FF2 up for the PKD: 2008 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced

Fast Forward 2has just been shortlisted for the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award, with the result that I can barely type let alone think. So in lieu of being eloquent, here's the press release:

The judges of the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society, along with the Philip K. Dick Trust, are pleased to announce six nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:

EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD by Adam-Troy Castro (Eos Books)
ENDGAME by Kristine Smith (Eos Books)
FAST FORWARD 2 edited by Lou Anders (Pyr)
JUDGE by Karen Traviss (Eos Books)
TERMINAL MIND by David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
TIME MACHINES REPAIRED WHILE-U-WAIT by K. A. Bedford (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)

First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, April 10, 2009 at Norwescon 32 at the Doubletree Seattle Airport Hotel, SeaTac, Washington.

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. Last year’s winner was NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra) with a special citation to FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey). The 2008 judges are Tobias Buckell, M. M. Buckner (chair), Walter Hunt, Rosemary Kirstein, and William Senior.

For more information, contact the award administration:

David G. Hartwell (914) 769-5545.

Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551

For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, http://www.psfs.org/:

Contact Gary Feldbaum (215) 563-2511

For more information about the Philip K. Dick Trust: www.philipkdick.com

For more information about Norwescon: http://www.norwescon.org/:

Contact NorthWest SF Society: (360) 438-0871

Congrats to all the nominees, and a special shout of gratitude to everyone who contributed to Fast Forward 2!

Update 1/14/09: Kristine Smith's Endgame is apparently ineligible. It has been removed from the list, and replaced with my friend Jeff Carlson's Plague War. Congratulations Jeff! 

For Your Consideration: Books I Edited in 2008

Yes, it's that time again. This year, I am eligible for both the Long Form and Short Form Best Editor categories, and there are several eligible novels out from Pyr as well. And so, for your award-nominating convenience, here are all the books for which I served as editor in 2008 at Pyr. Novels that debuted in 2008 are in BOLD.

• John Meaney - Resolution: Book Three of the Nulapeiron Sequence
• Kay Kenyon - Bright of the Sky: Book One of the Entire and the Rose
• Kay Kenyon - A World Too Near: Book Two of the Entire and the Rose
• Joe Abercrombie - Before They Are Hanged: The First Law Book Two
• Theodore Judson - The Martian General's Daughter
• Sean Williams - The Crooked Letter: Books of the Cataclysm One
• Alan Dean Foster - Sagramanda
• Robert Silverberg - Son of Man (reprint)
• David Louis Edelman - MultiReal: Volume III of the Jump 225 trilogy
• Mike Resnick - Stalking the Unicorn (reprint)
• Mike Resnick - Stalking the Vampire
• Joe Abercrombie - Last Argument of Kings: The First Law Book Three
• Justina Robson - Going Under: Quantum Gravity Book Three
• Tom Lloyd - The Stormcaller: Book One of the Twilight Reign
• Lou Anders,ed. - Fast Forward 2 (anthology)
• Sean Williams - The Blood Debt: Books of the Cataclysm Two
  
• Mike Resnick - Starship: Rebel
  

Very proud of all these books and authors, quite a few of which are showing up on the various Best of 2008 lists online. And I'm very pleased as well that quite a few entries from Fast Forward 2 are showing up in the various Year's Bests' table of contents. And though it wasn't Pyr, the other anthology I edited in 2008 was the alternate history mystery, Sideways In Crime, and very proud of it too I am.

Onward to 2009!

My New Favorite Quote

Sims and Spore creator Will Wright, in the September 2008 issue of Fast Company, from an interview with Clayton Neuman:

"I'm getting to the point where it's almost disappointing if people don't push back, because if it sounds like a great idea, that means either it's obvious or other people have tried it. Typically, if you tell somebody, 'I have this idea,' and they start telling you how horrible it is, at least you know it's unexplored territory."