I wasn't at the ceremony, alas. (I thought I wasn't going to be there because I was going to be in Budapest, but actually I don't go to Budapest until Tuesday.)
Locus Awards Winners
Winners of this year's Locus Awards, voted by readers of Locus Magazine in the annual Locus Poll, were were announced this afternoon at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Seattle.
Best Science Fiction Novel
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Best Fantasy Novel
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra)
Best First Novel
Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Voyager); as Temeraire: In the Service of the King (SFBC)
Best Young Adult Book
Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperTempest)
Best Novella
"Missile Gap", Charles Stross (One Million A.D.)
Best Novelette
"When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth", Cory Doctorow (Baen's Universe 8/06)
Best Short Story
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties", Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
Best Magazine
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
Best Publisher
Tor
Best Anthology
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin's)
Best Collection
Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Best Editor
Ellen Datlow
Best Artist
John Picacio
Best Non-Fiction
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, Julie Phillips (St. Martin's)
Best Art Book
Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. Spectrum 13: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (Underwood)
They told me ahead of time that I'd won for "How To Talk to Girls At Parties", and I wrote an acceptance speech for it, to be read out by Gene Wolfe. But they only told me right at the end that I'd also won for "Fragile Things".
So I wrote a speech in a hurry and this is what I said (also read out by, I hope, Gene Wolfe):
"I'm thrilled and surprised to receive this award.
Short story collections were always, for me, the heart of it all, when I was a boy and a young man and learning about what science fiction and fantasy had to offer. I discovered Bradbury and Lafferty and Tiptree, Ellison and Delany and Wolfe (please make sure they understand that I am talking about Gene Wolfe here and not, say, Bernard or Virginia). William Tenn and Henry Kuttner and Ursula K. LeGuin. John Collier. Roger Zelazny. Brian Aldiss. Theodore Sturgeon. I could keep the list going indefinitely.
They were books that made me happy, made up of stories.
If it wasn't for the ones who showed me how cool it was to make these things I wouldn't be doing it now. I want to thank them. Most of what I did right in these stories I stole from them anyway.
And Jennifer Brehl edited my book and made the cover so pretty. So I want to thank her too."
Labels: Locus awards