2016 Campbell Award

Congrats on reaching official pro-status, Dr. Bob.

Congrats on reaching official pro-status, Dr. Bob.

Thanks, Preston.

But, again, the definition of "professional publication" for the Campbell award is different than that for SFWA, or for WOTF, ftm. Campbell eligibility begins with the year of first story sale with "nominal" remuneration (i.e. $50 or more). This is a much lower threshold than SFWA (which I am not yet eligible to join) or WOTF (which I am still able to enter).

Therefore, the designation of "official pro-status" is relative.

Respectfully,
Dr. Bob

I guess there's always another mountain to climb.

Congrats on the sales, Dr. Bob!

Thank you, George. There is that.
But...(see next humbly submitted post)...

The very small print (a redaction):

I am not eligible for the John W. Campbell award in 2015. While my stories published last year exceeded the $50 nominal payment threshold, they did not meet the word count:payment ratio.

As Ms Emily Litella (SNL's Gilda Radner) would say:

"Oh! Nevermind"

2016 will, therefore, be my first eligible year, beginning with the story, Shattered Vessels, that appears today in Mike Resnick's wonderful Galaxy's Edge Magazine. http://www.galaxysedge.com/
Respectfully,
Dr. Bob

With the results of the voting due to be revealed this time next week and the rules requiring nominees to have time to decline, I suspect it is now safe to conclude I have not been nominated. This comes as no surprise.

I have however achieved one necessary rite of passage for any aspiring writer, that is, when someone dislikes your work sufficiently to tell the world how bad it is.

I find to my surprise that I do not mind this at all. To subject one's work to public judgement is inevitably to encounter those whose taste does not coincide. I remind myself that before you can be told how bad you are you must first have been noticed. Those who read this criticism may even remember my name and check some of my work to see if they agree.

I discover that I agree with Liberace. Since at least three editors did not share this negative view and since they put money behind their judgement I can cry all the way to the bank. Not that I have earned any significant returns as yet, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.

So, are you watching Louis, my friend? It happens to us all.

Condolences, Ishmael. My time for the Campbell Awards potential is long past. If I'm remembering correctly, Strange New Worlds didn't make much of a blip on that particular radar.

Great attitude about reviews. They can be...interesting. My most memorable not in a good way to date was a reader's opinion about one of my SNW stories. I don't remember which, which is probably a good thing since said opinion was that I was an idiot for writing such an awful story. For good measure they also deemed Dean an idiot for putting it in the book. Sometimes I wish I'd saved a link, but really it was the kind of thing where one visit will last a lifetime. I've had some lovely reviews about those stories, but that one super bad one tends to be overpowering. I'm not sure how, but I actually think it's kind of funny now. At the time I felt like I'd stepped onto a sink hole!

Thanks Muri.

What does not kill me, makes me stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche

The result of the voting for John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (1,922 ballots) was:

Pierce Brown *
Sebastien de Castell *
Brian Niemeier
Andy Weir *
Alyssa Wong *

So far as I can see only two of these were in the anthology and the voters have perhaps been more interested in novelists than short story writers (not that the categories are exclusive of course.)

The Campbell has always tended more towards novelists. Novels are just a bigger market.

While I don't want to draw unwanted attention, I would point out that it shouldn't be too surprising if you haven't heard of most of the Campbell nominees this year. For, uh, reasons. (Happy to explain this in a PM if anyone's confused. Please don't say why in this public thread if you know.)

Alyssa Wong is the only nominee who bucks the trend, and she is amazing!

While I don't want to draw unwanted attention, I would point out that it shouldn't be too surprising if you haven't heard of most of the Campbell nominees this year. For, uh, reasons. (Happy to explain this in a PM if anyone's confused. Please don't say why in this public thread if you know.)

Alyssa Wong is the only nominee who bucks the trend, and she is amazing!

I think I catch your drift. Sad.