A request for consideration, to all my Hugo nominating/Worldcon friends.
If you're eligible to nominate for the Hugos, you probably know that the deadline for nominations is only a few days away. I'd like to ask you to consider nominating Lev Grossman for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. This is Lev's second and final year of eligibility for his novel, The Magicians.
Why would I take the extraordinary step of asking explicitly like this? I'll be honest. I haven't read genre novels by male writers in many years. (We can address the reasons why in another post.) I know Lev's work because I initially listened to it on CD (a sort of workaround I've used only three works, including The Magicians.) Lev has almost single-handedly made me rethink my position on male genre writers. When The Magician King is released later this year, I'll be one of the first in line to purchase a copy. I'm trying to keep this post short, so I'm not going to go on and on about Lev's writing, other than to say that I found it satisfying on many levels and think that many other Hugo voters would agree.
If you have read The Magicians, I hope you'll nominate Lev for the Campbell; I'm not asking that you commit to voting for him yet, but that you give the larger Hugo voting community the impetus to look at more closely the book and make their own decision. If you haven't read the book, you've got a couple of days -- get busy!
And remember, you can change your nominating ballot until the nominating deadline on Saturday, March 26, 2011 23:59 PDT. If you thought about nominating Lev but forgot to put him on your ballot, it's not too late!
If you have any questions or want to talk to me more about why I think Lev Grossman deserves your nomination, leave me a comment here or contact me on Twitter -- I'm the same ID there, too.
[Edit: I've been asked if he is eligible, given that he published work prior to The Magicians. Yes, he is! The timer starts for the Campbell when the first science fiction or fantasy work is published. See Writertopia's eligibility page for details.
Why would I take the extraordinary step of asking explicitly like this? I'll be honest. I haven't read genre novels by male writers in many years. (We can address the reasons why in another post.) I know Lev's work because I initially listened to it on CD (a sort of workaround I've used only three works, including The Magicians.) Lev has almost single-handedly made me rethink my position on male genre writers. When The Magician King is released later this year, I'll be one of the first in line to purchase a copy. I'm trying to keep this post short, so I'm not going to go on and on about Lev's writing, other than to say that I found it satisfying on many levels and think that many other Hugo voters would agree.
If you have read The Magicians, I hope you'll nominate Lev for the Campbell; I'm not asking that you commit to voting for him yet, but that you give the larger Hugo voting community the impetus to look at more closely the book and make their own decision. If you haven't read the book, you've got a couple of days -- get busy!
And remember, you can change your nominating ballot until the nominating deadline on Saturday, March 26, 2011 23:59 PDT. If you thought about nominating Lev but forgot to put him on your ballot, it's not too late!
If you have any questions or want to talk to me more about why I think Lev Grossman deserves your nomination, leave me a comment here or contact me on Twitter -- I'm the same ID there, too.
[Edit: I've been asked if he is eligible, given that he published work prior to The Magicians. Yes, he is! The timer starts for the Campbell when the first science fiction or fantasy work is published. See Writertopia's eligibility page for details.