My Nominations for the Aurora Awards

I've been putting off my nominations for this year's Aurora Awards (Canada's highest honour for literary speculative fiction) for a while now. Partly because I was still mulling over which works to nominate, and, admittedly, partly because I just didn't make any time for it. But the deadline's looming (February 28th, for those of you who have been procrastinating like me), so it's gotta be done now.

I don't claim to have read everything published by every Canadian author in 2008, but I've read enough that's good, mediocre and down right sloppy to be comfortable nominating the ones I have encountered that I consider to be the best.

The rules allow for three nominations (each given equal value) in each category. Voting for takes place shortly after the nomination period ends and the Awards will be given out at Anticipation/Worldcon in Montreal this August.

And so, my nominations for the Auroras:

Best Long-Form Work in English:
"Very Hard Choices" by Spider Robinson

(This is my only nomination in this category because I haven't read any other novels that were eligible)


Best Long-Form Work in French:

(No nominations because I haven't read any novels published in French)


Best Short-Form Work in English:
"The Devil's in the Details" by Kevin Cockle - in On Spec, Summer 2008 issue
"Ancients of the Earth" by Derryl Murphy - in Tesseracts Twelve
"Wylde's Kingdom" by David Nickle - in Tesseracts Twelve

(This category was a real tough one to make choices - there were a lot of other really good stories this year, but ultimately, you've got to go with the ones that are not only top notch, but stick out in your memory)


Best Short-Form Work in French:

(Again, no nominations here, not having read any French language publications)


Best Work in English (Other):
"Tesseracts Twelve" edited by Claude Lalumiere
"Identity Theft and other stories" by Robert J Sawyer
On Spec magazine


Best Work in French (Other):

(Same as previous - didn't read anything in French, so no nominations)


Best Artistic Achievement:

(As much as I hate to say it, there wasn't any art this year that really blew me away. Admittedly, I don't tend to nominate art at all though.)


Fan Achievement (Fanzine):
Fan Achievement (Organizational):
Fan Achievement (Other):

(No nominations for any of these final categories because nothing I've come across relating to them this year really stands out. I won't be nominating my own blogs, "bloginhood" and "Not A Planet Anymore" in the fanzine category because I kind of think it's in poor taste to nominate yourself for awards, especially ones of this stature.)


Stay tuned for my Hugo Award nominations tomorrow.