Origins Award Nomination

I'm quite pleased to announce that Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in the New World. has been nominated for an Origins Award. Yes, it was in the semi-finals, but now it has made it to the nomination stage.

The anthology is a collection of Lovecraftian tales that move from the east to the west, exploring early North America to the days of the Wild West. Below is a table of contents, and related information:

The Long Road Home by Paul Melniczek
In Waters Black the Lost Ones Sleep by Angeline Hawkes
Where Men Had Seldom Trod by Lee Clark Zumpe
Something to Hold the Door Closed by Lon Prater
Terror from Middle Island by Stephen Mark Rainey & Durant Haire
Children of the Mountain by Stewart Sternberg
They Who Dwell Below by William Jones
Wagon Train for the Star by Scott Lette
Incident at Dagon Wells by Ron Shiflet
Ahiga and the Machine by Robert J. Santa
The Dead Man’s Hand by Jason Andrew
Jedediah Smith and the Undying Chinaman by Charles P. Zaglanis
Snake Oil by Matthew Baugh
Cemetery, Nevada by Tim Curran
The Rider of the Dark by Darrell Schweitzer

William Jones ed., cover art by Steven Gilberts. 272 pages. Trade Paperback.

ISBN 1-56882-219-7

For those interested in reading about how the authors devised their devious stories, click on the colorful words Frontier Cthulhu and read the comments.

Here is a list of the final 5 nominees:

• Astounding Hero Tales
  Published by Hero Games
  Edited by James Lowder

• Dragons of the Highlord Skies
  Published by Wizards of the Coast
  Written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

• Frontier Cthulhu
  Published by Chaosium
  Edited by William Jones

• The Orc King
  Published by Wizards of the Coast
  Written by R.A. Salvatore

• The Time Curse
  Published by Margaret Weis Productions
  Written by James M. Ward

Origins Award Semi-Finalist: Frontier Cthulhu

It was announced this week that the Chaosium anthology, Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in the New World is on the semi-finalist list for the Origins award. This is an award that spans the gaming industry and fiction publishing. Having the anthology make the semi-finals is quite an honor and a tribute to all of the authors and the artist involved. For a table of contents and some of the author's thoughts on their stories, click here.

I'm also pleased to be a part of Hobby Games: The 100 Best, edited by James Lowder. This book is on the non-fiction semi-finals list. My part in the book was an essay on the WWII miniatures rules system Flames of War.

Below is a list of all semi-finalists. This group will be reduced to 5, and from those five a winner will be selection. The award ceremony is held at the Origins convention in Columbus, Ohio - June 26th - 29th:

PUBLICATION, FICTION
Astounding Hero Tales
Hero Games
Edited by James Lowder

Dragons of the Highlord Skies
Wizards of the Coast
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Duty Calls
Games Workshop
Sandy Mitchell

Fire at Will
Roc
Blaine Lee Pardoe

Flight From the Dark
Mongoose Publishing
Joe Dever

Frontier Cthulhu
Chaosium
Edited by William Jones

The Orc King
Wizards of the Coast
R.A. Salvatore

Ravenor Rogue
Games Workshop
Dan Abnett

“The Shae Mutiny,” (from No Quarter #11)
Privateer Press
Doug Seacat

The Time Curse
Margaret Weis Productions
James M. Ward

Stoker Preliminary Ballot

The Stoker Award preliminary ballot list has been announced (not the nominations), and in tribute to all of the authors and artists involved, both Horrors Beyond 2 and High Seas Cthulhu made the list of 10 titles.

For those unfamiliar with the process, you might wonder what does it mean to be on the preliminary ballot? It is something like being in the presidential primaries. At this moment, ballots are being mailed to Active members of the Horrors Writers Association. Members vote in each of the categories (HB2 and HSC are in the Superior Achievement in an Anthology category). Once the ballots are returned, the list of 10 titles will be culled to the final list -- those are the Stoker nominations. And from there it goes onto selecting a winner. Nonetheless, it is great to be in the race at all, and for both titles to be included.

Naturally, I invite any Active HWA members to contact me for review copies of either or both books. And of course, they are in the local bookstores for those simply interested in reading the books -- which I hope you do!