For Your Consideration: “MultiReal” and “Mathralon” for the 2008 Hugo Awards

It’s that time of year again when all 114 of us who participate in the Hugo Award voting process send in our nominations for the best science fiction and fantasy stuff from the previous year. If you’re one of those 114, might I oh-so-humbly suggest a couple of items for your consideration:

• MultiReal Is Eligible for Best Novel.
  Book 2 of my Jump 225 trilogy and the sequel to Infoquake, published by Pyr in July 2008. The book continues the story of far-future software entrepreneur Natch in his struggle to maintain control over the MultiReal technology which has fallen into his hands. In MultiReal, he’s got to cope with scheming politicians, power-hungry intelligence agency executives, an old childhood enemy, and a rebellion by his own fiefcorp apprentices. (Plus it’s got one hell of a dartgun battle between three different factions, and a scene on the virtual reality sex network featuring triple-breasted mermaids.) Accolades for the novel so far include listing on Best of the Year lists from io9, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, SFFWorld, and Post-Weird Thoughts, and lots of shiny praise from the likes of Locus, SCI FI Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Robert J. Sawyer, etc.
• “Mathralon” Is Eligible for Best Short Story.
  My story from The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two, “Mathralon” concerns a planet of oppressed miners laboring in obscurity for a ruthless combine that may or may not even exist. It’s told in the first-person plural (Greek chorus) point of view, and it’s somewhat unique in that it has no characters, no dialogue, and no plot. Curious? Go read the story in full, or listen to my reading of it on my appearance on “Hour of the Wolf.” The story got a terrific reception when I read it at both the Library of Congress and the KGB Bar, and it’s made Post-Weird Thoughts’ list of top short stories for 2008.

If you’re so inclined, you might also want to nominate my two editors this year, Lou Anders of Pyr (whose Fast Forward 2 anthology has a great shot at a Hugo nom) and George Mann of Solaris.