by Paulette Jaxton

Hopefully you already know about my short story podcast, Form Letter Rejection Theatre. It was short lived, but I managed to make a little impact with it before my day job, the worsening economy and other obligations forced me to focus on different things. Just how much impact became clear this week when I was informed I’d been nominated for a Parsec Award in the Best Speculative Fiction (Short Form) category!
 
For those who aren’t familiar with the Parsec, it’s an award presented every year at Dragon*Con to the previous year’s best science fiction and fantasy podcasts in one of sixteen categories. Founded in 2006 by Mur Lafferty, Tracy Hickman and Michael R. Mennenga, the Parsec has quickly become the premier award for genre podcasters. Being nominated is really quite something, especially because the nominations were made by the public, that’s you guys!
 
I was asked to submit a ten minute sample of the program which I did using the story Thanks for the Memories. That has now gone to the Parsec Awards Steering Committee. They will judge the submissions and select the finalists. The winners will then be announced at this year’s Dragon*Con on September 5th.
 
I know it sometimes sounds trite when an artist says they are honored just to be nominated for an award, but now that I’m in that position I can tell you truthfully that I am deeply honored. I know some of the other stories that have been nominated in my category and they’re all quite awesome. Win or lose, I’m in humbling company.
 
Thank you all for making Form Letter Rejection Theatre what it was and for those who voted to nominate it for the Parsec Award, you rawk!
 
UPDATE: (July 24th) The finalists for the Parsec Awards were posted today and FLRT did not make the final cut. While I’m disappointed, I remain excited for those nominees who did make the list of finalists. Please go have a look and then visit the nominated podcasts. They’re the best of the best this year!