Y’all know that expression “You could have knocked me over with a feather”? Sunday was the first time I actually had the urge to use it.
As you might’ve noticed in my “2018 in Review” summary post, I only had three original short stories published last calendar year. (I don’t say “only” with a derogatory tone, just that of the number I had accepted and had hoped would come out, only three of them did. Expect more this year.) “Dealing in Shadows” was in a phenomenal anthology and got some lovely buzz. “Cilantro” was in another great anthology that didn’t lean horror, so my story didn’t get much buzz. And “Glove Box” was in an online magazine with a smaller readership that got no buzz. What’s more, I really dropped the ball on my end-of-year hustle. I usually send in all of my eligible stories to all of the “best of” anthologies, lists, and awards that I know of. I mean, you never know unless you try, right? But this year I simply didn’t have the time to do it.
After the thrill of last year, when “So Sings the Siren” made the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards, appeared in Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 3, and received an honorable mention for Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, I was braced for a real letdown this year. Less stories out means less opportunities to get my words in front of readers. Less submissions and hustling means less likelihood that nominators, judges, and juries will see my stuff. And not every year can sparkle quite that much. I’d decided this just wouldn’t be my year, and that was okay.
So on Sunday, I wasn’t one of the many horror authors eagerly refreshing their inboxes to read the Preliminary Ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards®. I had a lot going on that day, and since I thought my chances were slim, I hadn’t mentally earmarked the date. Maybe you can imagine my surprise when, scrolling through to see the names and works, I found my own. What’s more, for the story that I’d placed the least expectation on. “Glove Box” made the preliminary ballot! You probably could’ve actually knocked me over with a feather. Or at least a high-five.
Don’t get me wrong. I love this story. But “Glove Box” is short and strange and slippery. It doesn’t declare its genre with neon lights. It’s a tense little ride that takes the reader from ordinary through extraordinary without ever raising its voice. I honestly thought it might be one of those stories that only I “got.” (Hey, it happens. I have weird taste.) Add that to the small apparent number of readers once it came out and, frankly, it’s the last story of the three I expected to make an appearance.
I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m thrilled that it’s available online, so all voting HWA members (and anyone else!) can read it for FREE at Dark City Mystery Magazine! (If you’re reading on mobile, it’s a touch scroll; landscape makes it easier to view.) I’m thrilled that this cool little story I didn’t promote hard enough has managed to snag someone’s attention. I’m thrilled that it might, hopefully, find a few new readers now and get a second life. And I’m just so honored to have made the preliminary ballot among so many artists I admire. I can’t even describe how much it means.
If you’re a voting member of the Horror Writers Association, you have until February 15 to read/watch/listen to any of the works you want to check out, in any category, and get your votes in. “Glove Box” is here for anyone who wants to read it, voting or no. The final ballot (when folks get to officially call themselves nominees) will come out on February 23. (You can bet I’ll be refreshing my inbox that day!)
And me? I’ll be reading all of the other authors’ short stories on the preliminary ballot myself. Not just because I’m on it, but because this is a tradition I have every year—since well before the first time I made the list myself. It’s the one category where the works are short enough that I can make time to read every single one of them. It’s so fun, and of course even more fun when my own story is among the materials. 😊
What about those other two stories on my little list of three? Well, they haven’t fared too shabbily themselves. “Cilantro” has been chosen to appear in Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 4, where it will be among its horror brethren, and I’m stoked. And while “Dealing in Shadows” hasn’t received any direct shout-outs for end-of-year stuff, its home, Suspended in Dusk II, has also made the Stokers preliminary ballot in the anthology category! Whaaat? Amazing! Congrats to editor Simon Dewar, publisher Anthony Rivera at Grey Matter Press, and to my fellow contributors!
So much for my “this year will be a letdown” preparations. Shows what I know. 😀 It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from an editor on a panel I once attended. Melissa Singer of Tor Books said, “You are not the best judge of what’s good enough.” Lesson (re)learned.
Do any of you read nominees for lit awards? Do you look forward to awards season? Which ones in particular?
