2021 in Review & Awards Eligibility

2021 is coming to a close. It’s been a wild year by any metric, but I’ve brought you all here today not for annual angst, but to look back on my publications in the past year. I’ve published 6-7 short stories (four pro, two semi-pro), and sold three; wrote up two interesting bits of nonfiction; and sent my AI Cold War novel out on query.

Whether you’re looking for some stories to enjoy, or reading for SFF awards, I’d love to share these 2021 publications with you!

Short Fiction

1. I Would – Fantasy Magazine, July 2021 (secondary world fantasy, 5600 words). A reverse heroic fantasy. About prophesied relationships, prophesied breakups, and using what power you have when someone else is the hero. If you want to read just one piece of mine this year (for award nominations or otherwise), this is the one I’d recommend!
   • “Some people say the stars control fate. I would never say such a thing.”
   • Appears on the Nerds of a Feather Recommended Reading List, Nebula Award Recommended Reading List, and in many excellent reviews.
2. Conference of the Birds – Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Jan/Feb 2021¹ (science fiction, 3900 words). AI and distributed minds. My most neuroscience-informed 2021 piece.
   • “No program-layer could predict what a human might do, but Surveillance Hub could see everything that mattered.”
   • Reprints forthcoming in Dreamforge Anvil and Speculatief (Dutch)
3. Memories of Fire – Translunar Travelers Lounge, April 2021 (contemporary fantasy noir, 4400 words). Jewish mythology, the 2011 Libyan revolution, and the tyrants of Heaven and Earth. This one still moves me, and I wish more people read it.
   • “I finally got my smoke. I enjoy them for the ritual, not the nicotine. A little fire, a brand-new drop of ash, the same little destruction every time.”
4. Cruise Control – Fireside Fiction, July 2021 (science fiction, 1100 words). Unhappy families, retiree brains, and self-driving cars.
   • “Why the hell would I want to become a car?”
   • Reprint forthcoming in Flash Fiction Online
5. The Promise of Iron – Kaleidotrope, September 2021 (steampunk, 5900 words). Hungarian Jews in a nineteenth century upended by steampunktech.
   • “Food and money are a greater fortune than the sight of machines, she told herself.”
   • Reprint forthcoming in War Torn anthology (Shacklebound Books)
6. Eight Reasons You Are Alone – Nature Futures, November 2021 (science fiction, 900 words). Conscience and self-definition.
   • “If I asked you what kind of person you are, you wouldn’t know the answer.”
   • Reprint forthcoming in Flash Fiction Online
7. [Not Hugo-eligible in 2022]: A Living Planet – Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Jan/Feb 2022, on bookshelves Dec 2021². First contact, loneliness; based on the true story of being The Martian’s Husband.
   • • “Be the sturdy rock of home, the planet’s solid ground awaiting her return.”
     • PDF version available here, other formats on private request

Nonfiction

1. “Short Fiction Rejection Letters: Best Practices and Expectations” – SFWA Blog (August 24, 2021)
2. “Embodied and Empathetic Minds” – Astounding Analog Companion Blog (February 2, 2021). Linked to “Conference of the Birds” above.

Other Award Recommendations

If you’re nominating for the Hugo Awards, I hope you’ll consider Escape Pod for Best Semiprozine. We’ve put out a lot of great stories, and been at the vanguard of Escape Artists’ efforts to do right by our authors in every way we can.

Please consider our co-editors Mur Lafferty & S.B. Divya would make a great choice (as a two-person team) for Best Editor Short Form! They came in a very close second in the 2021 Hugo Awards, and Divya is retiring in April 2022.

1. Bookshelves Dec 2020, so it’s a 2021 story by Hugo rules, 2020 by Nebula rules
2. That means it’s Nebula eligible as a 2021 story, Hugo eligible as a 2022 story