It's award nomination season in the speculative fiction world, which means it's time for me to roll out my annual review of my publications for the previous year! And by annual, I mean, I haven't done one since...2018? Oh wait, 2018 was the only year I've ever done one? Um...oops? But I am recently inspired by Rosemary Claire Smith's "Reason to Publicize Your Award-Eligible Works" article to to give it a go. So here goes!
Yes, I had seven publications to my name in the last year! That's my highest total yet in terms of sheer numbers—I'm around a 15% acceptance rate at the moment, which is pretty gosh-darn good. Writing is a rejection grind, so anytime my acceptance rate is above 10% for stories I've sent out to be considered for publication, I'm feeling darn good. And I do feel good about the quality of my work published in 2020! Unfortunately, of those seven publications, only a couple are actually eligible for nomination for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, or other awards of your nominating choice. Those are....
- "It's Only Vampire" - A humorous horror tale released in FARK in the Time of COVID: The 2020 Fark Fiction Anthology. The anthology was released in December 2020. What I most enjoyed about writing this one was finally capturing a bit of the humor in the generational battles we humans so often undertake—think, "OK, Boomer," but for the fang and crypt crew.
- "An Inconvenient Quest" - A flash fantasy quest in A Quiet Afternoon: Lo-Fi Speculative Fiction for a Peaceful Break from a Stressful World, released in July 2020. I wrote the first draft of this short story several years ago, when I wanted to really dig into using senses other than sight more often in my fiction. The result of focusing on smells? A synesthetic union of scent, emotion, and color for a lonely sprite who must find a way to save his ailing queen.
- "Wishing for More" - Oh, oh wait. This urban fantasy romance about graduates of the Jinn school trying to make their way in world came out in December 2019. I just didn't learn that it had been published until a few weeks into 2020. Now that's a story for another time. You can read "Wishing for More" in Helios Quarterly Magazine 4.4, but unfortunately, you cannot nominate it this year.
- "Some Who Wander" - Oh, no, nope. Not that one either. Because it's not fiction at all, but a fun little whirl of micro nonfiction about a bad choice I made one day while hiking through my neighborhood. "Some Who Wander" can be stumbled upon at Intrinsick.
- Consider "Hobgoblin" instead! Except you can't because it's a reprint, found in Whigmaleeries & Wives Tales.
- "What Scattered in the Wind"? Nope, also a reprint, this time in the ACCOLADES anthology.
- Surely, "Thlush-A-Lum" is up for some nominating fun? Assuredly not, as it enjoyed its fourth printing this year, in It Calls From the Sky. Clearly, I believe in the power of making your words work for you again...and again...and again. Reprints are great! But they are not eligible for nominations...unless I put them together into my own collection someday! A girl can dream.
So I guess those first two stories really are the only ones I have eligible for nominations this awards season despite my great publishing year. With seven publications added to my grand total of thirty-one, I'm not at all upset about that. If you read either "It's Only Vampire" or "An Inconvenient Quest" and liked them enough to give them a nomination, then you have my thanks.
And if not...more Stories by Rebecca Gomez Farrell are certainly coming your way in 2021. In fact, a new recording of my "Submission Caws" is up now at the Centropic Oracle (learn more)! One of my earliest stories, "She Could be Me," will make its way into Bards & Sages Quarterly in the spring. My brand-new "Fresh Catch of the Day" is coming out in A Quiet Afternoon 2 as well. And more new things that I can't quite speak about yet...but soon, very soon.
That's it for my second-ever awards eligibility post! Maybe next year, I'll have three pieces that'll qualify. Fingers crossed, or rather, poised over the keyboard, ready to write.