You see…due to the intransigence of the new owners at the sf digest magazines (as well as the mystery magazines), I can no longer send them my short fiction. I actually had to pull some stories that were already sold but did not yet have a contract. Long story short, contract negotiations went extremely poorly. (I blogged about this as it went on through May on my Patreon page. Take a look at this post if you’re curious.) I will write a lot more about this in the next few weeks, because I’ll be making some changes to the way I market things.

This Kickstarter is the beginning of the changes. The Kickstarter features four science fiction novellas. Three were published in Asimov’s in the past two years, and two of the novellas are this year’s Readers Choice nominees. The third, “Weather Duty,” appeared in early 2025.

The fourth novella is brand new. It was sitting on Sheila Williams’ desk as the contract negotiations for another story started and ultimately failed. So no one has read this novella. If you back the Kickstarter, you’ll be among the first.

The Kickstarter contains all kinds of goodies as rewards. All of my Diving novels so far. All of the Retrieval Artist novels so far. More novellas. Some writing workshops.

With all of those rewards, you’ll get the novellas. I’m proud of them and I think you’ll enjoy them.

The Kickstarter just went live, so hurry on over and take a look!

This past year has been so crazy that it took Dean to remind me that I hadn’t publicly acknowledged how lucky I am.

Last year, I won the Asimov’s Readers’ Award for Best Novella/Novel for “The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades,” which is a Diving story. This year, I won the Readers’ Award for Best Novelette for “The Nameless Dead,” which is not a Diving story. “The Nameless Dead” has an opening that I actually heard in my sleep and managed to wake up and write it all down. I really don’t know where these stories come from, but I’m so pleased that readers like them.

Readers for The Short Mystery Fiction Society voted my novella “Catherine The Great” as the winner (in a tie) for the Best Novelette. I’m honored to be in such good company, as David Dean also won for his story “Mrs. Hyde,” which appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. “Catherine The Great” appeared in The WMG Holiday Spectacular Calendar of Stories last year. You can get your copy in The Holiday Spectacular #5, which is a compilation of all of 2023’s stories.

I am so very honored by these readers’ awards. All three of them. Judged awards are nice and they give the writer (okay, me) a lot to smile about. But readers awards mean more to me. These folks spent their hard-earned dollars on the product, generally a magazine or anthology, and so they have hard opinions about what’s good and what isn’t.

The fact that the readers have loved my work matters a lot to me. So, I want to say thank you. Thank you for reading my work. Thank you for supporting it. And thank you ever so much for taking the time to vote for the stories—all of them, not just mine. I greatly appreciate it.

I’m incredibly thrilled about this. I love the books and stories that get shortlisted for the Sidewise. I’ve been lucky enough to be in that company a few times. I’m really honored to win.

Here’s a link to all the winners and nominees. If you love Alternate History, you can’t go wrong with reading everything on this list.

And, if you love Alternate History, take a gander at this new anthology. David V. Barrett came up with this creative world in which Pope John Paul the First does not die one month after his ascension in 1978. Instead, he lives and becomes the most reforming pope of all time. The anthology postulates that John Paul opens secret Vatican documents to the world, and every story in the anthology comes from those documents.

It was a fun world to play in, and to imagine. My story, “The Island of Lost Priests,” which takes place in the 1970s, touches on the very edge of the time period we were allowed to touch. Some stories go all the way back to 800 A.D., and explore everything from magic to demons to alternate crime. (Guess where mine fits in.)

Unlike a lot of the things I mention here, this anthology appears in the United Kingdom first. So you folks across the pond can get the ebook and the paper version right now. The rest of you can order the paper version through online retailers, like Amazon.

I just got my copy, and what I’ve seen makes it all a must-read for me. I hope you’ll think so as well.

WILLAMETTE WRITERS
 willamettewriters.com <http://willamettewriters.com>

Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Dean Wesley Smith

Dear Ms. Rusch and Mr. Smith

Willamette Writers is happy to announce that you have been selected as the recipients of its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award.  You were chosen by a unanimous vote of the board acknowledging the contribution your writing has made and continues to make.  You are an inspiration to writers of the Pacific Northwest, demonstrating by example how to create a vibrant, successful writing career that spans decades and many beloved volumes.

This year we will also be honoring David Guterson with the Distinguished Northwest Writers Award and MaryMargaret Maitland with our Humanitarian Award.

You are invited to be our guest at our annual Willamette Writers banquet Saturday August 4th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Portland Airport Sheraton Hotel….

<snip>

Sincerely,
Cynthia Whitcomb
President, Willamette Writers

As I said, we are very honored, and we will be at the banquet. Hope to see some of you there.

]]> https://kriswrites.com/2012/03/28/a-wonderful-honor/feed/ 38 7699 https://kriswrites.com/2010/06/29/wisconsin-library-association-honors-diving-into-the-wreck/ https://kriswrites.com/2010/06/29/wisconsin-library-association-honors-diving-into-the-wreck/#respond Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:38:48 +0000 https://kriswrites.com/?p=2268 The Wisconsin Library Association has chosen Diving into the Wreck as one of the top ten books of the year by a Wisconsin writer.

You can find the press release here.

I’m both thrilled and honored, since I spent most of my formative years in Wisconsin libraries.

As for the nominees in my category, they are:

Best Science Fiction:
MAELSTROM- Taylor Anderson
THE EMPRESS OF MARS- Kage Baker
IN THE COURTS OF THE SUN- Brian D’Amato
BLONDE ROOTS- Bernardine Evaristo
BLACK BLOOD- John Meaney
DIVING INTO THE WRECK- Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Good luck all!  And thanks, RT.