"It's as though I'm too young..."

[greygirlbeast]

Cloudy and cold this morning in Providence. The temperature is hovering somewhere in the '40sF. The same is forecast for tomorrow.

And now I can announce (drum roll) that The Red Tree has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award. The nominees were announced yesterday. The older I get, the less interest I seem to have in awards, especially awards that are decided by popular vote (as opposed to juried awards). The Jackson Awards are one of the exceptions to my disinterest, as I have said before. I am greatly honoured to be nominated. In a way, I have that "my work here is done" feeling, a feeling I do not often experience. So, yeah. Pretty goddamn awesome. I don't even care much whether I actually win or not. I've been nominated. The Red Tree has been noted. I will be at the awards ceremony, which will take place during this summer's Readercon.

Ellen Datlow (ellen_datlow) has posted her honourable mentions list from Best Horror of the Year (Vol. 2). I received four mentions, two from Sirenia Digest:

"The Thousand-and-Third Tale of Scheherazade," Sirenia Digest #38, January '09
"At the Gate of Deeper Slumber," Sirenia Digest #41, April '09
"The Belated Burial," Subterranean, Fall '09
"Galápagos," Eclipse Three

Finally, "The Bone's Prayer" (Sirenia Digest #39, February '09) has been selected for The Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2010 (edited by Paula Guran, Prime Books).

---

Matt Stags asked my opinion on Batwoman (who's been a dyke since at least 2006) getting her own monthly title, and what I think his may mean for the acceptance of GLBT characters in mainstream pop culture. This was for Random House's sf blog, Suvudu.com. My reply was not particularly optimistic. You may read it here

Comments

[wolven.livejournal.com]

And now I can announce (drum roll) that The Red Tree has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award.

Holy Crap! Congratulations!

[sovay]

The Red Tree has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award.

Congratulations. It's more than deserved—The Red Tree is the perfect novel for that award.

Finally, "The Bone's Prayer" (Sirenia Digest #39, February '09) has been selected for The Best Dark Fantasy and Horror 2010 (edited by Paula Guran, Prime Books).

And that's cool, too!

[mckenzie34.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the nomination!

Interestingly enough, a novella called "Shrike"
by Quentin Crisp (PS Publishing) was also
nominated.

That amused me.

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the nomination for The Red Tree! I was very happy to see it on the list, and it really is a perfect fit.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I read this yesterday. I am so excited for you!

[kizery.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the award nomination!

[mizliz13.livejournal.com]

Again, congrats. This is very well deserved, Caitlin. And, of course, I totally agree with your Batwoman opinion. (Don't know why my comment on the Suvudu page showed up twice, though.)

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

And now I can announce (drum roll) that The Red Tree has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award.

Congratulations. May the nomination lead to greater visibility and increased sales.

[mrs-ralph.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on both the nomination and having story selected for a 'Best' collection. It sounds like things are starting to look up a little.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Fabulous! And much deserved. I hope we may celebrate again.

(Quentin Crisp? A story by a ghost? On looking it up, guess not; but I had a lovely moment of wild surmise.)

Nine

[kathryn-aka-kat.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on nomination, on mentions, on selection! Your work is stunning and deserves all appreciations.

[spank-an-elf.livejournal.com]

Damned great news. I wave triumphant tulips toward the North.

Ah, there, those stand-offish words will hear about the awards and want to return to the writing fold. Fickle things.

[corucia.livejournal.com]

Great news! Well-deserved, and a perfect fit for this book.

[grinkat.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on a well-deserved honor.

[raygarraty.livejournal.com]

My congrats!

[blakesrealm.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on a well-deserved nomination. Red Tree is an amazingly well written story that deserves every nomination it receives.

I also couldn't agree more with your statement on Batgirl. Men do tend to fetishize lesbians in their minds, so it is indeed much easier to deal with than an openly gay male superhero.

I'd be curious to see the amount of backlash we'd have if say Robin came out as being gay in his own title -- not some Earth 484 book, but the core book.

[prose-lover.livejournal.com]

CRK you were completely on target with the lesbian to male reader's thing. DC is ballsy for letting a lesbian superhero have her OWN title, but the readership is mostly male and BATWOMAN is very femme.

NO males would read about BATBOY and his gay tales. DC is just not that ballsy after all.

:::SIGH::: from a gay man who would love to see a gay superhero in the mainstream...

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I hope you win the Shirley Jackson too, your stories are that good!

[fusijui.livejournal.com]

What's to say, except congratulations? :)

And it is not my opinion, but simple fact, that Hothead Paisan would always win against Batwoman.

[juushika.livejournal.com]

The nomination is a dozen types of awesome. You deserve to have your name associated with Jackson's, in my ne'er unbiased view, and The Red Tree in particular is the perfect candidate for such an award. Congratulations.

I may take a look at the other nominees and past winners. It seems like a good list to harvest for a to read pile.

Tangentially: I recently reread The Red Tree and while doing so took note of most all of the allusions that appear in the book, and pulling from that list I've just read and watched Picnic at Hanging Rock and finished The Book of the Damned. I much enjoyed the former, and the latter has explained as much about your references and inspirations as it has created questions about Fort's data—it was intriguing stuff. There's still a fair bit on that list that I haven't read, and I look forward to getting to it. The Red Tree is an incredible book in its own right, and it's also been a much appreciated source for other books and other media.

[catconley.livejournal.com]

Congrats on everything! That's great news. I'm particularly glad to see that "The Belated Burial" got a shout-out. I really like that piece.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on all the nominations, mentions, and inclusions!

Your assessment of Batwoman, while not necessarily optimistic, was fair. Honestly, it's a pretty insignificant step considering all the other inequality out there and the fact that there have been scores of LBGT characters headlining in non-mainstream comics for decades at this point. *shrug*

[thimbleofrain.livejournal.com]

Very cool. Congratulations!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the nomination! The Red Tree is one of my favorite modern novels.

[pisceanblue.livejournal.com]

Congratulations Caitlin...the nomination is particularly apt both in terms of the work and its author.

[vivialovesred.livejournal.com]

So cool! Congratulations!
The Red Tree is one of the most memorable novels I have ever read. I haven't been able to re-read it since it makes me tremble in the core of my being. One day..