Notes from the Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2010 Panel, Norwescon 34

So I got up this morning and discovered five bajillion Facebook notifications, so I figured SOMETHING must have happened. And, to my surprise, I found out the something was that I’m on the WFC award ballot for my work with Fantasy Magazine. I really loved my time with the magazine, and so that was a huge and lovely validation.

Many, many congrats to everyone on the ballot, and particularly Clarkesworld Magazine, whose amazing staff better deserves to win the category I’m in, as does Charles Tan, who’s done an awesome job with the Bibliophile Stalker website. There’s lots and lots of names whose presence is well-deserved, but particular shouts out to Lily Yu, the inimitable Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Karen Joy Fowler, and Ken Liu. 🙂

I hadn’t been planning on attending WFC this year, but now I’m thinking Wayne and I will be there.

Panel description: Explore the overlap among Magical Realism and contemporary, urban, and traditional fantasy–and even horror.
Participants: Lillian Cauldwell, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Nick Mamatas, Cat Rambo, Kat Richardson (M)

I don’t know that we said too much that was insightful about the division between magic realism and fantasy, but we did arrive at a decent and interesting booklist, which I present here for your pleasure.

Ambrose Bierce – An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (free on the Kindle)
Mikhail Bulgakov – The Master and Margarita
Paola Corso – Giovanna’s 86 Circles, The Laundress Catches Her Breath (poetry)
Andy Duncan – Beluthahatchie and Other Stories
Laura Esquival – Like Water for Chocolate
Barbara Howes – Eye of the Heart
Natsuki Ikezawa – The Navidad Incident: The Downfall of Matías Guili
Franz Kafka – anything (I like the stories.)
Stephen King – The Green Mile (opinions differed on whether this should be counted)
Yann Martell – Life of Pi
Haruki Murakami – anything
Salman Rushdie – Midnight’s Children
Elif Shafak – The Bastard of Istanbul, Flea Palace
Latif Tekin – Dear Shameless Death
Ngugi wa Thiongo – The Wizard of the Crow
Amos Tutuola – The Palm-Wine Drunkard
T.H. White – Mrs. Masham’s Repose
Carlos Ruiz Zafon – The Prisoner of Heaven (Cemetery of Forgotten Books), The Shadow of the Wind

Margin Magazine