Awards!

Dale Carothers, one of our E-Spec authors, modestly pointed out in a blog comment that his story "Bright Wings in the Ebony Hall" is one of only eight finalists for the Harper's Pen Award. We're very excited about this nomination because any heroic fantasy story published in 2009 could be nominated for the award. As we've said many times before, we think Electric Spec publishes some of the best stories out there, even compared to the "pro rate" magazines. It appears others are noticing this as well. The winner will be announced in the next week or two.

Speaking of awards, several other E-spec stories are up for the 2010 Million Writers Award. This award is especially intended to recognize new authors published in electronic form. It was a tough decision, but the Electric Spec editors nominated the following stories: "The Boogie-Woogie, Time-Traveling, Cyborg Blues" by Barton Paul Levenson, "Tom the Sheller" by Devin Miller, and "In the Land of the Deaf" by Ferrett Steinmetz. The judges will announce their "Notable Stories" on April 1.