Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: surprised
  • Music: Dar Williams, "If I Wrote You."

Whatever walked there, walked alone...

The ballot for the 2010 Shirley Jackson Award has been announced. Shirley Jackson is one of those writers I've admired since before I really fully understood that the people whose names were on the front of books had written them, rather than nurturing them in strange gardens, where they were watered with blood and cream, and bloomed only under the light of the full moon. Although maybe, that's what writers really do, and when we talk about "writing," we really mean "plundering the hearts of our neighbors for seeds." Who knows?

Shirley Jackson wrote "The Lottery," and The Haunting of Hill House, which has scared the crap out of me on a regular basis since I was seven. The Shirley Jackson Awards were established with the approval of her estate, to honor "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic."

This year, Feed is on the ballot.

To quote the website, the award is "voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a Board of Advisors." It's a jury of my peers, and whether I'm found guilty or not, it is truly an honor to be brought before them. I'll be really honest here: I never expected this. I don't think of myself as writing the kind of books that get nominated for awards, no matter how much I love them. My garden bears strange fruit, but not the kind that takes the ribbon at the County Fair.

But there I am. On a ballot with Peter Straub and Robert Jackson Bennett and Neil Gaiman and Michelle Paver...and it's amazing.

It's just amazing.
Tags: awards and stuff, feed, good things, mira grant, so the marilyn
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 120 comments
Previous
← Ctrl ← Alt
Next
Ctrl → Alt →

kirylyn

April 15 2011, 02:47:43 UTC 6 years ago

CONGRATS!!

man, I so wish I could vote!!

pretty rarefied circles you're traveling in :D

fingers and toes crossed!

man, now I *have* buy a copy before it goes up in process due to it being written by an award-winning author

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:04:55 UTC 6 years ago

Hee.

Awww.

hms42

April 15 2011, 02:55:52 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:05:01 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks!

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:05:08 UTC 6 years ago

FUCK YEAH, INDEED.

trektone

April 15 2011, 02:58:20 UTC 6 years ago

Congrats! Fabulous!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:05:18 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

azurelunatic

April 15 2011, 02:59:40 UTC 6 years ago

The fruit of your literary garden is strange and delicious, and makes excellent jam.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:05:31 UTC 6 years ago

Mmmmmm. Metaphorical jam.

xanath

April 15 2011, 03:08:15 UTC 6 years ago

This is FANTASTIC news. Congratulations. :)

And my favorite Shirley Jackson story, aside from "The Lottery," is her novel We Have Always Lived In The Castle.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:05:42 UTC 6 years ago

Awesomesauce.

dragondances

April 15 2011, 03:20:00 UTC 6 years ago

That's super exciting! We read We Have Always Lived in the Castle in a "Tough Women" lit class I took last semester, and it was absolutely fantastic. It was fun because most of the other women we read about were tough in a positive way- where the main character of Castle seems almost certainly to be a sociopath.

In summary- Shirley Jackson is awesome, and you totally deserve to be considered by something connected to her. :)

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:08:19 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you. :)

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:08:30 UTC 6 years ago

Yay!

biomekanic

April 15 2011, 03:27:59 UTC 6 years ago

WOOT!

Also, Shirley Jackson f'n rules!

Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages remain two of the funniest books I have ever read.

We really lost a lot when we lost her.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:08:38 UTC 6 years ago

Yes, we really did.

anomilygrace

April 15 2011, 03:49:05 UTC 6 years ago

That is amazing news and so, so, so well-deserved!

Congratulations, Seanan!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:08:47 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

groblek

April 15 2011, 03:54:09 UTC 6 years ago

Huzzah! Congratulations! I'm certainly not surprised that Feed has been nominated for awards - it certainly grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go. I had visions of what would happen if the rising occured at the lab I was working in at the time - I'd most likely have ended up eaten by zombie livestock. :) Ever since, when picking up one of your books, I've made a point of setting aside a long block of undisturbed time to read them in.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:09:05 UTC 6 years ago

That makes me happy. :)

vettecat

April 15 2011, 04:00:16 UTC 6 years ago

Wicked awesome cool! (And "The Lottery" still creeps me out.)

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:09:21 UTC 6 years ago

Yeah, me, too.

catsittingstill

April 15 2011, 04:05:20 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:09:29 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

hoppytoad79

April 15 2011, 04:17:35 UTC 6 years ago

Rock on! Most fabulously awesome.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:09:37 UTC 6 years ago

I'm thrilled.

drcpunk

April 15 2011, 04:57:44 UTC 6 years ago

I just shouted "Yes!", but probably not as loudly as you did when you got the news.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:09:49 UTC 6 years ago

I just sat there looking sort of stunned, actually.

lysythe

April 15 2011, 05:47:29 UTC 6 years ago

That's fabulous! :D

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:03 UTC 6 years ago

Glee. :)

were_gopher

April 15 2011, 07:35:01 UTC 6 years ago

Thats great!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:10 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

la_marquise_de_

April 15 2011, 09:00:17 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:17 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

amanuensis1

April 15 2011, 10:03:08 UTC 6 years ago

*jumps on you happily*

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:24 UTC 6 years ago

*gleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

mephron

April 15 2011, 11:11:45 UTC 6 years ago

I am a terrible person, I know, but I just... don't... like... most horror novels, especially ones that have zombies or zombie-like creatures in them.

That being said, I am aware of the Jackson Award and what it means and says, and you are in grave and terrible and great company and I am waiting for your next book to make the print version of the Times Best Seller List, as I think it will.

I am going to have to revise my formal introduction for your again if you win (or even if you don't), and one day I will be able to use it, as you proceed in like a queen.

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:37 UTC 6 years ago

Aw, yay. :)

You're sweet.

ravenclawed

April 15 2011, 11:46:58 UTC 6 years ago

Congrats!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:43 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks!

chaoticgoodnik

April 15 2011, 12:02:35 UTC 6 years ago

Eeee, Joey Comeau is on that list too. Since he's in a different category I can happily hope you both win. :)

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:10:50 UTC 6 years ago

Works for me!

michaeldthomas

April 15 2011, 13:19:51 UTC 6 years ago

Congratulations!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:11:00 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

pyre006

April 15 2011, 14:11:05 UTC 6 years ago

yay! congratulations!

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:11:07 UTC 6 years ago

Thanks!

markbernstein

April 15 2011, 14:57:06 UTC 6 years ago

Outstanding! Congratulations!

(No reply required. :) )

seanan_mcguire

April 15 2011, 15:11:20 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you!

(Honey, not an option.)
Previous
← Ctrl ← Alt
Next
Ctrl → Alt →