The Interzone Readers' Poll is running now through March 31. Readers can see all the eligible works, and vote for or against the stories and art, over on the Interzone Readers' Poll page.
Last year I was honored to have my story "When Thorns Are the Tips of Trees" win the Readers' Poll. This year I have two stories eligible: My novella "Sublimation Angels" (available at that link as a PDF download) and the short story "Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows."
Obviously I won't be voting for my own stories in the award. My positive votes for stories are:
- "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster, which made the BSFA Award shortlist for best short fiction and is doing well in nominations in the Nebula Award's novelette category. (Note to Nebula and BSFA voters: Read this story and vote for it!). This was one of my favorite stories of 2009, for reasons explained in my original review. This is the story I expect to win the Readers' Poll.
- "No Longer You" by Katherine Sparrow and Rachel Swirsky.
- "The Festival of Tethselem" by Chris Butler.
- "The Godfall's Chemsong" by Jeremiah Tolbert.
- "The Killing Streets" by Colin Harvey.
- "Memory Dust" by Gareth L. Powell.
- "By Starlight" by Rebecca J. Payne.
My positive votes for the art are
- Adam Tredowski's amazing cover for Interzone 224.
- Mark Pexton's art for "Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows".
- Paul Drummond's art for "Sublimation Angels". (And yes, I realize I'm voting for both of the artists who illustrated my stories, but that's an easy thing to do when you love their work. If anyone doesn't like this, feel free to write me a nasty email.)
I could have voted for more stories, but decided to limit myself to seven. I also decided not to cast any negative votes this year because none of the Interzone stories really rubbed me wrong. Interzone remains my favorite SF/F magazine, and 2009 will go down as one of their best years ever.