John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

The following people have been nominated this year for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer:

• Mur Lafferty
• Stina Leicht
• Karen Lord
• Brad R. Torgersen
• E. Lily Yu

My first thought when I saw the list of nominees for this year's award was: should this award be judged solely on the quality of writing, or should you factor in the People Quotient?

People Quotient: how friendly that writer is toward his/her fans.

A couple of years ago at a Worldcon I tried to tell one of the people on this year's nominee list how much I liked their writing, but the person couldn't even be bothered to be polite to me. Before you go making mental excuses for this person's rude dismissive behavior, I did not approach in an inappropriate place, it was at the end of a panel as people were slowly making their way out of the room, and this person didn't seem to be in a hurry. I did not interrupt their conversation with someone else, either.

It takes fans nominating a writer for them to get onto the ballot for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. It also takes fans voting for them to win. So, to be worthy of winning the award do you need to only be an awesome writer, fan appreciation be damned, or do you need to be an awesome writer and treat your fans with at least a minimum amount of politeness?

I do not want to vote for the rude one, regardless of how much I enjoy what the person writes. It seems wrong to reward rude treatment of the fans that got them where they are. Yes, the fans. It doesn't matter how awesome a writer you are if nobody is reading what you wrote.

All opinions and comments welcome.

Micro Fiction Monday: It Starts Tomorrow At Noon

When I was under 30 I wrote short stories quite frequently. I even had one published in my Junior College's quarterly literary magazine. The story below is the first one I've written in a very long time, and it's very short. I discovered there is a term for these now: Micro Fiction. While exact numbers vary, the generally accepted definition of Micro Fiction is any story that is 300 words or less. Any amount less is acceptable There are even collections established for stories of specific word lengths.

Since I have felt like writing again lately, I thought I might give "Micro Fiction Monday" a try, and post one story a week.

This is my first effort in that goal. It was originally published in "Be Careful What You Wish For" Issue #4, which was my zine for Stipple APA #257, in September 2010.

It Starts Tomorrow At Noon

“It starts tomorrow at noon.”

That was the text message I got on my mobile phone this morning. I have no idea who it came from. The sender's number was only zeroes.

I asked around, and nobody else I know got that message, so it must not have been a marketing message from a local store.

I wish I knew what to do about it.

It could be nothing.

On the other hand, it could be that I've intercepted a message with nefarious origins. Maybe someone is planning a robbery. Maybe a bank robbery. Or maybe that's when the Alien Invasion begins.

Eh, it's probably nothing.