When I scan the list of past Mythopoeic finalists and winners, the first name on the list is Mary Stewart for The Crystal Cave. I had read and adored her romantic suspense, but her delightful, lyrical tale of Merlin and Arthur brought them into my head as real living persons as no other Arthurian tale ever has. Also on the list are Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber and Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest, Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer...along with other works by Le Guin, McKillip, Susan Cooper, Richard Adams, Donaldson, McKinley, Willis, Kay, Tepper, works that shaped my love for fantasy, as well as feeding the writer I am. And they still sit on my bookshelves! Need I say what an honor that my name is now listed on the same page? I am still reeling...

You can read more about the Mythopoeic Society, their connection to the Inklings (Tolkien, CS Lewis, et al), and the awards at their website.

And a Winner Breath and Bone won the 2009 Colorado Book Award in genre fiction. This is a literary award given each year by Colorado Humanities and the Colorado Center for the Book. This is my fourth nomination, which is very cool, as there are so many fine authors in our fair state. I was surprised as the field was very large this year - and in a mixed genre category, you never know whether the judges will be uncomfortable with "speculative fiction." Cleraly these weren't. Hooray!

Newsletter Failures If you didn't receive newsletter #40, sent out this week, and you thought you were on the list, let me know. Sometimes SPAM filters will eat newsletters. Some of you have Full Mailboxes! At least TEN email addresses failed.