It seems like forever ago that a ragtag bunch of newpub, Baen, and Castalia House authors dominated the first annual Dragon Awards.
That day was an early career highlight, and I’m still thankful to my readers and supporters.
What would become the current dissident scene was still taking shape back then. Everybody forgets that the Sad Puppies campaign was the first ripple of the populist backlash that broke even bigger with #GamerGate and then the MAGA movement.
I remember being in Salt Lake City that weekend and hearing of YouTube’s first Adpocalypse. There was a sense of fatalism surrounding it, like a corner had been turned, and there was no going back, and the digital landscape ahead looked unrecognizable from the one being left behind. That sense of doom came true in spades. Scattered signs are turning up that suggest we may be over the worst, but only time will tell.
Still, my hindsight impression of 2016 is more sweet than bitter. That was the last year a worked a day job, for one thing. Being able to make art, and help others make their own, for a living has been an inexpressible blessing I can’t thank God or my readers, clients, and professional friends enough for.
That is to say, I understand better than all but a small circle of people how important literary awards are for launching careers. Some will tell you they don’t matter. But those people don’t know how to leverage credibility.
So I still think the Dragons are culturally important. It may not be apparent since I’ve been pretty quiet about them for a while. But as I said at the time, after the second year I was satisfied that the whole operation wouldn’t implode or get overrun by the Death Cult.
The overall results have borne that assessment out, give or take an anomaly or two.
Being a true people’s choice award anyone can vote for, the Dragons have largely avoided the kind of fakepub takeover that’s made the Hugo and Locus awards irrelevant jokes. You get some of the more benign Pop Cult stuff, which is to be expected.
But word on the street is the usual suspects at the fakepub mean girls’ table are rallying their hangers-on for another stab at the Dragons.
Enter Twitter user Aristophanes with this call to action thread:
Here are those nomination suggestions once again:
Dragon Award nominations are open now and close on July 19.
If you want, take a few minutes and nominate your favorite books published between 7/1/22 and 6/30/23.
And read the horror adventure that started it all:
