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Eugie Foster’s story “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” (Interzone, Feb. 2009) won the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and is currently a finalist for the Hugo Award. Eugie also won the 2002 Phobos Award and was named the 2009 Author of the Year by Bards and Sages. Her publication credits number over 100 and include stories in Interzone, Realms of Fantasy, Cricket, Fantasy Magazine, and Apex Magazine; podcasts Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and PodCastle; and anthologies Best New Fantasy and Best New Romantic Fantasy 2. Her short story collection, Returning My Sister’s Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice, is available from Norilana Books.

* Can you give us some background on yourself and your writing?

Growing up, I was your classic nerdy kid, perpetually nose-deep in a book. I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer. My mother was a librarian at the University of Illinois (in Champaign-Urbana), so I was ensconced in library stacks and in one book or other throughout my childhood. There were the obligatory ballerina-veterinarian-jockey stages growing up, but they were always “I wanna be a ballerina and a writer” or “I wanna be a veterinarian and a writer.”

* How did you get the news that you won?

Lessee, I was sitting at the banquet table at Nebula Weekend, chewing my fingers to the bone waiting for Jack McDevitt to announce the Best Novelette winner. I remember him saying, “And the winner for Best Novelette is ‘Sinner… ‘” and then it’s something of a blur. I can’t recall going up to the podium, only that I was suddenly there, looking out over the assemblage of SF luminaries and clutching the note card with my acceptance speech on it—which I almost hadn’t written because I didn’t expect I’d really win—and very, very glad I’d decided in a last-minute fit of panicky optimism to write it. The first thing that came out of my mouth was “wow” and then some incoherent babble, at which point I’d gathered back enough of my wits to realize I really ought to stick to what I’d written on the card. Then Jack McDevitt was handing me this beautiful chunk of Lucite with my name inscribed on it, which I wobbled back to the table with, and promptly burst into tears of joy.

* Tell us about the story, its origins, a synopsis, the main character, the hook.

The central conceit of “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest” is a society where people change their identities, their societal roles, even their personalities based upon different masks they put on every day. I’ve always found masks so evocative. They’re universal icons, found throughout history and spanning nearly every culture. The donning of another face, or the corollary, the relinquishing of one’s own, is a transformative act, an unambiguous exchange of identity.

Fundamentally, “Sinner” is an examination and exploration of themes of identity and self: who we are against a backdrop of societal roles and expectations, the external and internal influences that affect our sense of self, and the choices we make that reflect who we truly are.

* Is there any politicking behind the scenes at the Nebulas?

This is the first year using the revised Nebula Award rules and procedures, and I think they have really gone a long way towards eliminated the political elements and the potential for logrolling that was in the old system—as well as increased nominations and voter participation overall.

Nominations are now anonymous, where they weren’t before, and there’s a set nomination period rather than having them ongoing year-round. Also, members can now only nominate five works in a category, where before there wasn’t any limit. Additionally, the system went electronic this year, although paper ballots and nomination forms are still available for folks who prefer that method. I think transitioning the process to an electronic system has really streamlined it and made it easier for members to partipate. I’m obviously coming from a position of bias, but I think the changes are a vast improvement over the previous system.

* What’s next?

As always, I’ve got several short works I’m working on in various states of completion, including a novelette that I’m wrestling to keep from turning into a novella. And I’ve been plugging away at a novel for a while now, although I keep getting sidetracked by various other writing projects.

With regard to new publications, The Dragon and the Stars anthology from DAW came out in May which includes my story, “Mortal Clay, Stone Heart,” and “A Patch of Jewels in the Sky” will be reprinted in the anthology Triangulation: End of the Rainbow, slated for a July release. There are also Spanish, Czech, French, and Italian translations of “Sinner” forthcoming in Cuásar, Pevnost, Ténèbres, and Robot, respectively.

* When did you start writing?

I’ve been writing since I could read, but I started writing seriously, professionally, and for publication in 2000 when I attended Ann Crispin’s Writers Workshop at Dragon*Con.

* Do you have any quirks when you write?

Quirks? I don’t think so. I have to write on a keyboard; writing longhand is too messy and too slow for me. But I write on a number of different machines: my laptop, various desktop PCs, and my Droid smartphone—which has a Word app installed for that purpose. So I can write in just about any setting or circumstance. My preference is a quiet room with limited distractions, but crowded trains, car rides, and between emails is more likely.

I am somewhat particular about my computer setup, I guess. I customize all the applications I use until they’re exactly the way I want them, frequently customizing my customizations in open source apps. Does that count as a quirk?

* What’s the best thing about fiction writing?

SF is the stuff that fires the imagination and leaves you wandering around in a cloud of “what if” and “ooo” for the whole day: the magic, the sense of wonder, the ideas, the fantastical worlds. The same fascination and love that draws me as a reader of speculative fiction is what attracts me to it as a writer.

* Where can folks find out more about your writing?

My website EugieFoster.com includes links to read and listen to my work, and I have a blog at eugie.livejournal.com. I’m also pretty active on Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (follow @eugiefoster).

If folks would like to read or hear my Nebula winning novelette, it’s available for free at Apex Magazine and Escape Pod, narrated fabulously by Lawrence Santoro.

Tags: Eugie Foster, fantasy, fiction writing, nebula awards

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Fiction, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.