Comin’ Down to the Wire

There are now fewer than two weeks remaining in the nominating process for the Spinetingler Awards, a reader-driven set of commendations making their debut this year, courtesy of Spinetingler Magazine and its editor, Sandra Ruttan. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, November 15.

Ruttan is currently looking for recommendations in the following eight categories:

• Best Novel: Legend (“authors with 9 or more books published”)
• Best Novel: Rising Star (“authors with 4-8 published works in total”)
• Best Novel: New Voice (“authors with 1-3 published works in total”)
• Best Cover Art (“Tell us what covers do it for you.”)
• Best Publisher (“If you’re a reader who’s had wonderful experiences, an author with nothing but good things to say, tell us who you nominate and why.”)
• Best Editor (“With so many complaints about poor editing and typos in books, we thought it was time to take note of the hard-working editors who are getting things right.”)
• Best Short Story on the Web (“Stories must be published in a recognized e-zine, such as Shots, Mouth Full of Bullets, Pulp Pusher, Demolition, etc.”)
• Special Services to the Industry (“for tireless contributions to e-zines, writing reviews, running discussion lists or forums”)

Works published between October 1, 2006, and September 30, 2007, are eligible. E-mail your nominations to sandra.ruttan@spinetinglermag.com.

For longer explanations of each award category, click here. Ruttan takes her best shot at answering some frequently asked questions about these awards here.

I confess, I haven’t yet submitted my own nominations. But I shall do so this week. And though I haven’t settled on the best names or titles to put forward in all categories, I certainly know who deserves the Special Services to the Industry Award: critic, blogger, and social butterfly Ali Karim, for reasons I already spelled out when he was up for this year’s Anthony Award for special services. He didn’t win that one; let’s hope he has better luck this time.