Nominated for the Campbell, Clarke, Prometheus, and Kitschie!
I’m up for some awards, and on those lists with some fantastic people.
1) The Campbell Award
On Saturday the finalists for the Hugo Awards and Campbell Award for 2014 were announced.
So now I can reveal that I’m a finalist for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. I’m incredibly honored to be on that list, along with my friend Wes Chu, and fellow authors (and new friends) Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Sofia Samatar, and Max Gladstone.
This is an awesome list of new voices in science fiction and fantasy. Whoever wins in August, I’ll be cheering, and delighted to have been among them.
For me, this is the capstone of a few incredible months of recognition.
2) The Clarke Award
Nexus is a finalist for the 2014 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Out of 121 books submitted, Nexus was one of the 6 finalists picked, along with God’s War by Kameron Hurley (whose awesome, Hugo-nominated essay We Have Always Fought you should also read), The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann, The Adjacent by Christopher Priest, The Machine by James Smythe, and of course, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (the novel that has been on almost every award shortlist).
This is an award that’s previously gone to Margaret Atwood, Jeff Noon, Bruce Sterling, China Miéville, Neal Stephenson, Ian Macleod, Richard Morgan, and Lauren Beukes. Being on the shortlist for this year is utterly amazing.
And this year, three of the six finalists are debut novels, a fact I think is both remarkable and wonderful.
3) The Golden Tentacle (the Kitschie Award for Best Debut Novel)
Nexus was also a finalist for this year’s Golden Tentacle Kitschie Award for the most ‘progressive, intelligent, and entertaining’ debut novel in science-fiction and fantasy. The Kitschies were announced already, and the wonderful Ann Leckie won for Ancillary Justice. You can watch her acceptance speech here.
Also on the short list was A Calculated Life by the fabulous Anne Charnock (who I’ve just met and immediately clicked with), a novel that explores similar themes to Nexus in a very different way; Stray by Monica Hesse; and the much-lauded Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.
4) The Prometheus Award
Amazingly, both Nexus and Crux are on the shortlist for the 2014 Prometheus Award. They’re up against Cory Doctorow’s Homeland, Sarah Hoyt’s A Few Good Men, and Marcus Slakey’s Brilliance. The Prometheus Award honors books that celebrate liberty, and in that respect, it’s a huge honor to be on the same ballot as Cory Doctorow, who’s a non-stop champion of individual rights, and who’s been a huge booster for Nexus and Crux.
5) An NPR Best Book of the Year
Finally, while not an award per-se, it was awesome to see Nexus named as one of NPR’s Best Books of the Year
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So that’s 6 placements on 4 awards shortlists and one prominent best-of list. It’s an incredible honor.
I have no idea if I’ll win any of these, but the recognition is…amazing. It’s more than I hoped for, particularly as a debut novelist, writing stories outside the traditional norm of science fiction.
Perhaps the best thing is that I’m on those ballots with friends, with authors I’ve read and admire (and who’ve been incredibly kind to me), and with the most celebrated and innovative up-and-coming authors in the field. Indeed, many of the people on those lists are becoming friends, as we speak. It’s a privilege to share the recognition with them all. With you all.
As the winners of the rest of these awards (and the large number of Hugo Awards) are announced, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be cheering on friends and people I admire. That’s a great feeling.
Mez
p.s. – There’s a fair bit of controversy around the Hugo Awards this year. On that topic, Kameron Hurley brings exactly the right perspective.
