Hugo nomination season is upon us! If you are unaware, the Hugo Award is given by fans attending that year’s Worldcon. (This year’s convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas. I do plan to attend, as I went to Dragon*Con last year, and I try to vary which one I go to.) To nominate for the Hugo Awards, you have to be a member of this year’s convention or the previous year’s or following year’s convention, and the nomination form is here.

By longstanding tradition, potential nominees avoid aggressive Hugo campaigning. Instead, we make a note of which of our works are eligible, so that they can be considered. In my case, I have Writing Excuses Season Seven eligible in the Best Related Work category.

I also have two stories that might be worth your time: The Emperor’s Soul (Tachyon Publications, November 2012) and Legion (Subterranean Press, August 2012), both of which are novellas.

While I’m quite fond of both pieces, I think that The Emperor’s Soul is more appropriate for award consideration. If you are interested in reading one of my works, I’d point you toward it—and I’d actually like to give you a free copy.

Therefore, if you are a valid member of this year’s Worldcon or the 2012 or 2014 Worldcons, feel free to send me an email at [email protected] requesting an ebook of The Emperor’s Soul and saying which Worldcon you’re a member of. No, you don’t need to send me proof. I will trust your word on it. In this day and age, someone who really wanted to pirate a copy could do so at their leisure anyway.

Additionally, if you’re a SFWA member considering nominations for the Nebula, you can find a link to download the story on the SFWA forums. A blurb for the story can be found below. Thanks for your consideration!

Brandon

From the Back of the Book

When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.

Shai is given an impossible task: to create—to Forge—a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai’s only possible ally is the emperor’s most loyal councillor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent.

Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape . . .