surprisedShirley 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.
April 15 2011, 11:11:45 UTC 6 years ago
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.
April 15 2011, 15:10:37 UTC 6 years ago
You're sweet.