their first professional publication in the preceding two years). That, astute reader, includes me, in my second and final year of eligibility.

This year's anthology--available for free again--has nearly a quarter of a million words' worth of fiction from 58 authors. Print editions should follow shortly, but for now you need only exchange your email address to get a DRM-free ePub, MOBI or PDF copy of the book. The anthology is only available for a short while--until the Campbell is awarded at Worldcon, sometime this summer--so get on it while you can!

Event Horizon 2018--a free anthology of authors eligible for the John W. Campbell award

It's that most self-conscious tiiiiime of the year!
When the writers are posting
And tweeting and hoping
You'll think of their woooooorks
It's that most self-conscious time of the year!

Yeah, it's an awards post, yeah I feel awkward about it, but I am going to use it as a springboard for a bigger discussion. Skip to that if you like, or enjoy my awkwardness as I summarise my year in publications.

The John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer is awarded at Worldcon each year, alongside the Hugos, for the best new writer (defined as having their first professional publication in the preceding two years).

Muggins here is eligible for the first year, and so I'm in the 2017 anthology of Campbell eligible authors, Event Horizon 2017. It has 75 authors, 350,000 words, and some absolutely incredible stories. And it's free.

Particular thanks to Jake Kerr of Shirtsleeve Press, who stepped up to the mark at the very last minute and put this together in a fortnight when it became clear the previous publisher was dropping the task. He's volunteered his time and infrastructure to put this together and support the Campbell authors, and it's deeply appreciated.