First off, there’s a new Warbreaker annotation that covers Vasher sneaking into the God King’s palace. It also talks about why one character doesn’t just kill another character.

This week’s Writing Excuses episode, season 5 episode 34, covers story bibles. Dan, Howard, and I talk about different ways to collect the background information on your story that you need in order to keep things straight as you’re writing it (or the sequel). Give it a listen.

The big news is that the previous season of Writing Excuses, season 4 (starting with this episode), has been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Related Work, which is given out annually to (usually) nonfiction works relating to the field of science fiction and fantasy. Traditionally the winner has been a book (for example, John Scalzi won it in 2009 for a printed collection of his best Whatever posts). Writing Excuses Season Four joins four other nominees this year:

• Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001 by Gary K. Wolfe
• The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg
• Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea
• Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907-1948): Learning Curve by William H. Patterson, Jr.

Who can vote? Anyone who registers for the 69th World Science Fiction Convention (this August in Reno) before the voting deadline July 31st. (Rates go up July 17th, so registering before then is best.) The ballot is available now, but most people will wait to vote until they’ve had a chance to read, listen to, or watch enough material from the nominated people and works to make an informed decision. I have more details on how voting works in a previous post.

That’s not the only Hugo category, of course. Here’s the full list. Many of my good friends are also nominated–my cohosts Howard Tayler and Dan Wells are respectively nominated for Best Graphic Story and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo); my and Dan’s editor Moshe Feder is up for Best Editor, Long Form; Mary Robinette Kowal has a short story nomination; Eric James Stone has a novelette nomination; Larry Correia is also up for the Campbell; and two of my books’ cover artists, Dan Dos Santos and Stephan Martiniere, both garnered Best Professional Artist nominations.

All the nominees in each category are luminaries in the field and deserve your attention. It’s an honor to be included among them.