Roberson's Interminable Ramble

The World Fantasy Award nominations are up, and there are several things about it of note. First, and closest to home, are the nods for Mark Finn (Special Award - Professional for Blood & Thunder), Joe Lansdale and Scott Cup (Anthology for Cross Plains Universe), and Kim Newman (novella for "The Man Who Got off the Ghost Train" from Man from the Diogenes Club), which makes three MonkeyBrain Books items on the list.

Next, take note of badass and bon vivant Jeff Ford raking in three nominations, for novella, short fiction, and collection (in the interest of fairness, note that M. Rickert is pacing along beside him in all three categories). Deanna Hoak gets a much deserved nod in the Special Award - Professional category for copy editing, as does Greg Ketter on the retail side for Dreamhaven. I'm equally delighted to see drinking buddy John Klima and smoking pal Gary K Wolfe ending up on the Special Award - Non-Professional list, which so far as I know is the first WFA nod for each of them. Anthology is a crowded field, with every slot being filled with someone I know and like, and even with a horse in the race myself, I'd be delighted to see it go to Sharyn, or Ellen & Terry, or David and Susan (but if Joe takes it home for Retro Pulp Tales, don't you think that's just a bit unfair to Scott? He should be forced to share it with him anyway, the way I figure). And the Picacio juggernaut continues to roll with another nod in the Artist category.

This short list is the closest to my own tastes and prejudices of any I've seen in years, and I don't disagree with a single name on the list. My congratulations to all the nominees, and my heartiest admiration to the judges for a job well done.