It seems to have become something of a fashion for authors to point out what they’re eligible for, marshalling their internet warriors for assault upon various awards, or possibly promoting the genre and its plaudits to a wider voting public, depending on how you see it. A veritable internet arms race, some might say. Others would call it unbelievably crass. I, of course, am above such earthly concerns, though I would note in passing that The Heroes was published this year and it was pretty bloody good even if I say so myself. Of course, if when falling over yourself to vote for it you were to see any other books/writers on various long and short lists that you preferred you could vote for those instead. But you’d be fucking dead to me.
A nobler crusade is being undertaken by fellow fantasist NK Jemisin over on her blog. She has observed that awards for best editor are often concentrated among a relatively limited group and has taken up arms in the cause of her editor, Devi Pillai, of Orbit. What do you know, Devi just happens to be my US Editor as well, and if that’s not certification of her excellent taste I don’t know what is. I think votes for Devi would be an excellent thing. Go forth, my flying monkeys! Go!
Lastly but not leastly, David Gemmell awards come round again. I have said in the past that I very much like the idea of this award – something that focuses on the epic/heroic end of the spectrum – but wish that it had a juried element, a little bit more of a focus on quality than popularity, maybe, though I daresay that would mean the end of my chances. Still, it is what it is, and I’d like to see people involved, at least, so why not go forth and vote!
Oh look, The Heroes is on the list, I had no idea…
21 comments so far
The Heroes was published last year Joe.
In this award year, I guess you could say…
And in the last 12 months (just)…
It takes me til about march to realise I’m in a new year, okay?
Whatever you do don’t google search Pimpage, does not yield friendly results.
I have voted, very appropriate the David Gemmell awards. I have sold your work to my friends by saying you are a dream combo of the best aspects of GRRM but with David Gemmell’s pace, heart and focus.
Thank you. 🙂
Done.
Just began my audio journey with BSC with Mr Pacey on lead vocal, it’s like welcoming back an old friend. Makes getting stuck in traffic a joy.
I voted for you okay. Sheesh! I assume this means that we can remain best friends forever, right?
NK Jemisin,
An honour and privilege,
Michael,
Stick in that traffic.
Chad,
Voting is the minimum standard for continued interaction. I’ll consider friendship forever if I win.
I make a point of not voting on awards unless I have read all of the nominees…
Jesus wept! How many nominations?
Do they not do a shortlist?
This is ridiculous!
Dan,
Well, yes, they do do a shortlist, winnowed down from the longlist by public vote. They were originally going to do a public vote to get down to a shortlist of five (thus including a popular element) and then have a jury to decide between those five, which I thought would have been a nice mix of popular and critical. But they’re doing public votes for both, which does seem a little bit pointless to me. Popularity is kind of its own reward, after all…
What a great way to honor David Gemmel’s tremendous contribution and influence on the fantasy genre. Legend is one of my all time favorites. Voted for The Heroes, though I’ve only read a handful of those other books. Makes sense to have a jury that’s read them all carry more weight in the decision.
Shame on you Joe, it’s not that anyone with any self respect would tout for the major honours in our country, CBEs, Knighthoods etc. No way do they connive, beg, buy or otherwise ‘earn’ these honours.
Joe, I’m wondering if you’ve missed a trick in the awards game.
The short story ‘Yesterday, near a village called Barden’ included in one(?) edition of ‘The Heroes’ was IMHO the best damn fantasy s/s I’ve read this year.
But did it reach enough readers to get it shortlisted for awards?
bta,
Holy Cow, you’re right! It was superb. I’d certainly vote for it. But sadly, yes, the fact that it didn’t appear even in an anthology makes it highly unlikely.
Hey Joe,
I have cast my vote and it was for Heroes by you. I loved that book, it was truly awesome and pure entertainment. For that I thank you.
It seems appropriate that David Gemmell was the author that got me into fantasy in the first place. Sword in the Storm and the other Rigante books are the best books he ever wrote in my opinion. The others are very good, but the Rigante series is just pure magic.
You are the author that has reignited my joy of fantasy novels so it’s good that I voted for a book by one of my favourite current writer’s for an award in the name of the writer that got me into fantasy in the first place.
Perhaps if you win you could post a blog comment with the title, ‘F*CK YEAH!’ 🙂
Done! The Heroes definitely needs to win! While GRRM’s Dance with Dragons is a great read, it did not hold my interest like Heroes did. Indeed there were parts where I wanted to skip to the next chapter in Dragons just to move on…
I was going to vote but was appalled by the lack of nominations for Robert Stanek and Terry Goodkind. Outrageous!
I read 7 of the nominees. So many good books last year that I really have trouble deciding. In the end, I vote for the one who needs to publicity from a win the most.
Just finished The Heroes. I pre-ordered it without even reading the blurb, safe in the knowledge that after The First Law and Best Served Cold I wouldn’t be disappointed, and I was right! I voted for it.
On a side note, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Heirs of the Blade came a very close second. I was also quite disgusted to see no mention of Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings!
About ‘Yesterday, near a village called Barden’…weren´t you going to post it …somewhere???
Hi Joe,
Just wanted to say first that I love your books, I bought all of them and read them within 3 weeks. Sometimes I wish I’d discovered them sometime later in the future when more of them would be published already, so I could steamroll though them for a longer period. Now that I think of it, it’s really pissing me off.
On the subject of pimpage, I have shamelessly engaged in this behavior with regards to your books and I think I properly annoyed some of my friends.
Oh and one more thing, in your next book, could one of the characters please be even more douchy than Bayaz? I really love characters such as Bayaz, Morveer, Tunny etc. (even though my favourite characters are Shivers and Ninefingers). I find no author conveys arrogance quite as well as you in their works. Would love to read more about His Holiness the Magical Arsehole.
Thanks and greetings from Sweden (please never stop writing books)