(no subject)

[ann_leckie]

So, I’m a pretty serious introvert. Generally, online is fabulous because I get to interact with people–because I do like being with people!–without being drained by it. Concentrated real-world interactions are wonderful, but exhausting. When I come home from a con, for instance, I generally want to crawl under my bed and just stay there and not talk to anyone for a couple of days. And I’ll have had a wonderful time and really enjoyed being with everyone. It’s just tiring. Unlike online.

Or so I thought. I’ve been a lot more engaged online lately than I used to, and I think my assumption that I could socialize that way without setting off my introvert reaction was a faulty one. I’ve been letting emails pile up in my box, and I’ve been a bit…frayed, I guess. Some of it is likely that I just spent two weeks with everyone home all the time and none of my usual house-to-myself time. And some of it is probably just the year I’ve had, which has been an amazing and wonderful year, but perhaps, rather like a convention that I’ve enjoyed tremendously, I need to recover from, just a bit.

So I think I’m going to try to take the next couple weeks off from social media. If I owe you an email, I will do my best to get back to you soon. But I’m going to try staying away from Twitter and blogs for a while.

Before I go. Everyone is all about the “what I’ve published this year that’s eligible for awards” thing, which actually I think is good because as I said last post, I’m lucky to remember what I read this week, let alone when anything was published or what category it ought to go into. So I’m glad to be reminded. I don’t see any point in doing that for myself, because I really only had one thing published this year and anyone reading this already knows about it.

So instead I’m going to mention a few things that I do remember reading, mostly because it was very, very recent or else consistent over the last year or so.

I would like to bring your attention to Sofia Samatar’s novel A Stranger in Olondria, which I just read last week and which is fabulous.

I rarely say what I’m nominating, for any of the awards I’m eligible to nominate and vote for. But I’m going to say up front that this year I intend to nominate Zen Cho and Benjanun Sriduangkaew for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer (NOT A HUGO AWARD). I was extremely pleased to see Zen on the ballot last year. I cannot claim impartiality–both of them have been published at GigaNotoSaurus.

But then, I published those stories because I loved them, and I think both writers do wonderful work. So check them out, if you haven’t already. In particular, check out Benjanun’s “Silent Bridge, Pale Cascade” which ran at Clarkesworld recently.

I saw mention somewhere that perhaps Sofia Samatar was also eligible for the Campbell, and you know, like I said, A Stranger in Olondria was pretty freaking fabulous.

Strange Horizons also had a nice roundup of things their contributors liked this year. Not all of which came out last year, but hey.
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EDITED TO ADD: I should have checked the list–it looks like last year was Zen’s second year of eligibility, and so there’s no point my nominating her this year. Well, read her stuff anyway.

Mirrored from Ann Leckie.

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I love awards roundups people post because I get a chance to find books/stories I missed during the previous year and read all kinds of material with which I wasn't familiar.

Hope you enjoy your social media vacation. It's all rather overwhelming at times.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

II love Benjanun's stuff--"Silent Bridge, Pale Cascade" was excellent. I'm sure Zen Cho's stuff is great too--in fact, looking at her publications page, I'd like to get her hungry-ghosts story ("Balik Kampung (Going Back)").

Stranger in Olondria I still haven't read, but all the short fiction I come across by Sofia I love.

Rest up--hope you feel refreshed after your break.

[qian.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the thought anyway! :D I hope you have a good break, and return refreshed!

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

Given the nature of your post, feel free to respond to this at your leisure, but am I correct in assuming you are not eligible for the Campbell?

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

Oh, goodness no. That didn't even occur to me, sorry. No, my Campbell eligibility clock started ticking with my first (short fiction) publication, which was in 2006, so I haven't been eligible for five or six years.

[calico-reaction.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've seen your name pop up on Amazon aside from your debut novel, so I suspected the Campbell wasn't in the cards. Which is sad, but thank you for confirming. :)

BTW: totally looking forward to the next book!