by
Steve Lazarowitz
November 2000
MY DREAM ALLOWS ME NO TIME TO SLEEP
I've often been told to follow my dreams. Once, I dreamt of being a writer. Now I live it. Of course, the more I write, the less I sleep. To quote the poet himself, "To sleep. Perchance to dream." Actually it sounds rather nice.
Unfortunately, writing doesn't pay a whole lot for a good majority of fiction writers, so I need a day job. And that day job takes time. My writing career takes time. And so I am forced to live my dream during waking hours, because the meager amount of sleep I do get, doesn't afford me a whole lot of time to dream.
Over the years, I've written short stories, poems, articles, essays, novels, reviews and serials. I have submitted (and been rejected). I've also made several sales and am the proud father of three e-books. But now, a new, singular honor has been awarded me. I've been asked to co-host the Dream Realm Awards with Hard Shell Word Factory's incomparable Lisa DuMond.
The what with whom?
The Dream Realm Awards are the first annual awards for excellence in e-published speculative fiction. Awards will be given for the best fantasy, science fiction, horror, anthology, children's book, experimental title and cover art. Unlike many awards, these are being judged by fans. In addition, this is a blind contest, meaning that no one knows the names or titles of the books.
Lisa DuMond is the author of the new e-book Darkers, but she's well known for her wonderfully insightful SFSITE reviews. Lisa is a witty and at times charming person (though how charming she is depends on just how witty she's decided to be and whether or not she's aimed that wit in your direction!).
The Awards will be a lot of fun. We have several surprises planned. I'm also fairly certain I'm in for a few unplanned surprises as well. Such is the nature of show biz.
Along with hosting, I was also asked to help formulate HOW books would be judged and I thought that sort of inside information might interest some of you. The books are being rated in five different areas, listed below. Cover Art is being judged on a completely different set of qualities that are not addressed in this article.
PLOT: How strong is the overall storyline? Is it too slow? Does it confuse you? Do you feel tension throughout the book?
CHARACTERS: How realistic are they? Do you care what happens to them? Are they sufficiently motivated? Are they believable?
ACCESSIBILITY: How easy is this story to read? Does it flow? Is it hard to follow? Do you think anyone can easily read it? Do you need special knowledge to understand it?
STYLE: Is the story well written? Is it telling or showing you something? Is it clumsy or smooth?
ORIGINALITY: Have you read a million stories just like this one? Obviously this doesn't mean the setting but refers to the plot. Is it the same old hackneyed thing with nothing to set it apart from all the others of the same genre?
The Awards themselves will be held at UncommonCon on Nov. 24-26 at the Hyatt-Regency Hotel in Dallas. In addition to MCing the show, Lisa and I will also be on programming at the convention. I've had the pleasure of seeing Lisa in action on a panel at the last World Con in Chicago and can safely say it was one of the most entertaining panels I've ever experienced.
If you're in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and you're a SF or fantasy fan, consider attending the convention. For more information, check out the UncommonCon home page at http://www.uncommoncon.com. Among the guests you'll find Sharon L Reddy the CEO of CrossroadsPub.Com.
The Dream Realm Awards will hopefully become a major annual e-publishing event. We need these awards for several reasons. The much hyped Frankfurt Awards were obviously not an award for e-published books, so much as an award for the major publishers to sell their books. Certainly the e-books nominated are all print books as well and most came out in print around the same time they came out in electronic format. The Frankfurts were a farce of the worst kind. There's been quite a fuss made over the legitimacy of the winners, but even if they followed the letter of the law, they sure trounced the spirit of it.
The only other award I'm familiar with that legitimately caters to the e-publishing community are the Eppies, the annual e-book awards presented by EPIC. In fact, the Eppies have science fiction, fantasy and horror categories.
Yet the Eppie judges are primarily professional e-authors and editors. Just as the world of print SF and fantasy has a Nebula Award, voted on by the members of the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), it also has a Hugo Award voted on by fans.
I have entered three books in the Dream Realm Awards and I'm likely going to enter those same titles in the Eppies as well.
Meanwhile, I'll be working hard (and sacrificing sleep) to make the Dream Realm Awards a success. Because of this, I'm not all that likely to enter the literal Realm of Dreams for some time to come.
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