Seen a couple of posts already about this, not that either one was trying to sway votes to them, but more as a sort of "Whuh? I could get a vote? Wow!" reaction. So I thought I'd throw my hat (squirrel?) into the ring and make this a glorious possibility.
For years, the WorldCon people have been trying to encourage more people to attend or to buy supporting, voting memberships ($50 this year) in order to get newer blood in. In the past, I haven't registered, mostly because my likelihood of doing so would nearly always collide with a major debt payment or that pesky, occasional thing called unemployment. I might change my mind this year, however, but I'd like to encourage a few others to join in a pledge to stir things up:
#1 None of this voting for established people. If you're new, you have to vote like you've never been there before. Vote for someone who you've never heard of for the non-author polls (for example, vote for James over at Dazed Rambling for Best Fan Writer) or an "obscure" author for Best Novel (say, Michael Cisco's The Narrator) in order to garner more visibility for more than the "usual suspects."
#2 If someone has won an award before, don't vote for them for anything. That way, it can make the process look as "new" as possible, creating all sorts of excitement.
#3 Vote for people you know are complete assholes. That way, if they win, you can rest assured that their acceptance speeches (or just their mentions of them being nominated just once) will be priceless.
#4 Self-published authors may be eligible. I wonder what would happen if Robert Stanek were to get a nomination for the refitting of an earlier plot into a new cover?
#5 Don't vote if you're sober. The more wasted you are, the more likely you are to vote for the truly out-there writings.
#6 When in doubt, just vote for the authors that have the funniest author photos. Don't judge a book by its cover, but feel free to vote for an author by his/her mugshot.
#7 Just vote for any blog for any eligible category. That way, you can learn quickly just how powerful (or not) you are.
And finally, don't take everything so seriously. Sometimes, people fret over the award stuff too much and campaign too much. Best to just laugh it off, vote your conscience, and do what any sensible rabid squirrel would do, which is vote for Bret Easton Ellis' Imperial Bedrooms as the Best Novel of 2010...
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3 days ago
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I should remind you that by voting for my blog, you will be fulfilling both #1 and #3. Not only that, but my blog goes best with quantities of booze to best dull that 'Ugh, why am I reading this?' sensation, so you can even do #5. If not me, then vote Paul. I mean, you won't be able to do points #3 (maybe) and #5, but #1 is doable.
And vote Michael Cisco, too. He deserves it.
Who doesn't want a phallic statuette sitting on his/her desk as inspiration towards working harder or creating better content or just inspiring sexual day dreams of an explicit and exciting nature that reveals things about yourself you may not have known before.
A phallic statuette improves any writing space, of course! And what better way to silence an asshole than...umm...that might be too graphic even for me :P
But hey, you see people, voting for James will tick off quite a few boxes...and people as well!
And of course, vote for Cisco. That's the important part of this, right?
I think we should all be voting for Pat!!! His speech will be so memorable.
I think we need a marketing campaign to get that going.
Tempting. But if Martin himself couldn't get Pat on the final ballot, what hopes do we have?
THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE! < or maybe not.
Tell me Larry, did you ever fancy a phallic award yourself?
Not really. What I desired most was a scholarship. Got a few, but not the big ones I wanted most. Still, it was rewarding enough to get one from my department when I was a sophomore, one of the very few to get the $800 awards at that young of an age.
We have no such things here. It's everybody for himself.
Hey, I think I nominated your ass last year.
I do think that each year, non establishment bloggers will get closer and closer to making the ballot.
I don't think Pat is what we're looking for, though.
(awww, crap, this is me taking the nominating seriously again)
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