I’ve enjoyed thinking about how in 2010 and 2011 would be my years to chase the Campbell dream, to prove myself worthy, to aim high. In a strange twist of fate my first Campbell Award eligible work came out in December 2009, starting the clock a year earlier than I had dreamed (my Campbell bio is now up). I am delighted that Cracked Leather found a place to be published and has been so warmly received. I wouldn’t change it for the world (well maybe the world). It just means my tidy little fantasy of 2010 and 2011 to prove my worthiness for voting in 2012 has been truncated by a year.

The challenge is significant and I am not sure if I will prove my worthiness in time, but it is still worth striving for. I will throw myself as much as I can. This is a challenge to myself and not in competition. I plan to soar with my fellow nominees – we are in this crazy dream together. I will write, I will edit, I will send work to publishers, I will read, I will learn from my peers – as I do every year. But this year I will have an extra spur to my sides that I plan to use. This year will never come again.

2010 is my Campbell year. I’m going to enjoy the challenge.

I’m not sure if I’m in my first year of eligibility, though I am listed on the website! I open a terrible can of worms with Cracked Leather as it is a fairly interstitial piece. I’ve checked in with the moderators to make sure I fit, but I have not yet heard back from them. Lets focus on some other folks.

It is a pleasure to know some of the talented people who are eligible for nomination. These are the folks I know who are in their second year:

• Ken Schenyer - I must confess I love this guy like a brother. We did Clarion together and he was one of the smartest and most caring of us all. As a housemate he also got to experience me at my maddest states of sleep deprivation. Of all the bad luck most of his work is in unusual publications or coming out in 2010. He writes of what a Clarion short-listing would mean to him as well as ways to read more of his work. He writes with sensitivity, complexity and elegance.
• Camille Alexa – Funky, spunky, woman with attitude and writing to boot. Putting STUFF in fiction.
• Felicity Shoulders – Is also cursed by writing that is in print but you can’t check out online. Oh no melon! She is however a fabulous, insightful lass and lapsed paleontologist.
• Doselle Young – Comics creator and all around nice guy. He rescued me in LA after we’d only known each other for a few days and took these photos while feeding me good Mexican food.
• Ian McHugh – some Aussie writer dude ;-). I met him at Worldcon very briefly in 2008, he was constantly running away to hang out with his Clarion Buddies. Pffft, who’d want to do that?… (Clarion people at WFC’09, we traveled like this ALL THE TIME)

Those are the folks I know (have I missed anyone? am I bad person?). I’m going to to try to read a sampling from as many nominees as I can. I think we get five votes. Who do you know? Who do you recommend?

If you’re eligible for a Campbell Award and not listed let the Campbell crew know.

If you’re already an eligible voter, the online nomination ballot, which must be completed by March 13, is here:

www.aussiecon4.org.au/hugoawards/nominations.php

If you’d like to buy a supporting membership to be eligible to vote, the membership signup, which must be completed by January 31, is here:
www.aussiecon4.org.au/index.php?page=37