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I have not been keeping up with my blog for a while.

That is going to change. I will start posting new author interviews soon.

In the meantime, I have several pieces of news stored up. Here it is, all at once:

Campbell Award

I am in my second (and last) year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. If you are eligible to nominate works and people for Hugo Awards, you can nominate as many as five people for Campbell Award at the bottom of the Hugo ballot.

Please consider nominating me for the Campbell Award. Last year, it took only 40 nominations to get on the final ballot, so your five votes really do count.  

A list of people eligible to be nominated for the Campbell Award is posted at Writertopia. Clicking on a name will take you to a page telling you what work made that person eligible. Most pages also have a bio and a list of fiction publications and awards. My own page is at http://www.writertopia.com/profiles/ShaunaRoberts.

You don't need to nominate five works or people in every category on the Hugo ballot; in fact, you can leave entire categories blank. If you vote, the nomination ballot must be received by March 11. Thanks.

Novel Sale

Hadley Rille Books, the science fiction and fantasy press that published Like Mayflies in a Stream, will be publishing my novel Ice Magic, Fire Magic. Ice Magic, Fire Magic is a fantasy with strong romantic elements. Its heroine is a woman who is genetically incapable of doing evil and who must become the ruler of her world. Meanwhile, evil people who want to seize her power are out to stop her.

I wrote the novel to explore in more depth the good Kirk–bad Kirk dilemma: Can a person who is all good be an effective leader?

Ice Magic, Fire Magic has some cool elements I had fun creating. The land is sentient and chooses the ruler. The rulers are true servants of the people, and they go barefoot as a constant reminder that they should serve, not be served. Two species of humans share the land; one species wields magic, and the other relies on advanced technology. Women and men work different types of magic; their magic is complementary, and both kinds are needed for the land to thrive. A lonely, 1000-year-old evil spirit tries to influence both the good heroine and her evil opponents. And then there are the ice dragons and fire lizards.

The book is scheduled for publication in 2013.

Story Sale

My fantasy flash story "Moonlight, Reflected in Dewdrops" was published in the January 2012 issue of 10Flash Quarterly. You can read it for free at http://www.10flashmagazine.com/10flash-fantasy/moonlight-reflected-in-dewdrops/.

New e-Books

My novelette "The Hunt, " despite having been published twice, is hard to find. This space opera–mystery is one of my favorite pieces I've written, so I've put it up at Amazon.com as an e-book. You can find it at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WEVR7I.

I hope within the next couple of months to also e-publish my fantasy novel Shrine of the Heavens. This novel is an epic fantasy with an ensemble cast of  people of diverse religions and social classes who are traveling together to a distant shrine. Each has a different but essential reason to go to the shrine. I will let you know when that appears.