Time for the 2005 OF Awards process to begin

It's been too long since I last updated this, so apologies in advance to those who've been wondering if I had fallen off the face of the earth. Working 50-60+ hours a week at my job combined with an impending return to college on a part-time basis has left me with little free time to read speculative fiction, much less review and discuss it.

But now that the holiday season is here, it is time again to begin the process of selecting finalists for the 2005 OF Awards. Started in 2002 as a means of allowing the regulars and visitors to Other Fantasy to weigh in with the books, authors, movies, and characters that they have enjoyed most, the OF Awards expanded even more in 2003, this time including the Admins' Choices for the Best of 2002-2003. In January 2004, we decided to narrow the focus somewhat, as well as to move the Awards forward to the beginning of the year, so we could reflect as much on the year that was as much as anything else. We also added a Community section for the first time, because it's the activities and connections that members of our website (and this is undoubtedly true for other sites as well, at least for the ones where I've visited/posted at over the past two years) that have played the most important role in the dissemination of some really good speculative fiction over the past few years.

It is with that spirit of fellowship that we once again begin the process for selecting the Best of 2004. Now "best" in this situation refers to not just the books that the OF community enjoyed the most, but also to the moments of the past year that have been special. It is an unfortunate thing that the major awards today really don't have awards for those "little things" that authors have done for their fans, at least on a year-to-year basis (Lifetime Achievement being barely adequate to cover what these authors mean to their fans). Hopefully this site's nomination process at least will provide food for thought for those readers outside the immediate OF community to consider just what merits commendation (and the occasional condemnation) for what has transpired this past year in speculative fiction.