Christopher Rowe

Of Nebulas and Novels

I'm serving on the Nebula Novel jury this year. The Nebulas are the awards given annually by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America and one interesting wrinkle (among the many, many devastatingly uninteresting wrinkles) in how the awards process works is the existence of "jury adds."

To wind up on the final Nebula ballot, a work must either have survived a round of recommendation and preliminary voting that makes up in Kafka what it lacks in elegance, or it must have been "added" by one of several juries, each of which look at different kinds of work (short fiction, produced screenplays, novels) and each of which operates under its own set of rules and protocols.

Still with me?

A jury consisting of myself and several of my peers may or may not elect to add one novel length work of fiction published in the USA in 2006 to the final ballot of next year's Nebulas (for our purposes a novel is a work of fiction 40,000+ words long).

Our job is to keep an eye out for the rum and the fey, for excellent works that might have escaped the notice of the SFWA membership at large owing to details of the work's publishing history. Perhaps they're books that were under-publicized or which were published by small houses. Perhaps they were published "out-genre," that is, presented as a mystery or a romance or even "straight" fiction while still fitting a generously broad definition of "science fiction" or "fantasy." Perhaps they were tightly targeted at particularly gendered readers, or readers of a particular race or ethnicity, but have things to say to everybody.

If we find one (and there can be, as the man with the sword said, only one), we'll add it to the final ballot. If we don't, we won't.

So your job, reader, is three-fold. First, if you happen to be a writer, publisher or publicist involved with putting out a book in calendar year 2006 that you feel might fit the bill(s), please send it to me:

Christopher Rowe
PO Box 1304
Lexington, KY  40588-1304

Second, if you're not a writer, publisher or publicist etc etc, but you happen to read such a book that you're enthusiastic about, please let me know about it via e-mail and I'll try to track down a copy (if you have info on obtaining a review copy, please send that along as well).

Third, if you have an electroblog yourself, and you think some folks read it who might fit category the first (keywords: writer, publisher or publicist 2006 sf/fantasy might be overlooked etc), will you please let them know that I'm over here, looking for books? Thanks!

UPDATE: It's been suggested that I emphasize that the jury is empaneled for all of 2006--the awards  will be given in  Spring of '07--so we'll be looking for work all year long. Keep those cards and letters coming, folks!

"I liked how the characters fight the government."

I liked V for Vendetta quite a bit. But I didn't get to fill out the after-show marketing survey.

Via the Beat.

Heard as a Visual Spectrum

I finished electrifying all of our music. Turns out there’s a bunch of it.

I was trying to figure out a way to convey to y'all the sorts of things you’d be likely to hear here, if you were ever here, and decided that one thing to do would be to beam the library through a prism. This is what ROYGBIVed out the other side.

RED: “Red Vines” by Aimee Mann, “From Red to Blue” by Billy Bragg, “Indian Red” by Daniel Lanois, “Red Baron” by David Benoit, “Red Dirt Girl” from the album of the same name by Emmylou Harris, “The Masque of the Red Death” read by Gabriel Byrne, “Red Clay Halo” by Gillian Welch, “Murder in the Red Barn,” by John Hammond, Jr, “Red Shoes” from the album of the same name by Kate Bush, “Little Red Shoes” by Loretta Lynn,  “Deep Red Bells” by Neko Case, “Red Red Wine” by the Replacements, “Song in Red and Gray” from the album Songs in Red and Gray by Suzanne Vega, “Red Leg Boy” by Terri Allen, “Red Nettle” by the Virgin Prunes, “Red-Eyed and Blue” by Wilco, and the bands Red Crayola, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Red Star Belgrade.

ORANGE: “Orange Drink” by Bill Hicks, “Orange Peel” by Luna, “Oranges and Lemons” by the Mekons and the band Orange Juice.

YELLOW: “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles and “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Petty Booka.

GREEN: “All Green” by Clem Snide, “Greener Grass” by Gist, “Torn Green Velvet Eyes” by Magnetic Fields, “Everything’s Gone Green” by New Order, “One Green Hill” by Oysterband, “Hunter Green” by Pete Yorn, “Green Grow the Rushes” by R.E.M., “Green” by Throwing Muses, “All the World is Green” by Tom Waits and the bands Essex Green and Green Day.

BLUE: 399 songs, albums and/or performers.

INDIGO: “Indigo is Blue” by Catherine Wheel and , yeah, Amy and Emily.

VIOLET: “Violet” by Hole.

Death Disco

What the Internet is For, Part XVIII.

Via Simon Reynolds, whose Rip It Up And Start Again came in the mail this week, which book has caused me to listen to more pop music in the last four days than I had (outside riding in cars with Miss Gwenda) in the previous four years.

How 'bout Jah Wobble's grins? Comfortable, eh?

3:10

I think I may have made this up. But it's also possible I saw it somewhere and am simply operating under the delusion that I've come up with something new. Luckily, as a fiction writer, that's something in which I'm well practiced.

Anyway, today is 3/10 as we figure dates here in Kentucky. If you're in Europe, I guess it's 10/3, but you can play along. In Australia it's 3/11, so consider this an opportunity for time travel.

It goes like this. Sort your digital musical files (if you do that sort of thing) by length of track. Post everything that's three minutes and ten seconds long. 3/10, 3:10, get it?

It was this or post cat pictures.

"Blue Jean," David Bowie
"Beestung," Kristin Hersh
"Devil in Disguise," Emmylou Harris
"Good Year for the Roses," Elvis Costello & the Attractions
"Peek-a-Boo," Siouxsie & the Banshees
"Better Be Home Soon," Crowded House
"Talk Like That," Kelly Willis
"Whitewater," Béla Fleck
"(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," Elvis Costello & the Attractions
"Wrong 'Em Boyo," The Clash

Now you. Post your results or a link to such in the comments. If you do that sort of thing.