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Folks reading here may recall that last month I recommended a novella that had been recommended to me: The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu. The novella had been recommended to me by Jamie Todd Rubin on his blog, and I found it just as compelling as Jamie did.

I wasn't surprised when it and another Ken Liu story (The Paper Menagerie) showed up on the Nebula ballot this year. (It makes for a tough ballot, as there a lot of stories I would want to vote for this year, and I only get to vote for one in each category.)

The day I read Ken's story, I emailed him, and he emailed me back. We discovered that we were local, and I suggested lunch. He suggested we get together when it got warmer, which it did last week, so naturally we went out for lunch today in the cold.

gnomi actually got to the Milk Street Cafe before I did, so she got to meet Ken first. We talked about science fiction, of course: writing, editing, the community, and all sorts of things. I found Ken to be much more gregarious in person than he appears on line, but perhaps that's typical of many of us.

If haven't had a chance to read his stories yet, go click on the links provided. I think you'll like them.

Michael A. Burstein and Sean Sullivan
Photo copyright ©2010 by Nomi S. Burstein. All rights reserved.

The picture above is of me and Sean Sullivan, a friend who has photographed space shuttle launches in the past and is doing again this Friday for the Aiken (SC) Standard.

Sean contacted me last week because when he goes to photograph shuttle launches, he likes to bring items of sentimental value that people would like to have brought along. Sean asked me if I had anything that I might want him to keep in a plastic bag hanging from one of the camera tripods, and the moment he asked, I knew what I would want him to bring.

It's a little hard to see in the photo because of the flash, but the box I'm holding contains a Nebula nominee pin and a Hugo nominee pin. Whenever writers are nominated for Hugo or Nebula Awards, they receive lapel pins to wear even if they don't win. In my own short story writing career, I've received a bunch of these pins. The Hugo pins all look like little rockets. The Nebula pins (at least, the original ones) display a galaxy with stars flying out of it, artwork done by Bob Eggleton.

Sean didn't realize that the Nebula Awards were taking place in Florida this year, nor did he know that SFWA has arranged for members to view the shuttle launch. As I mentioned before, I'm unable to attend the banquet this year, which is doubly disappointing as I'm also missing a shuttle launch. But thanks to Sean, two of my award pins will be present, and who knows? They may bring me luck.

In fact, we've got one more item going with Sean to Florida. Nomi lent him one of her tripods, so when we get it back, we'll be able to tell people that we own a tripod that was used to take pictures of the May 2010 space shuttle launch. How cool is that?

So here's the special Nebula week surprise....

As I mentioned in my Nebula Awards interview, I was reluctant to post the short story "I Remember the Future" for free on the web. Here's a little of what I said:

I know some people were disappointed that I didn’t release “I Remember the Future” for free on the web, but the irony is that I was actually the first writer to suggest releasing award nominees onto the web. Back in 1996, when my first story got nominated for the Hugo, I contacted the Worldcon committee and arranged for the nominated stories in my category to be hosted on my own website....

And as it stands, I did make “I Remember the Future” available for free to all members of SFWA, who are the only folks eligible to vote in the Nebulas. Last year, many of the Hugo nominees were made available for free, but only to Worldcon members. It’s no different here. The story was free to read for those people who are eligible to vote for or against it....

However, Apex Publications, which published my story collection, was very persuasive in the end.

So those of you who have been interested in reading the story can now find it on the Apex Blog!

I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein

I do hope that people who read the story and enjoy it might consider getting a copy of the book, though...


Michael A. Burstein at the 2007 Nebula Banquet Photo copyright ©2007 by Nomi S. Burstein. All rights reserved.

This upcoming weekend SFWA hosts the annual Nebula Awards, which are taking place this year in Florida. Sad to say, even though I'm a nominee this year I can't attend. What with the kids factored into the equation, along with all my other responsibilities, attending the Nebulas just wasn't in the cards for me.

But that's not to say that I still can't celebrate being a nominee this week, even as I anticipating not winning the award itself. I've got some interesting stuff in store for people this week all tied into the Nebula Awards.

Here's the first one: John Ottinger interviewed me for the official site of The Nebula Awards. I've been interviewed a few times before, but I have to say that John asked some very good questions, most of them very different from the sort of questions I'd been asked before. I think the interview will give readers a fresh window into the way I approach my work, so even if you've read an interview with me before, you might find something new to read here:

Michael A. Burstein 2010 Interview

Go read, and let me know if you come back thinking, "I didn't know that about Michael."

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Mabfan's Musings

The Blog of Science Fiction Writer Michael A. Burstein

Entries tagged with nebulas

The Man Who Ate Lunch: Ken Liu

Nebula Week Day 2: If I Can't Get to the Nebulas, At Least My Pins Can

Nebula Nominated Story "I Remember the Future" Now Available on the Web – For Free!

Welcome to Nebula Week! I've Been Interviewed

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