And it is here, for those of you who are interested. I’m a finalist in two categories:

Young Adult Novel

Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor);
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, Bloomsbury);
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Knopf);
Nation, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK, HarperCollins);
Zoe’s Tale, John Scalzi (Tor)

and

Short Story

“King Pelles the Sure”, Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads);
“Boojum”, Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette (Fast Ships, Black Sails);
“Exhalation”, Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two);
“The Kindness of Strangers”, Nancy Kress (Fast Forward 2);
“After the Coup“, John Scalzi (Tor.com 7/08).

In both cases it’s difficult to be anything but pleased with the company I am keeping.

You’ll notice these are “finalists” rather than “nominees.” That’s because the folks at Locus already know who the winners are, they’re just not telling until the Locus Awards Ceremony in Seattle WA during the Science Fiction Awards Weekend, June 26-27, 2009. Because they’re mean like that.

In any event, congrats to all the finalists. It’s an excellent list overall.

May is going to be a busy month for me in terms of appearances, and then I hide in a hole until the last weekend of July. So if you’re gonna stalk me, May’s your month. Here’s where and when:

May 1 – 3: Penguicon 7.0. I’ll be a “nifty guest” here, which is like an auxiliary GoH; should a GoH fall ill or die, possibly by being pushed from a great height into the liquid nitrogen ice cream maker, one of the nifty guests will fill in. Or something. Wil Wheaton is one of the GoHs this year, and I expect he and I will have lots of crazy, rambunctious fun! If he’s lifted that restraining order from me, that is. No, I don’t want to talk about it. Except to say I thought he would enjoy that badger.

May 8-9: Ohioana Book Festival. Featured Author. Being a “featured author” here means I’ll be doing a library appearance on the 8th, and then a panel and either a reading or a Q&A on the 9th. Plus signing tons of books and generally being available to say “hi” to folks. Ohio folks, the Ohioana Book Festival is free and will have dozens of writers on hand, and you don’t have anything else planned for that weekend. I know, I checked your calendars. Yes, I broke into your house to do it. But that’s not the point. The point is, come down and say hello.

May 22 – 24: ConQuesT 40. I’m the author Guest of Honor. I will be showered in rose petals! Fed KC barbeque at the snap of my fingers! Throw out the first pitch at the Royals game and then be asked to stay on the mound for the next nine innings! Oh, the fun that will be had! By me! Everyone else will have to work. For me. But that’s not my problem, is it? Indeed not. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Related to this, a note from the ConQuest folks, which popped into my mailbox this morning: “You may wish to remind your readers that the next price increase for ConQuest is coming up of Friday. Also, the room block will be released on May 5, 2009.” So if you want the early-bird discount and get the convention room rate, you should book soon. Please book, won’t you? I don’t want to eat my barbeque all alone. Well, all alone, not counting my many minions.

That’s my May, publicly speaking.

Observers of the science fiction field will note the Nebula Award for Best Novel was won this year by a YA book, that the Tiptree Award is co-shared by a YA novel, and that in the Hugo Best Novel category, two and a half of the books nominated are also YA (the “half” in this case being Zoe’s Tale, written to be YA-friendly but shelved with the adult SF). This surge of recognition for YA has caused some consternation and grumbling in certain quarters. Here’s what I have to say about that:

Yes, how horrible it is that some of what’s being hailed as the best science fiction and fantasy written today is in a literary category designed to encourage millions of young people to read for the rest of their natural lives. Because God knows the last thing science fiction and fantasy publishing needs right now is whole generation of new and enthusiastic readers who might actually get hooked into the genre until they die. It’s a goddamn tragedy, it is.

There. Discuss.

Two quick things:

First, you may recall Mary Anne Mohanraj did me a mitzvah recently and did a thoughtful and very interesting guest entry on racism (two, actually). Some of you mentioned at the time you wondered what her fiction was like. Well, here’s a chance to find out: MAM is a contributor to a new, free speculative fiction anthology called Thoughtcrime Experiments, along with a number of other writers and artists. It’s available in html or pdf form, and soon as a publish on demand book. Happy reading.

Second, in addition to the Nebulas being announced over the weekend, the Tiptree Awards for the year were also unveiled, with the award going to The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness and Filter House by Nisi Shawl. Congratulations to the both of them!

This morning the local convenience store manager looked at me, and asked with neighborly concern if everything was all right. I told her everything was fine, except that the entire plant kingdom was trying to mate in my nose. Which necessitated the Claritin you see above. With luck it’ll keep me from sneezing every seven seconds and looking like I’m watching a telenovela marathon. Let us hope.