Hugo Nomination Ballot Deadline: March 3, 2007

For Your Consideration

I've never been much good at self-promotion. I don't like to be interviewed, don't like to do radio or television, don't like putting myself forward. (I was raised a Lutheran, like Garrison Keillor.) I was recently rather surprised to get an email from Spider Robinson requesting that I (and the others on his mailing list) consider his recent collaboration with Robert A. Heinlein, Variable Star, for the Hugo ballot this year. He even went so far as to post the letter on alt.fan.heinlein, where he is apparently being crucified for it. Spider assured me that he gets about half a dozen letters each year from authors asking for a nomination or a vote. I don't get any, but it's probably because I'm not a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).

So what the heck. If it's good enough for Spider, it's good enough for me. Plus, I'm now living in a town that is not at all shy about promotion, including self-promotion. Studios do it, record labels do it, individuals do it. The trades are now thick with huge ads for this film or that, bulging with good reviews, and tastefully titled "For Your Consideration." The mail sacks are bulging with DVDs of movies sent out to each and every member of the Academy, many promoting movies that don't have a ghost of a chance for a nomination. I know, because I see the old VHS tapes and the DVDs on the shelves of thrift stores, labeled ... For Your Consideration. There are two huge billboards on Sunset Boulevard right now competing for BEST PICTURE:

So what the hell. It's only my website, and you probably wouldn't be here unless you already like my fiction. It's not like I'm hiring a skywriter, or buying a pop-up ad on YouTube.

If you are a member of Nippon 2007, the Worldcon to be held in Yokohama this August, or were a member of LAcon IV, you're probably received your Hugo nominating ballot. If you haven't sent it off yet, I'd like to offer ...

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!!!

If you are not a member of either con, I will point out that it's not too late! You can still buy a non-attending membership for $50. You can do that at Nippon 2007. But hurry! You have to do it before the end of January!

God, I feel so shameless! It's like one of those CARE ads you used to see, with a pathetic, dirty, undernourished stripling squatting in the streets of Calcutta with his begging bowl.

"Little Johnnie Varley went to bed Hugo-less last year ... and the year before that, and the year before that. He hardly remembers what it's like to have his name engraved under a silver rocketship. He is diabetic, and has no health insurance! His car needs painting, and his laptop is over a year old! Eight years ago, his dog died!

"But for only $50/year you can give him a chance for one more taste of the ego-boost he so desperately needs.

"Won't you help?"

I don't know how to gracefully exit a naked shill like this, so I will just say ...

Sayonara!