The Ham-Sized Fist Award

The Harper's Pen Award Finalists

2010-03-22T07:47:00.001-07:00

I've just announced the finalists for The Harper's Pen Award (formerly the Ham-Sized Fist Award) for 2009 over at The Sorcerer's Guild. Please pop on over.

Moving

2010-03-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

In preparation for retiring the name "Ham-Sized Fist Award," I've begun moving the contents of this blog over to a new blog called The Sorcerer's Guild. That is where I'll post the finalists of the newly-titled award (to be announced tomorrow - March 21!!). I'll continue to cross-post here for a while, just to make sure no one gets lost on the way.

If you've signed up as a friend of this blog, I hope you'll head on over and be friends with the Sorcerer's Guild. I've also created a new Twitter account for the Guild - I hope you'll sign up there as well.

and so I was like well whatever

2010-03-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, I am making some changes to the site in preparation for changes in the way the award is administered. Hopefully, you will like these changes and find them exciting.

One of the things I want to do here is to provide more Sword and Sorcery related content, especially content pertaining to fiction, both short and long, as well as movies, podcasts, whatever you like. This will include announcements of the publication of new novels and anthologies, and new issues of magazines, webzines and blogzines, as well as information about new Sword and Sorcery magazines as they are birthed from the splashing foam. I hope to have reviews, interviews, and all the usual stuff.

The name of this site will also change, and possibly the name of the award. I'll be posting more about this in the future.

Meanwhile, I would like to apologize once more for canceling the award this year, and to announce that I am reinstating it. I will be announcing finalists in a few days, and the winner shortly after that. I've reduced the amount of the prize money, so there will be money for next year's prize, but this year will still offer a substantial reward.

i don't want to go on the cart

2010-03-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I mourned the death of the Ham-Sized Fist Award. Truth is, it's not quite dead yet.

I blame myself for the failure of the award this year. There just weren't enough nominations, for one thing. I wanted at least 50 before I could justify shelling out $800 of my own money (technically, $790) in prizes for the winner of a very small field. 50 was the bare minimum. I received fewer than 26 online nominations, plus a few more mailed in hardcopy. It was close to 50, but no cigar.

There were other issues. I had hoped to attract some judges, but no one seemed keen. I had hoped to attract a co-sponsor of the award, but no one seemed keen. Quite a few people were bothered by the name of the award. One said he wouldn't want a Ham-Sized Fist on his resume, as it sounded like an award for poor writing. One author asked to have his story removed from nomination. Some suspected I was up to no good, with some kind of nefarious scheme to rip off the authors, since what sane person would offer up a significant prize with no obvious personal benefit to himself? I'm not sure what the scheme might have entailed. Maybe they thought I intended to award my friends, but if I wanted to do that, I'd just give them the money without going through the charade of an award. Besides, all my friends have more money than me. They should create fake awards for me to win!

But seriously folks, the award is not dead. It just needs tweeking. See The Rules for new information.

As I mentioned above, many people were bothered by the name of the award. Others loved it. Although I like the name, I can understand the misgivings many may feel about it. Therefore, I am opening this up to you, the readers and participants. What should it be called? Or should it remain the Ham-Sized Fist? Send me your suggestions, either in comments, email, or by Twitter. I will pick the best ones and post a poll and let the votes decide.

I've received a couple of suggestions - The Hyborian, The Sorcerer's Guild Award. Think along those lines. Try to avoid copyrighted or otherwise proprietary material - Triwizards Cup, Robert E Howard Award, stuff like that.

frankly, my dear

2010-03-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

Due to a lack of interest, paucity of nominations, and my inability to find anyone willing to participate in this, I regret to announce the Ham-Sized Fist Award has been cancelled. I'm very sorry, but the fact that not one person has written to ask about the status of the award, even though I said I would announce the winner right about now, tells me that no one gives a damn.

Next time I will try to do better.

FYI

2010-01-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

A quick update to the editors and authors who have nominated stories for the award, I'll be making an announcement about the award soon. I'm talking to some people about the award and what can be done with it to more effectively promote sword-and-sorcery fiction. You'll hear about it here first, and hopefully elsewhere.

Eligible Stories

2009-08-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

I've decided not to list the eligible stories. The list is too fluid, what with stories that seemed eligible at first being deemed ineligible later, either because they were published in 2008 or because they are heroic fantasy. Also, some authors have asked not to have their stories considered for the award. I'll have more to say about that later.

Eligiblity for nominated stories will be determined once we reach the deadline. Once I have a list of finalists, I'll post them to the site.

Award Featured

2009-07-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Ham-Sized Fist Award has been featured on Fantasy Magazine. Do check it out and read some of my thoughts on the heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery genres.

Blaming the Beermaker

2009-07-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

The other day I read an interesting comment on a forum. An author said that he has defended the sword and sorcery genre many times and had a difficult time getting the topic included on panels. I assume he means fantasy fiction panels at Cons.

It's not surprising. Although I didn't come up with the idea for this award as a way of defending the heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery genres, they really are the red-headed stepchildren of literature. However, the question isn't how to defend them, the question is why do these genres need defending at all?

A few months ago I had a few choice words for a "serious" fantasy author regarding his declaration that The Lord of the Rings is for children, and his implication that adults who enjoy it are mental children. I'm a realist. I've been writing fantasy for about fifteen years. I've published four heroic fantasy novels. Truth is, heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery aren't "serious" literature because they aren't meant to be "serious" literature. They are what they are, and what they are are fantastic stories.

Fantasy, especially heroic fantasy, is humanity's oldest form of fiction, and many of the greatest works of fiction ever written, from The Odyssey to the Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf to Outlaws of the Marsh (and yes, The Lord of the Rings) fall squarely into the heroic/epic fantasy pigeon hole, much to the dismay and consternation of "serious" authors everywhere. The focus of these stories is Story, because our roots lie in storytelling round the fire, telling tales of heroes and gods, not deep psychological profiles about a person's inner struggle to overcome a tragic childhood. Conan had a tragic childhood - he overcame it by smashing heads with his ham-sized fist.

These days Story just isn't very popular among MFA graduates at the pretigious writing academies, nor with those authors who aspire to be recognized by them and obtain visiting author positions. But blaming sword and sorcery for not being French neoreductionism is like blaming the beermaker for not making wine. I have nothing against realist literature. I enjoy reading Faulkner - how many MFAs can say they ever read Absalom! Absalom! unless somebody forced them to, for a grade? Neither is there anything wrong with Harry Potter. But Harry Potter isn't Quentin Compson, nor was he ever meant to be Quentin Compson, nor did Ms. Rowling ever pretend that Harry should be taken as Quentin's literary equal. Quentin killed himself. Harry killed Voldemort. C'est la vie.

Heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery are what they are. The only question that can be asked of any story is - does it succeed at what it set out to become? Does it fulfill its own promise? You don't ask beer to be wine, nor judge the quality of beer based on the requirements of wine. Nor do you whine when your Corona doesn't taste like Corsendonk. To do so would be extremely silly. Yet this is done to literature every day by some very silly people.

The judging criteria for The Hammy is simple. First, does the story succeed within its genre? Second, is it the best story of those nominated?

So what is the best? It's entirely subjective, as you should know all too well. There are many excellent definitions of the genres, but I personally believe a sword and sorcery or heroic fantasy story should have those things which Yoda tells us a Jedi should crave not : adventure and excitement - two defining characteristics that set these genres apart from other types of fantasy. An editor once told me a good heroic fiction tale should contain the three M's - Magic, Monsters and Mayhem. It should also contain memorable characters, though not necessarily profound ones. Is that so wrong? But more than anything, a good story, no matter what genre, should produce a true emotional response in the reader. It could be Wow!, it could be Hell yeah!, or it could be I need a tissue!, just so long as it isn't That was stupid! As Bruce Lee said, "Emotion! Not anger. Now try again."

If a story succeeds, I see no reason to defend it for achieving its first, best destiny.

Latest News

2009-07-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Now you can nominate a story via Twitter and sign up to follow the news! I'll be posting when a nominated story is added to the eligible stories list.

We have two nominations so far, but we need more nominations! Send them in.

I've increased the amount of the award to $400 for author and publisher. Thanks to everyone who has donated. Let's keep this rolling. Do I hear $500?

Eligible Stories

2009-07-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've decided not to list the eligible stories. The list is too fluid, what with stories that seemed eligible at first being deemed ineligible, and other people pulling their stories from consideration.

Eligiblity for nominated stories will be determined once we reach the deadline. Once I have a list of finalists, I'll post them to the site.

Nominate a Story

2009-06-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

Use the comments section below to nominate stories for The Ham-Sized Fist Award.

!! Now you can use Twitter to nominate stories !! Hoodyhoo!

Please provide the name of the story, author, the book, magazine or e-zine where it was published, the date it was published, and a link to the story if you have one. Please make sure you read the rules first and don't send us chasing down untamed waterfowl.

For example:

"The Dripping Bones of Gal-Magora"
J.H.C. Publicus
The Magazine of Totally Awesome Awesomeness
March 2009
http://www.tmotaa.com/march09/dripbones.htm

The Rules*

2009-06-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer - these rules are merely guidelines and could be changed. In fact, they probably will be changed. I am playing with ideas for how to work the contest in the future.

______________________________________________________

Only heroic fantasy or sword-and-sorcery stories published in magazines, e-zines, literary journals, anthologies or chapbooks that have an editorial process are eligible for nomination. This means that an editor must have selected the story for publication. Only English language stories, or stories translated into English for publication, will be considered. Self-published stories are not eligible, and unpublished stories will not be considered.

The ultimate decision as to whether a story qualifies as heroic fantasy or sword-and-sorcery rests with the final judge or judges. Alas, any work written by the host of the award and author of this website is automatically removed from consideration.

Anyone may nominate a story for the award, but a story cannot be considered for the award unless it can be read by the judge or judges. Thus a copy of the story, or a link to the story, is conducive to obtaining eligibility. Books and magazines sent to the judge or judges without sufficient return postage will be donated to our local library at the end of the award process.

To be eligible for nomination, a story must be longer than 500 words, and it must have been published between January 1 2009 and December 31 2010.

The nomination period will open January 1, 2011. At that time, readers and editors will be allowed to nominate stories for consideration. The nomination period will close on February 1, 2011. At that time, the preliminary judges will select 10 stories each, to be recognized as semifinalists. The list of semifinalists will be announced no later than March 1, 2011. The award administrator or the celebrity judge will then select ten finalists from the list of semifinalists, to be announced no later than March 15, 2011. At that time, a poll will be posted on the website, allowing readers to vote for the winner. The poll will close April 1, 2011 and the winning story and magazine will be announced.

Prize money will be sent to the author of the winning story either by check or Paypal. Prize money for the winning e-zine, magazine, or book publisher will be directed to the publisher for distribution at their discretion. The sponsor of the contest may, at their own discretion, cancel the contest or refuse to grant an award if an insufficient number of stories are nominated or if no nominated story is deemed worthy of recognition. In such event, all donations will be returned or held over for the next award period, according to the wishes of the donator.

The nomination period is now open. You may use the nomination page to nominate a story, nominate a story via Twitter, or send nominations to editor (dot) fromhell (at) gmail (dot) com. Good luck.

*portions of these rules have been cribbed directly from the rules for the Million Writers Award, for which your host served as a preliminary judge for the 2006 and 2007 awards

Cry Havoc

2009-06-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

It begins today with an idea for an award to be given for the best heroic fantasy or sword-and-sorcery published during the year.

There are actually two awards - one for the author of the best story, and one for the magazine who publishes the best story.

It's a monetary award. And it's recognition - something for the winners to put on the cover page and their web site.

But why an award?

Because in our humble opinion, heroic fantasy and sword-and-sorcery have become the red-headed stepchildren of fantasy publishing, forever ruined by the piles of garbage the industry churned out many years ago, virtually destroying the genre's respectability.

Because not enough of it is published today, and what little is published isn't recognized as worthy of praise, no matter how good it is. Because, as a slush reader once put it to me, "I think the time's past when we could get away with publishing simple good vs evil sword and sorcery stuff."

Dear reader, that's why.

Because that's just wrong. A good story should always be published, no matter what the editorial trend of the moment seems to dictate, because the times are always, always, always wrong. The next big thing in arts or letters is never discovered by the timid or conservative. It is always the result of someone willing to take a chance. The Ham-Sized Fist Award is meant to encourage editors and publishers and writers to take a chance, so that perhaps the genre can be reinvented, but more importantly rediscovered.

The first award will be granted for a story published in 2009. The total for the award will be periodically updated in the sidebar. It is my hope to bring the award up to at least $500 for the author and publisher, but more would be better. The award is bestowed through WordArts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) literary non-profit with tax-deductible contribution status. If you would like to help sponsor the award, please click here or use the donate button to the right.

The Rules appear in the next post.