I didn’t win a Hugo.
Those of you who follow this blog will know that I had a work on the Hugo ballot for the first and only time in the thirty-one years since my first published story.

“The Martian Obelisk” was on the short story ballot, and enough people went out of their way during the convention to tell me how much they’d liked it (and that they’d voted for it!) that I dared to think just maybe…

Alas for me, it was not to be. The honor went to Rebecca Roanhorse for her story “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™” which you can read at Apex Magazine. Huge congratulations to Rebecca, who also won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. What a night! And what a great way to start off a career!

Thank you, thank you, to everyone who read, supported, voted for, or just had good thoughts about “The Martian Obelisk.” You are appreciated!

The Convention
I rarely go to conventions. I attended Worldcon 76 because of the Hugo nomination and because it was an easy distance from home – a nonstop flight direct from Maui to San Jose. (That turned out not quite as planned. Ask me about it sometime.)

I’m not very good at conventions. I’m one of those who has difficulty with facial recognition and it can take me a while to work out the identity of people I’ve met before but haven’t seen in a while – which gets really embarrassing. And I don’t do all that well in crowds.

Nevertheless, there were a lot of positive aspects to Worldcon 76. (more…)

Some good news…

While I was traveling last weekend, I learned that my short story “The Martian Obelisk” won the Locus Award for best short story. I’m honored! Very honored.

The Locus awards are determined by readers voting for their favorite fiction of the year. So I want to thank all of you who felt “The Martian Obelisk” was worthy of your vote. I truly appreciate it!

The story is also a finalist for the Hugo award, so if you’re eligible to vote for that, I hope you’ll consider it.

If you haven’t read “The Martian Obelisk” yet, you can find it online at Tor.com.

And follow this link for a list of nominees and winners in all categories.

The finalists for the 2018 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award have been announced. The award is for the best short science fiction of the year — and my Tor.com story “The Martian Obelisk” has the honor of appearing on the list, among some stellar company.

The other finalists are:

“The Martian Obelisk” is available to read online here.

I’ve got some wonderful news to share: My short story “The Martian Obelisk” has been named as a finalist for the Hugo Award!

This is pretty exciting for me. After all, I’m a bit of a late bloomer. It’s been thirty-one years since my first fiction publication, and this is my first-ever appearance on the Hugo ballot. So it’s extra special!

If you haven’t read “The Martian Obelisk” yet, please check it out! You can find it online right here at Tor.com.

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who’s read the story, to everyone who nominated it, and especially to editor Ellen Datlow, who liked the story enough to publish it at Tor.com.

Other short story finalists are:
• “Carnival Nine,” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, May 2017)
• “Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand,” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny, September 2017)
• “Fandom for Robots,” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny, September/October 2017)
• “Sun, Moon, Dust” by Ursula Vernon, (Uncanny, May/June 2017)
• “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™,” by Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex, August 2017)

Check out the full list of Hugo Award finalists here at Tor.com. You’re sure to discover some amazing reading.

Science Fiction World is the premier science fiction magazine in China. “The Martian Obelisk” is my third story to be published there in translation. I just received my contributor copies today. See the cover below, along with the illustrated start of the story. (Click the cover for a larger image).

“The Martian Obelisk” was originally published last July at Tor.com. You can read it there online — in English!

And for German speakers, the final volume of Red trilogy is coming soon in audio!

Wo sind unsere #TheRED-Fans?
Wer möchte ein exklusives Pre-Listening von "Funkstille", Band 3 der #SciFi Reihe von @LindaNagata, gewinnen?
Sei die/der Erste, die/der erfährt, wie die Triologie endet!
Melde Dich per #mail bei uns: info@ronin-hoerverlag.de
Gerne retweeten! pic.twitter.com/gl5b3aratC

— Ronin Hörverlag (@RoninHoerverlag) December 4, 2017

“The Martian Obelisk” is my first story for Tor.com and it’s just up today. Find it here online.

This was a story I originally wrote a few years ago, but I wasn’t happy with it. It struck me as just too grim for the times.

Since then, we have entered a much grimmer age.

Last fall I pulled the story out of a file folder, re-read it, and decided to spend a little more time working on it. After putting it through another revision, I asked Tor.com editor Ellen Datlow if she would like to see it. She agreed to take a look, and to my surprise and delight, she accepted it.

As grim as it is, “The Martian Obelisk” is also a sentimental story. On Twitter, Aimee Ogden described it as “starkly hopeful.” I think that’s right.

Illustration by Victor Mosquera.

Coming in July from Tor.com, “The Martian Obelisk.”
Illustration by Victor Mosquera.
Acquiring editor is Ellen Datlow.

…and @victormosquerar is building monuments with @LindaNagata. pic.twitter.com/hSDv4DWoSI

— Tor·com Publishing (@TorDotComPub) May 9, 2017

Two or three years ago I wrote a short story called “The Martian Obelisk.” I finished it, but I didn’t feel happy with the result. It was grim, and I didn’t want to write grim. I was further discouraged by well-meant critique comments. Nevertheless, I worked on the story for a few more days. But my doubts persisted, and in the end I self-rejected the story. I stopped working on it, and never sent it to any market.

This past December I decided to take another look at “The Martian Obelisk” and much to my surprise, the story was far better than I remembered. It still had issues, but enough time had passed that I could see them with fresh eyes. So I devoted more hours to revising it. Then I emailed Ellen Datlow, who acquires stories for Tor.com, to ask if she would like to see it. I explained its history and mentioned that it felt more appropriate now, in the context of our grim present times, than when I had first drafted it.

Much to my surprise and delight, Ellen accepted the story. “The Martian Obelisk” is scheduled for publication on July 19.

I’ve often lectured others on not self-rejecting. It’s good advice. 😉