Disappointment, but compensation too
A Just and Upright Man was shortlisted for the Historical Novel Society’s 2015 Indie Award. I was so pleased when I heard that and I really didn’t expect to go further — didn’t expect to win — because I could see from the shortlist that I was up against some stiff competition. There were some damn good books there by some damn fine writers.
And now I know that I haven’t won, and even though that was the result I expected — and even though I know I did really well just to get this far — I’m not going to pretend that there wasn’t just a touch of disappointment there, too. I’m a salesman, and you don’t survive 40+ years in that profession unless you’re competitive. I’d rather win than lose.
Today, though, I was Helen Hollick’s Tuesday Talk Guest and I’m so delighted with the way she’s turned it out that I feel good. You can read it here; it’s more than compensated for the earlier bad news.
We had well over 200 books to review for HNS Indie Reviews last year. From thee we select about 5-6 Editor’s Choice titles each quarter, that’s about 24 books for the ward year (2014-2015.) These Ed’s Choices form our longlist. From this, nine titles are selected for the shortlist. So A Just And Upright Man has done very well indeed! I also hope to be showcasing it with the other shortlisted titles at the HNS Conference in Denver in June.
Helen, whatever I can do to help with that, please let me know.