Blógünder Schlock

Howard and I are back from WorldCon, but we’re still travel-lagged and stumbling over suitcases.  It is going to take a few days before things are running smoothly around here.  As is so often true, my intentions to blog about WorldCon went unrealized.  Blogging is hard when the only places with wifi are public, and therefore full of distractions.  Either Howard or I will do an in-depth post about Worldcon and the Hugos once we’re done sleeping and unpacking.  For now I’ll just say the most important bit, which is how incredibly happy we both are that Girl Genius won the Hugo instead of us.  We can not think of a work or creators more deserving of the award.

Tomorrow Howard flies to Indianapolis for GenCon Indy.  He will spend most of his time at booth #1921 which is listed as the Margaret Weiss Games booth.  It is on a main aisle right next to the Wizards of the Coast booth.  But there will be a few times when Howard is not at his booth.  To find him at those times, you’ll need to reference the following schedule:

Thursday August 13

12:00 – 1:00 pm ICC: 212  Freelancing (or How to Get Your Second Freelance Project) with Matt Forbeck, Stan!

1:00 – 2:00 pm ICC: 212 The Science of Humor – Solo presentation

8:00 – 10:00 pm VIG reception Westin Grand Ballroom 1

Friday August 14
10:00 – 11:00 am  ICC: 212 The Free Content Business Model – Solo presentation

11:00 – 12:00 am  ICC: 212 The Life and Times of a (Web) Comic Illustrator  With Stan!

2:00 – 3:00 pm  The XDM panel with Tracy Hickman, Curtis Hickman

6:00 – 7:00 pm ICC: 212 Top 5 Best Gaming Products EVER! With Stan!, Richard Borg, Mike Gray, Ben Clark, James Wyatt

Saturday August 15

10:00 – 12:00 am Killer Breakfast with Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Curtis Hickman

2:00 – 3:00 pm  Dragonhearth Podcast with Tracy Hickman

Sunday August 16

At some point he’ll take a break for lunch, but should be at the booth most of the day. Note that Tracy and Curtis will be gone on Sunday, so if you want triply-autographed books, get ‘em before then!
4:00 pm Exhibit hall closes to public and Howard is busy closing up shop

I’m thrilled. I’m ecstatic. I’m nigh-uncontainable.

It’s a good thing I spent all day working. Right now I’m too tired to bounce off the walls.

Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic has been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. The competition is incredibly stiff, and I’m honored to be in the company of some fantastic teams of writers and illustrators. Let’s name-drop: Jim Butcher, Joss Whedon, and Phil and Kaja Foglio… you might have heard of some of these people.

I take dire, nigh-sinful pleasure in the fact that of the six nominees, I’m the only solo-act (writing and illustration all coming out of the same person.) This probably explains why everything else on the list is better illustrated and/or written than my own work. It also makes me extra super-happy to have made the ballot at all. I suppose this is what it would be like if I were going to swim in a race against Michael Phelps. No way can I beat him, but at least I made it to the pool, right?

I’m so excited to even be in the race I just peed in the pool. And yes, that’s probably where the metaphor falls the rest of the way apart. Goodnight, everybody.

Voting is open for the 2009 Hugo Awards, the World Science Fiction Society’s annual bestowal of honor, and the most prestigious awards in Science Fiction.

This year there is an additional category, a one-time-only Award for “Best Graphic Story,” and after a careful perusal of the rules it appears that Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic is eligible for nomination.

But is it worthy? I invite you to re-read it! And for your convenience, here is Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic as a PDF. It is a 35mb download, but it should be much more convenient than re-reading the archives on the web. Feel free to pass it around, too.

In order to nominate works for the Hugos you must have an Attending membership to either Denvention or Anticipation (WorldCon 66 from ‘08 or WorldCon 67 in ‘09), or a Supporting membership. The details are here. Obligatory Ethical Note: I feel confident that my web presence and active fanbase will NOT result in ballot-stuffing, since the right to nominate costs a minimum of $50. My purpose in this exercise is to ensure that those who can vote know what’s eligible, and have the opportunity to easily review it.

Now… as long as you’re nominating things for Hugos, you should know that you can nominate up to five works for each category. There are other works equally worthy if not far worthier of the “Best Graphic Story” Hugo, and at the tippity-brass-top of that list is Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Girl Genius Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones. The Foglio’s are friends of mine, yes, but their work trancends that. Girl Genius is one of the few things on the web or in print that I look at and say to myself “Wow… I wish I could do that.”