Sidewise and pound foolish

Muy cool news: my story "Public Safety" has just been nominated for a Sidewise Award, which is given each year for the best alternate history stories and novels. A quick glance at the other nominees (listed below) tells me that I won't win, but that's okay: this is the first story of mine to be nominated for any kind of award, despite a few hints and some loud throat-clearing, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Finalists for 2007 Best Short-Form Alternate History

Elizabeth Bear. "Les Innocents/Lumiere"
In New Amsterdam, Subterranean Press

Michael Flynn. "Quaestiones Super Caelo Et Mundo"
In Analog, July

Matthew Johnson. "Public Safety"
In Asimov's, March

Jess Nevins. "An Alternate History of Chinese Science Fiction"
Posted on No Fear of the Future, May 17

Chris Roberson. "Metal Dragon Year"
In Interzone #213 (December)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch. "Recovering Apollo 8"
In Asimov's, February

John Scalzi. "Missives from Possible Futures #1: Alternate History Search Results"
In Subterranean Magazine, Winter

Finalists for 2007 Best Long-Form Alternate History

Michael Chabon. The Yiddish Policemen's Union
HarperCollins and HarperCollins UK

Robert Conroy. 1945: A Novel
Ballantine

Mary Gentle. Ilario
In two volumes as Ilario: The Lion's Eye and Ilario: The Stone Golem, HarperCollins/Eos
(Originally published in one volume as Ilario: The Lion's Eye by Gollancz UK, 2006)

Jay Lake. Mainspring
Tor

Sophia McDougall. Rome Burning
Orion UK

Jo Walton. Ha'penny
Tor

Everything old is new again

Two new stories begin their second lives this week. First, "Outside Chance" is up at Afterburn SF; this was a story that got some positive notices when it was first published in On Spec, so I'm glad to see it in front of more eyeballs. Second, I just got the proofs for the fourth issue of A Thousand Faces, which reprints "Heroic Measures." It also includes an introduction where editor Frank Byrns says much kinder things about me than I deserve.

So are my best days behind me? Well, probably... but I did just make my first sale of 2008: "Upon The Waters" sold to Triangulation: Taking Flight, after a round of edits that made it a much stronger story. (Sometimes a hands-on editor is a very good thing.) Last year's Triangulation anthology had a lot of great stories, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

Matthew