One of the assignments I took on last year for my short story reviewing at SF Signal was to read and review fellow SF Signal contributor Carrie Cuinn’s newly released collection of short stories. In my review I mentioned having some trepidation over reviewing the work of someone with whom I shared a writing venue.

My worries were unfounded. As I wrote:

“I was “wowed” by it.

While Cuinn’s work does not shy away from dealing with material that pushes the comfort level, those stories in which she does so contain the sort of raw emotion and confrontation of reality that prove not only how powerful fiction can be, but how much influence and power short fiction can wield. She also knows how to entertain, and she demonstrates an ability to be light and fun while having something meaningful to say. I have been a fan of Cuinn’s nonfiction for some time. I am now a fan of her fiction, and I hope you will become one as well.”

Three of the stories in this collection made my Favorite Short Fiction of 2013 list. One is a fun story that reminded me of Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas, the second is an adventure story and the third examines the villain in a familiar fairy story. None of the stories in this collection are fluff, though they do entertain.

This is a collection I want everyone to read.

Thus I am excited to announce that author Carrie Cuinn is giving away free copies of her collection on all digital platforms from now until the end of the month. Follow this link for details.

There are nine works in this collection, so it does not take a great reading commitment to get through it, and my opinion is that it is a power-packed collection of stories that showcases the strength of the medium. Get your copy now.

Back on April 1st I posted the list of the Full Ballot that I had submitted for my first time nominating works for the Hugo Awards.

This past Easter weekend the internet lit up with posts discussing the list released by the Hugo Awards committee of the finalists for each category.

I stand by my nominees, and was thrilled to see that in the Best Professional Artist category four out of the six (there was a tie) finalists were artists I championed for nomination. As you will see below, I missed it in several other areas.  My thoughts on various categories and nominees follow the list.

Continue reading And the Nominees Are… →