Rocket Pins: Gotta Catch 'em All
My name shall appear twice on this year's Hugo Award ballot, and I'm quite pleased about that. Nominees who come to the World Science Fiction Convention get these cool rocket ship pins to wear on their lapels, or their badges, or maybe even the seats of their fancy-pants. I'll be there in Chicago this year to collect my precious fifth and sixth pins.
Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication was nominated for "Best Graphic Story," and Writing Excuses Season 6 was nominated for "Best Related Work." I share nomination honors with Travis Walton, who does all the Schlock Mercenary coloring work, and with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson who are my betters on the podcast (Jordo gets to be my better because he's related to Brandon.)
The "Best Graphic Story" ballot is intense this year. Bill Willingham (Fables) is there again for a fourth year with me, and without Studio Foglio on the ballot I am no longer shielded from the crushing power of his multiple-Eisner-winning team of graphic storytellers. Not that the other nominees are any less worthy of delivering a crush. I'm super-pleased to see Ursula Vernon's Digger nominated, because that means it's possible for me to lose while Webcomics win.
Of course, can I really be said to "lose" with this heady collection of pins I've got? No! Each one is a powerful reminder that I got to stand with the best of them at picture time; stand, smile, and worry that THIS might be the year that my decision to not bother writing an acceptance speech will bite me in my sextupley rocket-spangled butt.