If you are a member of Worldcon and all dressed up for the 2014 John W. Campbell Award with no one to nominate, I submit for your consideration… me. Tory Hoke. I got three rad reasons.
1) I have no chance of winning the thing.
I mean, Hugh Howey is eligible this year. You know Wool? The runaway NYT Bestseller? The spec-fic answer to Gone Girl? He wrote that. Eligible.
Plus there’s a slew of new writers in the field with all kinds of stirring, sweeping, harrowing and upsetting-but-satisfying stories. It’s a good, dense field for a good, dense year.
Let’s just say I pose no threat to whatever candidate you are personally rooting for.
2) My Campbell-qualifying publication was edited by the best.
Baden Chant and Ethan Fode of Crowded Magazine edited “The Baby Mimic” (Issue #2, August 2013; and working with them was a treat and an education. Crowded is an Australian speculative fiction magazine that lets authors and subscribers select the content. Lucky for me they do, because an ooky contemporary sci-fi family drama like “The Baby Mimic” doesn’t fit many markets.
They also feature the highest production standards and finest art I’ve seen in a semipro ‘zine, so there’s that.
3) My work this year has something for everyone.
- Need some Martian colony sci-fi with some dirt under its nails? Something you can read online or hear a gorgeous reading of by Anaea Lay? Try Lysistrata of Mars at Strange Horizons, 10 Feb 2014 (NSFW).
- Need some Southern gothic horror with a touch of Lovecraft? Something you can read online? With bonus audio option? Try “The Body in the Narrows” in Three-lobed Burning Eye #24, Dec 2013
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Prefer your Southern gothic horror with a touch of occult? Check out “The Devil in Rutledge County” in LORE Vol. 2, #4, Dec 2013
- Want more of a goofy action sci-fi thing? Pick up “The Demeter Gyro Disaster” in Isotropic Fiction #10, Oct 2013
- In the mood for a weird tale, perhaps with family dysfunction and food addiction? You’ve come to the right place. “Shaka Bars” is available online via Luna Station Quarterly #14, Aug 2013
What the hey is a Campbell Award?
You may have some questions. This is normal and healthy.
Sponsored by Dell Magazines, the John W. Campbell Award is given to the best writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy was published for a greater-than-nominal rate in the previous two years.
In other words, anyone who has had made their first spec-fic pro sale in the last two years is eligible for the Campbell. Writertopia is compiling the list of candidates. If you qualify, please contact them ASAP to be added to the list.
Nominations remain open until March 31, 2014.
While I don’t dream of winning, I’m enjoying being part of the process.
Put me in, coach.
