It Really Is an Honor To be Nominated

Awards

When I left for Bouchercon, I was a Macavity short story nominee for “Keeping Watch Over His Flock,” (published in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and myself) and an Anthony short story nominee for “Skull and Cross-Examinations” (published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine). When I flew home, it was without either award.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. Of course I am. But after each award ceremony I smiled and applauded. That’s part of award etiquette. I hugged the winners, too, because they’re both really nice and good writers to boot. And when people offered their condolences, I smiled and said, “It’s an honor just to be nominated.”

You know what? It’s absolutely true. It is an honor to be nominated. Just look at the people I was up against. For the Macavity, it was:

  • Sean Chercover for “A Sleep Not Unlike Death” (published in Hardcore Hardboiled)
  • Laura Lippman for “Scratch a Woman” (published in Hardly Knew Her)
  • Tom Piccirilli for “Between the Dark and the Daylight” (published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
  • Dana Cameron for “The Night Things Changed” (published in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe). She won, by the way.

For the Anthony, it was:

  • Dana Cameron for “The Night Things Changed” (published in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe).
  • Sean Chercover for “A Sleep Not Unlike Death” (published in Hardcore Hardboiled). He won this one.
  • Jane Cleland for “Killing Time” (published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
  • Laura Lippman for “Scratch a Woman” (published in Hardly Knew Her)
  • Kristine Kathryn Rusch for “The Secret Lives of Cats” (published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

I am honestly proud to have been in the same categories as these writers. I am delighted that people nominated me, and voted for me. Even though I didn’t win and didn’t have the opportunity to say so in public, I am grateful to the editors who published those stories (Charlaine Harris, Ginjer Buchanan, and Janet Hutchings); my agent Joan Brandt; my readers Charlaine Harris and Dana Cameron; and most of all my husband Steve, my first reader.

I offer my heartiest congratulations to Dana for winning the Macavity and to Sean for winning the Anthony, and I commend the other nominees.

I really am deeply and sincerely honored.

2 thoughts on “It Really Is an Honor To be Nominated”

  1. You get an award from me. When that mosh pit of free-bookers parted in the atrium of the Boucher hotel, I saw your title (Curse of the Kissing Cousins) and snagged one. It kept me in a good mood through two plane flights, and then I realized you had co-edited a fav anthology too. Now I’ve found a new series. Loved all your pseudo-chapter summaries – dead on.

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