Stories Worth a Nod: Award-Eligible Titles for 2026
Two Cameron Cooper titles published in 2025 are eligible for nomination in the 2026 Hugo, Nebula, Aurora, and Dragon Awards. If you’re voting this year, here’s what to know.
Space Opera
“If Amazon Collapsed Tomorrow…”
What if Amazon collapsed tomorrow? Thousands of exclusive authors would lose their income overnight, and Kindle Unlimited readers would find their go-to content gone. In this speculative thought experiment, I explore how such a collapse would reshape the indie publishing landscape—for authors, readers, and the future of storytelling.
Dune is Not Fantasy: A Space Opera Rant
“Someone online called Dune ‘just epic fantasy in spacesuits’ and I resisted the urge to flame them… mostly. Here’s why Dune is firmly science fiction — space opera at its finest — and why the spice matters not for magic, but for who controls the stars.”
The Stars as Home: The Practical Fantasies of Spacefaring Cruise Life
What if people lived out their entire lives aboard interstellar cruise ships, drifting between stars with no planetary home? Inspired by a real-world ocean liner turned permanent residence, this post explores the practicalities and story potential of life aboard a spacefaring cruiser.
The Future Outpacing Fiction: Can Sci-Fi Writers Keep Up?
In a recent conversation with Bill Gates, filmmaker James Cameron revealed a growing challenge for science fiction creators: staying ahead of real-world technological advancements. He noted that rapid innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence, is outpacing the speculative futures traditionally envisioned by writers. For creators of speculative fiction, this raises a profound question: How do you imagine a future that hasn’t already arrived?