Hurrah! I am an Inkling!
Well, no, not exactly, but the Mythopoeic Society is kind enough to to consider my work for an award.
Here is in part the notice I received:
Dear Mr. Wright,
I am very pleased to inform you that your publications, *Chronicles of Chaos: Orphans of Chaos*, *Fugitives of Chaos*, and *Titans of Chaos*, have been selected as finalists for the 2008 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at the banquet during Mythcon 39, to be held in New Britain, Connecticut, from August 15-18, 2008.
The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume, or single-author story collection for adults published during the previous year that best exemplifies the spirit of the Inklings.
Hmm. Far be it from me to have reservations about an honor someone might pay me, but modesty forces me to wonder if those books were really in the spirit of the Inklings? I seem to recall an undue amount of paganism, schoolgirl naughtiness, blasphemy, and so on. The only Christian I remember off the top of my head is a man-eating mermaid. On the other hand, Grendel Glum believes in matrimony, and Quentin believes in (and fears) the powers of the saintly relics, and Amelia clearly thinks that there is an innate moral order, a natural law, to the universe, so perhaps some Inkling influences are present after all.
Writers can never really see what their own works look like. We only see the mask from the inside.