Mr. and Mrs. Cat go to the Nebulas!

/ samtasticbooks
Sam in a black dress with gold polka dots and a gold shawl, and her husband in suit and tie, masked and sitting in banquet room

WELL I JUST HAD A WHIRLWIND OF A WEEKEND!

This year the Nebula Conference was in person again and taking place in Anaheim, CA– only two hours from my house! It was also Mother’s Day weekend and my anniversary weekend, so my husband and I decided to make a getaway out of it. Three nights in a hotel including a Sunday night awards ceremony banquet, and then we checked out Monday and walk 15 minutes to Disneyland for our first trip to the park in over a decade.

The big news: I won a Nebula! 🥳

Close up of Sam back at her hotel room holding up a Nebula Award (a resin block with planets and nebula suspended, text at bottom awarding Nebula for Short Story to "Rabbit Test")

The corollary: That was the worst stage fright of my life!! 😅 It’s all right, I survived, and I even managed to read my just-in-case speech off my note cards without fainting, stuttering, or bursting into tears. I could not stop vibrating even once I sat back down at the table, but I did not keel over. I CALL THAT A SUCCESS.

But in all seriousness, thank you to everyone who has carried this story (and by extension: me) this far. The last six months have been overwhelming in the best way. This year’s ballot contained so many authors I admire, whose work regularly inspires me to try harder and experiment more and just generally delight in making words at a time when there is so much amazing work coming out. In short: waahhhh 😭😀

Anyway, here she is in all her resiny glory, on the prettied up shelf behind my desk, joining the rest of my good luck tokens:

  • Mr. and Mrs. Cat, OF COURSE;
  • a frame containing the very first dollar I made from writing, over a decade ago;
  • a good luck chili pepper made by my Big Sis;
  • The New Voices of Science Fiction, aka my first time being collected in a best-of;
  • and a crocheted dumpster fire, because nothing in this industry happens in a straight line, and it’s good to remember that.
A dark brown bookshelf containing Sam's Nebula Award, Mr. and Mrs. Cat, a framed one dollar bill, "The New Voices of Science Fiction" anthology, a chili pepper made with pipe cleaner and googly eyes, and a crocheted dumpster fire

I don’t know how else to end this properly, so I give you Mr. and Mrs. Cat Go to Disneyland! We masked up, slathered ourselves in sunscreen, and stood in lines till our feet went numb, and it was a wonderful way to end a wonderful weekend. Till next time!

Sam's stuffed cats posed in front of the Disney castle

Sam's stuffed cats posed in front of some palm fronds in the tiki area of Disneyland

Mr. Cat seen from behind, in front of a large clear screen of schematics in Star Wars lan

Mr and Mrs Cat posed in front of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars land

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