Aaron's 2012 Hugo Recommendations :: Campbell Award for Best New Author

While technically not a Hugo Award, I encourage every Hugo voter to nominate for the Campbell Award for best new author. A great many excellent writers have joined the science fiction and fantasy field in the past two years. You can see a list of many of them over at the Writertopia Campbell page.

Here in alphabetical order are the new authors I am planning to nominate. Yes, I am crass enough to nominate myself, not because I think I have any chance of making the ballot, but because even seeing myself on the list of nominated authors would be a thrill. For each author, I'm listing one or two works to start with, if you're interested in giving these authors a try:

Monica Byrne ("Nine Bodies of Water," Fantasy; "Five Letters from New Laverne," Shimmer)
Van Aaron Hughes ("The Dualist," Writers of the Future Vol. 27; "Random Fire," Abyss & Apex)
Stina Leicht (Of Blood and Honey; And Blue Skies from Pain)
Patrick O'Sullivan ("Maddy Dune's First and Only Spelling Bee," Writers of the Future Vol. 27)
Brad R. Torgersen ("Ray of Light," Analog; "Exanastasis," Writers of the Future Vol. 26)

Monica Byrne and Brad Torgersen are in their second year of eligibility, while the others will get another chance next year. From this list, I think Stina Leicht and Brad Torgersen are the most likely to make the ballot. Nominations are due March 11.

Good luck to all the eligible new writers!

Aaron's 2011 Hugo Recommendations :: Campbell Award for Best New Author

Technically the Campbell Award is not a Hugo Award, although I couldn't tell you why that is. It's voted on alongside all the other Hugos, and I've actually read enough excellent new authors recently to make Campbell recommendations this year.

Here in alphabetical order are the new authors I am planning to nominate. I'm also listing in parentheses a story I particularly enjoyed by each one, to give you a place to start if you care to check out their work:

Gwendolyn Clare ("Iron Oxide Red," Daily SF)
Keffy R.M. Kehrli ("Advertising at the End of the World," Apex)
Malinda Lo (Ash)
Ferrett Steinmetz ("As Below, So Above," Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Brad R. Torgersen ("Exanastasis," Writers of the Future, Vol. 26)

Except for Malinda Lo, all of these authors have to date focused on short fiction -- I confess I haven't read some of the new novelists who have been getting a lot of buzz, such as Lauren Beukes and Dexter Palmer -- and they all do it so well I would love to see some of them on the ballot.


UPDATE: I was poking around other folks' recommendations on the web, one of which suggested Malinda Lo for the Campbell. She is not on the Writertopia list of Campbell-eligible authors, but I can't figure why not -- I believe her first genre publication was Ash in 2009. Ash was an outstanding novel, so I'm adding her to my Campbell list. Unfortunately, that means someone else has to be bumped, so apologies to Monica Byrne, who still has a great future ahead of her.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: Acacia by David Anthony Durham

The Book of the Week is Acacia by David Anthony Durham, which won Mr. Durham this year's John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Acacia is the first volume is an epic fantasy series, the second of which, The Other Lands, was just released. This is the 2007 first edition, with cover art by Paul A. Romano.

It is a bit odd for David Anthony Durham to receive an award as a "new writer," since he is already an accomplished author, with three very well-received historical novels to his credit, Gabriel's Story, Walk through Darkness, and Pride of Carthage. But he was eligible for the award because Acacia was his first foray into science fiction and fantasy, and presenting Durham the Campbell Award certainly accomplishes one of the award's purposes, to introduce SF/F readers to excellent writers with whom they may not yet be familiar. I believe that Durham is only the second African-American to win the Campbell Award, after Nalo Hopkinson -- coincidentally, both Durham and Hopkinson are of Caribbean descent. (The Campbell Award wasn't around when Samuel Delany broke into the field, and I don't know how Octavia Butler was overlooked.) David Anthony Durham is a very welcome addition to the SF/F field.