It’s true! In addition to being a finalist for the Nebula Award, my poem “The World to Come” is also a finalist for the Hugo Award! For those of you who don’t know, The Hugos and the Nebulas are the biggest awards in the world of science fiction and fantasy. Where the Nebulas are an industry award, nominated and voted on by members of the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA), the Hugos are a fan award; anyone who wants to can buy a membership to the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) and vote for them. Which means a whole lot of people I don’t even know nominated my poem for the Hugo Award. I still haven’t fully digested that. This is only the second year that the Hugos have given out an award for Best Poem; it’s the first year the Nebulas will be doing so. I’m delighted that spec poetry is getting more recognition, and humbled to be helping to represent it.

The Nebula Awards will be announced at the Nebula conference on June 6, and the Hugo Awards will be announced at this year’s Worldcon on August 30. I will be attending both conventions, which is a fantastic way to bookend my summer. Meanwhile, do yourself a favor and look up the Best Poem finalists for both the Nebulas and the Hugos; you won’t regret the time you spend reading them.

In prose news, I have another new story out this month: Penance was published in Adventitious, a new speculative literary magazine. This is my foray into cosmic horror—not my usual genre, but the times kind of call for it. Just be aware before you click that this is a dark story; in some of the promo for the issue, the editor called “Penance” “the feel-bad story of the summer” and I think that’s pretty accurate! But I’m really proud of it, and I’m so glad it’s out there for folks to read.

Thanks to all of you for being part of my community! Be well <3