The deadline for voting in the Hugo Awards is Thursday night at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time. The online ballot can be submitted here by all World Science Fiction Society members, either who will be attending Loncon 3 from August 14th through 18th, or who have a supporting membership.

I posted an extensive writeup of my thoughts on the Wheel of Time’s nomination in the Best Novel category here, and I hope that all of you who are planning to vote took the time to familiarize yourselves with the nominees in every category. My best wishes to the creators of all the nominated works—it’s an honor to be in your company.

It’s unfortunate that previous travel commitments mean that I’m in the UK next week instead of the following week during the convention. However, Robert Jordan’s wife and editor Harriet McDougal will be there to attend the Hugo Awards Ceremony and enjoy your hospitality in London.

Writing Excuses Season Eight is one of the Hugo Award nominees for Best Related Work. Season 8 covers all the episodes we released in 2013, and currently Season 9 is going strong. Recently we finished a group of critique/workshopping episodes for the short fiction that we published in our anthology Shadows Beneath. The anthology includes our final drafts, but it also includes the first drafts and the transcripts of the episodes where we brainstormed and workshopped them. So before listening to the episodes below, it’s best to get the anthology and read the first drafts.

• Critiquing my novella “Sixth of the Dusk”: Part 1
• Critiquing my novella “Sixth of the Dusk”: Part 2
• Critiquing Mary’s novelette “A Fire in the Heavens”
• Critiquing Howard’s story “An Honest Death”

(Note: Dan has a story in the anthology too, but he wasn’t done with his first draft when we were recording the workshopping episodes.)

Mary and Dan are also nominated for short fiction Hugo Awards in the novelette and novella categories. It has truly been a banner year for the whole crew!

In other news, I wrote an article that’s on the Barnes & Noble book blog, about why we still read novels when there are alternatives.

GraphicAudio has released the first part of their full-cast audio dramatization of the second Mistborn book, The Well of Ascension. You can listen to a preview below and pick up the book here. The first Mistborn, Elantris, and Warbreaker are also available.