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Under the new eligibility rules for the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer, Strange Horizons is a qualifying venue. (I know that the rules are in some sense not actually new rules, but I'm going to call them the new rules for ease of reference.) More specifically, an author is eligible for the award for two years after the year of their first "professional" sf publication, and SH is now considered "professional" for Campbell purposes.

We've known that for a while now; we've also known that SH was the venue most affected by the change, because most print prozines have been considered Campbell-qualifying all along, and SCI FICTION and Infinite Matrix, the two highest-paying online sf magazines in recent years, rarely bought stories from new writers.

And I thought that word had spread among the SH author community about the change and its implications, and when I've glanced at the new eligible authors site now and then in recent weeks, I saw some SH authors so I figured everything was copacetic.

Yesterday, though, I finally went and compared the list of eligible authors with the list of authors whose first pro sale was to SH in 2004 or 2005, and discovered that at least 26 such authors didn't appear on the eligible-authors list. (See below for notes regarding people who sold to SH before 2004.)

I sent out a bunch of mail about this yesterday. I think I've contacted all but one of those authors (one email bounced), and I've contacted the moderators of the eligible-authors site (who have been very gracious and responsive, especially considering how last-minute this is and especially especially considering that one of them is currently in the middle of a cross-country trip). The 2004- and 2005-debut authors' names are now on the eligible-author site, with links to either their websites or their SH stories.

But it's unfortunate, because there's less than a week left before the nominations period ends, which means that the 16 authors who debuted in SH in 2004 will have less than a week of people knowing they're eligible. And the 10 authors who debuted in SH in 2005 will have less than a week of people knowing they're eligible this year, though they'll at least be on the list for next year.

So I'm going to list all those authors below, in hopes of giving them at least a little bit more exposure among those like me who haven't submitted nominating ballots yet. I realize that this does nothing to make the nomination choice simpler; there were already over 50 authors on the eligible list, and this has raised that number to at least 82.

Why "at least"? Because there's also the question of authors whose debut in SH was prior to 2004. The eligibility FAQ is somewhat ambiguous about whether such authors qualify, but the phrase "if you are now eligible under the new rules because of works published in 2004 or earlier" (emphasis mine) makes me think they may. I've asked the moderators what they think; I'll let y'all know if I find out more. I don't yet have a list of the pre-2004 debut authors; perhaps I'll try to put a list together tomorrow, but that would give them only three days of eligibility. In the meantime, if any of you are in this situation, and if you want to pursue it, go to the eligible-authors page and drop a note to the moderators. Give them your name and the date of your qualifying SH story, and a URL to attach to your name (either the story or your web page, if you have one), and ask them if you're eligible.

I apologize for not noticing and dealing with this stuff sooner. I know it's technically not my responsibility to notify our authors, but at the same time I also know that a bunch of authors had no idea they were eligible, and now they've essentially missed their eligibility period. I'm sorry about that.

Okay. Here are the 2004 and 2005 debut authors, with links. Note that some of these authors may have appeared in now-qualifying venues other than SH prior to 2004. Authors, I hope you don't mind my listing you; if you don't want to be on this list, let me know.

2004 debut

• John Aegard: "The Great Old Pumpkin" (25 October 2004)
• Stephanie Burgis: "Some Girlfriends Can" (1 November 2004) and "Inside the Tower" (10 January 2005)
• Kathleen Chamberlain and Victoria Somogyi: "Time's Swell" (15 November 2004)
• Genevieve Cogman: "Snow and Salt" (19 July 2004)
• Haddayr Copley-Woods: "Borne Away" (7 June 2004) and "The Desires of Houses" (13 February 2006)
• Tom Doyle: "Crossing Borders" (9 August 2004) and "The Floating Otherworld" (20 December 2004)
• Stacey Gruver: "Tracks" (5 July 2004)
• Amy Hembree: "Burn Here With Me" (19 April 2004)
• Rosamund Hodge: "Broken" (31 May 2004)
• Kameron Hurley: "Genderbending at the Madhattered" (23 February 2004)
• Joanne Merriam: "Walking Hibernation" (4 October 2004) and "The Purple Hippopotamus Wading Pool" (6 March 2006)
• Chris Nakashima-Brown: "Prisoners of Uqbaristan" (18 October 2004)
• Dawn M. Paris: "Love of the Sea" (24 May 2004)
• Vandana Singh: "Three Tales from Sky River" (5 January 2004) (actually, she qualified in 2004 even under the old rules, by having a reprint in a Year's Best)
• Daniel Starr: "Why I Am Not Gorilla Girl" (5 April 2004)

2005 debut

• Kat Beyer: "The Strange Desserts of Professor Natalie Doom" (22 August 2005)
• Frank Byrns: "Family Tradition" (29 August 2005)
• Becca De La Rosa: "The Fall of Changes" (8 August 2005)
• N. K. Jemisin: "Cloud Dragon Skies" (1 August 2005)
• Alaya Dawn Johnson: "Shard of Glass" (14 February 2005)
• Beth Adele Long: "Rapunzel Dreams of Knives" (17 October 2005)
• Celia Marsh: "Red Sky" (15 August 2005)
• Marguerite Reed: "Bearing Witness" (14 November 2005)
• John Schoffstall: "Adventures in Dog-Walking in Downtown Philadelphia (7 November 2005)
• Patrick Scott Vickers: "The Featherless Chicken" (24 October 2005)