And speaking of reddit award winners, Fantasy Faction is the little blog that could. They’ve come out of nowhere in the last two years to become one of the biggest fantasy blogs on the ‘net. This year, they captured the reddit award for Best Fantasy Blog. When I heard that they had mentioned me in some context in a “Best of 2012” post, I clicked over with great trepidation. “Best of” posts are usually where you go to see your colleagues praised. For good people, I suppose this is really nice. Yeah. Ahem. And because Joe Abercrombie released a book this year, I knew there would be weeping and gnashing somewhere in Oregon before the end of the post.

However! When I came across my name, The Blinding Knife was under “Pleasant Surprise of 2012” and said pleasant surprise was that “The Blinding Knife was… awesome.” In a brief paragraph, Marc airs at once some fair criticism and fannish praise that marks the very best of the blogging community.

So I figured I’d gotten off lightly. “Oh, this is one of those blogs where they just have lots of little sub-Best-Of’s. Next will be Best Book Featuring an Orc. Followed by Best New Non-Gritty Fantasy of the Year. My dental bill will remain intact. No gnashing here.”

But I was wrong. There it was. The dreaded Top 5 list. I scrolled slowly, savoring the pain. And there he is, at Number 2. “Dancing” Joe Abercrombie. (Seriously, I’ve seen the man dance. And he does even that better than I do.)

BUT THEN. Stop the presses, cue the “Hallelujah Chorus”. Who’s that dancing on Dancing Joe’s head? Who is singled out as writing THE BEST fantasy novel of 2012? Who’s the big winner? ME. It’s ME! ME me mememe ememememememe! ——> That guy.

Of course Joe and Marc are English. I spent some time in England this year, and the English are polite, reserved, and don’t believe in excessive celebration.

Thank God I’m an American.

Seriously, though, check out Fantasy Faction for all sorts of great discussions and check out that list to top off your To-Be-Read pile with some excellent additions.

Oh hey, I saw that I made another “Best Of List” over HERE. And Joe is, ahem, right above me. So, yeah, that excessive celebration? Never mind.