Susan Forest

Very cool: I stood for election for the position of secretary with the Science Fiction Writers of America, and won! I fly to San Jose to attend the Nebula Awards weekend in a week and a half, to meet the other members of the board, and to learn more about my portfolio from the previous secretary! Yay!

Nice, over the holidays, to have a few quiet days–finished three and a half scenes out of the next (four-scene) chapter. That’s fourteen! January may be a less productive month as I have my own grant applications (just one, this year, though I should check to see what grant applications I am missing) as well as those for When Words Collide (three). Also, I am teaching eight half-days as an artist-in-residence–in a French school! Have to brush up on my French. And, start letting people know I am eligible for the Aurora, Hugo and Nebula awards. At least I already updated my website with access to all the stories I can. Oh, and–this just in–I made it past the first cut of the Green Man Anthology! Yay! (And if I find a little time, I have an idea for a series of watercolour paintings…) Oh, and did I just volunteer for positions on the Robin Herrington Short Story Contest committee, and maybe SFWA? Hmm.

And, the day after I got home from the motorcycle trip to Washington, I hopped a plane for Chicago. Chicon was wonderful. I got my “Analog Mafia” pin, and was there to congratulate Stan on his retirement and Trevor on his new position. Got to meet the author I work with as an editor for Edge, in person. Sat on two panels (moderated one) and had a reading and a workshop–some good stories, there. Met new people and explored a bit of downtown Chicago, the edge of Lake Michigan and the Chicago Institute of Art with old friends. Good times!

Where do I start to rave about When Words Collide? Our numbers were up–over 400 attendees. The Keynotes were inspiring, especially Adrienne Kerr’s and Anthony Bidulka’s. Personally, I sold 4 paintings, read at my own reading, two book launches (and had a new story come out in OnSpec) and IFWA’s Bedtime Stories, attended a really well-run Aurora Awards banquet (I didn’t win for best short story, but congratulations to Suzanne Church, who did! Woot!) and some really fun parties. AND, I launched my first collection! But of course, the best part, as always, was the incredible energy of the participants from so many different genres of writing. And exhausting, but very satisfying weekend.

Yay! I was nominated for an Aurora Award in the short fiction category! My story, “Turning it Off” in Analog last December was eligible, and now I am on the short list! Thanks to everyone who nominated me, and congratulations to all my worthy opponents–some awesome names on that list!

I also got a second, side-ways nomination: the novel I edited, Technicolor Ultramall, by Ryan Oakley, was the first novel I edited for Edge. Also very exciting!

Although I had seven sales this year, only one short story is eligible for the 2012 Aurora Award. Some don’t come out until this year, one is a reprint, and one is a contest winner, and therefore, ineligble. However, “Turning It Off,” (Analog, December, 2011) is eligible. You can read it here, and you can nominate me for the award here. There is a $10 fee to register for nominations, though.

Wish me luck!

Spent the morning going over 3 related novels to ensure consistency: which magic wielder is in each city, and which talisman does each use? Amazing how they differ when you’ve been working on a project for a long time. Consistent now, though!

And, last night I got two new pages up on my website, representing 2 new stories that are currently out. One story I won’t be able to post (the contract for “Lucy” is 7 years, exclusive–but hey, it’s only $1.99 on Amazon), but the other I’ll be able to post in about a month (“Turning It Off,” December Analog). Also, I discovered that only my webadmin has the password to put the photos up for those pages, so they will be coming shortly–but they’re not there yet. However, in preparing the pages, I found three really good reviews of my work. You can read the review of “Lucy” here.

So, here’s something cool: Robert Walton, the other winner of the Galaxy Project, is a mountaineer! Although I’ve done a little climbing, I come from a family of mountaineers: my dad, Don Forest, was the first person ever to climb all the peaks in the Canadian Rockies over 11,000 ft (53 peaks) as well as the Interior Ranges of BC (11 peaks). He was the oldest person to climb Mt. Logan, Canada’s tallest mountain, on his 71st birthday. My sister is one of 7 women in Canada with her full mountain’s guide license. Cool connection, eh?

I won a contest! My novella, “Lucy,” and a story by Robert Walton, were selected by a stellar group of judges–Robert Silverberg, David Drake and Barry Malzberg. The prize is $1000 and online publication–I’m breathless!

To all of you–right on! But especially to the wonderful writers and artists I like to count among my friends – Rob Sawyer, Al Onia, Hayden Trenholm, Mike Gillett, Dan O’Driscoll, Brian Hades, Diane Walton! Interesting, only one woman on this list–maybe I have more male friends than female?