Stoker-nominated Storytellers

A shout out to all my friends who are now updating their CVs to read “Stoker nominated.” Among ’em: Sarah Langan for her excellent novel The Missing, Nick Kaufmann for his novella “General Slocum’s Gold,” Mary SanGiovanni for her first novel The Hollower, Lee Thomas for his long story “An Apiary of White Bees” (with special kudos for using the word “apiary” in a title), Gary Braunbeck for his long story “Afterward, There Will be a Hallway,” David Niall Wilson for three—count ’em, three—nominations, Peter Straub for his collection 5 Stories, Joe Hill for Heart-Shaped Box (two nominations), and John Everson, who I had the privilege and pleasure of presenting with his scary house trophy in 2005.

Storytellers Unplugged is also a nominee in the non-fiction category. My essay, “The Days Passed, The Nights Passed” will go online on Sunday morning, if the blogster dashboard works properly. The podcast version should be available simultaneously.

LOST was a major trip last night. It was one of those ohmigod episodes. The final reveal was a real mindblower. Of course, the producers cheated a little bit by disguising a voice earlier to lead us astray, but I forgive them. The thing that befuddles me more than anything else is the 31 minute time lag that Dan’s experiment detected. That one is really difficult to wrap my head around. It was so awesome to see that helicopter take off, though—to see one survivor really getting away from the islands for the first time. This season hasn’t disappointed me for a moment. I thought last night they were being a little obvious with Sayeed’s target, and they even managed to turn that one around and surprise the hell out of me.

So, did Cerie come up with the immunity idol last night? We know that the fan who was no Survivor Island didn’t find it, but they cut away before we discovered the outcome of their search. I think the fans made a mistake by not getting rid of the weak fellow who helped theme lose the challenge. I know the guy thought he was being ultrasmart by orchestrating a surprise vote, but all that did in the long run was create conflict and tension, and get rid of a reasonably strong player. They need all they can get to beat the favorites in the challenges.

I got to a good stopping place in the novel-in-progress. I won’t get back to it again until Monday, probably. This week was another 7000+ word week, and the plot is just cruising along, so I’m pleased with my progress. I have an essay that I need to get finished up by the end of the month, so I’ll probably work on that during the evenings next week. I have a sloppy, rough first draft of sorts that needs serious editing, but at least I’ve done most of the legwork.