On the job

Sunday night, after getting back from ConDFW, I cast my Nebula award nomination ballot. A short while later I got an unexpected email:

Dear Lou Antonelli,

I'm the Nebula Award Commissioner this year, and part of my job is to monitor incoming nominations and make sure they are in the proper format and adhere to the Nebula Rules.

In reviewing your ballot, I noted that you nominated "Tuesdays With Molakesh the Destroyer" by Megan Grey for a Nebula Award. Unfortunately, it is not eligible in 2014, as it was first published or released in the US in the January 2015 issue of Fireside Magazine.

For magazines with print editions, such as Asimov's et al, we go by the official date listed on the publication's cover or copyright page, and the Nebula Award rules committee has determined that in this case we will do the same.

"Tuesdays With Molakesh the Destroyer" by Megan Grey will be eligible for nomination next year. I have removed this nomination from your ballot.

If you would like to replace this nomination you can edit your ballot until 11:59 PST tonight.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if you need any help with your ballot.

All the best,

Terra
—
Terra LeMay
Nebula Award Commissioner
SFWA

I was impressed by the effort made to insure I didn't waste a nomination spot, and I indeed went back and made another nomination.

Two nominations

I recently learned , from when the SFWA published its rundown of nominations for the Nebulas, that my story "Hearts Made of Stone" received two.

I took a little time this past spring to encourage people to read the story, with the excuse to consider it for a nomination. My attitude was, if I was able to get anyone to read it, fine, if anyone wanted to nominate it, better. I thought it was a good story.

I received a couple of Nebula nominations for "A Rocket for the Republic" in 2006, and one for "The Witch of Waxahachie" in 2009.

Open to new ideas

A while back I took some time to promote my story "Hearts Made of Stone", which was published in the original anthology Song Stories in 2013. Using the Nebula nominations in the SFWA as an excuse, I spent time going through the membership list and making an email list. I typed one version for Associate members - who can nominate for the award but not vote - and another one for full members, the Active members.

I sent the first email out Jan. 5, and the second Jan. 12. I included a link to a page on my blog where I had posted the story. Aside from the practical benefit of spreading the work out, I was curious to see if there was a different reaction between the classes of members.

The email to the Active members suffered from a flaw when I absent-mindedly posted all the names in the CC line instead of the BCC line (I sent the originating email to myself to check it). I mentioned that flub in a post here a while back.

Other than that, the emails were very similar. I thought what feedback I got was interesting. There were more bounced emails from the associate list, and a few "I don't write science fiction any more". A number of people asked me to read their stuff, which I am doing. It seems to have been a nice way to solicit some reading suggestions.

From the active members, a number of people told me what a mistake I made with the CC list, and some were pretty rude about it. There were also some very nice and positive replies, and some people understood the email flub was an honest mistake.

As you would think, the associate members seemed to be much more open to reading my story. The traffic to that web page the week after the email to the associate members was FOUR TIMES the traffic the week after the email to the pros.

Nebula reservation

I waited until the price went up to $125, but I made my on-line reservation and payment for the Nebula Weekend last Thursday.

If you think this delay reflects a certain amount of hesitation, you're right. I have never attended a con I pre-registered for.

Back in 2003, when I first started attending cons, I pre-registered for Armadillco and Conestoga. Between the time I signed up and the event, things happened to keep me from attending,

Missing Conestoga was a bit of a disappointment. Missing Armadillocon (which in 2003 was having its 25th anniversary) was a major let-down. Of course, I also lost my money.

I had attended ConDFW that previous February on a VIP Pass (as a member of the media). I wanted to attend another con before the end of the year so much that I flew to PhilCon that December.

I didn't preregister, I just paid at the door. No problems at all. Had a great time, too.

By 2004 I started getting invites because I sold "Rocket" to Asimov's in March. So that took care of the pre-registration issue.

I did go to DilloCon in August 2004. Again, paid at the door. No problems. I got invites for Conestoga in 2006 and 2007. A couple of the best cons I ever went to.

Two years ago I pre-registered for the LA Worldcon. Within a month, my wife I and had two auto wrecks (with two totaled vehicles) and she also lost a finger when a family dog went insane and attacked her.

Needless to say, traveling to California was out of the question. Bye-bye, WorldCon.

I haven't attended a con since where I wasn't a panelist.

I guess the only reason I might be safe in that the Nebulas isn't a con. I hope.