Yesterday was an interesting day. It started with an email from Cap'n Bob Napier, congratulating me on the Robert L. Fish Award. While I was still puzzling over that, I got a nice message from Janet Hutchings of EQMM. Then I saw a congratulatory post on Sandra Seamon's blog, Finally, I headed over to the News Authority of the blogosphere, Bill Crider's Popular Fiction Magazine, scrolled through the Edgar nominations, and found this:
Robert L. Fish Memorial
"Skyler Hobbs and the Rabbit Man" - Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
by Evan Lewis (Dell Magazines)
Very cool, I thought. I'm a long-time Fish fan, and the books shown here had been on my Sherlock shelf since the 70s. The award, I figured, must be for the best humorous Sherlockian story of the year. And the reason I was the only nominee was that no one else wrote one.
Then more emails came in, from Patti Abbott, Scott Parker, Allen Weiner (co-author of David Crockett in Congress), Emperor of the Universe Art Scott and members of my critique groups. And many folks made kind comments on blogs. And eventually I figured out the award was not Sherlockian after all. It was for best short story by a "new" author (which, you must admit, is better than being called an "old" author).
But that got me worrying about the lack of other nominees. Would the MWA be issuing an apology, saying the others had been omitted by accident? If so, that's fine, because I'm sure there were many deserving stories. But if the list of nominees stays as is, I'm thinking my chances look pretty good. (I even consulted Skyler Hobbs, and he agrees.)
Whatever happens, I'm honored - and grateful to the MWA, the Edgar short story committee and everyone who sent congratulations my way. You really made my day.
Tomorrow: I'm Guest Host for Friday's Forgotten Books (Patti has the day off). PLUS: A book so forgotten it was never published.
